St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-09-23
LOWTHER IiEVELED,
Awful Fate of a Chicago Great
Western Station.

Awful Fate of Chicago Great
Western Station.
Special to the Globe.
ELMA, Ia. Sept. 22.-The town of
Lowther, located five miles north of
this city. which was unfortunate enough
to be in the path of last nights cyclone,
IS now mass of bent timbers and
splinters. The damage done to Low
ther and vicinity will exceed 100000.
Owing to the location of this
village and from the fact
that telegraph and telephone
communication have been shut off for
the past twenty.four hours, it has been
impossible to confirm the reports seut
from Oelwein until this afternoon,
when GLOBE reporter visited the
scene of the disaster. A severe wind
and rain storm struck the village about
6p. m. last night and gradually grew
worse until 1880. when, without warn
Ing. those able to regain consciousness
found themselves in corn fields or on
the open prairie. The width Of the
storm is estimated at half mile aud its
course due east aud west.
The loss Of life from the storm Is
nothing to what it would have been had
it not been for the presence of mind of
one Peter Brown, farmer, who was
fortunate enough to be located just
outside of the cyclone belt. Mr.. b. rown,
awakening while the storm was raging,
and notekn0wing wAere--ta- -lool1.for
assistance, happened to think of the
Chicago Great Western train. due about
1880 p. M, and, as the storm had
somewhat abated, he started for the
depot. On his arrival at the spot
where the little depot had always
loomed up brilliantly on the prairie, he
found nothing but bent irons, timbers
and other material, the main track being
literally covered with the remains of
the depot and elevator. He at once
made preparations to flag the train.
which he did. and, after an hours
work. the track was cleared so the train
could pass. In the village of LoWther
the following damage was done: Chi
cago Great Western depot destroyed;
twenty-five telegraph poles were torn
up and more than two.thirds of them
were carried 200 feet from the track.
The wires were bent and twisted in
the shape of cable. The grain elevator,
owned by w. }. Luce, of Minneapolis.
and operated by j. eastman. was de-
stroyed, including seven cars of grain,
The loss IS $4,000. 1t is not known
whether it is insured or not. The
creamery. owned by Spellman, Owens
& Brown is total wreck. Tile loss is
about $1,000; insured. Half the vats in
the creamery, weighing no less than
200 pounds, were found fully half mile
from where the creamery stood. A store
owned by A. Kleiman is total loss ;S3, 600
no insurance. A. Stevens lost a grain
stack valued at $1,000. Phil Andrews
loss on house is $1,000, no insurance.
Jerry Cashman's house and two barns,
with contents, were total loss. $4,000.
William Cashman's house was badly
wrecked and his barns and granary
totally destroyed. His loss is $50
Henry Cruger's house and barns, re-
Gently built, were entirely destroyed;
loss. $4,000. j. N. Maher's house was
partly destroyed; loss. $1,000. Among
the injured are: Jerry eastman,
leg cut. The Ball family. includ-
ing nine children. were all In
jured more or less. Dennis Owens had
his head cut. Dennis O'Connor's arm
was broken and he was cut about the
head, and William Maher's leg was cut.
The following are injured fatally: Mrs.
Phil Andrews, age sixty, cut in abdo-
men; Mrs. Cruger, age thirty-two,
collar bone broken; ID. Hamilton, age /
fifty, legs broken, cannot recover. 1t is
the village of New Haven,
located eight miles west of here, is en-
tireiy destroyed and several killed and
wounded. This rumor is still uncon-
frmed. The loss of life is great and
THE damage to property all along the
liue of the storm immense.