The record-union., 1894-09-24
Appalling Disaster in the Path of
a Cyclone in Iowa.
SOUTHERN MINNESOTA ALSO SUP
FERS GREAT LOSS.
Sunday a. Day of Sorrow at Algona,
Iowa-Nineteen Funerals Held, with
Others to Come Off To-day-Thirty-
nine Persons In the Vicinity Re-
ported Injured.
Special to the REcoRp-uN1oN.

ted strip of thickly populated farming
country through Northwest Iowa and
Southern Minnesota. The most conserv-
ative estimates place the number of
killed at forty-five, but as there are many
remote places cut off from communica-
ton by the storm which must have felt
its fury, it is thought that this number
will be swelled when they are heard
from.
While the loss of life is great, it might
have been much greater had there been
many towns in the path OF the storm.
AS it was, only a few villages were struck.
The greatest destruction of life was in the
vicinity of Mason City, Ia, where seven
teen persons are reported killed. At
! Wesley, Ia, twelve were killed; at EN-
metsburg, three; at Fertile, six; at Usage,
five; at Britt, two; at Lowther, Ia., where
the town was reduced to kindling, no
fatalities are reported, but seventeen per-
! sons were injured, some OF whom will
! die.
In Minnesota the storm seemed to
| start at Leroy after travelling in the air
| for several miles. Five persons were
Killed at this place. At Chatheld, Minn.,
dance was in progress at the Opera
house when the storm descended upon
the town. The building was blown down
/ and two young men were crushed to
death. In another portion of the village
man and woman were also killed by
| flying debris. Six houses in all were de-
mollshed and 100 persons were injured.
The greatest loss or life in Minnesota is
recorded in the vicinity of Spring Val
| ley, where thirteen are accounted dead.
The cyclone appeared in Iowa at about
| 8 o'clock IN the evening and was accom-
panied by violent lightning and thunder.
f,lr 81 I
| ing rain, which rendered the destruction
more complete. There appeared to be
! three clouds, one above the other, all
Whlrling IN opposite directions, and
| when they came in contact everything in
| their path was swept away. The storm
was eccentric, as in many cases houses
| were com Dietely demolished while struct-
ures directly adjoining were unscathed.
The storm lasted about two hours and
| Travelled over a strip of territory l30 miles
| III length and from quarter of a mile to
ten miles wide. With the exception of a
call from Thompson, Ia, for medical as
sistance to care for the wounded there
| have been no appeals for aid, and the
more fortunate in the scourged district
announce that they will care for the sur
ViVorS.
4 DAY OF SORROW.
! ALGoNA Ua.), Sept. 23.-This has been
day of sorrow for Kossuth County.
| Ninteen funerals were held, and others
! will come tomorrow.
The dead list complete is as follows:
| Robert Stevenson, Mrs. George Beaver $
child, George Holman's child, Jacob
Dingan, Fort Dodge; Mrs. Fred French
and two children, child Of Albert Baker,
William Sweppe's boy and girl, Claus
senan and child, Moses Caster and wife,
| Tweed's mother and children, ROCKWELL s
baby. At least six more will die.
| "a m a hirtU -,
number, as follows: Mrs. Robert Steven
son, Mrs. Carl Barrick, Carl Barrick,
may die; four other children in same
family, George Beavers infant child and
adopted boy, Horace Schnook, will prob
| ably die; Mrs. Myron Schenck and child,
Mrs. George Holman and four children,
| Mrs. Claussensen, cannot live; William
Ferguson, wife and child, Mrs. Peter
! Peterson, skull fractured; Mrs. Swan
| Peterson, both arms and legs broken; z.
[. Ferguson and family, all slightly in
jured; Tom Tweed. severely hurt; Alex
ander Tweed's wife and i've children,
| Mrs. Rockwell, badly hurt; j. Eden,
very badly hurt; Mrs. f. Myers. Thomas
+. Britton, farmer near Wesley, re-
ported missing and presumed to be
| killed.
Professor A. l.. Lilly of the Northern
Iowa Normal School came in from Gar
ner and reports thirteen dead in ElIing-
near Manley, Ellington Township, and
! sixteen north of Britt.
Coffins for the dead are piled up at
1 every station and scenes OF wild grief are
! being enacted
The storm, as witnessed from this
place, was one OF indescribable grandeur.
| funnel-Shaped cloud OF blackneSs
| swept along the northwest, illuminated
| by almost continuous flashes of light
| ming and roar of thunder that was deep
and continuous. Robert Stevenson, liv-
| ing about four miles north of Baltimore,
was the first victim. He was hit IN sew
| eral places and fatally injured. His
grove took fire, though it had been
moved down with a scyJhe. But two
children were injured. Mrs. Barrick was
hurt in the back by timber flying and
she was so badly injured that her limbs
were paralyZed. a siX-year-old boy
named Charley Lee was hit on the head
and will die. The house of Fred Pompe
was completely demolished, but his wife
and five children came out of the wreck
unhurt. The force OF the wind was such
that barbed wire was stripped from the
| posts.
At George Holman's the roof of the
house went, leaving the walls standing,
and the whole family was carried up from
| between the walls and swept away about
thirty rods, one of the children being
| killed. q. w. Eerguson's family was
carried some distance through the air,
and all but one landed on a hedge. The
wife of Sam Peterson had her skull cut
open in two places, and some ex-
| posed parts of her head were literally
packed with sand, plaster, hair and
grass.
Particulars are coming in which show
that half the horrors OF the cyclone have
not been told. The destruction of prop
erty will not be less than 500, ,000 Most
of the farmers were we'll TO do, with snug
bank accounts, but a number were rent
I ers, and lost everything, some of then,
losing their families.
The permanently crippled will max
long list. The wires are down and
news is hard to get.
SUFFERERS IN A DESTITUTE CONDITION.
LEROY (AIinn.), Sept. 23.-The cyclone
sufferers are in very destitute condi-
tion. The loss will exceed SIOO OO0
Thirty families are entirely destitute. and
many more have lost their all. Money is
badly needed.
BATTLE-SHIPS AND CRUISERS,
Ordnance Officers Stick Up for the Su.
periority of the Former.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 23.-Few of the
ordnance officers of the navy are pre-.
pared to accept the recent engagement,
between the Japanese and Chinese fleets
at the Yalu River as demonstration O.
tho of Haot