, 1890-07-27
LAWRENCE LEVELLED.
A Massachusetts, City Struck
by a Terrible Cyclone.
1t Cleans a Path Fully Twenty
Rods Wide.
Property Worth Over 100000
Destroyed.
Eight Persons Killed and Fifty
Injured.
cyclone at Lawrence, Mass.

hENCEt uudSc.s GUY ~ Cf-
clone of great power struck South Law
renee, about two miles from here, this
morning. 1t first struck Springfield street
and travelled thence to Salem street, de-
vastating a section twenty rods wide. 1t
estimated that 100 buildings were levelled.
Eight men are known to have been killed
outright and the injured are now reported
as numbering fifty or sixty. Fire broke
out in a number of places in the ruins
The injured are being removed and cared
for as quickly as possible.
At 10 O'Clock the awful visitation came.
The wind was from the east and rain was
falling heavily, when suddenly the heav-
ems became sglow with a white. bright
light. In q moment the wind veered to
the west and heavy. black clouds shot
from behind the western hills high into
the sky and then the thick mass parted.
Down shot black streaks from the murKy
mass and in . moment the crash came.
Buildings were crushed like shells OF eggs,
whole houses were lifted from their eel
lars and terror seized the dwellers. The
buildings in the city were all of wood,
pretty. easy homes of the toilers In the
mills, but in a trice their ruin was com
plete.
As soon as the terrified survivors re-
covered from the shock an alarm was
rung in and part of the fire apparatus and
police ambulances responded. Hundreds
began the work of rescue. From the ru-
were taken out. Mrs. O'Connell, l9
O'Connell, neck broken; Mary Lyons,
aged 40, crushed; Mrs. Collins, Portland
street, crushed; her child, 4 years old,
crushed. The child of Julia Bette,
which is buried in the ruins, has not been
found.
OF the injured some, especially those OF
the family Of Martin Mclaughlin, are
seriously if not fatally hurt The damage
to property is over 500, 900.
The 6remen rendered great assistance 10
removing the injured from the ruins.
Ambulances carried several loads of
mangled and crushed human beings to
the hospital, and Others were taken to
private houses. The work Of devastation
began at the cricket grounds on the south
west by uprooting a number of trees and
crushing a story and a halt house in the
rear of No. 6, Emmett street. occupied
James Lyons and family. Hearing the
approach of the storm Lyons rushed into
the house and seized the baby from his
wife's arms and fed to the street. Both
man and child escaped, but the dead
body of Mrs. Lyons was subsequently
taken from the ruins of her dwelling. At
the foot of Saunders court the switch
house in which Michael Higgins was
standing, was taken up bodily by the wind
and carried under an overhead railroad
bridge. crossing Salem street where Hig-
gins fell out ard was Instantly killed. Sew
eral houses were smashed here.
Following is the list OF the dead:
Michael Higgins, aged 35; Mrs. Mary
0'Connell, aged "a: Miss Mary O'Con.
nell, aged II; Mrs. Elizabeth Collins and
Annie Collins, aged 6; Hannah Beatty.
Mrs. Mary Lyons, Helen Cullen. A.
Hart is at the hospital and it is thought
he will die. Thirteen injured were carried
to the hospital, while others, whose names
cannot be learned, were cared for by
friends, their injuries being slight.
The cyclone entered at Springfield
street. where the greatest devastation was
wrought. When No. 81 fell, Door
carried down with it. OfConnell was the
injuries. His wife and daughter were re-
hhONCo liOh kuC III alkCl lWo nOut5
hard work, both dead.
On Portland street a lumber yard was
blown to atoms. The gate keeper at the
crossing was lifted bodily from his cabin
and carried some distance. He was
seriously shaken up and was for some
time unconscious. No. l6. occupied be-
low by WIN. Collins. was lifted from Its
foundation and the upper part came
crashing through the ceiling of the lower
one where sat Mrs Collins and three little
children. For a m heartrenderinQ
shrieks came from the heaps of rubbish
and then all was still. Mrs Collins was
taken out dead. also her daughter Annie,
aged 6. On South Union street great
damage was done. The wind continued
in the direction OF Springfield street north
eastward through Union Square, break
ing and twisting trees in every conceivable
shape. 1t is believed that from 500 to
1000 trees were destroyed in and about
the park.
In Andover one house was unroofed
and trees felled on all sides and fences
blown helter-skelter. The occupants of
most Of the ruined houses were hardwork-
ing laborers, whose houses were the fruit
OF a lifetime of toll
The engineer Of the Boston express saw
the cyclone as he was nearing South Law
renee and stopped the engine. This prob
ably saved his train, which was due at
South Lawrence at the time the cyclone
struck the place. Flames broke gu and
but for the Intervention OF the rain storm
the lire would have added to the horror OF
the calamity.