The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1895-05-09
A DEADLY CYCLONE.
TERRIBLE CYCLONE SWEEPS
OVER NORTHWESTERN IOWA.

1t In Thought That Between Two
and Three Hundred People Are
htlled-Many Towns nrc In the
Path of the Storm, and FriEhtful
Havoc IL Wrought.
Sioux City, Iowa, May 5. "A cyclone
passed through Northwestern Iowa
last evening, killing two or three hun
dred people.
Dispatches are received here by the
Sioux City Il Northern Railroad COM
pany from their agent at Sioux Gen.
ter, forty-ive miles north, telling OF
a terrible cyclone near there in which
many people were killed and injured
and much property destroyed. The
wires where the storm was were
blown down and telegraph reports
are very meager. The first dispatch
received by the Northern road said
the cyclone passed three miles north
east Of there at $3.50 p. M. A school
house near town was destroyed,
teachers killed and a number of chill
dren killed and injured. Have not
yet been able to learn exact number
and names. Whole country in the
path of the storm is devastated. Sioux
City 4 Northern tracks between
Perkins and Doom washed out for
several miles. Dispatches from
Sioux Center at $3.50 p. m. say three
school houses and at least twenty res
licences and barns
Were Swept Away.
At the school houses two teachers and
three pupils were killed and MANY IN
Jured. Two women We're found dead
about O'Clock not far from the point
where one of the school buildings
stood. One man who arrived in Sioux
Center late in the evening reported
his house was blown away and his
family killed. He himself escaped,
and reports that at least two or three
hundred people must have been killed.
Parties have been sent out from Hull,
Sioux Center and Orange City and
neighboring towns, but their work is
progressing slowly. A number Of
bodies have already bee recovered,
although the exact number cannot be
learned. Every one is violently ex-
cited and definite accounts cannot be
obtained. 1T is said Perkins, a small
town between Sioux Center and Doom,
was directly in the path of the storm
and was
Almost Entirely Wiped Out.
The wires leading to it are all down,
the railroad tracks are washed out
and the wagon roads cannot safely
be travelled over owing to the manner
in which they were quilted by the
rain.
1t is consequently no easy matter
to reach it. Physicians have already
been sen from Hull, Orange City and
Sioux Center, but are finding every
conceivable obstacle in their effort to
reach the scene of the storm. Help
has been refused from here, but if the
same character of reports continue
to come in a train may be sent out.
No one seems to know exactly what
was the track of the storm.
Definite reports are beginning to
come in as to the path followed by
cyclone. The storm originated about
mile and half south of Sioux
Center. 1t moved from there in
northeasterly direction and passed d.
rectly through Perkins, a small town
six miles north Of Sioux Center After
passing Perkins nothing was heard
of any damage. Later, however,
news received from Sibley to the eff
feet that storm struck there about
& p. M, destroying the house of John
Watterson and injuring Watterson
and his son. No names can yet be
learned of the people injured about
Sioux Center and Perkins. The Sioux
City q Northern train which arrived
at 10 o'clock last evening brought in
several passengers who witnessed the
storm. They reported thirteen dead
bodies had been brought into Sioux
Center at o'clock. They estimated
100 people must have been killed. The
Northern train barely escaped a
smash-up at Doom, but was stopped
by section men before it passed upon
the dangerous territory.
At Sioux Falls.
Sioux Falls, S. D., May 5.-The rain
fell in torrents in this city. Tie
bridge over the Sioux river just east
Of the town was blown over. The big
mansion Of Nine. Doyle was unroofed:
Two buildings connecting with the
Sioux Falls carriage works were de.
mollshed, the roof was taken Off the
chain mortesing works and oatmeal
mill. Many small buildings were
blown away entirely, while larger
ones were moved from their founda.
lions. There was a regular cloud
burst twenty miles north and an i'm
mense rise in the river is looked for.
The Sioux at Dell Rapids is running
over the Milwaukee tracks and Skunk
creek is also high and flooding farms
in it's course.
Many People Killed.
Lie Mars; Iowa, May ga cyclone
passed through Sioux county. 1t was
seen by passengers from the train
between Sheldon and Alton. Near
Sioux Senter, twenty-five miles north
OF LIE Mars, several houses and farm
buildings were destroyed and a large
number of people killed. A school
house four miles north Of Ireton, in
Sioux county, was blown down and
the teacher, Nellie Marsden, was
killed.