Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1890-04-02


Bodies of Victims
LOUISVILLE, KY, March 28.-Terrible
as was the calamity which befell Louis
Vile last night, 1t is some satisfaction
to know that the number OF fatalities
| is not so great as first reports led every
| one to believe. 1t is now thought that
the number Of victims of last nights
| tornado will not exceed $50, and the
property loss will doubtless exceed ST.
| 10000. Forty men have been en-
| ploved by the Board of Trade, TO make
thorough canvass and report losses
of life and property fully.
! There are at least 100 families house
| less in the streets, that were happy yes
terday in the single possession of their
! homes. Not only were the houses
dashed to the ground, but the furniture
in many instance is entirely destroyed.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars
worth of goods lay 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 the to w
ering walls Of brick are oscillatlng In
the air, ready to descend at any mo-
| ment. These points of danger are
guarded by the police, and military
company called the Louisville Legion
drive the surcing crowds back at the
point OF the bayonet.
| The telephone wires are all down, and
it will take ten days to get them up and
working again. The search for victims
is going steadily on, and each hour adds
| largely to the already long list. AT
many places the men Labor in real dan
ger of being buried beneath the totter
ing walls at any moment, and other acct
dents are looked for momentarily.
| At the corner of Sixteenth and Maya
zine Streets the most horrible crena-
ton Of the bodies of three men occur
red. These men were caught in the
falling timbers of the two-story grocery
and bar-room of Nick. Heineman, and
burned entirely to a blackened and
| charred mass.
| Crushed and blackened ruins marked
the spot where only last evening stood
| the splendid large Union depot, at Sew
enth and the river. When the crash
came Louisville Southern train had
just come in. and the O. & M. was ready
to pull out. Both were caught by the
falling mass, and were crushed like
| shells. The wide river, disturbed by
| the fury of the tornado, is yet angry,
and what was lett of the depot by
the wind is momentarily threat
ened by the strong waves that surge
| under and about the plat orms.
| The Louisville Hotel, between Sixth
| and Seventh Streets, was unrooted and
| otherwise wrecked, while the building
| occupied as cigar store upon the first
| floor, and sleeping rooms upon the sec
| ond and third, Was RACED entirely to the
ground, not single brick remaining in
place. In the destruction Of this house
many lives were lost, principally Of per-
sons who occupied sleeping rooms
there. Many of them were young girls,
and employed at the hotel next door.
Between Thirteenth and Fourteenth
Streets on Walnut, three small brick
dwelling houses and light frame dwell
ing next to Blotz & Krebs' stone yard
| were intact, but the immense derrick OF
| the stone works, weighing many tons,
| was tossed into the street-car track and
! splintered as if bit of kindling wood.
Even the heavy iron boiler was blown
clear across Walnut Street, not more
than forty feet from the four unscathed
dwellings. At Fourteenth and Walnut,
and Fourteenth and Chestnut, the flag
mems boxes were picked up bodily and
dashed into kindling wood.
From Seventh Street and the river, as
far as can be seen. one continuous sea of
desolation meets the eye. and beWilders
the thousands of spectators who never
dreamed of anything so terrible. Old
soldiers who survived the stormiest bat
ties of the civil war, Scared and
Thoughtful, walk nervously abont, and
their disconnected utterances tell plain
| " enough that the most horrible catas-
trophe of their lives has been suddenly
realized.
One of the most desolated looking
sections of the devastated district is
Chapel Street, narrow thoroughfare,
one block in length, extending from
Main to Market Streets, between Tenth
and Eleventh. Every house on it was
torn to fragments. and the debris lines
both sides 80 that there is scarcely room
to pass through the center of the street.
Strange as it may seem, notwithstand-
ing the terrific force of the wind and
the air being filed with flying missiles
of every description, the members OF
but one family were injured to any seri-
GUS extent.
| The Crescent tobacco warehouse, on
Main Street, is a total wreck, and the
amount of tobacco laying open to the
| weather on the thoroughfare is almost
beyond comprehension. Some of the
wrecked houses contain 500 and 1000
hhds. On Main Street, between Tenth
and Eleventh Streets, car was lifted
bodily from the track and hurled with
such force against the side of one of the
! brick walls as to not only demolish the
car entirely, but to also instantly kill
the team OF mules attached to it. Along
| Market, Main and Jefferson Streets all
the telegraph and telephone poles have
been blown down.
The beautiful Baxter square is scene
of the most wonderful devastation, per-
haps, ever witnessed. The trees have
all been uprooted or twisted from their
stumps, except row of sturdy beech.
At the place ofCharles w. Smith, north
was seen the body OF Ada Helm, col
ored, domestic in the family Of DR..
Enright. She lay just as taken from the
ruins, and she presented an appearance
in her mangled condition approaching
almost to hideousness. Her arms were