Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1893-07-14
THE DREADFUL CYCLONE.
Fifty KILLED and Many Injured-A
Night Of Terror in Iowa.

night, carrying with it death and de-
vastation most appalling. Nearly
every living thing in its path was
killed or mutiated, and the destruc-
ton of property was complete. The
town of Pomeroy aud Cherokee coun-
tv suffered most. Pomeroy was utter
w ruined. Scarcely a house was left
standing. What on Thursday was a
thriving village was on Friday heap
of debris. Piles of broken timbers
and occasional pieces of furniture
were all that can be found of what
was once the largest buildings in the
place. Two hundred and fifty houses
were in all destroyed and the money
loss on these and their contents is
placed at 100000. The dead number
nearly fifty, while over Il hundred lie
injured in the temporary hospitals.
Thursday night in Pomeroy was
one that will never be forgotten by
those who were there. Darkness fol-
lowed quickly in the wake of the tor
nado, and those who escaped death
and injury were compelled to grope
their way among the ruined homes,
guided alone by the cry of some poor
unfortunate who was pinned under
the falling timbers. Almost every
light of any description whatsoever
was destroyed, and as the people
from Fort Dodge and the surrounding
places failed to bring lanterns with
them. the search for the victims was
necessarily slow till morning came.
1t was not till the first streaks of
light appeared in the east that the
enormity of the disaster dawned upon
the people. Every residence to the
south of the railroad tracks had dis
appeared, and the spires of seven
churches in the place that only u few
hours before shot upward TO the skies
were nowhere to be seen.
Horses aud 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. Pools of human blood min
gled 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 means and sObs and shrieks,
and every other face met on the
street was stained with tears.
The postoflice building was turned
into a morgue and hospitals were es-
tablished in the remaining buildings,
the biggest one being the Pomeroy
Hotel. The scene in the improvised
morgue was a ghastly one. Billiard
tables were turned into slabs and on
these mangled remains of the dead
were placed On the tables were
bodies without heads and bodies with
out arms, bodies whose legs had been
blown away by the cyclone, and
bodies with heads that had been
crushed beyond recognition by the
falling tiInbers. On one table lay the
remains of an old woman, hole as
biz as mans fist torn in the rear
part of her head. Close by was Il
baby, not more than year Of age,
one OF its legs gone and its little arm
mashed to II jelly.
Governor Boies arrived at o'clock
and took charge. He was first taken
out over the ruins, then he visited the
hospitals and the morgue, consulted
with those who had thus fan directed
things and then issued a proclamation
setting forth the needs of the suffer
ers and calling upon the people Of
Iowa TO contribute literally.
The intense heat made it impossible
to keep the bodies Of the dead, and
those that were not claimed by rela-
tives or friends and by them buried
or taken away by noon were placed
in the graveyard by the officials.
Forty graves were dug and filled with
dead up to 9 o'clock Friday evening.
When the rescuing party visited
the site of the Torches house next
morning and commenced to delve
among the tiInbers for the dead the
first thing that greeted them was the
smiling face of the baby. He was
laughing and shouting and clapping
his hands with glee, unmindful of the
fact that close by his side were the
mangled remains of lis parents and
brothers and sisters. The youngster
was taken to the hospital and exam
med. Not scratch was found upon
him. The tornado dealt gently also
with the baby of Silas Rushtou. He
and his wife were killed, but their
child escaped with scarcely a bruise.
1t was blown 200 feet and landed
among bunch of sharp slivers, but
not one of them entered the flesh of
the little one.
stances exterminated by the tornado
and in houses that contained all the
way from four to eight persons, not
more than one escaped alive. Hus-
bands have been left without wife or
children; children are left orphans,
and there are fifteen or more women
in Pomeroy who have neither hus-
band or children left. The grief of
those bereft of the ones they held
most dear is something horrible to
witness. They walk up and down in
front Of the spot that marks the
places where stood their happy
homes. crying and sobbing and re-
fusing to be comforted. Most horri-
bic of all was the wall of the little
children robbed of home and Of moth
er and father and i'll some cases OF
brothers and sisters.
The storm broke about o'clock.
All day long the clouds were skurry
ing across the sky. An occasional
shower would be followed by hot
burst OF sunshine. Just before dark
great banks Of black clouds massed
in the southwest and another in the
west. Just before o'clock the two
then Joined. The clouds took on
green tint, which was pierced with
the suns rays for n moment. Then
darkness set in rapidly. The ele
ments seemed to form about the com
bined clouds, though scarcely breeze
stirred the tree tops in the streets of
Pomeroy. Those who were watching
the phenomena say that column Of
smoke like u cloud dropped to the
ground and gathered in strength as
it advanced toward the town. They
recognized it as tornado and gave
the alarm. Many sought shelter in
cellars and others mounted horses to
flee from the path of the coming de
struction. There was a dash Of hail,
a binding flash of lightning and
deafening peal OF thunder. Men and
women ran wildly about the streets
shouting and gesticulating. The cy-
clone struck the town at the south
west, among the scattering houses.
Roofs and shingles and sides of build