Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-04-02
WORK OF THE WIND,
Several Southern Kansas
Towns Wiped Entirely
Out of Existence,
WITH MANY LIVES LOST.
Hurricanes Work Havoc in the
Large Missouri River Cities.
AUGUSTA AND TOWANDA RUINED.
Almost Every State in the West and
Southwest las Its Story.
WITH MANY LIVES LOST.
AUGUSTA AND TOWANDA RUINED.
MElGER NEWS FROM FALLEN WIRES

last night. Butler county seems to have
been the scene of the greatest havoc. The
town of Towanda was entirely wiped off the
face of the earth, and Augusta, a few miles
distant. was bufeted out of all semblance tc
It's former self
Not a house or building was left standing
IN Towauda. The town was asleep when
ne storm swept down upon it, and razed
everything in its path and left dead bodies
living in its wake Four dead bodies have
been recovered from the ruins already
searched. Twenty persons are fatally hurt
and 40 more seriously in jured, besides a
large number more or less manned.
At Augusta three were killed outright,
James Barnes and the infant child of Will
Rhodes, who was blown out of his mothers
arms and dashed against a brick wall
Rhodes himself is fatally injured, as is also
the wife of Harmon HoskinS. Fifteen
others were hurt more or less seriously, ac-
cordi9g to present reports, but all wires are
down. and it is impossible to get any de-
.ailed account from either place.
Several Were Killed at Wellington.
Arparentlv the same storm touched at
Kiowa and Wellington. In Kiowa the
Missouri Pacific depot and number of
dwellings, and buildings were demolished.
Wellington and vicinity suffered consider
allv. and several people were killed. Will
am Iirtle's house at South of Wellington
vas blown to splinters, and Little and four
children were killed Joe Walters house
Was picked M. and 13 of the occupants
were more or less injured. Sam Butter
rr0rrh'S house and its occupants were car
-iai 800 wards in the air, and some of the
-milv were seriously hurt.
The storm. as far as can be determined,
swept across the country from the Indian
Territory into the Southwestern part of Bar
.ar county, taking the little town OF kiowa
n irs path. In northeasterly direction it
rassed through Frazier county and through
-ne center of Sumner county. Bending as a
bow II passed almost directly north through
rha remainder Of Sumner county and along
-he Western part of Butler county. Vii
lareS and farm houses were carried awav as
II swept along. The tornado continued in
Kansas and the northwestern part of Mis-
souri, today, but was less destructive. A
lisuatch from Fort Scott states that South
eastern Kansas was visited last night by one
of the strongest wind storms fer years.
In the Missouri River Towns.
At AtchiSon the gale began at midnight
last night but no damage was done to speak
of until nearly noon TODAY, when a tornado
visited the city and unroofed and demol-
iShed several large buildings and scattering
signs and awnings in every direction. The
Santa Fe depot was unroofed and the Schol-
aSiic Convent was demolished. The ware
house of the Thralland Company was de-
srroved. and the grocery store of the Say
Ior Company is in ruins. The roof of the
prison was carried of and a part of the
building demolished. A small house in
the Missouri Pacific yards was blown into
the river.
The wind at Leavenworth at noon had
become a hurricane and blew away part of
the roof of the Great Western Stove Works,
where work was suspended for the dav The
roof Of the Great Western Machine Works
was lifted several feet at once and dropped
again. The tin roof of Crawford's Opera
House aud the roof of the Caldwell build
ing on Delaware street were blown away at
noon.
AT St Joseph nearly every telegraph and
telephone wire in the city has been torn
down, Numerous small houses demolished
and many large ones unroofed. Thousands
OF dollars worth Of damage was caused by
the breaking of plate glass in store win
aoVys In the eastern part of the city
brick house was blown down, burying Tillie
EG~hEeil, aged years, and seriously in
Turing her.
in Lawrence and Kansas City.
4 disrateh from Lawrence. Kan, saws:
The wind has been blowing a gale here since
midnight. Observations taken by Chan
c.IIor Snow, of the State University,
showed that the wind at times attained
velocity of 81 miles an hour Many build
ia-s were unroofed and outhouses demol
she'd The roof of the Haskell hospital
was blown away and it was necessary to
anchor the building with cables.
IN Kansas City the wind reached a
~elority Of about 64 miles. The dam
age consisted principally of roofs blown
away and plate glass windows broken. The
roof the High school at Locust and Twelfth
streets was blown of. There was no panic
but school was dismissed, ii being feared
that the building was unsafe. The roof of
an apartment house at Tenth and Charlotte
streets was blown away, and a grocery
store, Ninth and Troost avenue, lost its
roof and a part of its front Signs were
blown down all over the city, some Of them
crashing through costly plate glass windows
i'm the center OF the business section OF the
city. Other windows were crushed in by
the force Of the wind.
Wires Generally Laid Out.
Telephone wires throughout the city were
7rostrated The greatest damage was suf-
f-red by the the telegraph companies. The
Western Union reports no communication
whatever with points west Of the center of
the State of Kansas, and has but a few
workable wires east Messages are being
received subject TO indefinite delay.
A dispatch from Norfolk, in the northern
part of Nebraska, SAYS tornado struck the
town about IL o'clock last night and did
considerable damage. If this should prove to
b,. the same tornado which devastated Mel
son. the destruction must have been great.
The storm trayersed 159 miles over the
richest farming section of the State, dotted
with small cities and villages The wind is
blowing a gale at Omaha and wires are down
on all sides.
A terrific wind storm prevails TODAY
throughout Kansas, Missouri and southern
Nebraska The Western Union reports
that they have been losing wires everv
minute for the last four hours until at
o'clock thev have only three wires left out
300 Des Moines, Ia, reports that the
wind is still blowing hurricane there. A
storm. which amounted almost to a tornado,
is also reported from Galesburg, Ill. Frag-
1naptary storm news is coming in from
Missouri.
The Worst Afflicted Town.
Towanda, Kan, is a small village of 1900
Inhabitants, ten miles west Of Eldorado
The storm laid the whole town fiat with the
portb. and left not single house standing
ofthr so families comprising the popula-
ZION there is not one tonight that is not
either mourning for a dead ordying member
or sorrowing with the suffering. -Four per-