The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1897-04-01

|; GUTHRIE, Okla, March SL- Chand-
Ter. an Interior boom town, city miles
ft6m Guthrie. q q mass Of ruins,
At g o'clock last evening cyclone,
dealing death aud destruction % evaFY-
thing in it, path. swept down upon the
town and almost completely wiped II
on the face Of the earth. OF 1900 inhab.
itants, twsnty-Six were killed outright
or burned 70 death and fully 40 were
injured. OF the latter Il. y thought
fourteen viii de, twsntY-four otheEs aro
in dangerous condition. The remain.
der Of tho population q homeless. The
Presbyterian church, M1schel's hotel
and two other buildings are all that re-
main standing. These have been turned
into hospitals. The property loss WIN
aggregate half million dollars. There
are not half enough coftlns to bury the
dead.
The storm came up from The SOUTH
west, almost without a moments Warn-
ing, and sweeping across the town, hrsi
demolished the business district, thea
laid low the residence portion, and pass
ing on, spent itself in the open prairie
Tho wrecks Of many Of the store build
ings took are and in Rlort time gn
awful holocaust followed. Many OF the
injured and buried 10 the were burned
to death before help could arrive,
The fire broke out dfBt in the ruins OF
the New York Stofa and the Lincoln
bank, and spread to the adjoining
buildings, making e necessary TO night
the flames as well as rescue the an1uf-
The people were slow to recover from
the shock Of the calamity and not un-
III noon to-day did anything like system
prevail in the work OF relief.
AZ II o'clock Tonight particulars are
Btill TneaKre. Save one slow working
telephone wire out Of Chandler and put
one telegraph wire from GuthEta the
town Il practically cut on from the out
slda world.
denly, The sky was clear an hour be.
fore. Shortly before O'clock mass ol
,daHls clouds. altered Ia the eopth1eal
and then whIried north. They sbon de-
VqIopkd into q flnnel.Hhlped monster,
and bore down upon the 0tltslEtEt9 OF
the town, As the naSa touched the
ground the roar was deatOnlnB. The
fIinnet split 0s Il struck the S0uthWest
border Of Chandler, which e situated
on hill overlooking the Cow Creek
valley and one.hRlf went ShrouSh the
town and the other turned north Be
fore escape was possible, ehe Sye!9Ae
had passed through the town. Tearing
through the business district stores
were hurled left and right or lifted high
in the RIr and tossed every direction.
Chief Justice Dale, Of the Oklahoma
supreme court, was holding court in
tfe Court house. which was crowded.
lIo HSn with his wife tola hollow and
there were protected by large boulder,
and were unhurt. r,,.i
Further down Main street the Lln.
coin county bank building was toppled
over and was soon enveloped N lanes.
/ Here, before aid could reach them, nve
unfortunAtes were literally putneu 70
/ death, plnionea down BY heavy I'm.
san further down the street three
children suffered a like fate. y mass
of injured people, dead and injured
iborSeg. wagons, buEgies Of all kinds
from the buildings transformed Main
1tro0t into q funeral party. Passing on
! into the residence portion, the cyclone
/ topled over dwelling after dwelling,
turned hOuses on their tops ana made
the streets unrocoSniER bic, plling them
high with debris.
a two.dayg.old baby was carried four
blocks and not Injured, while the moth:
er was crushed n her bed. The trail
the storm left was one Of wreck ana
ruin most complete, With the first re.
aiiFation OF their pTedlcHulent over the
uriInjured and able bodied found them;
selves from fright and confusion well
niRht as helplaSs 10 render aid - their
more unfortunate t6ighbor8.
Il was several houF9 before enmmunle
cation with Guthrie was secured IN
the meantime, however, tram pet!t.
ing physicians and others lett LOT the
HNanN. sa