St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-07-17
Forty Workmen Imprisoned
Among the Timbers Of
the Falling Structure.
Three Men Taken Out Dead
and Another Dies From
His Injnries.
Considerable Damage Done to
Buildings and Shipping
in the Harbor.
Duluth, Carlton and Neigh
boring Points Visited by
a Great Storm. =

WEST SUPERIOR, Wis. July 16.-In an
instant this afternoon, by the giant play
of a cyclone, half a hundred human
beings were Gagged in a death trap. A
number of buildings were ravaged
throughout the city, but the extra
ordinary climax of the storm was
enacted in the hotel being con-
structed at the intersection of
Lamborn and Third streets. Over two
score unfortunate workingmen were
there imprisoned. Scarcely five min
ates elapsed from moment when the
men full Of energy were progressing
with their work till the frightful whirl
was miles distant in its path of destrue-
tiOn, and the sickening appearing re-
mains of the poor begrimed and
mangled men in the ill-starred
hostelry were being brought out of the
debris. 1t was with the utmost diff
Guilty that the undertaking OF getting at
the real extent of the disaster was prose
cuted. Three or four corpses dragged
from the ruins formed the basis of about
the first genuine information and dis
PEELED the faint hope that no life had
been sacrificed outright, ReScuers
were hindered and the misery of the
wounded douDly intensified by water
soaked garments, the result of the
dOwnpour of rain that accompanied the
devastating atmospheric eddy.
The Killed: y
JOHN LAUER, married, aged forty-six
years.
CHARLES LUCIUS, single, aged twenty
four
HERMAN PAUSSEY. single, aged twenty
six.
AN UNKNOWN MAN, aged about thirty
five.
JOHN SCOFIELD died from injuries re-
ceived in the back and broken limbs
Mike Keith is very badly injured
about the head and chest, with some
ribs broken; may die.
Four others are injured, but not seri-
Ously. There were twenty-six men at
work on the building, and their escape
from death is a marvel. Five buildings
were blown down at the steel plant in
the south part of the city, and a section
of one of the barge works build
ings was carried away. CHM
neys were blown down and cOnsid-
cradle minor damage was done. There
Is no means of accurately giving the
amount of damage, except in the de-
mOlished big building, which had about
$4,000 worth of work put on it. Assist
ant Fire Chief Kellogg, of Superior.
while assisting in removing the dead
and dying from the demolished
house, was caught by NOV
ing timber, breaking one of his legs.
While the dead and wounded were be-
ing conveyed from the hotel, vague re-
ports began coming in of the wreck
wrought in other localities. Lightning
struck the new Unitarian chapel. The
damage was slight. The boarding house
of Mrs. Fisher on West Second street
was burned. The patent iron hoisting
and unloading apparatus at the docks
of the Silver Creek and Morris Coal
company and Ohio Coal company were
blown down and badly damaged. The
loss is about $1,000. The shipping busi-
ness of the two companies will be de-
Iayed two weeks. Lightning shattered
the mast of the steamer India in the
dock.
When the Storm Came Up
Boss Carpenter Gross called to his men,
who were working on the three-story
building at Third street and Lamborn
avenue, to get out of the building, and
twelve of them jumped from the win
dows. At the same moment a number of
passers-by ran into the structure to
escape the storm. AS they entered.
the building, without an instants
warning, collapsed, burying seven
teen men. The structure did not
move foot from its foundation. 1t
Simply fiattened out as though by ter
Tible blow from above. Three timers
on the roof remained where they were
and escaped serious injury, though the
fall was thirty-eight feet. Hundreds
saw the catastrophe, and the work of
rescue began at once. The ruins stood
not six feet above the ground, and
the roof seemed to cover the whole,
greatly retaring the work of rescue.
1t was an hour before the first body,
that of Herman Roussey, was recovered.
He was found in a sitting position, bent
nearly double, with spikes driven into
his spine and almost every bone broken.
John Lauer was found on his back, with
four timbers lying across him, cut
ting his body into as many pieces. 1t
was a horrible sight. but over
worked Tescuers sickened in removing
the body. Scofeld was found in what
evidently had been a room on the third
floor, and was still alive, though he died
as soon as the weight was removed from
him, his back being broken, 1t was