Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1890-04-04
THE MOST COMPLETE WRECK

To be seen is that of the Union Depot al
Seventh and the river. The structure was
of IRON and brick, and was considered tt
be very strong and substantial. 1t was
after the Louisville Southern had arrived
last night that the tornado struck the sta
ton and completely demolished it. II
cannon had fired tWenty-pound shot at il
for hours the wreck could not have beer
more complete. the great iron roof which
covered the immense building was toppled
over. All of the coaches in the structure
were turned over, and some of them ruined.
General Echols' private CAL was turned over
but fortunately the owner was half houl
late and was not hurt. The car stood in the
east end of the depot and the building fel
on it, making complete wreck.
DEATH IN A DARKROOM.
A man who made a narrow escape told
the following story: II was standing in
the bar at the back of the store and was
talking to three men, who are now dead
and to two other men. About $50 O'Clock
we heard a terrible roar and a tearing sound
and then the house R6eked back and forth
Ben Schildt had just said that he was going
home, but he had scarcely said it when the
door was blown to and we were caught. |
tried to open it but could not. My wife and
children screamed, but ran safely out the
back way; but they had scarcely got out
when that portion of the house was blown
down. We tried the windows, but just
then the floor fell in, and Schildt, Sullivan
and Deemar went through to the cellar. |
chung to the side of the house and escaped
through a broken window with two other
men. The screams of the men in the cellar
were terrible to hear, as they were held in
by the roof and the building rapidly burned.
They cried for help, but we could do
nothing. We tried, but it was in vain, and
crushed and mangled they burned to death
before our eyes. They were soon burned
to death and their horrible cries for help
were soon stopped, but it was terrible. j.
1t was three hours later before the fire was
stopped and the wreck cleared away enough
to get at the three men, and so black and
charred were they that Sullivan's father
and Deemer'S brother were unable to recog-
nize them. They were burned to crisp.
and they could only be identified after a
long search.
FIVE GIRLS KILLED,
The destruction of Ike Baer's saloon, on
Main street, next to the Louisville Hotel.
was the most deplorable accident On that
The ground floor was used
by Baer, but the floors above were occupied
by laundry girls of the hotel. 1t is known
that at least five Of the girls were in their
rooms when the tornado struck the build
ing, and all of them were killed.
THREE KILLED IL A GROCERY,
Three lives were lost at the corner Of Sig
teenth and Maple streets. The killed were
John limerick, forty years; his daughter,
four years, and James Fitzgerald. a neigh
Dor. limerick kept a grocery at that cor
ner, and at the time of the accident there
were in the store the proprietor, bis wife,
little daughter, and Fitzgerald. The build
ing was frame ne one, two stories high. At
the first gust OF ths wind the walls doubled
up and the roof dropped in. MI. Enlsriek
was crushed by the falling timbers, and was
taken out dead short time afterward. His