Huntsville gazette., 1890-04-05

u.
women were found digging at the slate
with their fingers, crazed with the
ruin beneath. Every one did noble
work. After an hour of ceaseless labor
the first victim, Mrs. Sarah Kelly, was
unearthed. Her body was found sitting
in an upright position, her head bruised
and one arm broken. She said that at
the first quake mad rush was made
for the entrance. Women were knocked
down and trampled upon in the mad
haste to escape. Seeing the overwhelm-
ing jam at the door she remained be-
hind. The last she saw of her friends
was just before the floor gave in and the
ceiling fell.
The work was continued, but none of
those whom Mrs. Kelly said were near
her could be found.
The excavation was then moved from
the rear of the building to the front,
where it was supposed the great crowd
was gathered. AS soon as the roofing
was removed and the mass of brick be-
meath, the first sight that met the eyes
was any thing but hopeful.
Len WOUleu. lOCkeu III edCn OGnerS
arms, were drawn out of the debris, all
dead but one. Mr.. James Hassen,
whose wife had been at the lodge meet
ing, was foremost in the work, and the
first person whom he took out of the
ruined building was his wife, who died
in his arms. He lay her by the side of
the others who were dead and continued
to work for the living.
Inside of the next hour thirty men
and women were drawn out dead but
with no wounds on their bodies, and it
is thought all met their death from suf-
location. The gas pipes had broken,
which caused the lights to go out and
saved the ruins from fire for the
time, but flooded the debris with va
por almost as deadly as the fire might
have proven. Ways were pierced into
the breast of the ruins and bodies were
drawn out dead and dying. One part of
the building was reserved for the dead,
but tho wounded were taken into the
stores and houses on the opposite side
of the street, where physicians and
priests administered to souls and bodies.
Along against the pathway of the
storm, extending from Sixth to Tenth
streets, and from Seventh to Eleventh,
not single building was left standing.
Occasionally massive stone or iron
front still stood in the air, while the en-
tire structure proper had been swept
away. This morning it presented the
most stupendous spectacle of disaster
and ruin ever witnessed, In the course
of the storm lay the prime tobacco mar
ket of the city, and to-day the ware
houses almost to the last one lay in
ruins. They include the Kentucky,
Pickett's, Ninth-street, Falls City,
Phoenix, Green River, Louisville, En-
terprise, Central and Planters. The
destruction OF the Louisville and Ninth
street warehouses could not possibly
have been more complete. Thousands
of hogsheads of tobacco lay in the mass
of brick and mortar, some exposed to
view and others buried from sight be-
meath the debris.
The Louisville Hotel, between Sixth
and Seventh streets, was unroofed and
otherwise wrecked, while the building
west, occupied as cigar store upon the
first floor, and sleeping rooms upon the
second and third, was razed entirely to
the ground, not single brick remain
ing in place. In the destruction of this
house many lives were lost, principally
of persons who occupied sleeping rooms
there. Many of them were young girls
employed at the hotel next door.
Saloons and other available places
have been turned into hastily i'm
provised morgues, where the bodies are
taken as fast as recovered and left
awaiting Identification. Patrol wagons
are being pressed into service as dead
wagons to convey the corpses to the
designated places.
Eleventh street seemed to serve as
kind of flue for the storm, as all inter-
cepting objects in that line are prac-
tically reduced to nothingness. As it
rushed down this street it carried with
it the fronts of the buildings, which are
mostly residences, on each side, leaving
in many instances the furniture and
other contents unmolested. Frequently
from the center of some three-sided
dwelling tho unbroken chandelier is
still swinging.
Jefferson and Main streets are almost
in as bad condition as others, and wag-
ons are carting away soiled and broken
furniture from homes that were yester-
day but are to-day no longer. The
massive trees in the park on Jefferson
street have been twisted and broken
like rods, and lay crossed and piled
upon each other.
The storm district in Louisville is de-
scribed as extending from Eighteenth
to Seventh street, and from Main street
to Broadway This includes territory
about mile square, and across this sec
ton the cyclone swept diagonally.
Main street is the principal wholesale
street of the city, and Market street.,
one of the leading retail streets. also
lies within this district. This street is
one string of stores for distance OF
over two miles, extending from Preston
street to Twenty In nearly all
the buildings there are families resid-
ing above the stores. The business Sec
ton of the visited district runs south to