Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-04-08
BLOWN TO PIECES.
A Cyclone Hits the Little and Ancient
Village of Prophetstown.

BURLINaToS, Iowa, April s.-A report reached
here last night that the town of Prophetstown
In Whiteside county, Ill, was swept by a cy-
clone last evening. Every house in the village
is reported to have been demolished and many
people were killed and injured Prophetstown
Is thriving little town of about 800 inhabi-
tants on the south bank OF Rock river, about Is
miles south Of Sterling. II is on the line of the
Fulton and Clinton railroad, but the telegraph
~res have been prostrated by the storm which
has prevailed during the evening, and no fur
ther Information will be obtainable for several
hours or until a party can be organized to pro-
coed to the scene Of the disaster.
Information SO far obtained was telegraphed
by an operator at a station nearest to Proph-
etstown. He said that the town was a COM
plete wreck and that the loss of life must be
heavy. A train of forty stock cars standing on
side track was literally blown to atoms and
the cattle all killed Fragments from the
buildings in the town were carried through
the air for long distances.
FROM ANOTHER SOURCE.
A st. Louis dispatch says: Adyices received
here at this morning say the village Of
Prophetstown, ILL.,, has been blown from the
face of the earth by a tornado. The only
definite news obtainable was received from the
train hands on a stock train which pulled out
of Prophetstown just after the disaster.
The train hands report that the railroad
depot was blown down and the station agent
was buried beneath the ruins. small Pres
byterisn church on the main street was blown
down and the steeple carried fully 100 yards
The only names of the dead now obtainable
are VIM. Vance, station agent, buried in the
ruins OF the depot; Charley Murray, an old
man who worked for the railroad, killed by a
freight car being blown over him; Frank VIII
son (or Nelson), a railroad man who lived near
the depot, killed in the ruins Of his own house.
There we're eight persons in the Wilson (or
Nelson) house, and the trainmen think all have
been killed.
LATER.-A telegram just received says that
forty to fifty people were killed at Prophets
town. The news has been verified by short
message.
NOT so BAD.
CHICAGO, April S-A conductor on the Bur-
lington railroad, who left Mendoza at O'Clock,
says the damage reported at Prophetstown,
ILL.,, has been exaggerated. The telegraph
manager at Mendoza in communicating with
Prophetstown reported that railway depot,
been destroyed He says that there had been
no loss OF life. Several persons were injured,
but no names could be obtained At the gen.
eral Offices of the Chicago Burlington and
Quincy railway report of the disaster was
received by the superintendent at IL O'Clock
this morning. The report was to the effect
that the newspaper reports and first versions
were greatly exaggerated. But few buildings
were partially wrecked, and but six persons
were slightly injured. No deaths will result.
HISTORY OF THE TOWN.
Prophetstown is one of the most historic VIII
lagos in Illinois, situated on Rock river, in
Whiteside county, about a score of miles from
where it empties into the Mississippi river. 1t
has been In existence Indian village as
far back as the traditions Of the northwest ex-
tend. During the dark and bloody DAYS when
Nhiteside, for whom the county in which
Prophetstown is located is named. was fighting
Black Hawk and his savages Prophetstown was
small Indian village, and it is related that
the soldiers burned the wigwams and looted
the village, though the Indians who had occu-
pied it had hitherto been friendly with the
whites. The name has an Indian origin, the
Prophet, as the great Tecumseh was known,
having made the village his headquarters.
" hen the country vas finally at peace and
began to develop under the whites Prophets
town became town of considerable import
ance, but has never affirmed any great popula-
ton. Ii now has probably 1000 inhabitants.
bnt, not being a county seat, has no particular
commercial iu1pOrtapna