Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-07-08
DISASTER l.| I'll: WIND
The Western States Swept by
 a Summer Tornado.
MANY LIVES ARE REPORTED LOST.

Fierceness and Did Great Damage-Sev- eral Persons Drowned on the Lalke-A Fatal Cyclone Strikes Georgia.
 CHICAGO, July S.-One of the most flu rious wind and rainstorms known in this vicinity for years passed over the city last evening, coming from the northwest. The day had been intensely hot, and there were many people out in the lake in sailbOats, and aS the storm came very suddenly it is feared that several lives were lost. Tho different life saving crews were busy all the evening tracing rumors of capsizing boats, people clinging to blanks, etc, and have brought in the occupants of three capsizcd boats all in a very exhausted condition. No trace of any others has been found, and it is hoped that no more are out.
 The police at the Cottage Grove avenue station, on the south side claim, that they distinctly saw d sailboat with three Occu- pants disappear during the height of the gale and that nothing was seen of it again during daylight. The life savers from the south side cruised about that locality for some time, but found no traces of a wreck. It is probable that more missing will be reported from the various suburbs at a later hour.
 Up to within 20 minutes of the descent of the storm upon the city the sky had been clear and the sun shining brightly. Suddenly heavy black clouds began to gather in the southwest and n few min utrS later terrific gale of wind, accom- panied by a perfect flood of rain and furi- Ous thunder and lightning, was sweeping over the city. Shade trees were broken off close to the ground, awnings, signs, etc., torn away and much minor damage done Tho ind 1nrn fpH after about half an hour, but continued for fully two hours, during which time the streets were running with water Houses Destroyed by Lightning.
 Many bascmcnts were flooded all over the city, and in some instances fire engines had to be called for to pump out stores. | Several houses in the outlying districts of | the city were struck by lightning and se- | riOuSly damaged. Two small residences | were completely destroyed, but no one in jurcd The pccuniary loss in both cases was small.
 | At the height of the storm a signal tow CT beside the Panhandle tracks at Ada street was blown over, and the towPrman, | August Bnctllow, sustained fatal injuries. Several other people arc reported painfully cut and bruised by flying debris. The police and life savers think that all | the missing boats, both rowbo;lts and sail | boats, are accounted for, although it is | possible that a few may yet be out. The people in the boats which were blown out into the lake hy the hurricane report hay ing had an awful experience.
 Later reports coming in through the DO lice and insurance patrols show that the | losses in the down town district alone will aggregate a largo sum. The great depart mcnt store of Rothschild X Cn., occupying l .lUf.,IA fNf | fronting on State street, suffered most | nearly all the plate glass windows on the State strcct side being blown in and goods in the windows and for some distance bacl badly damaged by the flood of rain. Sev cral persons who happened to be passing the store at the time received painful in jurirs from bits of glass, pieces of flagstaff from the roof, etc. Plate glass window were also blown in in several other larg down town stores.
 | Excursion Steamers Safe. | The excursion steamers all came in safe ly. At the latest writing although tn old captains of the river believe that nor will be added to the list, the drowned are
 John Ross, capsizcd near outer break water.
 | Three unknown persons, supposed l. have been drowned by capSiZing of smnl unknown yacht off Twenty second street
 Dispatches from many points in tn
 central and northern portions of Illinoi and sout hcrn Wisconsin tell of furiou storms, though in no place did the dam
 age reach so high as i'll Chicago. Tn weather all through the state was opprcs
 sivcly hot all day, and the storm came wit
 remarkable SuddtnnrsS toward evening Along the lake shore, north of here, thcr
 was much minor damage done, and it
 feared that when the returns arc all in
 will hc found that there was much greatt
 loss of life than heard of last night.
 At Savannah, Ills, the storm almos . reached the proportions of a cyclone.
 number of trees and small buildings wrl | blown tluwn.
 At P,.!ria the mercury stood at !'S nca | ly all day, until o'clock, when the stOrl
 suddenly swept down upon that city.
 several buildings were unroofcd, or
 three story frame block completely d.
 stroyrd and much damage done to tree
 awnings and windows. Many huating pa
 ties were on the lake, but so far as know
 today all succeeded in reaching places
 safety.