Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1895-05-04
A DEATH.DEALING CYCLONE.

A terrible cyclone struck Sioux coun.
ty, Iowa, yesterday. which resulted in
frightful loss of life. The number OF
persons killed will reach one hundred,
several towns having been wiped out.
The furious wind was accompanied by
heavy rain and total darkness and the
work of rescue was difficult. School
houses at various points were blown
down and many pupils killed. The
storm covered wide extent of terri
tory in western Iowa and reached over
into Kansas.
Teiegraphic reports from the scene
of the storm are very meagre, the wires
being down. The cyclone passed three
miles northwest of Sioux Centre,
and the schoolhouse near the town
was blown down; teacher kill
ed and fully one-half OF her
pupils are said 10 have been killed or
injured. Three other school houses
and at least twenty residences and
barns near that place were swept away.
At one of the school houses two teach
ers and three pupils were killed and
many injured. Many of the children
were carried from quarter to half q
mile before they were dropped. Two
little daughters of John Roster, farm
er near Sioux Center, were picked up
as they were leaving the school house
and dashed into wire fence, and both
were killed. Two women were found
dead about six o'clock not far from the
point where one of the school build
ings stood. One man who arrived in
Sioux Centre late yesterday evening re-
ported that his house was blown away
and his family killed. He himself es-
capped and says that at least hundred
people must have been killed.
Perkins, a small town between
Sioux Center and Doom, was directly
in the path of the storm, and was al
most entirely wiped out. The wires
leading to it are all down. The tracks
are all washed out and the roads can
not be safely travelled over, owing to
he manner in which they were quilted
by the rain.
The Sioux City and Northern train
which arrived in Sioux City at 10
o'clock yesterday evening, brought
several passengers who witnessed the
storm. They reported that thirteen
dead had been brought into Sioux Gen.
ter at 6 p. IN. 1t is estimated that fifty
people must have been killed.
The tornado jumped forty miles
northeast to Sibley, Osceola county.
Five are reported killed there.
AS nearly as can be learned the
towns which suffered were Perkins,
Sibley, Doom, Hull, and Sioux Center.
Sioux Center and Hull were grazed
only by the edge of the storm, and no
fatalities are reported from either of
them. The number of killed at Doom
is now stated at ten. Four or FIVE will
probably cover the deaths at Sibley.
At Perkins the loss of life is said to
have been very large, probably not
less than thirty or forty. This, with
the number killed on farms about the
country, must bring the number up to
nearly seventy. five or one hundred.
A cyclone struck West Sioux Falls
Yesterday afternoon and did $4,000
damage to property. Probably hun.
dred houses, barns, windmills, and
trees and cbimneys were scattered over
the path of the storm.
Sphinx county, S. D., was visited by
heavy rain yesterday asternoon, accom-
panied by a hign wind, lightning, and
big hail. The opera house building at
Ashton was blown out of shape. The
steeple of the Congregational Church
was blown down, many houses unroof-
ed, and barns destroyed. The main
street of the city is strewn with debris
of demolished buildings. Many farm
houses and outbuildings along the
track of the cyclone are destroyed.
There were heavy rain and wind
storms in various parts of Iowa and
Kansas yesterday and much damage is
n.-.I1. IN