The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-07-08


the dead and wounded. Clothing. food and
medicines were shipped in by the ton.
Soon order was brought out of chaos. To
lief CORPS were organized and things were
going along in business-like shape.
Last night in Pomsroy was one that
VIII never be forgotten by those who were
there. Darkness followed quickly In the
wake OF the tornado. and those who ee-
gSope their way among the ruined homes
guided By the cry of some poor unfortu-
nate who was pinned under the fallen tim
bers. Almost every light of every descrip-
tion Whatsoever was DESTROYED. and the
people from Fort Dodge and the surround
ing places who were the first to reach tho
scene failed TO bring lanterns with them.
The search for the victims. therefore. was
necessarily slow till morning came.
WHAT THE MORNING REVEALED.
IL was not till the first streaks OF light
appeared In the east that the enormity Of
the disaster dawned upon the people. They
looked oat where once town stood. and
saw nothing but q timber-strewn prairie.
Every residence TO the south of the rail-
road tracks had disappeared, and the spires
OF several churches In the place tnet only
few hours before lowered above the
buildings were nowhere to be seen. Pomo-
roy yesterday had a wealth of shade trees,
but nothing Is left of them this morning
but broken and twisted mass OF limbs
and roots. Horses and cattle lay dead in
the streets. and dead dogs. and cats and
chickens were scattered over the prairie.
The air was full OF means. and sobs and
shrieks. Every other face met or the
streets was stained with tears. The people
In Pomeroy seemed powerless TO do any
thing for the sufferers. and It was not until
this morning early, when the people from
outside towns arrived. that thing wac
done toward recovering the dead and
caring for the wounded.
IN lad rnefnffira hui
but what has recently been used as bill.
lard room, was turned into morgue. A
hospital was established In the Pomeroy
Hotel. The scene in the improviscd morgue
tables were turned into slabs. and on these
tho mangled remains of the doad were
placed. The floor was sunken in the mid
die. and here the blood as IL dripDed from
the tables ran In small streams Gnd. with
the assistance of water from the rapidly
melting ice, formed q pool mp to the at
tendants' shoe tops. Upon the tables were
bodies without heads and bodies without
arms. and bodies with heads that had been
crushed beyond recognition. On one table
lay the remains of an old lady, hole ss big
as mans fist torn In the rear part of her
head. Close by was baby not more than
q year old with one Of Its legs gone Rld tta
little arm mashed to jelly.
LOOKED LIKE A HUGE BALL.
The tornado-for such IL was-came from
the northwest ALI those who saw 10
agree that it was not funnel-shaped. bus
came bounding along the prairie like o
hugo ball 1t was of dark green color,
and was accompanied by terrific noise.
There are many who saw 1t when il was far
out of town. These gave the alarm. and
many persons were prepared for the mon.
ster when IL reached the village. Most or
the people. however. became papic-strick-
en-. They ran out OF their houses. fed MP
the streets crying and shrieking till struck
by the flying timoers or whirling trees.
The cooler ones. however, especially those
who were near TO them, made for the two
caves In the southeast part OF the town.
built especially for Just such occasions as
this. Into one of these caves collected
twenty-five people and In another fifteen.
All escaped without q scratch.
IL 10 pretty well understood that tho
cloud struck the town about 6:55 o'clock.
The half hour before this it was exceeding
ly hot and sultry, and save for few small
clouds there was no evidence OF the ap-
proaching whiriwind. The tornado was OF
but q few miDutes' duration and was fol-
lowed by a terrific rainstorm, which con-
tinuedat intervals more or less throughoue
the night. The path of the storm was
about an eighth of a mile in width and
aoout three miles long.
1t was not until noon to-day that the
work of rescue really began. BY that time
there good supply of doctors. nos
large enough however. to care for the
wounded. The ladies of Fonda and Fort
Dodge came here as nurses aud there was
plentiful supply of bedding and food. As
rapidly as possible the injured were taken
to the improvIsed hospital and given med
ical attention. 1t was soon found, how
ever that the buIidinRe used for this pur-
poee were far too small. aud efforts were
made TO lessen the number of patients IN
each. This was no easy task. Tor thsre
was no place TO put them. About this
time. however, Company ID, Fourth Regl-
ment. of Fort Dodge. arrived with camp
equipment Their tents were erected
close close to tot the hospital; .e."i and INTO into
placed. They were not pcr'icularly
comfortable here. however for the sun was
intensely hot and caused the t"ermometer
to rise into tho ninetes. A death occurred
among the injured every little while all
day long. The number of those who had
expired of their injuries up TO this evening
was placed at dozen.
The National Bank OF Pomeroy was made
the headquarters of the relief movement
nurses were assigned TO the various hos
pitais and here also provisions. money,
bedding and clothing were received
and all OF these necessaries rolled
In rapidly. By o'clock this
afternoon the Office of the bank was
stacked clear to the ceiling with food and
clothing. and boxes OF each were arriving
on every train. Governor Boles arrived at
u Cloch, bOOh cuhtkc Ol MdlLcIc. Ato
was first driven ont over the ruins. then he
visited the hospitals and the morgue. con-
suited with those who had thus far di'
rected things and then issued proclamG.
tion setting forth the n eeds OF the sufferers,
and calling upon the people of Iowa "a
contribute literally. The Governor said
the situation was far worse than
he expected, aud assured the peo-
pie that nothing that would edd to
their comfort and relief would be left un-
done. He ordered more tents from Des
Moines. snd said he would have a company
or more of soldiers on the ground efore
tomorrow. The intense heat made 10 iin-
possible TO keep the bodies of the dead,
and those that were not claimed by rela-
tiyes or friends and by them buried or
taken away by noon were placed in the grave
yerd by the officials Forty graves were
dug and filled with dead up 10 o'clock
this evening. and at that hour the flittina
lanterns In the cemetery showed plainly
that the work Of burial was still going on.
SCENES AND INCIDENTS.
There was much trouble in securing cot.
fins. and By tonight the supply of the
towns in this vicinity had been thor
ouahly exhausted. Hundreds of will.
ing hands dragged the dead and
dying animals. with which the ground
seemed TO be literally strewn. to points on
the outskirts of tho town. piled them in
big heaps and covered them with
the remains OF the houses and
applied the torch. Fully dozen
of these strange bonfres were kept
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