The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1893-07-13
POMEROY ENTIRELY DESTROYED.
Complete Wreck, With Not "a
House Left Standing.

Pomeroy, Iowa, July THE town of
POmeroy is one complete wreck. There
is scarcely house lett standing. About
eleven acres of debris constitutes what
was yesterday thriving village. Sphn-
ters are all that remain. Pomeroy is
part and parcel Of the prairie, the death
healing wind having lett it barren and
hesolate. Scarcely Il tree remains. Plies
Of broken timbers and an occasional piece
Of furniture are all that can be found OF
what> were once the largest buildings III
| the place. Two hundred and fifty houses
were in all destroyed, and the money
, loss on these and their contents is placed
! at 100000.
Last night was one for Pomeroy that
will never be forgotten by the survivors.
Darkness followed quickly in the track
Of the tornado, and those who escaped
! their way among ruined homes, guided
by the cry of some poor unfortunate who
was pinned under the falling timbers.
Almost every light of any description
was destroyed, and the people from Fort
| Dodge and the surrounding places, who
| were the first to reach the scene, failed
| to bring lanterns with them. The search
for the victims, therefore, was neces-
| sarily slow till morning came. 1t was not
until the first streaks of light appeared in
the east that the enormity of the disaster
lawned upon the people. They looked
nothing but a timber-strewn prairie.
Every residence to the south of the rail
road tracks had disappeared. and the
scores of houses that only few hours
before looked upwards We're nowhere to
be seen. Pomeroy had a wealth OF shade
trees, but this morning nothing was to
be seen of them save a broken and twist:
ed mass of limbs and roots. Horses and
cattle lay dead in the streets, pigs stuck
in the sides of horses and dead cats and
dogs and chickens were scattered over the
| ground.
10 Pools Of Human Blood
mingled with the mud at every turn
showing where some victim OF the Tor
nado had been tossed after the life nae
been crushed out of him. The air wa
full of means and sobs and shrieks, ant
every other face met on the street wa
stained with tears. The people in Pome
Troy seemed powerless to do anything to
the sufferers, and it wastnot until thi
morning early, when the people from out
| side towns arrived, that anything wa
| done towards recovering the dead an
caring for the wounded.
What is called the postofice building
but what has recently been used as a oil
7 iard room, was turned into 1norgue
and hospitals were established in the +
, naming buildings, the largest being TIA
:. Pomeroy hotel. In this improvise
morgue this morning there was ghastl
sight. Billiard tables were turned tut
: slabs, and on these the mangled remain
. If the dead were stretched out. Bloc
ran in small streams on the floor froa
" the bodies that had to be stretched Q
8 it, forming a puddle Of gore up to tn
e tops Of the attendants Shoes. Upon tn
tables lay bodies without heads, bodie
without arms, bodies whose legs had bee
tin away by the cyclone, and bodit
S that We're crushed beyond recognition =
the falling timbers. On one table lay til
i remains of an old woman, hole as 81
: as a mans fist torn in the back part
- her head. Close by was a baby not MOI
= man a year old with one of its legs go1
and its little arm mashed to jelly.
- The tornado-for such it was-can
! from the northwest. All those who sa
- ii agree that it was not of the funn
shaped species, but came bounding alo1
ti,p prairie like huge ball. It was OF
g daik green color, and was ACCOMPANY,
4 hy terrific noise There were many WI
: saw it when it was far out OF tow
= These gave the alarm, and many we
Il prepared for the monster when it reach
p tile village Most Of the people, howeye
y w..re panic stricken. They ran out
!. their homes and fled up the streets, CT
! ing and shrieking. until stricken by I
a flying timbers and whirling trees.
Safety In Cyclone Caves.
a. The cooler ones, however, and tho
IL who were nearest to them made for T
10 two caves in the southeast part OF t
,is town, built especially for such occasion
=, III one Of these caves were collect I.
n twenty-five people and in another hftee
& Fall escaped without scratch