, 1897-03-29
Wild TEXAS Winds.
\ TERRIFIC STORM SWEEPS OVER
THE LONE STAR
STATE.
It is Accompanied by Heavy Rain
Many Houses Unroofed in Austin
and Calvert-Wires Down and In
formation From the Storm Hard TO
Observation-Disclosures Badly Washed.

Austin, Tex, March 2S.-This al =
noon at 2 o'clock this city and the sur
rounding country was visited by a err
rifle cyclone that did great damag. .
property. The wind came from re
southwest and blew al about 60 mile an
hour for nearly 20 minutes, tearing
down trees or splitting them asf."dcr
with terrific force. Several electric ,ght
towers were blown down, causing q loss
of some four Or five thousand dollars. in
asmuch as the iron frames were tw!s,ed
as though they were of the very small
est wire and will be useless. In pddi-
ton to This, quite a unit Of house in
the residence poruon OF the city We're
blown down, and in several cases mar
row escapes from death are reported.
The new and u~noccupied residencc Ut
Mr.. Burt Mcdonald, one of the promi-
nent residences. was blown down, strik-
ing against the residence Of Mr.. WILL
building. Two little children, who were
in the room playing. narrowly Is Ipei.
The wind played havoc with several
luinb Der yards in the eastern direction.
The roots OF a numbmer of residences
were torn off, and in addition to doing
much damage to the state univers! Y the
wind blew off the entire roof of the aI-
joining dormitOry, letting the rain drive
full into the four-story building. Ines
ENABLE damage WIS dors to the build
Ing and the property Jf the 200 students
therein, many OF whom fed fer their
lives when the roof was carried away.
iue roof was carried 100 yards, lighting
Oh and crushing the roof Of a cot1agn in
which four people were seated. bu none
were even injured, though they were on
tOmbei by falling debris. = church
just north OF the university had the en-
tire east side blown in and was unruuf-
ed, the wind carrying the roof Il block
away. The residence Of DR.. Graves. i'm
m~ediatelyl north OF the church, was lift
ed from its foundations and twisted
completely around and set down in the
same place. SO badly damaged, however,
that nOne of the doors could be opened
TO permit the escape Of the frightened
inmates.
The small town OF Clarksville,' near
this city, vas swept by the winds and
many horses were killed by flying de-
IriS whila q nImha- Of ,rnn ..,.
were blown down, though fortunately
the inmates were not killed. Several
were badly manned, however. With he
terrific wind came a driving rain that
was little short OF a flood and swept ev-
erything before it.. Persons arriving on
the evening trains bring reports from
the surrounding country TO the effect
that the storm was general in this sec
ZION. The small own Of Buda. near
here, was roughly handled by the
storm, quite a number Of houses being
blown down and n or two persons kill
ed, though their names are not obtain
able, owing TO the fact that most of the
telegraph wires IRE down. and news Is
very meager.
This is the worst storm that has ever
visited this section, and it has laid waste
everything in its track, though, FORUM
a,ely, so far the reports of deaths result
ant are few. The storm was over in an
hour and the II came out as brightly
as though nothing had happened.