The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1890-03-29
AS QUICK AS LIGHTNING.
The Storm Did the Work and Had
Passed over the City.

LOUISVILLE, KY. March 28.-Last night,
at about o'clock, j. began to rains The
storm gradually increased in intensity, and
the rain changed to hail. AT S.23 the heav-
ems were as blackRs ink, and deep, threat
ening roar was heard as the tornado struck
the southwestern portion of the city. The
path of the tornado was from 18th and Ma
pie streets, northeasterly cross the city,
past 7th street and Broadway, 10th and
Chestnut, 18th and Jefferson streets to the
Union depot, at the foot of 7th street. The
whole thing was over in minute and half.
People living outside the track of the storm
were unaware that anything unusual had
happened. Main and Market streets, from
7th to 18th streets, are ruins; Jefferson, from
10th to 18th, Walnut, from 18th to 18th,
Chestnut, from 18Th to 18th, Broadway, in
the neighborhood Of 18th and 10th streets,
are filled with debris and destruction.
The estimate of the property loss by the
tornado, the best possible, grounded upon
the facts presented. places it at 50, SOC. 900.
There is almost no insurance. The general
relief committee of the Board of Trade au-
thorizes this statement:
The tornado spread over territory 400 yards
wide and three miles in length. The loss of life
is in the neghborhood, it Is believed, of 75 per-
sons. The loss to the city in damage to houses is
believed not to exceed 81, 900 900.
A well attended meeting of the Board of
Trade was held today to discuss measures of
relief for the sufferers. A relief committee
of so members was Immediately appointed.
The first help extended was to poor people
in destitute condition. A committee of
its showed total relief subscription of $780,
600. to which is added $4,000 voted as a re-
| lief appropriation by the city council. Sixty
men were put to work this morning on the
Falls City Hall ruin. and were busy all day
in removing the debris and recovering bod
les. Ten corpses were taken out during the
day. At night a detail of 60 was put to
work at the same place. About 800 men will
begin to remove the debris from the streets.
| The feeling of the commi ttee is that as yet
| there IS no absolute suffering among the nn-
| injured. The weather is mild, and care will
| be taken that none suffer from hunger.
shrouded In Gloom.
The city is enshrouded in the deepest
| gloom tonight. The electric wires are down
and but few lights shine in the devastated
section. The streets are thronged with null
ttudes of people. At least 100 families are
homeless. One poor woman told how that
very evening her husband paid the building
association the last dollar they owed upon
| their house. Now all that remains is con-
| fused mass of brick and mortar. Many
other cases are almost a parallel to
| this. Hundreds of thousands of dol
| lars worth Of goods llay last
| night upon the business streets at the mercy
| of thieves 1t now seems almost impossible
| to find storehouses for this vast amount OF
| merchandise. AT many places. towering
walls of brick are oscillatlng in the air, ready
| to descend at any moment. Points of danger
are guarded by the police and military COM
panies, who drive the surging crowds back
at the point of the bayonet. At the entrance
| of the various dead rooms stand a mob
camorng for ad%ittanceid ~ They are nya
tive or friend. Coroner Miller ordered thai
body be Inferred 1es gn aTs yswsd a sdwDy by him
search for the victims is going steadily on
and in many places the men labor in great
danger of being buried beneath the tottering
| walls.
From 7th street and the river, as far as car
be seen, one continuous sea of desolation
meets the eye and bewiders the thousands
I of spectators