St. Paul daily globe., 1890-08-02
SAFETY IN A STORM.
Observer Lyons Reviews the
Twistep at Lake Ger
Vais.
He Believes a Modern Build
ing Would Withstand a
Cyclone.
Serious Charge Of Outrage
Preferred by a Very
Young Girl.
Singular Death, All Alone, Of
a Physician on the
Bluff.

1t has always been an open question
whether, in cases of cyclone and tor
nado, the large fire-proof buildings of
this city would withstand the wind.
Those who saw the evidences of the
cyclones force at st. Cloud and Sank
Rapids are of opinion that nothing
could withstand it, but Observer Lyons
takes different view. Entered in the
daily journal in the signal office, is a
full description of the cyclone at Lake
Gervais, which is pronounced genuine
'twister," with the observations and
comments of the signal officer. In con-
Guiding he says:
The only structure of mans that re-
mained intact in the destroyed area was
small rustic garden ornament, or EoW-
er vase. 1t stood near the Schurmeier
cottage, and was frustum of a cone
about four feet in diameter and three
feet high. The outside was she'll OF
rather irregular round stones, OF ''boul-
ders," placed one over the other with
out cement or mortar, and the inside
filled with EARTH A collection Of ice.
about 10x10 feet and 6 feet high, also
remained undiSturbed, but not yes
tige of the framework that protected
that ice remained The blocks were,
perhaps. twenty-inch cubes. Those on
top, though not apparently frozen to
| the adjacent ones, were not moved.
/ Yet pianos, wagons, farm implements,
| stoves and other metal cooking imple-
ments were badly broken and hurled in
every direction; but the breaking and
hurting of these comparatively strong
and heavy articles was. perhaps, partly,
| if not entirely, due to their being in
| buildings that were lifted up. twisted
| into fragments and hurled as stated.
| To the rear of the first house destroyed,
near the upper end of the lake, there is
an open field at distance of from
500 to 500 feet behind that house, and
over that field many parts OF its wreck
4 were streWn and numerous sticks OF
broken timber found firmly stuck in
the ground. They were unquestionabiy
parts of that wreck. In every
instance noted the lighter and
smaller end was so stuck; therefore
the force that placed them so could not
be gravity; they all inclined outward
from the center of the tornado's track,
at angles ranging 80 to 40 deg. from ver-
tical. Sticks and timbers were similar
! ly stuck throughout the area of deStruc-
! ton, but the above case is referred to to
show that there was powerful upward
movement in front. and also a down
ward one in rear of the destroyer. But
if that little mound and pile of ice
| withstood it, after all it is not such a
monstrous destroyer, and there are
things raised by the hands of man that
have, and the writer ventures to assert,
can withstand its rayages; and
| he believes that in case large buildings
such as have been constructed recently
| in our principal cities, and where mass
| i've walls and iron beams and other ma
| terial of great weight and strength is
used, it is not unreasonable to conclude
that such structures could stand as
good chance as the things heretofore
mentioned, for weight and compaetness
was about all that saved them. Some
may think this all talk, but [ would GER
tainly prefer refuge in case OF danger
in such buildings as the court house,
Endicott, Pioneer, Globe, New York
or Germania Life, or Manitoba Railway
| building, and in fact any building of
considerable weight and many interior
walls or partitions, rather than stay on
the streets.