Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1899-05-04


Over Twenty Miles-severaI Towns
Struck.
Two cyclones left trails of death behind
them Thursday in Missouri and Iowa. One
swept through Newtown and Kirksville,
Mo-, just at nightfall, causing immense de-
struction Of property and appalling loss Of
life. The lesser storm struck the Soldier
river valley in western Iowa about mid
night on Wednesday night, wrecking the
country and shifting with wounds and
death the people in the vicinity of the
town of Ute.
The Known Dead.
At Kirksvile, No. Observation-Disclosures. AS
At Newtown, Mo. NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. 20
At Ute, Iowa, and Vicinity ...............
Some reports from the stricken districts
made the total number Of injured exceed
800, and figures of the killed varied also,
but il is impossible at the time this is
written to give accurate details.
The sky emptied its fury in a gigantic
cyclone upon Kirksville, the town made
famous by osteopathy, at 6:20 o'clock at
tight, while most of the inhabitants were
At table. The entire east side Of the city
was wiped clean. More than 100 dwell
iags and business houses were totally de-
stroyed. Several of the wrecked build
ings took fire, adding difficulty and danger
TO the work of rescue. Mayor Noonan
Friday morning said the death list would
reach 75. The tornado approached Kinks
vile from the southwest, and passed only
two blocks from the heart Of the city. Sew
eral public institutions were just outside
the storm zone, otherwise the loss Of life
would have been more appalling.
A broad, clean path, nearly a quarter
of mile in width, lies through the town,
as smooth as virgin prairie. Probably
400 houses are scattered as fragments
somewhere beyond the town in woodland
nd prairie. In the heavy rain following
the people who escaped turned out to res
cue the injured and hunt the bodies of the
s.an.
Surgeons, professors, operating staff and
students, men and women of the American
School of Osteopathy, together with all
The druggists in the town, formed rescue
and hospital corps. Rescuing corps lifted
roofs and searched the ruins of houses all
;.ong the edge of the death track not en-
1irely demolished for the wounded, the
dying and the dead. Half dozen wreck
cd dwellings took fire Immediately after
the cyclone had passed.
= The storms coming was announced with
q roar and deep muffled rumble of dis
tGnt thunder. There was a suction from
10th sides, and before the advancing col
Inin. while a steady crunching, cracking,
grinding noise was heard distinctly above
the roar of the elements a mile from the
Path of the cyclone.
The cyclone approached Kirksville from
the southwest. AT distance it seemed to
he making for the fair grounds, and people
at the American School of Osteopathy, on
the west side of the town, watched its
coming for two minutes in fear that il was
lnaring down upon them. Before reach
ing the town limits it veered further east,
however, and cleared the State Normal
School without touching it.
Patterson's extensive nursery, just west,
was swept down to bare soil. The course
from that on was through a well-built-up
section of the town, made up mainly Of
low houses, and largely populated by stu
dents of the normal school and American
School of Osteopathy. Marcus Wards
seminary for young women was a couple
of hundred yards east of the storms path.
A hotel building close to it was demol-
ished.
a score of guests stood upon the porti-
Goes and at the dining room windows Of
the Still Hotel, half mile west of the
storms PATH and saw it sweep through
the town. Roofs blew ahead of the blast
Ike leaves, seemingly far in front of the
revolving snout a full hundred yards in
!. the sky.
flpn ~ ha hot &c
of a road wagon, which lodged against the
front of a house in the edge of the winds
track. No one knows what became of the
animal. Members of households disap-
pe1red with partial demolition Of homes,
while others remained unhurt among the
debris. Along the edge Of the storms
,spath holes are seen through frame houses
as il puncturcd by cannon balls.
4 \ second edition of the cyclone followed
5the first in about twenty minutes. 1t
came as an ink-black cloud widely distrib-
, utcd and covered the whole town. Many
sought refuge in cellars. The tail end of
the cyclone did not break upon Kirksville.
however, seeming to go by overhead. 1t
Is believed generally that the second cy-
clcnic wave dropped to the ground before
travelling much further on its journey. The
heavens DeCHHt DldCk IOT ml0uteS,
after which heavy rain fell for an hour
and a half. BY 8 o'clock the sky was
, clear and starry.
Mayor Noonan telcgraphed to every sta
tion between Bloomfield, Iowa, and Mo-
berly, Mo-, for surgical assistance. I'm
dertakers wired st. Louis and Chicago
!, rush orders for collins. Scores of fami-
: lies will be rendered absolutely destitute
in addition to losses by injury and death.
:. The reports from country districts indi-
/. &C ed that many lives were lost In the
surrounding farming districts. Henry
Lowe and three children, living three
miles north Of Kirksville. were crushed
beneath the tmbers Of their wrecked
hd1ie. Several other members Of the fam
ily escaped injury. Other fatalities are
reported from the country, but ii is not
likely that an accurate death list will be
available for several days. The tornado
destroyed telephone and telegraph wires
out of Kirksvile and NOT until $3.50 o'clock
Friday morning was communication with
tho o,,t eide rocs,tnod md fhpu only In an