Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1895-05-09
iowa is IN TEARS!
Awful Carnage Done by q Cy.
clone in Sioux County.
Pounced Like Tiger Upon
Its Prey.


From Two Hundred to Three Hundred
Lives Lost-Fair Villages and Fer
tile Fields Devastated-Sc hoolhouses
in the Path of the storm, and Teach
ere and PnpiIs Annihilated-Wires
Down and Tracks Washed Out-Res-
cuing PARTIES Work in n Wild ReveI
of Wind, Rain and Lightning.
Preceded only by a clouded afternoon,
unaccompanied by the usual awful phe-
nomena Of funnel-shaped clouds and
greenish, copper-colored sky, but attended
by electric discharge of dire fatality,
cyclone swept over Sioux County, Iowa,
Friday afternoon, killing scores of people
and devastating d vast and fertile region.
The storm originated near Sioux Center,
and passed from southwest to northeast.
Probably two hundred people were killed.
A pitiful feature Of the disaster is the
number of youthful lives crushed out by
the cruel wind. Four school houses near
Sioux Center were destroyed, while school
was in progress, and ut each one from
three to ten children were killed or in
jured. Many of the children were killed
or injured. Many of the children were
carried from a quarter to half a mile
before they were dropped. Two little
daughters Of John Roster, farmer near
Sioux Center, were picked UP as they
were leaving the school house and dashed
into a wire fence and both were killed.
Two sons Of G. III. Haggie, ut the same
school house, had their legs broken and
received other injuries, from which they
will die. Mr.. Haggie's house is near the
school, and, although he escaped, his
daughter was so badly injured that she
cannot live. The parents of many of the
children escaped the storm, and were
nearly frantic with anxiety TO learn
whether their little ones are dead or alive.
The towns of Sioux Center, Ireton, Or
ange City, Perkins. Doom, Hull. Sheldon,
Alton, Ashton, Sibley and lie Mars were
almost directly in the path of the cyclone.
Fatalities were at once reported from
Sioux Center, Ireton, Orange City and
Perkins. How many of the thrifty coun-
try folk on the busy farms between these
little towns met death in the rushing wind
can only be conjectured.
The cyclone was followed by furious
ed in violence at midnight. In the wind
and rain and darkness the rescuing par
ties made slow progress, while particu-
lars of the catastrophe were not to be
had at all
At midnight the fatalities in the various
towns were estimated as follows:
SIOUX center. ~ ueau
Perkins ................ 40 dead
loon .......... ~ uSau
Sibley ................... D dead
1t is feared returns from the more re-
mote points and from the farms in the
country will double the death list. All
he telegraph wires being down, the names
of the victims could not be had at once.
Damage Will BE Enormous.
No intelligent estimate of the damage
inflicted can be made, but it will reach
into the millions. A curious feature Of
the cyclone was the accompaniment of
electrical violence. Many deaths by light
ming are reported.
Numerous victims were found lodged
In the trees, where they had been hurled
by the storm, and so seriously injured that
death is expected moentarily. Two
grown boys who had come from the field
near Alton at the approach of the storm
were injured in the barnyard. one seri
ously and the other fatally. Wires were
completely stripped from the posts, and in
some places posts were all taken from the
ground. Horses. cattle and vehicles were
hurled through the air like chaff, and the
country for three-quarters of mile wide
and many miles in extent is entirely
wrecked.
Where had stood fine residences could
be found nothing but a cellar hole and in
some cases a few twisted tmbers. while
strewn on the ground were portions Of
the buildings and furniture, bearing not
the least semblance of their original form
and useless except for kindling. Fields
that were beautiful as green carpets with
the sprouting grain are now as bare as in
the bleak months of winter. Trees are
uprooted and all is desolation along the
trail Of the destroyer.
Sioux Center. a small town forty
miles north of Sioux City, was first to re-
port the disaster. The first news was re-
ceived by the Sioux City and Northern
Railway from its agents at Sioux Center. |
The dispatch read:
Cyclone passed one mile northwest Of |
here. School house near town blown |
down, teacher and several children killed |
and many injured. Exact number and |
names have not yet been learned. Whole !
country in the track of the storm devas-
tated. Sioux City and Northern tracks |
between Perkins and Doom washed out |
for several miles"
One man arrived in Sioux Center late
In the evening; he reported that his house
was blown away and his family killed. He |
himself escaped and says that at least
200 or 300 people must have been killed.
Parties were.sent out from Hull, Sioux
Center and Orange City, but their work
was carried on in total darkness and in
the midst of tremendous wind and rain
storm.
Probably Wiped Out.
Perkins, small town between Sioux
Center and Doom. was directly In the path
of the storm and was almost entirely
wiped out. With wires all down. tracks
washed out and the roads full of debris,
II was no easy matter to reach it. Ply
sicians set out from Hull, Orange City
and Sioux Center, but met with every
obstacle in their effort to
reach the scene of the storm.
The storm did not reach Sbley proper
In its most furious form, or the fatality I
must have been frightful. 1t was most
violent half mile east of the town. There
the farmhouse of Herman Bellkamp was
completely demolished and Mrs. Bell
kamp and two children killed.
A mile further on the storm struck the
dwelling of John Waterman, reducing
It to kindling wood. Mrs. Waterman