St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-07-21
NOT A BUILDING ESCAPED
UNDAMAGED FROM THE STORM,
PLETELY WRECKED.
One Woman Probably Fatally
Damage to Crop Believed
to Be Severe.

Special to the Globe.
FERGUS FALLS, Mimi, July 90
Shortly after 4 this afternoon a
cyclone struck the village of Deer
Creek, Otter Tail county, infiicting
tremendous damage. Deer Creek is
a village of few hundred inhabi-
tants on the Black Hills branch of
the Northern Pacific from Wadena
to Fergus Falls. 1t is twenty miles
from Wadena and forty from this
city. First reports, which were
meager, indicated that the entire
town had been destroyed, but later
news since received by wire, while
confirming the statement of immense
loss, show that only a few buildings
were actually leveled to the ground
However, every building in the viii
lage was wrenched and torn or lost
chimneys and windows, and many
still standing are badly shattered.
Directly in the track of the storm
stood the handsome two-story store
building and adjoining residence
owned by Arthur D. Baker, who is
the principal merchant of Deer
Creek, and these were blown fiat
and their contents distributed far
and wide. Mr.. Baker carried a stock
of $4,000 in general merchandise,
large part of which is ruined. His
store building cost $500. His dwell
ing was large and well built, worth
$4,000, not a timber in which was
left standing. A man in the employ
OF Baker named Hammill lived in
the second store of the store build
ing with his family, wife and three
children. These were all at home
when the storm struck and it is only
by a seeming miracle that they were
not killed outright. AS it was, Mrs
Hammill received severe injuries
which
MAY RESULT FATALLY.
and one child who was shockingly
bruised and battered by flying tim
bers and falling walls is not expect
ed to recover. The other children
were severely injured. Mr.. Hammill
was also badly hurt The Baker
family had similarly miraculous es-
capes, not being injured beyond Sc
we're bruises. Mr.. Baker has a good
cellar under the store, which shell
tered number of person when the
crash Of the storm showed that the
building was likely to go down, and
in the collapse of. the walls and mer-
chandise all of these were more or
less injured, but none fatally. The
store of eX-State Senator John B.
IiOn1nn q
store, was moved from it's solid
foundation several inches, and Mr..
Hompe suffers a loss of several hun
dred dollars in ruined and broken
goods. Mrs. Snow, who runs a small
restaurant business across the
street, was hurt by flying missiles.
and her store building damaged. A
little farther up the street stood the
Deer Creek house, the village hotel.
which was considerably damaged,
and one wing torn bodily away from
the main structure. Smaller casual
ties and damage to every building
in the village is reported. All grain
in the neighborhood is fiattened to
the ground, and cannot recover.
While no reports have yet been re-
celved from the country, it is eyi
dent that the storm must have been
large, and later reports will prob
ably show great damage and per-
maps loss of life over a large area.
The storm came from the northwest,
and travelled southeast into one of
the best settled and prosperous COM
munities Of the county. Reports say
1t was genuine cyclone, with all
the Well-known characteristics of
whlrling motion and irresistible
power.