The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1896-07-23
A RECORD OF RUIN.
The Current Year Already Has Terrible
Showing.


months to its credit, 1896 has written a
| record of destruction that will stand.
1t cannot be surpassed,
St Louis was the scene of the first
horror of the year. Compared with the
present black misfortune that rests on
the city it was as nothing. January
s great stock of fireworks stored at
80 North Second street exploded. The
building and adjacent structures were
ruined and some six persons were killed
| outright or suffered such injury they
died later. Thirty-two were seriously,
although not fatally, hurt.
Early in February a great storm
whipped the eastern United States
coast. The greatest loss was to prop
erty on shore, as the warning had been
futtering from signal stations so long
in advance that the sailor men had
Rugged the docks. Four or five vessels
were destroyed. Hundreds of houses
and other buildings were wrecked. In
the state of New Jersey the damage was
the heaviest. Bridges and buildings of
all kinds were destroyed. Bound Brook,
Il small town near the ocean, was fat
y tened as if some monster road CrushCr
had trundled over it. The loss of prop
erty was great, the fatalities compare
lively few.
February 10 in Madrid several resi-
dents of the town were killed and much
property destroyed by the explosion of
an aeroiite. The sky traveller went into
fragments Just over the city with the
deadly destructive effects of many
bombshells. In one factory which was
Immediately below the center of the ex-
plosion 10 workmen were killed.
OF accidents in mines there have been
three in this country marked by great
sacrifice of human life. In South Car
DINA $50 men were killed. This was
followed by the caving in of a Tonnes
see shaft which resulted in the loss of
81 lives. Sixty men were killed as the
result of gas explosion in the Vulcan
mine at Newcastle. Col. This accident
occurred February 10. Three days later
rs wOrkmen in a Grecian stone quarry
were killed by the blowing up of the
magazine wherein was stored their
giant powder. 1t was at the noon hour
and the men were gathered at the sheds
getting their pay. They were crowded
and took the full force of the dyna-
mite.
The same day an explosion of gas in
mine in Wales killed 10 men, and Il
more were buried by the falling earth
which was loosened by the explosion.
\ great food that came down the
Oequabucll valley in Connecticut March
i swept away hundreds of thousands of
dollars worth of mill property and
houses and drowned many persons.
Similar floods in eastern New York and
other Connecticut streams entailcd
property losses aggregating several
millions.
March % cyclone left a trail of
death and ruin across southern Illinois.
Alton was a heavy sufferer. April 10
northern Ohio was visited by a cyclone.
The loss in Sandusky county was great.
Few persons were killed.
Cripple Creek the wonder mining
camp, was destroyed by fire the latter
part of April. On the 25th of the month
the fire broke and destroyed nearly all
| lllt buNllltSS PAL Vi Illt tltN DtiOIt II
was quelled. The damage was about
100000. Four days later the re-
mainder of the town was wiped out.
The total loss was nearly S.. 100000. May
i an explosion of gasoline in a business
block in Walnut street. Cincinnati.
wrecked two buildings and killed II
persons. More than 90 were seriously
| mi IHi,-n dave 1nt N,.l,
land. Wis. destroyed five lives and many
buildings and lumber. May II forcst,
in the southern part of New Jersey
burned. The flames swept over great
areas of Cape May and Atlantic coun-
ties. Houses and barns and live stock
also burned, but no loss of human life
was reported.
The cyclone season opened May II
with windstorms in Wisconsin and Hi
rois. The principal damage was II
crops. buildings and animals. In the
two states six deaths only were caused
by the storms. so far as known. The
wind in this section was but a zephyr
compared with that which blew at
Sherman, Tex. May IS. This was a
- w NNNioii'' anu III It's PAIN w dfN tllt
local baseball grounds. wherein were
gathered 1000 or 1000 people of Shcr-
man and rcighborng towns. More than
100 were killed and several times the
number were injured. The DAY follow
ing. Sci0to. ILL.,. a small town near Bush
nell, Vns wrecked by a hurricane. and
May II Kansas towns suffered similar
ly. Sabethu, Kan, was t4,e most heavi.
ly injured. 1t was a mass of ruins
Afterward came the windStorms in
Michigan, the Elgin and Rockford and
northern Illinois cyclone. which had
not exhausted its fury in Iowa. An
other and less extensive cyclone passed
over southern Illinois. Thirteen per-
sons were drowned at Cairo by the
swapping of a steamer which lay in the
path OF the wind. The next day but
one st. Louis was in ruins. From May
Il to May % it is probable that 200 per-
sons lost their lives in the storms which
have ragged in a radius of $50 miles of
Chicago. The property losses will ag-
gregatc upward of 75,OOO,00O.
In the cyclone excitement three other
| II.