Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-06-04
THAT RACED WITH FURY.
Scene of Wild Excitement and Terror
- at Latonia Race Track.
WOMEN SHRIEKING WITH FRIGHT
Fly Panic-Stricken From the Grand Stand
to the Paddock.
GREAT DAMAGE DONE AT MANY PLACES.
ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE p1spkrcu.1

ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE pIsPATcH.l
CINCINNATI, June 3.-People who Wis
tied the Latonia track to-day had an expe-
rience they never want again. The day UP
to 2:30 P. NJ. had been lovely. At that
hour there was a commotion in the skies,
and a huge black bank of clouds thrust itself
with horrible gyrations above Cincinnati
They fingered there but a brief time, then
shot southeastward toward Latonia. In
Covington the storm fingered long enough
to partially demolish the c. & o. railroad
shops and take the life of Joseph Watts,
then made direct for Latonia.
Almost the first warning of danger was
the flying shutters of the club house. The
great audience instantly realized there was
danger and started to its feet. Before it
could move, long rows of shedding began to
fly apart and hustle through the air. At
the same moment the roof of the grand
stand groaned under terrific strain and ex-
citement seized the multitude. Women
turned pale and scrambled, shrieking,
toward the exits; men lost control of them
selves and Joined in the mad fight.
Terror was added when the wind caught
up deserted seats in the upper rows and
noisily tossed them about. A veritable
each other, leaping from the front row out
into the track and into the open paddock be-
yond. Unconscious women, decked in rich
robes and costly jewels. were dragged rather
than carried out. How that stand was
cmptied without death will remain mys-
terry. Hundreds of elegant toilets were
ruined
Scenes of Wild Excitement.
There were 5000 people in the grand
stand, one-third women, when the storm
struck ii. Horse sheds outside the race
course were picked up and strewn clear
across the railway track, 200 yards away.
Binding sheets of water driven by q 40
mile-an-hour hurricane, drenched every
body. The wind toppled the upper seats of
the grand stand over and rolled them toward
the front, amid the screams of women and
the wild rush for the broad central stairway
Brave men rushed into the crazy crowd
and averted calamity. The crowd went
down safely to shelter under the stand.
Many women tainted. One woman cleared
the fence next the track with a single bound
and ran across the track in the howling
storm. Another woman is reported to have
thrown her baby over the railing onto the
grass and afterward to have picked it up
uniniured. Half an hour later the wet
crowd was sitting on moist benches watching
the races.
Many Lives Reported Lost.
The storm moved off to the southeast,
taking everything in its path. Rumor saws
there is a heavy loss of life in Boone and
Grant counties, but no news can be had 1t
IS known that Ohio, from Defiance to the
Ohio river, was traversed by the storm and
much ruin wrought, but details cannot be /
had. lsuTnor says dozen lives were lost
about Defiance.
Specials report that at Laporte, Ind, this
evening, a storm unrooted King & Fields
mammoth warehouse, damaging wooden
goods about $50, ,000 AT New Philadelphia
the storm of rain, hail and wind this after
noon damaged crops and fruits. Lightning
struck the public schoolhouse, but seriously
hurt no one. The wind unroofed the factory
Of the roofing tile works.
AT Seymour, Ind, a tornado tore up trees,
demolished the main building of the ice
factory, blew away the third story of the
Shields High School building but spared |
human life and limb. AT Augusta, KY,
trees were uprooted and houses were un- |
rooted. At Falmouth, KY, the immense |
barn of Farmer James Austin was blown |
down and Miss Mamie Austin, his 16-year- |
old daughter, who was in it, was killed
AT Salina, O., the Friends Church was |
wrecked and eight houses were unroofed. |
AT Xenia, O., a barn was blown away and |
timber and fences were blown down,