Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1890-04-11
DEATHS Path.
Western Cities Visited by DeYaS-
tating TOrnadO0S.
LOUISVILLE PARTLY IN RUINS.
A Number of Other Towns
Nearly DESTROYED.
HUNDREDS OF LIVES LOST.
Numerous Fine Buildings Laid
Low in Louisville.

A storm arising in the Northwest, moving
slowly down the valley OF the Mississippi
turning eastward at its junction with the
Ohio, gathering force as it went unit! it be-
came a cyclone and passing off toward
Canada, is the simple summary Of one OF
those grand panOramas OF her mighty forces
with which Nature seems to mock the powers
of man. On its Southern edge the sudden
indraught Of air, catching up the warmer
vapOrs from below, created a series of tor
nadOes which laid waste everything in their
path.
One hurricane struck Metropolis, ILL.,, and
it was ruined. Another damaged the town
of Bowling Green, KY. Another struck Louis
vile, cutting swath through its finely built
portions and leaving hundreds of victims
behind. 1t blew across the Ohio and badly
damaged Jacksonville, Ind.
Scarcely a town in the vicinity of the
border line Of Kentucky, Illinois and Indiana
escaped the ravages Of these tornadoes, while
the main track of the cyclone was marked by
high winds, floods and neavy rainfall.
Early details Of the terrible havoc wrought
were given III dispatches as follows:
Louisville.
great many persons have been killed in
and around Louisville, Ky, and three times
as many painfully injured, as the result Of a
tornado which struck that city few min
utes past P. NJ, and in few moments
had laid level with the ground a swath half a
mile wide and two miles long through parts
IF the finest business and residence sections
Of the town. Thousands were buried in the
ruins, and while the majority escaped with
injuries comparatively slight, many hun
1reds were piniOnad dead or dying beneath
masses Of tangled timbers and heaps of brick
and stone. Fire caught in the ruins in sew
aral places and many whom the crash had
spared met a slower and more horrible death
in the flames.
The greatest loss of life was in public hall
where children's dancing class and several
lodge meetings were IN progress at the mo-
ment when the tornado swOOp3d upon the
city. Scarcely a dozen of the three or four
hunlred persons who were in the building es-
capped being caught in the ruins. OfthOse who
were not crushed to death outright many
were SufTCcated by escaping gas and many
were burned to death in the fire which subsa
quently started in the wreck. Many were
rescued alive but the dead from this one
building will probably numb n ever one hun
dred.
Horrible incidents of less wholesale
nature were found at every step through the
desOlated district The rector Of one OF the
largest churches in the city was crushed into
a ShapeleSS mass without moments warning
as he sat in his home reading to his little son,
who stood at his knee. The child also was
killed, and the rectOr'S wife so badly injured
tiuence Of opiates, and kept in ignorance OF
the fate Of her husband and son lest the shock
of learning it should Kill her.
Children were stricken dead in their moth
el'S arms, fathers who CHANGED to have left
their homes for few minutes returned to as
siSt in digging from heaps of ruins the bodies
Of their children; husbands and wives We're
found dead in each others arms, and Occa-
sionally the tornado waxing merciful, killed
the whole family at once, leaving none to
mourn.
With these dreadful incidents were many
marvellous escapes. People were picked up
bodily and carried long distances, to be
dropped safely to the ground. Others
crawieu out almost unscratched from
masses OF debris, in which it seemed i'm
lOSslble Cor being to have remained alive.
The storm had been gathering ali the even
ing and the lightning and thunder we're
omlnous AT about o'clock it began to
rain, and the storm gradually increased in
intensity. The rain changed to hail, and
people kept within doors.
At SO the disaster came. The heavens
were --acG a ink There was Deep thrill
ing roar as the tornado STRUCK the south
western portion of the city. Then the build
inGS crumbled like egg shells, and a broad
Swath OF ruin lay across the city.
The path of the tornado was from Eight
zenith and Maple streets northeasterlv across
the city, past Seventeenth street and Broad
way, Sixteenth ana Chestnut. Twelfth and
Jefferson, and thence to the I Mon Depot at
the foot OF Seventh street The worst ruin
was wrought among the large and substantial
structures on Market and Main streets, and
e seems sit the demon OF the storm did its
worst when Just about TO leave.
The whole thing was over in a minute
People living outside the track OF the storm
We're unaware that anything unusual had
happened. But where the tornado had swept
there was after destruction, ruins and death
Great buildings crumblei like TOW houses
Churches, factories and warehouses went
down like cardboard. People fed in terror
from death III their ruined homes Halt a
dOzeu fires broke out in as many different
parts o. the city.
The storm soon ceased. The moon came
ont, and people thronged into the streets to
la u the extent of the disaster. The most
terrible runOrs spread apace, and, unfor-
tuna1eIE. many Of them were true. and the
gray daylight in the morning re-
VeaAed scene OF desOlatiOn that
WAS scKening. Main stree1. from Seventh
TO Twelfth street Is one long ruin
So is Market street for the corresponding
distance. Jefferson street, from Tenth TO
Thirteenth. Walnut street, from Thirteenth
TO Fifteenth, and Chestnut street, from Thir-
teenth 10 Seventeenth. Broadway, in the
neighborhood of Eighteenth and Nineteenth
stSeetS. Is filed with debris.