The Big Stone post. (Big Stone Gap, Va.) 1890-1892, 1892-04-08
FATAL TORNADOES.
HOUSES DEMOLISHED AND HUMAN
LIVES CRUSHED OUT.

! Destroyed and Many People Killed In
Kansas-A Cyclone Thursday Evening in
Chicago.
KANSAS CRY, Mo-, April Last nights
tornado entirely destroyed Towanda, Kan,
killing twenty people; wrecked Augusta.
killing four and seriously injuring many
others; did great damage at Wellington,
killing several people, and demolished
several buildings at Kiowa. Particulars
may be difficult to obtain on account Of
the continued prostration of the tele-
graphic service.
A terrible wind-storm prevails to-day
throughout Kansas, Missouri, and South
ern Nebraska. The Western Union re-
ports that they have been loosing wires
every minute for the last four hours.
They have Only three wires left out of 3OO
ArcHIsoS, Kan, April IA tornado
struck this city at noon to-day, unroofng
and demolishng several large buildings,
and scattering signs, awnings, and out
houses in every direction. The Sante Fe
railroad depot was unroofed, and the
chapel at the Scholastic Convent was de-
moished. I he ice warehouse of the Thrall
Ice Company was destroyed, and the gro
Gerry warehcu use of H Taylor is in ruins.
The roof Of the city prison was carried oft
and portion of the building demolished.
A small house in the Missouri Pacific
Yards was blown into the river. Hun
dreds of chimneys have been blown down
and great deal of damage has been done.
The heavy damage in the country is to
fruit trees. The ground is very soft on
account of recent rains, and thousands OF
trees have been torn up by the roots. No
one has been reported injured.
FOUR LITTLE CHILDREN KILLED.
The tornado continued in Kansas and
the northwestern part of Missouri to-day,
but was less destructive. At Wellington
the house of man named Little was de-
molished, and four little children killed.
| Another house with thirteen inmates, was
picked up and dropped, and everybody in
it was more or less hurt. The house of
man named Botterworth was carried bodi-
" through the air 800 yards. Some Of
the family were fatally hurt.
Later reports say that not a building
was left standing in Towanda. The town
was asleep when the storm swept down,
l
ing dead bodies lying in its wake. Four
dead bodies have been recovered from
ruins already searched. Twenty persons
are fatally hurt and forty more seriously
injured, besides a large number more or
less injured.
AT Augusta three were killed outright
Harmon Hoskins, James Barnes, end the
infant child of Will Rhodes, which was
blown out of it's mothers arms and dashed
against a brick wall. Rhodes himself is
fatally injured, as is also the wife of Har-
mon Hoskins. Fifteen others were more
or less seriously injured, according to
present reports, but all the wires are
down, and it is impossible to get any de-
tailed account from either place.
At Lawrence the wind reached veloci-
ty of eighty-four miles. In Kansas City
it reached sixty-four miles, and great
deal of damage was done to signs, glass,
insecure buildings, electric wires, etc.
CONSTANT ADDITIONS TO THE CASUALTIES.
Additions are constantly being made
TO the storm casualties. In Kansas City,
Kan, two persons we're fatally injured.
Among the towns suffering are Marshall,
Warrensburg, Chilicothe, and st. Joseph,
Mo-, and Saina, Olathe, and Ottawa, Kan.
Eighty families lived at Towanda, Kansas,
and not one Of them escaped injury or loss
of life to some member.
THREE PEOPLE KILLED
CHICAGO, April l.-At about $50 this
evening the sky, which had been threat
ening all the afternoon, became black as
night, and in another minute 4 terrible
cloud burst occurred. The wind blew at
q hurricane rate and drove the rain in
sheets along the streets, sweeping every
movable object before it. The wind was
of cvclonic force, and at the corner Of
halstead and Pearce streets tore down
house and killed three people. Serious
damage is reported in various parts of
the city, but it is not known whether 9TH
er casualties have occurred or not.
PROBABLY MORE FATALITIES.
The house which blew down was seven
story brick. 1t was surrounded by one
and two-story frame dwellings occupied
by poor families Several Of these were
crushed and three children instantly kill
ed. Three people missing are supposed
to be under the ruins-probably dead.
Twelve others were injured, of whom two
or three are likely to die.
THE DESTRUCTION MUST HAVE BEEN GREAT.
OMAHA, NEB., April l.-Telegraph wires
: all over the State are Frustrated, and it
is impossible to obtain news Of the extent
of last nights cyclone. The Western
Union reports that it has the only wire in
operation in Nebraska, and that is on the
j line of the Elkhorn road. A special to
the Bee from Norfolk, on that line, in the
northern part Of that State, says cyclone
struck the town about ii O'Clock last
night and did considerable damage. lfthls
should prove to be the same cyclone which
devastated Nelson the destruction must
have been great. The storm traversed
, $50 miles over the richest farming section
of the State, dotted with small cities
and villages. The wind is still blowing
gale here and the wires are down on all
sides. Hundreds Of telephone wires are
still down as result Of last Saturdays
storm.
}, NOTICE.