The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-07-07
A CYCLONES WORK
Houses UnroOfed and Property
Destroyed in Baton Rouge.
THE PEN;TENTIARY IN RUINS
Many Prisoners Were Killed and Injured-A
Fire Alarm SOunded-The Storm De-
molishes Steamboat.

BATON ROUGE, La, July GA cyclone
passed over the lower portion Of the town
this morning unroofing houses, tearing up
immense trees and carrying pieces OF the
wreck through the air for many blocks.
The boulevard is Uttered with trees that
were torn up by the wind, and pieces Of
house tops and other timbers. The peni-
Tertiary walls were blown down, ten per-
sons killed and thirty wounded; the fac
tory building is demolished and the hos
pitsl and penitentiary are mass of ruins.
The steamship Smoky City was blown 10
pieces, there being nothing left but the
null. Several Of the crew were badly In
jured. In the city no one was killed though
several were seriously injured. The fol-
lowing is list of those killed at the peni-
Tertiary:
Whites-Isaac McClelland, j. A. Wag-
goner, Fred Cage, James Van Meter, Jonn
Gibson aud William Willow.
Colored-Nathan Chancey, Henry Gales
tin, Beauregard Harden, Edward Buckner.
OF thirty-fve injured five received dan
gerous wounds. The convicts were at work
in the jeans pants factory in the third story
of the north wing when the storm struck
the building and entirely demolished the
second and third stories. There were
others in the hospital in the second story
and it is miracle that any escaped with
their lives. In addition to the north wing
the cell building was unroofed and par
tally destroyed. The woman's ward was
also unroofed. It is impossible to form
an estimate OF the damage TO buildings as
all the property is more or less injured. In
the city fifty houses at least were unroofed
or destroyed. J. II. Young and members
Of his family were seriously hurt by their
house on St. Charles street. Mrs. Cotton,
son and two daughters, living in a brick
house on Main street, opposite G.. ID. Wad-
dills' were injured by the falling OF
building. Mrs. Cotton received a danger
Gus blow on the back Of the head and also
internal injuries, while one of the girls was
cut on a limb. Mrs. Cotton it is thought
will recover. There were no others seri
ously hurt
A fire alarm was sounded and the entire
fire department summoned together with
citizens and prison officials, aided by the
uninjured prisoners. They worked vigor-
ously for the rescue of the unfortunates.
Scenes of horror greeted the eye of those
engaged in rescuing work, and pitiful walls
and death groans from men buried out OF
sight by the massive heaps OF brick and
mortar, could be heard arising from every
part of the wreck, imploring help and al
together the scene was heartrending- The
storm was attended by most violent ruin,
in which the rescurers worked and toiled
and the dead were extricated from the
ruins Thirty six in all were wounded and
of this number six or more will die.
visit TO the capitol and other state
buildings showed them to be unframed by
the winds, as was also the business portion
of the town. The southern portion Of the
city, styled "Cstfishtown," suffered great
loss and damage to property. In this sec
ton several persons were seriously hurt
and bruised by flying timbers from falling
houses and fences. 1t can be said that this
is the greatest loss the town has ever sus-
tanned, whether from cyclone or fire. The
storm did not make a straight sweep
through the city. It would strike the
ground and bound forward like bouncing
ball and pass over several houses at a time.
The trunks of large cakes were taken OFF
like pipestems. So sudden was the storm
that number of vehicles were caught and
wrecked in the streets. A number of very
narrow escapes are reported.