The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-04-29
Impossible TO Obtain Full List
Of Casualties.
THE TOWN A SCENE OF CHAOS
Bodies of Many Victims DeS-
troyed By the Flames.
STRANGE FREAKS OF THE STORM
Grooming Baby Found uninjured in
An Old Field.
CLOTHING BLOWN e5 MILES
Telegraph Office Deluged With Mes
sages from Friends Inquiring as to
Grooming Baby Found Uninjured in
An Old Field.
CLOTHING BLOWN 25 MILES
Telegraph Office Deluged With Mes
sages from Friends Inquiring as to
Fate of Some of the Inhabi-
tants and Scholars

Kirksville, Mo-, April pas a result of
the tornado which swept though the east
ern portion of this city yesterday evening.
demolishina half of the residences and
other buildings, 200 families homeless,
and more than thirty dead bodies and sew
ehty injured persons have been recovered
from the ruins. More than a dozen of the
injured will die. Although. rescuers have
been searching the ruins ever since the
storm spent.it its fury, many are Sail miss
ing and it is thought that a considerable
number of the unforunates were con-
eumed IN the flames that broke out soon
after the storm had ceased. The work of
rescue continues, but 1t may be day before
the number of victims is known.
The tornado struck the city last evening
when most of the residents were at sup-
per, cutting clean path one mile long
and 600 feet wide through the residence
section, leaving death and destruction in
Its wake. Buildings were demolished or
twisted apart and scattered to the four
winds. A conservative estimate places the
damage at 100000.
The wind played many pranks and there
were some miraculous escapes. ]. T. Coon
fields family were eating supper when the
tornado struck their home. The house was
picked up, carried across a slough and
dumped up against hill.
Inmates of House Escaped
The building was not completely wrecked
and the family escaped without anything
worse than a severe shaking up. Houses
on both sides OF the residence OF William
Hull were blown into splinters, but the
wind only twisted his house off the founda-
tion.
For time the people in that part of
the town not touched by the storm were
panic-stricken, but soon as they recov-
cred they Went to the aid of the unfor-
tunate townsmen Calls for help were sent
to surrounding towns and were quickly re-
sponded to- The wounded were carried to
the homes Of hospitabe neighbors and
given immediate attention.
Hundreds of persons visited the stricken
district today and a large number Of
sight-seers came from neighboring towns.
The streets are impossible for wagons.
This state of affairs hinders the work of
gathering the dead, and makes the compil-
alton of complete list of victims impossi-
BILE for the time being. All business has
been suspended The scenes that met the
gaze of the rescuers were horrifyng. An
aged man and his wife had evidently been
eating the evening meal when the cyclone
struck and carried them away. They had
clasped their arms about each other and
were found dead on the ground some dis
tance away from where their home had
been. No trace of their house has been
seen.
Suffered "a Terrible Death
Several of the dead were found in spots
which would have been in the center of
the house had the building not been blown
to splinters. This was the case with Mrs.
Panschott, who suffered a most terrible
death. Her headless body, with its arms
Sn1A
on the floor of the house, which was loft
as raised platform in an open field. The
head, as though clearly severed as if done
with knife. was about twenty feet dis
tant TWO children had been lying in
cot in one of the destroyed rooms The
house was carried away but the floor Of
the first story and the foundation were
left. The cot on which the little ones Law
was lifted up and carried fully block and
set down on the ground. Neither of the
children was hurt.
Mayor Noonan. assisted by a number of
citizens opened an intelligence bureau OF
noon. Messengers were sent through the
stricken district in search of persons who
were known to have resided in that Sec
tion of the town. Every citizen made it his
duty to report at the bureau of informat tion
all cases of death, injury and of persons
missing. In this way some little degree
of order was brought of chaos. BY o. clock
it was said at headquarters that the in
jured so far numbered seventy-four, with
about dozen cases which are sure to re-
suit fatally. The list is not complete, how
ever.
Freaks of the Wind
The freaks of the storm were many but
one of the strangest was the finding of
grooming baby out in field far from any
house. No one has called for the baby
and 1t has not been identified. Another
baby was found where it had been bruised
to death by the violence of the wind. This
baby also has not been identified Among
the horrors of the storm was the finding of
a corpse of 16-year-old girl with 2-by-
4 scantling driven through her body. The
body of little child was found with the
limb of tree sticking through it's neck.
The district visited by the storm has been
recently built up, and most of the houses
were new. Many had built with borrowed
money and as result many are not only