The herald., 1898-01-26
Prevailing in the Prairie
Country
THE BIG CITIES OF MISSOURI
SUFFEE SOME DAMAGE AND
MTr~ OMFORT
The Wind at st. Louis Reaches Tor
nado Velocity and Causes Several
Deaths-At Other Places
Associated Press Special Wire

| Associated Press Special Wire
KANSAS CITY, Jan. 25.-A wet snow
fell throughout the Southwest last
night, covering the ground to the depth
| of a foot. The storm began about mid
night and continued until early this
morning. 1t was followed by freezing
weather, which caused the snow on the
telephone and telegraph wires to turn
to ice, and communication with many
outside points were interrupted.
| At Ell Reno, o. T., the wind was strong
enough to shake houses, topple over
chimneys and break many panes of
glass.
The residence Of William Phelps, a
farmer two miles east of Ell Reno, was
demolished. The family escaped with
slight injuries.
A few miles distant house was blown
down and the debris caught fire and was
consumed. No one was injured.
At Guthrie, OF, halstorm prevailed
and hundreds of panes of glass were
broken. Many people thought tornado
was upon them and fled to their storm
cellars. UP to o'clock this morning
communication with the country was
| good. Then the wires, burdened with
several times their weight of ice and
snow and tautened by the cold and LASH
ed by the wind, began to snap under the
unusual tension.
! By 8 o'clock nearly every circuit along
the Santa Fe and Union Pacific rail-
roads for miles was broken. Two hours
later communication with almost the
entire west was cut off. At noon the
condition had become more aggravated.
Out of nearly dozen wires to st. Louis
and the same number to Chicago only
one was working between each Of the
cities.
II 1t was impossible, however, to obtain
any news from the central west, the
southwest or the northwest.
Many trains left the union depot late,
after waiting in vain for orders to pro-
ceed. Tonight communication west had
been partially restored.
In Kansas City the heavy damage was
confined to broken telephone poles,
snapped telephone wires and more or
less delay to the street railway thaffic.
AT ST. LOUIS
ST. LOUIS, Jan. pa gale of wind
that reached the highest velocity of any
experienced here since the tornado of
May 27, 1896, when the destruction Of
life and property was SO great, pre-
vailed today. Its highest velocity was
66 miles an hour, and up to noon two
deaths, one fatally injured and several
minor injuries had been reported, as we'll
as destruction to property. The dead:
AUGUST WEYMER, aged 81, car
penter, who was blown from the roof Of
a school. He lived but ten minutes after
being taken to the City Hospital.
THOMAS JOSEPH PETERSON, four
years old; blown from the roof of a
porch and killed.
Injured: Mrs. Sarah J. Lorin spine
crushed and she may die; injury caused
by the blowing down of a fence. Mrs.
w. B. Doddrige, blown under an express
wagon, internal injuries Mary Wilson,
struck by sign, and hip dislocated.
Shortly after o'clock this morning,
terrific thunderstorm, accompanied by
a heavy fall of hail and rain, struck the
city and prevailed for an hour or more.
By daybreak the sky had cleared, but
it soon became cloudy again and the
wind began to rise. By 10:45 the wind
was blowing at the rate of 66 miles an
hour, but IA miles less than the recorded
velocity during the tornado of 1896. 1t
was a straight blow from the southwest
and the residents of the city, especially
in the tornado-stricken section, were
seized with CONSERVATION. Swinging
signs and window panes were blown
down and broken; outhouses demol-
ished and fences eveled telegraph poles,
and wires broken, and in some instances
awnings were taken off.
The east wall of the ruins of the Ra-
venwood Distillery, at Madison and
Twenty third streets, was blown over
At Nineteenth and Market streets, the
roof of two-story building was blown
down. There were several thrilling es-
capes, but so far as can be learned, no one
was injured outside those mentioned
above.
The wind created much alarm at Four
Courts, especially among the Jail pris-
oners. The big, old building swayed
perceptibly and there was general ex-
odus from the upper floors.
Considerable other damage to build
ings in ST. Louis was reported later.
Mrs. Doddridge, one of those injured,
is the wife of General Manager Dodd-
ridge of the Missouri Pacific railroad.
1t is learned tonight that she is not Sc
riously hurt.
| LII East 81 lDc otOl III VI WiiAs
seet and rain startled many Of the resi-
dents into the belief that another tor
nado had struck the city, The wind
demolished the baseball park COM
ipletely, entailing a loss of $22,50O. Sign
boards were scattered all over the
streets and big section of wooden side
walk on East Broadway was blown
across the commons.
The low places in the eastern portion
of the city were filed with water.
Signs, fences and outbuildings also suf-
fered, but no casualties were reported
on that side of the river.
At the electric power house, which