The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1894-10-10
THE TERRIBLE TEMPEST,
LOSS Of LIFE AND PROPERTY IN LIT
TIE ROCK CYCLONE.

The Asylum and the PsnitenJ'arY Badly
Wrecked and severa, Inmates Knled
L,ss of S., 900 900 With $1,000 Iusur-
apca.
LITTLE Rock, Oct. 3.-News from
the Arkansas State insane asylum at
an early hour thus morning confirmed
firs5 reports concerning the damage
done to that institution by the tornado
| which caused devastation and death IN
this city, last evening. All the male
department and annex was r8Zad to
the ground, four floors falling in mass.
DR.. Ingsle, formerly of Mobile, Ala,
ard two patients were instantly killed,
aud four other patients seriously and
perhaps fatally injured. Destruction
in the residence part of the city In the
vicinity of the penitentiary IS very
great. State Senator Vests daughter,
| who lived in that ueignborhood. was
| injured by falling roof. State Engl.
| neer Eggleston'S house in the same
neighb orhood was u1roofed. Thomas
Warmers house was demolished and
a two story tenement on West Fhird
| street, near the penitentiary, and Peter
| English's two-story house were
| wrecked. The DeBrll house, one of
| the oldest buildings IN the city, located
| at Markham street and Broad Eay was
demolished. Young's grocery was un-
rooted and boarding house at Sec
| ond st, eet was blown down, but no one
was injured. The Presbyterian Church
| at Fourth aud State streets, WeS un-
rooted. Abraham OjleDhiners resi-
| dence was wrecked. Damage to resi-
dence property in West Eod Will ex-
ceed S50O,000. The name OF The convict
! killed at the pent>e2tiary IS EcIt!iQ.
| Two gaaCds. Smith and W!tS, were
badly. injured and seven tru35v pris-
oners were seriously hurt. Property
loss to the State Is $50 0OO.
The storm came from toe Southwest
| and swept nearly everything IN It's
| oatn. Pedestrians and teamsters has.
| tily sought place3 OF safety but the
| velocity of the wind was terrible and
| the list of injured will be very large.
| Roofs. signs and trees were tossed
about like paper. The path Of the tor
nado was not mere than 200 yards vide
and its course was zigZag. Its dura.
ton was not over three minutes,
though rain continued TO pour in tor
rents afterWard for an hour. Ihe
damage caused by the tornado will un'
doubtedly reach 81 ,OOO,OUO.
A most miraculous thing occurred at
| Fourth and Martin streets. A carpen-
ter named Clark, with his wife and
baby. were occupying a room IN the
house when the storm struck 1t. blow
| ing the roof from off their heads, and
tearing away the walls around them,
| Ieayidg the inmates untouched and un-
harmed in the center Of the floor.
| Ths instruments OF the weather fore.
| caster here were blown away. The ln-
sane asylum authorities report the fol-
| wing patients missing: Percy Jones,
| Dennis Callahan, James McPeters,
William NJ. Miller, William Surratt,
Joseph w. Johnson, and George w.
| Ackerman. Thousands of people have
gone to the asylum, where large force
| of men is at work, removing the de-
bris.
The destruction on East Markham
street covering four blocks, along which
the wholesalers are located, IS even
greater than first reported.
Out of a total loss Of million dol
| lars or more the only insurance held
| by the sufferers amounts to ABOUT
| S2OoO Of that amount a plate glass
insurance company of New Y ork holds
policies smounting to Sl,oOO. The re-
naming $500 Was against losses by cy-
clone.
II was at the insane asylum Where
| the most complete Mi2cE was TO De
seen. The buildings quilt by the State
al cost of S30O,0OC are located on a
prominence three miles west OF the
business portion of the city and offer.
ed a splendid target for the fury oil
the storm. Besides the destruction
wrought in the msiE building the east
| wall of the male ward was completely
| torn away. Wards l, 8. 5 and 7 are a
! total wreck. The root is blown off and
debris has been found hal a mile east:
| Pandemonium reiened after the fury OF
the storm had been spent. The cells In
| the south wing were occupied by In
| mates at the time. A0ous htteen es'
caped, but all but seven were recap
| tured.
The third story and the east wall of
the second story of the penltentlary
were blown down and are lying be-
| tween it and the house, a vast mass Of
brick and mortar. The west Wall was
cracked at the aOor and inclined to the
| east about forty-five degrees. 1t was
IN this building where the only death
occurred. J.F. Griffith, white man
sent up from Clay county tor incest.
was descending the stairway from the
third story when the wall caved IN and
buried him under the debris. His re-
mains, badly ma0gled, were removed
from the ruins this morning.
The heaviest losers by the storm are:
State insane asylum, Sl0O,0OO; peniten-
tisry, $4,000, property of the State;
Dickinson hardware Co., S2,50O; Dadley
IE, Jones & Co., $4,000; h. H. RottakeD,
| $4,000; G. F. Baucum, $4,000; j. Il.
| Mccarthy, $1,000; Louis Volmer, So 600;
Ralph Goodrich, 5000; A. Lotion,
| $1,000; Mrs. c. ?. Redmond, $4,000;
| CAPITOL Hotel, $1,000; San Rudolpn &
| Co., 5000; Arkansas Stable, $1,000;
! Bell Telephone Co., $1,000; E!lenbersen,
| 81 600: Arkansas Carpet aud Furniture
| Co., $4,000; Little Rock Tent and AVN
! ing Co., $1,000; Wilson & Webb, sta
tionery company, $4,000; W. H, Ho-
mann, S2OO0;J W. BlddmsR, 81 800.
Several others sustained losses rang
ling from $500 to $1,000. Fully 200 Cit
zens escaped death in a most miracu-
lous manner. kilograms from all Sec
! tions of the country Offering assistance
were received by Mayor Hall today.
All the injured, with few exceptions
are doing nicely.
| FROM AN EYE WITNESS.
MEMPHIS, Oct. 3.--Charles Joseph, a
railroad man of Memphis, Was ia Little
| Rock lsst night during the cyclone.
Il was standing on the corner OF
Main and Third streets" SAID ne
"about 1880 o'clock, when l heard an
awful nose and roaring. 1t was unlike
my ordinary sound. In a moment
there was burst Of wind aud l ran
across the street into stairway.
Like lightning the storm burstln all
its fury. The rear Of the building IN
which l stood was torn away. Across
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