Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1890-04-04
CURRENT AFFAIRS.
THE LOUISVILLE TORNADO.
One Hundred Persons KILLED aud I25
Badly Injured.

Badly Injured.
The brief announcement in last weeks
paper Of the terrible tornado which swept
over Louisville, Ky, was made up from
the first dispatches TO the city papers, and.
as is usually the case after any serious dis
aster the loss of life and property was
greatly overestimated Probably not over
100 persons were killed outright One hun.
dred and twenty five people were seriously
injured The property loss is from 81 ,OOO,.
600 to 81, 900, 600
In the afternoon the signal service had
predicted a cyclone, but nobody had thought
it would strike Louisville. At about &
o'clock the rain began falling. The storm
gradually increased in intensity. At S:25
the heavens became black as ink. There
was a deep, threatening roar, and then, al
most without warning, the tornado struck
Parkville, Just beyond the southw estern
limits of the city. The zigzag course Of
the tornado was then through the city and
across the Ohio river iuto Jrffersonville.
Ind The path through Louisville was
from Eighteenth and Maple streets north
easterly across the city past Seventh and
Broadway, Sixteenth and Chestnut, Twelfth
and Jefferson and thence to the union de.
pot at the foot of Seventh street The
worst ruin was wrought among the large
and substantial structures on Market and
Main streets. The noise of the storm could
lie heard two miles away. Buildings were
crushed like egg shells and almost every.
thing went down before the destroyer All
was over in few minutes. Then the sky
cleared and the moon came out to shed its
rays upon the dreadful scene. Whole
blocks had been moved down. Hundreds
of men, women and children were buried
beneath the debris and their agonized
shrieks rent the air. To add TO the horror
fires broke out in several places and were
with difficulty controlled. Relief parties
were organized as quickly as possible and
within ten minutes hundreds Of hands were
rendering assistance
The greatest loss of life occurred at the
Falls City hall, which was in the centre of
the tornado In the lower rooms of the
hall were from 30 TO - children, with their
mothers and other relatives, taking dane
ing lessons. There were at least l25 per.
sons on the lower floors and - more were
attending a lodge meeting on the upper
floor when the terrible wind swooped down
upon the building. The entire structure
was shapeless mass Of brick and mortar
IN less than five minutes, and Of the 200
persons IN the ruins only few escaped un
injured. As soon as the roofing was re
moved ten women were found locked in
each others arms. A man named Hasson
was foremost IN the work Of rescue and
the first person whom he drew out Of the
ruins was his wife, who died in his arms
He laid her 10y the side Of the others who
were dead, and continued to work for the
living Inside Of the next hour 80 men
and women were drawn out dead but with
no wounds on their bodies, and it is thought
all met their death from sufTocation. The
gas pipes had broken. which caused the
lights TO go out and filled the debris with a
vapor almost as deadly as fire might have
proved While the rescuers were still at
work the hall ruins took fire, and for an
hour operations had to be suspended.
The Louisville hotel. between Sixth aud
Seveth street was razed. and not a brick
was left standing in the building west of it.
which was occupied ON the second and
third floors as sleeping rooms In the de-
struction of this house many lives we're
lost, principally of persons who occupied
sleeping rooms there Many of them were
Young girls employed at the hotel ne t door
When the fire broke out in the ruins on
Seventh street a man. his wife and little
girl were seen wedged under the debris
and, although they shrieked and moaped
and the spectators made every effort to re
lease them from their position. it was i'm
possible aud they slowly burned in the
presence Of helpless hundreds
There are at least 100 families homeless
One poor woman between her half stifled
sobs told how that very evening her hus
band had paid to a building association the
last dollar they owed upon their house, and
now all that remains is a confused mass
There are many other cases almost parallel
to this. Hundreds Of thousands of dollars
worth of goods lay Thursday night upon
the business streets at the mercy of thieves
The tornado touched at several points be
sides Louisville and did much damage to
property, but accurate reports will proba-
bly, show that there were but few lives lost
outside Of that city. Jelfersunvlle, Ind
Metropolis, ILL.,, Marion, Ky, and Gallatin.
Tenn, were damaged To the amount Of
thousands Of dollars.