The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1890-04-03
THE WESTERN TORNADO.

have taken place. The special dispatches
to the New York Press of Friday tell the
sad story as follows:
"A disaster unprecedented in the his
tory of Kentucky has overtaken Louis
Vile, the second city of the South, and
tonight her people are sick with the
agony and awe that can come only from
the sudden loss of friends and home by
one of natures great commissions. At an
hour when hundreds of families were
seated at their tables for their evening
meal and thousands more thrOnged the
streets on their way to places of amuse-
ment, tornado, which had been for
hours gathering strength as for final
effort, swept down upon the city with re-
lentless fury.
at lasted only fifteen minutes, but
when it passed on across the Ohio to
scenes of further desolation it left in its
track the ruins of $500 peaceful homes
and massive business buildings and the
dead and dying bodies of half thousand
stricken citizens. Two thousand men
are injured and the city tonight is one
vast hospital. To recount the details OF
this disaster is at present beyond the
power of man. Our people are stunned
and dazed, and even those who lost nc
dear relatives are shocked beyond the
power of intelligent and systematic ac'
| ton by the ruin and carnage which has
come upon us with such suddenness.
"All day long the streets have beer
| filled with crowds of maddened people
rushing hither and thither, they knew
not where. Some are searching for miss
| ing friends, some have found their deal
ones still in DEATH and wander aim essly
about, hoping thus to quiet the pain OF
it all. Still others are moved by that un
accountable impulse to reach the scene
of the disaster, only to turn away sick
ened beyond speech when they have seer
and felt the horror of it. Days must pass
before the story can be told.
"The pathway of the tornado is like g
| hideous cash across the breast of one OF
the fairest cities of the South, through
which is oozing the life blood of many OF
her best people. The storm entered the
city with its fullest fury at about
o'clock in the evening, at Eighteenth
street, moving diagOnally in path five
blocks wide, until it reached Seventh-st
From the first crash of the hurricane I'M.
til it rolled away, leaving the city
wrecked and mutilated, with its streets
full of dead and wounded, there was al
irresistible panic.
"Such desolation as prevailed in this
narrow path no city has known in thi,
century from such cause. Every build
ing, tree, telegraph pole, or other objec
which presented any resistance to the
howing gale was swept from its track
| like so much chaff, until to-day nothing
intercepts the view from one end of the
tOrnado's path to the other. On an area
of three miles long and half mile wide
not a stick or stone is standing to-day
where but yesterday some of the proud
est structures in the land reared theil
massive heads.
"The approach of the storm was
heralded by sharp, cracking sound, like
the swapping of gigantic trees, followed
instantly by succession of tremendous
roars that made men turn pale with fear.
Almost instantly those who were with
out the storms path knew that some.
thing terrible had happened, and then
began mad rush for the scene At its
borders the crowd were met by other
crowds, crazed with fear and fighting
fiercely for egress from the death trap
through which they had SO recently
passed. Shrieks of agony and fear,
mingled with the hoarse shouts of eXcit'
ed men, filled the air and made them
selves heard above the loud roar of the
storm fiend as it continued its deadly
work. 1t was not until the massively
built portion of Seventh street, at the in.
tersection of Market street, was reached
that the full force of the disaster began
to dawn upon the incoming crowd.
From that point to the Ohio River the
scene was terrible and beyond descrip
ton. Immense business blocks were
crushed like eggshells; enormous tObac
co warehouses, built to withstand tire
mendOus pressure from within and with
out, had crashed to their foundations
splitting their golden contents in yellow
torrent upon the streets. Here and there
from beneath pile of debris protrudeG
a mangled hand or foot, and the running
painting mob put their fingers in theil
ears to shut out the awful cries theil
fears would not permit them to heed.
when West Market street was
reached, however, a sight met their eyes
the horror of which made them forge
even their deadly fear. There lay a mass
of ruins where once had stood Falls City
Hall, one of the largest lodge and meet
ing places in the city. The Grove
stopped and shivered with the terror o.
the thought as they remembered tina
within that building there had gathered
for social purposes, not an hour before
over 30 men, women and children.
'Where were they now? The answer
came quickly and terribly in the shriek'
of the wounded and the grOans of the
dying, and no man in all that crowd left
that fatal spot until he had done his par
in the rescue with all his might anC
main"
We have given the graphic sketch as
first telegraphed, but are glad to say thai
the loss of life has not been as great a,
was at first feared. Later dispatches
say:
1.-THE tornado cloud is described a,
having purple hue. 1t is claimed thai
people saw in its funnel shaped body
high in the air several sheep and Othel
small live stock. 1t is certain that more
than one thousand head of hogs. sheep
horses and cattle were killed in that one
county alone. The monster seemed tC
circle about the entire county and not {
section of it escaped death and destruc
ton.
1.-THE list of dead in the immediate
vicinity of Clay, town near Louisville
is close to %, making As in the village
and its environments. 1t is not unlikely
that the dead in the county number clost
to 100. There is not a whole farm build
ing for miles and the county will com,
near being bankrupted. Whole fields o
wheat were torn up by the roots. Or
chards were carried to unknown point
and fences cannot be found
1.-THE loss of life in Louisville will no
prove nearly so great as at first supposed
At a late hour last night ninety-fou
names were borne on the list of the dead
and of these but three were taken from
the ruins during the whole of Saturday
"The property loss will be about %,
800, 900 in Louisville, alone.
A SAD SUNDAY.
"The funeral professions followed eacl
other in quick succession to the GENE
teries, and the city was all day in mourn
ing. Many of the funerals were witt
Military, Masonic or other hOnOrs, AM
some of the scenes were very impressive
Masses were said at the Catholic churche
and sermons preached at the Protest
ant
The latest report says: "The humble
of dead victims of the disastrous storm
at Louisville is now put at 125. This i
an awful aggregate, but happily it j
much smaller than was suggested by tn
early estimates"