The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1893-07-13
POMEROY ENTIRELY DESTROYED
A Complete Wreck, with Not ~
House Left Standing.

A. Complete Wreck, With Not ~
House. Left Standing.
Pomeroy, Iowa., July THE town of
PomerOy is one complete wreck. There
Is scarcely a house LETT standing. About
eleven acres of debris constitutes what
was yesterday thriving village. Spin-
terS are all that remain. Pomeroy is
part and parcel of the prairie, the death
Healing wind having left II barren and
desoate. Scarcely Il tree remains. Files
of broken timberS and an occasional piece
pf furniture are all that can be found OF
what We're ONCE the largest buildings ~
the place. Two hundred and fifty houses
were in all destroyed, and the money
loss on these and their contents is placed
at S5OO,UUU.
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
death and injury were compelled to grope
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 TIE first to reach the scene, failed
to bring lanterns with them. The search
fop 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
dawned upon the people. They looked
out wnere once stood q city and saw
nothing but q timber-strewn prairie.
Every residence to the south of the rail-
road tracks had disappeared, and the
scores of houses that only q few hours
before looked upwards were nowhere to
be seen, Pomeroy had q 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.
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 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 people in Pome-
10Y seemed powerless to do anything for
the sufferers, and it was not until this
morning early, when the people from out
side towns arrived, that anything was
done towards recovering the dead and
caring for the wounded.
What is called the postoffice building,
but what has recently been used as bill
lard room, was turned into a morgue,
and hospitals were established in the re-
tEalnTng UuHulHSS, tne llfSeSt DelnS the
Pomer6y Hotel. In this improvised
inUrgue this morning there was a CHASTITY
sight. Billiard tables were turned into
slabs, and on these the mangled remains
If the dead were stretched out. Blood
Tc.n in small streams on the floor from
| flc bodies that had to be stretched on
| IT,. forming q puddle of gore up to the
tops of the attendants shoes Upon the
| tables lay bodies without heads, bodies
| without arms, bodies whose legs had been
tLrn away by the cyclone, and bodies
| that were crushed beyond recognition by
| the falling timbers. On one table lay the
| telnains of an old woman, a hole as big
| as q mans INST torn in the back part of
| her head. Close by was baby not more
| than year old with one of it's legs gone
| and its little arm mashed to jelly. ''
i ahe torhado-for such II waslcame
| from the northwest. All those who saw
| II agree that it was not of the funnel
| shaped species, but came bounding along
| the pFAifie like a huge ball, It WAs" ppf /
| dark green COLOR, and was accompanied
| BIZ terrific noise. There were many who
saw it when it was far out Of town.
| These gave the alarm, and many were
prepared for the monster when it Fgached
| the village. Afnst Of the people, however,
| their homes hfss and fled up the strfstss, cry
| ing and shrieking. until stricken by the
| flying timbers and whirling trees.
Safety I'm Cyclone Cages.
| The COOLER aneF. however,, and those
who were nearest to them made for the
| two caves In the southeast part of the
| town, built especially for such occasions.
| In one of these caves were collected
| twenty five people and in another fifteen.
| All escaped without scratch.
1t was pretty well agreed that the tor
| nado struck the place about 6 o'clock.
! About half an hour before this it was
exceedingly sultry, and save for q few
| small clouds there was no eyidQnae qf
the agproao YhirlWind. Fhe forna.
| do was OF but of q few mjnutes' dura=
ton and was followed by 4 terrific
rain storm, which continued at intervals
throughout the pight; The path of the
storm seems to be about an eighth of a
! mile In width and twenty miles long,
The death list out In the country Ia heavy
| and neighboring towns report many
casualties.
1t was not until noon to-day that the
work of rescue really began. BY that
time there was d good supply of doctors,
not large enough, however, to care for the
wounded. The ladies at Fonda and Fort