The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-07-23
4 TERRIBLE TORNADO.
Fargo, N. D., Devastated and s
Hundred Miles Laid Waste.
Seven Little Children Killed in
One Household.

A few minutes after two o'clock in tha
morning tornado swept over section OF
North Dakota and West Minnesota,
making a path fifty miles wide. The
force of the storm was first felt
at Dalrymple, Casselton and Wheatland,
small stations on the Northern Pacific
line, twenty to ty miles west Of Fargo,
North Dakota. The wind did considerable
damage at Mapleton, Fargo and Moorehead,
and spent itself on the prairies Of Minnesota
near Glyndon and Muskoda.
The track Of the storm was marked by un-
rooted depots and elevators, the destruction
of small wooden buildings and the complete
paralysis Of the telegraph service for fifty
miles east and west and twenty miles north
and south Of Fargo. Several people were in
jured, some of them fatally.
In Fargo the storm leyelled the electric
lizht towers, demolished the Manitoba
freight depot and unroofed a number'of
business houses. Davies block, on Broad
way. was damaged by the windows being
blown in. The tower at the Northern
Pacific crossing was wrecked. The
front Of tho Opera House presents a
diiapidated appearance. The roof OF the
Republican, office lies in vacant lot ada
cent to that building. The Keeney block
suffered badly, the roof being carried away,
as. were also those of the Continental and
Garfield blocks aud the Milwaukee freight
depot. The Congregational Church is
destroyed, Dozens Of smaller buildings are
S.secked;
The most fearful result Of the storm oc-
ourred at the resaHs5qce Of the late Captain
Mccarthy in the northesscaEp part OF tne
city Of Fargo The house, CONTAINING Mrs.
Mccarthy and seven Of her children, YVES
IoR,e --,l Hio
tance of four feet and then thrown upon the
ground. This was all that was needed to
take the lives Of the seven children and
cause severe injury to the mother.
Passenger train No, I, on the Northern
Pacific, going west, had just pulled out
Of the yards and had stopped at the
Milwaukee crossing. The train was made
up. of three baggage nine coaches and
sleeping cars, party OF Chicago and
Northwestern offlcialsin apriVate car. All Of
the coaches and the tender were blown
from the track, but no'lives were lost. The
lights had been .put,out, So that there was no
fire or steam. Superintendent McCabs and
the CONDUCTOR. brakemen and porters acted
very cooNy and .calmed the frightened pas
sengers, who were sent back to the city in
special coaches.
The desehtion and. utter ruin is complete,
and sadder or more. distressing scene
could not. be imagined. The force OF the
tornado must, have been beyond cal
culation when the evidences of its
hend navr wind pawed aDV
q wild and fantastic freak with the heavy
obstacles which offered resistance to its will,
and dozens upon dozens Of heavily-laden
freight cars were overturned, some upon
the left and some upon the right. The
debris of the buildings covers the lots and
the streets, and so thoroughly did the hur.
ricane perform itsrwork Of annihilation and
destruction that the houses aEe fat on the
ground, and the contents and materials OF
Construction scattered in every direction:
From Fargo the tornado swept straight
across the prairie, scattering fifty or more
small frame houses like so many feathers.
In most cases there was nothing left to mark
the site of dwellings but; the cellars. The
prairies were strewn with timbers, furni-
ture and clothing. =,
The cars of train on the Fargoand South
western were blown from the track at BUTTS
ville but the passengers suffered only fe"
scratches.
The elevator at Edmunds was struck by
lightning and burned. An elevator at Dal-
rymple was demolished and tho TOOL was
blown off the depot at Mapleson.
During the prevalence of thestorm, though
1t was atGer q O'CLOCK a. M.r Ino' oOinPSA@soAo
was nirety-two degrees
News from Fargo was carried. forty miles
on hand car, and reached St: Paul, Mimi,
via Winnipeg.
At Mapleton and Barnesville. the storm
was equally severe, dozensof buildings being
wrecked. ~.
The storm extended over. Northern Min
nesota and was slightty felt at Detroit,
Mimi. where It demolished: the plate glass
front of the Record office and overturned
few small buildings, and one. house was
struck BY lightning and burned.
Fargo lays claim to 10, 600 inhabltants. IL
is situated on the Red River Of the North Just
across the river from Moorhead, Mimi, and
in the centre Of the most fertile. wheat region
Of the Mississippi Valley: The celebrated Bo-
nanza farms, eight in number and from 2OOoto
3O, 900 acres in extent, producing an average
Of twenty bushels of red, winter wheat, the
finest in the world, to the acre. are situated
in Cass. County. to the north, south and
west Of Fargo. Since. they were were
first p,st under cultivation, about 1871,
the whole fertile district about Fargo, e4-
tending forty miles westward and twenty
miles eastward Of the river, and embracing
10, 600 square miles, haya. been settled ana
cultivated Fargo .is-the. distributing poine
Cor that.region.