The Topeka state journal., 1899-06-14
Number Of Unrecovered Dead
at New Richmond
Estimated at From Fifty to One
Hundred.
SIXTY-FIVE CHILDREN
And Many Adults Still Reported
Missing.
One Hundred COrpses Have Been
Gathered Up.

DOQ1eS were recovered from the IOiI
ruins last night, the work being aban-
dOned on account of the heavy ran.
which fell during the greater part of
the night and partly by exhaustion OF
the working parties.
No organized movement looking to
the recovery of the dead or the distribu-
tion of supplies has been inaugurated
as yet, but order is beginning finally to
show amid the chaos and demoraliza-
ton which has been prevalent since the
storm.
kilograms from all points of the
country, from San Francisco to Boston,
are pouring into New Richmond, ask
ing for the safety of relatives and
friends. No official list of the dead and
injured has been kept and replies to
many of these inquiries will necessarily
be slow.
Many messages have been received
Offering financial assistance.
The total amount thus far offered is
about 81, 600.
The militia is patrolling what was the
business section of the town and nobody
is permitted inside the lines. 1t is ex-
pected that today the task of looking
for the dead will proceed with greater
success than yesterday The number
still in the ruins is Variously estimated,
some estimates running up to 100 and
others being placed at fifty.
o. w. Mosher, who has been at the
that fully sixty-fiVe children were still
missing and a large number of adults
as well. This estimate is generally con-
Sidered too large. The working party
expect to find anywhere from fifteen to
twenty-five bodies in the basement of
Williams hardware store.
Fully one hundred cOrpses, twice as
many mangled people, forty acres of
piles of brick, shivered plankS, scattered
heaps of household goods, dead horses
through which the wind had driven
sharp splinters of board, smouldering
fires where houses stood 4S hours ago
and in the midst of it all shivered trees
bare of leaves as ever they were in
the middle of winter and almost strip
ped bare of bark until they resembled
the ghosts of what they had been. This
is what the storm wrought in the
space of three minutes upon the town
of New Richmond. There never was a
cyclone that made a cleaner sweep of
what lay in its path than the one of
Monday evening. In the business por-
tion of the town absolutely not one
building was left standing above the
cellar windows; everything above a
foundation wall was shaved as clean
as though it had been cut with a plane.
Enormous safes were blown into the
middle of the street and the largest safe
in the town was carried across one
street and half way over the square be-
yOnd.
and during the later part of the after
noon heavy banks of clouds had hung
upon the western and southwestern
horizon, but nothing serious was antici-
pated until few minutes before 6
o'clock. when a dark blue cloud with
edges of a pale green was seen rapid
ly approaching from the southwest. In
a minute long funnel was seen drop
ping towards the ground, and then, with
a savage roar the cloud swept down
upon the doomed town. A circus had
been exhibiting during the afternoon
and the streets were full of strangers,
and as the awful cloud bore swiftly
down there was mad rush for cellars,
dOorways or any place that promised
safety. Some of the crowd reached q
refuge and those who did not are
among the dead.
1t will be several days before the
number of dead in New Richmond is
accurately known and it is doubtful if
the entire number of fatalities will ever
be chrOnicled. In the path of the storm
both to the northeast and southwest of
the city were scattered farm houses
and where ever they were struck by
that awful wind there was nothing left
but pile of boards and twisted raft
ers. How many were killed in these
houses will not be known for a long
time. 1t is impossible to estimate the
property loss. but it is total in the best
part of the town, and to make the blow
more severe, not one policy of tornado
insurance had been written for the
place What is gone is gone beyond
repair. There is at present no desti-
tuition among those who have suffered
town is utterly wiped out of existence
and not one man in the place will be
able to resume business. The destruc-
ton is so complete that there is alb
solutely nothing to be purchased in the
town, not a box of Sardines. a pound of
crackers or a pair of shoes.
The business portion of the city COW
cred a space of four squares each way
and was solidly built Of brick and
stone. This entire space was swept
clear. FunGation walls and in some
places masses of debris alone marked
where the business places formerly
stood. Trees that had lined the streets
of the neighboring residence district
were broken clear off, or twisted and
uprooted.
The tornado came up the river from
Hudson, where the damage was COM
paratively slight. Following the gen.
eral course of the river and the branch
of the Omaha road, the storm gained in
intensity as it progressed and was at
its worst when it struck the business
center of New Richmond. Outlying
residences in the path of the storm
We're stripped of shingles and boards.
or sides were blown off. or, as more
frequently happened, were torn asun-
der and the fragments were scattered
to the four winds of heaven. Trees
were uprooted and roadways blocked,
washed away, or so overfiowed as TO
be made entirely unrecognizable.