The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-04-02
IT CARRIED HOUSES AND
THEIR INMATES AWAY.
Meagrs Reports Tell Of Great Loss
Of Life and Property.
FALLING CHICAGO BUILDING ENDS
ELEVEN LIVES.

1t killed Three Outright and Fatally In
jured Eight-Four Are Missing and
May Increase the Tota1-The Chicago
Storm Occurred Last Night at the
Close of Two Days of Tornados in
Down in All Directions, but the Bad
News Got Through.
KANSAS CITY, Mo-, April IA torna-
do of mad destructiveness swept over
Kansas last night. In Butler county was
the scene Of the greatest havoc. The
town of Towanda was wiped off the face
of the earth. Augusta, a few miles dis
tant, was buffeted out of all semblance
to it's former self Not a building was
left standing in Towanda. The town
was asleep when the storm swept down,
razed everything in its path, and left
dead bodies in its wake. Four dead
bodies were recovered from the ruins
already searched. Twenty persons were
fatally hurt and 40 more seriously in
iured, besides a large number more or
less manned. At Augusta, three were
killed outright, two fatally injured and
Is others hurt, more or less seriously, ac-
cording to present reports. All wires
are down, and it is impossible to get any
detailed accounts from either place.
Apparently the same storm touched
Kiowa and Wellington. In Kiowa, the
Missouri Pacific depot and number of
dwellings were demolished. No loss of
life is known. Several minor mishaps
are reported, and the damage to prop
erty is said to be great. Wellington and
it's vicinity suffered considerably.
Several People Were Killed.
William Little's home, south of Yelling
ton, was blown to splinters, and Little
and his four children killed. Joe Wal
toms house was picked up, and 13 of the
occupants more or less injured. Butter
worth's house and it's occupants were
carried 800 yards in the air and some of
the family fatally hurt.
The storm came across country from
Indian Territory into the southwest part
of Barber county, Kansas, taking the lit
tie town of Kiowa in it's path. In
northeasterly direction, it passed through
Frazier county and through the center of
Sumner countr. Bending as bow, 1T
passed almost directly north through the
remainder of Sumner county and along
the western part of Butler county. The
tornado continued in Kansas and the
northwestern part OF Missouri today, but
was less destructive.
A dispatch from Fort Scott states that
southeastern Kansas was visited last
night by one of the strongest wind
storms for years. No reports OF injuries
to persons were received. Many barns,
outbylildings, hay stacks and occasional
ly well constructed residences were de-
stroyed.
The wind at Leavenworth at noon be-
came hurricane and blew away part
of the roof of the Great Western Stove
Works and the works suspended for the
day.
At st. Joseph nearly every telegraph
and telephone wire was torn down and
many small houses demolished and larg-
er ones unroofed. Thousands of dollars
of damage was caused by the breaking of
plate glass in store windows. In the
eastern part Of the city, a brick house
was blown down, seriously injuring a
girl. AT the factory of Tootle Hosea &
Co.,
Stampede of Several Hundred Girls
occurred, and several were hurt.
A despatch from Lawrence, Kas., says
the roof of the Haskell hospital was
blown away, and it was necessary to an
chor the building with cables. No one
was injured. The patients were re-
moved.
In Kansas City the wind reached
velocity of 64 miles. The damage con-
sisted principally of roofs being blown
away and plate glasswindOws broken. The
roof of the high school was blown off,
and school dismissed, it being feared the
building unsafe. The roof of an apart
ment house was blown away and a
grocery store lost its roof and portion
of it's front. Signs were blown down all
over the city, some crashing through
costly plate glass windows. Other win
dows were crushed in by the
force of the wind. Telephone
wires were prostrated and the
Western Union reports no communica
tion with points west of the centre Of
Kansas, while it has but few workable
wires east Telegraph poles along all
the railroads west of here are prostrated,
causing tangle OF wires.
At Des Moines, Ia., the damage is es-
mated at 100000
RICH SECTION DEVASTATED,
As Near AS Can Be Judged With Wires
Down All Over Nebraska.
n,r4uA Nah ADri1 1-The te1eoranh