St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-03-24
CYCLONE-SWEPT
A Terrific TWister Hurled Up
the Mississippi Valley
Yesterday.
Buildings Crushed Like Egg
shells by the Wind at
Tunica, Miss.
Complete Wreck of a Schoo-
House Containing $50
Children.
None Killed, but Many We're
Horribly Manned and
Bruised.
The Little Hamlet Of Kelly,
Miss, Swept From the
Earth.
Bowling Green, KY, Reported
to Have Been DevaS-
tated.

MEMPHIS. Tenn, March 23.-Scatter-
Ing reports coming to Memphis from
points in West Tennessee and Northern
Mississippi indicate that terrific cy-
clone was hurled up the Mississippi
valley from the southwest this after
noon, sweeping houses like strawstacks
along in its mad path. Telegraph wires
in every direction were twisted into
tangles like delicate silken threads, and
communication with the storm-swept
localities is exceedingly difficult and
unsatisfactory. Trains from the East
reaching the city late in the afternoon
and evening brought reports of wide
spread destruction. Passengers on the
Yazoo & Mississippi Valley train told
of the destruction of Tunica, Miss. The
Birmingham train due in Memphis at
$50 could not get to Memphis until
after O'Clock, being compelled to'chop
and remove trees off the track between
here and Kelly. The trainmen report
that
Not a House Was Left Standing
in Kelly, which is station about thir
teen miles from Memphis. The .swath
OF the storm as it crossed the Kansas
City, Memphis & Birmingham railroad
seemed to embrace territory between
Capreville and Olive Branch. Dozens
of houses. huge trees and barns were
rszed to the ground by the violence of
the storm.
The damage at Tunica, Miss, was
great. About $3.50 o'clock in the after
noon the sky i'll the southwest began to
darken and a low wailng sound an
nounced a storm. Within few minutes
the wind came along with terrible We
locity. The first hard blow gave way to
the cyclone and houses crushed like
eggShells, tossing saloon and church
alike to the ground. Such unusual and
unexpected wrath stunned the people.
A partial calm, save for the fall of
rain, then came, and people rushed
about in great excitement. On one side
of the square, where stood handsome
building occupied by the Knights of
PythiaS and MaSons, was now o.
Only a Heap of Timber
and jutting beams from mass of ruins.
This was one of the most pretentious
buildings in the town. The people on
the streets first noticed this wreck, and
then they saw the roof of the court
house was gone, but there was more
than this. There were crles and screams
of children. Men rushed to the colored
school house. where $50 children had
been gathered at their lessons. The
building, a two-stOry frame, had been
blown down, and beneath the ruins
was a mass of struggling children. So
far as known none were killed, but
there were many MANNED and bruised,
some with broken arms, and some with
fractured skulls. The full extent of the
damage is not known, but the loss to
property will go into the hundreds of
thousands.
Trainmen on the Kansas City, Mem
phis Il Birmingham route report that
Kelly, Miss, was swept off the earth.
not soul being left to tell the tale. "a.
special train left Memphis at $50 p. M Is
for Kelly. H
At Cleveland, Miss. a cloud-burst and
storm destroyed considerable property.A
No lives were lost.
At Charlottesville, Ark. severe
wind blew down several houses today
The damage will not be great.
Early Reports Exaggerated.
MEMPHIS, Tenn, March 24.-A se5
we're storm swept over the Mississippi
delta yesterday morning doing consider-
able damage, and the early reports of
which created much excitement. At
this hour q a. m.) the news from various
points indicates that while the storm
was cyclonic, the early rumors of the :
damages done were merely exaggerated.
One man is said to have been killed at
Kelly's, and another injured by
falling building. The damage
elsewhere was to property only. The
report that Water Valley had been
wiped out and the inhabitants killed
has not been authenticated and is cons
sidered canard. Nospecial trains havs
gone out from Memphis.