, 1896-04-27
KANSAS
Loss of Life and Property in the Sun
flower State.

cial to the Times from Topeka. Kan,
says:
Five persons at least were killed out
right, three fatally and seventeen more
or less seriously injured, and great de-
struction of property was wrought by
ty last night.
The dead are:
FRANK PETERSON. wife and child.
MRS. OLE HALVERSON.
A GRANDCHILD OF PETERSON.
The injured belong to the families OF
John Morris, F. Welkin. Peter Ander-
son and II. Gardner.
Passengers on the Rock Island train
from the northwest this afternoon
brought partial details of the cyclone.
1t started about six miles south of Cliff
ton and went in a northeasterly direc>
ton for twelve or fifteen miles. then
lost its force by spreading. 1t passed
about half a between Clifton and
Morganville. It's track varied from $50
yards to a quarter of a mile in width. 1t
tore through a farming community and
left nothing standing. Houses and
barns We're wrecked. trees torn up or
broken, fences leveled and hay stacks
blown in every direction. The cyclone
was followed by a terrific rainstorm.
which lasted several hours. flooding the
5ayaStata1 liStrict
The cyclone ooh the people una
wares. There had beer indications of
a heavy rain all day, with local show
ers. but nobody expected a storm. So
far as learned the victims were in their
houses and most of them had retired.
The storm struck Peter Anderson's
house at $50 o'clock. This was about
a mile from the starting point. The
house was demolished in an instant.
Every member of the Anderson family
was injured. When they had extri-
discovered that Anderson's grandchild
was missing. The dead body of the
child was found this morning in a ra.
vine half a mile away. 1t evidently
had been carried there by the wind.
Anderson alarmed the neighbors, who
lived out of the track of the storm, and
search a made for victims. But lit
tie Roadway vas made in the rain.
Couriers were sent to Clifton and Nor.
ganville for doctors, but 1t was day
light before they arrived. and the ex-
tent Of the injury and damages was
known.
At DOR today it was thought that
all the victims had been found.
A large number of cattle and horses
were killed, and fruit in the storms
track was ruined. 1t is impossible at
this time to estimate the damage to the
buildings and other property.
He%artrending tales Of suffering are
told by persons who visited the scene of
the storm. Many of the injured lay all
night pinned down by wreckage or par
alyzed in the mud. while others crawl
ed or hobbled across the country to a
neighbours house.
In several instances people were lift
ed into the air by the cyclone and car
ried for a distance and then suddenly
dropped.
Buildings were lifted up and then
hurled to the ground with force enough
to demolish them. The wife and
daughter Of John Morris were reading
when the shock anne The house was
divided. The women managed to get
out, when the wind picked them up,
carried them 200 yards and let them
safely down on a pile of straw just
away from the storms track.
The people for miles around today
gathered at the different points where
damage had been done and rendered
assistance in every possible way. The
conductor on the Rock Island train
said that the track of the storm looked
like a piece of ground which had been
leveled with a roller. Half a dozen
telegraph poles were torn down where
the cyclone crossed the road. Tele-
graphic communication between To-
peka and Clifton was cut of from the
hour of the storm till 9 O'Clock this
morning. 1t is expected that much
damage was done in the vicinity Of
Palmer. Washington county. but the
details cannot be learned.
Daily Republican SOC per month.