San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-03-31
THE DEAD, DYING AND INJURED
ARE PILED IN THE
DESOLATE STREETS.
Mingled With The Wreckage OF
Their Homes - Heavy Down.
pour Of Rain Only Saved
The LutkleSS Ones From
Being Cremated.

Guthrie, o. T., March 31.-Chaos
reigns in the town of Chandler. Last
nights terrible cyclone turned the
beautiful town of 1900 inhabitants
into a veritable morgue and its prin-
cipal business buildings and residenc-
es lay wrecked in all directions, a
grim reminder of the storms work.
AS yet there is no actual way of get
ting at the actual number of dead and
wounded, so great is the confusion
that prevails. The death list is var
iOusly estimated at from % to so with
the injured numbering from rs to
twice that number. Already 20 bodies
have been recovered.
Rain poured down upon the discon-
solated inhabitants all during the
weary hours and added horror to the
situation. In many cases the injured
called unsuccessfully for help and lay
in the wrecks of their homes till day
light made it possible for them to
help themselves or when aid from
surrounding towns arrived.
Many wrecks took fire and burn
ed themselves out, several still smold-
ering when morning broke. From the
fires work may finally come the worst
of the realization of the disaster. for
it is believed many missing were burn
ed to death. This phase of the situa-
ton will not be cleared away till per-
feet order is again restored n a
careful summing up Of the storms do
ings is possible.
The cyclone struck Chandler with
out any warning, about six o'clock
last evening tearing through the bus
mess district. Stores were hurled
right and left, lifted high into the air
and tossed in every direction. The
court house. in which Chief Justice
Dale was holding court, was taken off
its foundation and the building de-
mOlished. Passing on into the resi-
dence district the wind wreaked its
vengeance there and rushing into the
open country finally spent itself. The
trail it LEFT was one of wreck and ruin
most complete.
In n very SrOrt time Il heavy rain
storm came up and it developed into
4 delugc, which probably proved a
savior to the town for in many spots
it quenched the fires and stemmed the
conflagration that Chandler citizens
could not have hoped to have stayed.
Appeals for aid met prompt response
and rescuing parties were sent out
from Guthrie as the extent of the dam
age became known.
BY midnight some show of system
attic rescue had been perfected and the
dead and dying were being released
from their grimy prisons into which
their own homes had been transform
ed. ImprOvised hospitals were erect
ed and the unfortunates cared for.
At one o'clock twenty-one dead bod
les were taken from the ruins while
doz ens, more or less badly injured
were removed to places of safety.
In addition it is known that others
whom it had been impossible to reach,
who perhaps had been incinerated
before the deluge of rain quenched
fires in their homes, will swell the list
of fatalities. The dist of dead and in
tured as far as "ascertained at this
time is as follows:
Dead-JOhn Dawson, Lintol, Neb.,
lawyer. burned to death; Jas. Wood
yard and wife, Eldorado, KAN, visit
ing in Chandler, instantly killed; Mrs.
Henry Mitchell, Mrs. Tom Smith, #.
Demoff, Emma D~ressinger, Il. c..