The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1893-07-08
THE TORNADO IN iowa,
Terrible Destruction Wrought in
tho Town Of Pomeroy.
OVER HALF A HUNDRED DEAD.

Scenes Among the Ruins of Desolated
Homes-Relief Needed.
PoMERoY, H.. July s-Fifty- three dead,
neventy-fve fatally injured and 1850 with
broken limbs, cuts and bruises, more or
less severe. This is what the tornado of
Thursday night accomplished in the mat
ter of casualty. The town of Pomeroy is
one complete wreck. There is scarcely
house left standing About fifteen acre
of debris constitute now what was thriv-
ing village. Splinters are all that remain.
Pomeroy is part and parcel of the prairie,
the death dealing wind having left it bar
rem and desolnte. Scarcely a tree remains.
Piles of broken timbers and occasional
pieces of furniture are all that can be
found Of what was once the largest build
ings In the place. Two hundred and fifty
houses were in all destroyed, and the
money loss on those and their contents is
placed at 100000
Everywhere about Pomeroy are dead
and dying people, and the hearse was kept
busy carrying tho victims of the storm to
their last resting place. Doctors from "A
dozen or more places hurry through the
streets and in their wake follow squads OF
soldiers carrying collins. Special trains
from all the surrounding towns brought
thousands who were ready to take part in
the work of caring for the dead and
wounded
Thursday night in Pomcroy is one that
will never be forgotten by those who were
here. Darkness followed quickly in the
wake of the tornado, and those who
escaped were compelled to grope their
way among their ruined homes guided
along by the cry of some poor unfortunate
who was pinned under the falling tim
bers.
Almost every light was destroyed and
the people from Fort Dodge and the SUR
rounding places who were the first to
reach the scene failed to bring lanterns
with them. 1t was not till morning that
the enormity of the disaster dawned upon
the people, They looked where once city
stood and saw nothing but a timber strewn
prairie. Every residence to the south of
the railroad tracks had disappeared and
the spires of seven churches that were
standing only few hours before were
nowhere to be seen.
Pomeroy had wealth of shade trees
but nothing was TO be seen of them save a
broken and twisted 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 sser the ground Pools of hui
man blood mingled with the mud at every
turn, showing where some victim of the
tornado had been tossed after life had been
crushed out of him. The air was full of
moans and sobs and shrieks, and every
other face met on the street was stained
with tears. The people in Pomcroy seemed
powerless to do anything for tho sufferers,
and it was not until people from outside
towns arrived that anything was done to-
ward recovering the dead and caring for
the wounded
The scene in the improvised mor1ues
was CHASTITY one. At the Pomeroy hotel
billiard tables were turned into slabs, and
on these the mangled remains OF the dead
were placed. The floor was badly sunken
in the middle, and here the blood as it
dropped from the tables, ran in small
streams, soon with the assistance Of the
water from the rapidly melting ice, form
ing puddle of gore up to the tops of the
attendants shoes On the tables were
bodies without heads and bodies without
arms; bodies whose legs had been blown
away by the cyclone and bodies with heads
that had been crushed beyond recognition
by the falling timbers. On one table lay
the remains of an old woman, hole as
big rs mans fist torn In the rear part of
her head Close by was baby not more
than year old, one of its legs gone and
its little arm mashed to Il jelly.
The tornado, for such it was, came from
the northwest. All those who saw it agreed
that it was not of the funnel shaped
species, but came bounding along the prai-
rie like a huge ball. II was of a dark green
color, and was accompanied by terrific
noise. There are many who saw it when
1t was far out of town. These gave the
alarm, and many were prepared for the
monster when it reached the village Most
of the people, however, became panic
-tal-. Nav A,tN ~ . l.,a
and fled up the streets, crying and Shrek
ing, till struck by the flying timbers of
whirling trees. The cooler ones made for
the two caves in tho southeast part of tho
town, built especially for Just such occa-
nions as this. Into one of these caves
twenty-five people collected, and in an
other five. All escaped without scratch
II is pretty well agreed that the tornado
struck the town about $50 o'clock A half
hour before this it was sultry. and save
for few small clouds there was no evil
dence of the approaching whirlwind The
cyclone was but of a few minutes duration
and was followed by terrific rainstorm
which continued at intervals more or less
throughout the night The path of the
storm seems to be an eighth of mile i'll
width and twenty miles long,
The death list out in the country is
heavy, and from many OF the neighboring
towns casualties are reported. Fairfield,
In Cherokee county, reports fifteen killed.
At Fonda twenty were killed, including
the entire families of Samuel Hearson and
ID. ID. Sargent. Storm Lake and several
other places report from one TO five deaths
Governor Boies arrived at o'clock aud
took charge of the work of relief. He was
first driven out over tho ruins, then visited
the hospitals and the morgue. consulted
with those who had thus far directed
things, and then issued a proclamation
setting forth the needs Of the sufferers and
calling upon the people of Iowa to con-
tribute literally. The governor said the
situation was far worse than he expected.
Several little babies have been found
alive and well, but 1t has been impossible
to find parents for them. Whole families
were In many instances wiped out by the
tornado, and in houses that contained all
the way from four to eight persons not
more than one escaped alive.
Five miles south of Aurolia Samuel
Burch and wife and three children were
killed. Also farm hand named johnson,
Zulu aud Ella SLATER aud Swedish girl
GTs killed. JOHN Peters will die
Five hilTGs south OF Storm Lake E. G..
Breton and child and man named Bott-
mann were dashed to death. A family of
five persons living five miles south of New
ell died in the awful tempest. Mrs. Gori
ten and three children and John Detwiller
were killed three miles southwest Of
Fonda.
NUGGETS OF NEWS