The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-03-11
CYCLONE SEASON.
1t Opens at Omaha With a
Northwestern.
Storm Was Preceded by Rain
and Hail.
CHURCH WAS WRECKED
Lightning Strikes a Flat and
Skaters It.
Fifty Buildings Sustain More or
Less Damage.

Omaha, Neb., March IA storm
from the northwest swept through the
northern portion of Omaha a t / a. m.
Light rain and hail We're followed by a
veritab1e hurricane which did a great
amount of damage. Wires We're blown
down, windows shattered, several
buildings unroofed and sidewalks torn
from their places. Five skyligEts, each
weighing more than 500 pounds, were
blown down at the Coliseum building.
The Monmouth park M. E. church at
Thirty-fourth street and Larimore ave
nue. was blown to pieces, as was the
building at 2218 Cumming street, occu-
pied by the Rutherford marble works.
The roofs at 2410 and 2412 Cumming
street were blown to the street. At the
same time a bolt of lightning struck the
fiat at 2410 Cumming, shattering the
rear portion of the building. A row of
flats across the street from the Coli
scum was badly damaged.
The effects of the storm were made
more apparent with the break of dawn,
and it is now known that half hum
dred buildings were damaged more or
less. Cumming street from Eighteenth
to Twenty-fourth, and Twenty-fourth
street north of Cumming are strewn
with debris from damaged buildings,
signs and fences Nobody is thought to
man Dan Baldwin had a narrow escape.
The storm struck him before he had
dismounted, and the force of the wind
threw him heavily to the pavement, but
he managed to get to a place of safety.
The Coliseum building is the worst
wrecked of the larger structures. It
was directly in the path of the storm.
Nearly all of the SkylightS are gone,
and the roof is badly twisted The high
board fence surrounding the building
was also carried away. Anderson's
match factory, Immediately east of the
Coliseum, was badly wrecked, and
row of five fats across the street were
twisted and all the windows torn out.
Five large plate glass windows in
Taggarts undertaking parlors, at 2224
Cumming street were blown out and the
furniture and interior wrecked.
The storm created considerable ex-
citement for short time and aroused
of the city, who thought the town was
in the grasp of real twister.
ELKHORN IN THE TRACK.
The storm moved southwest after
leaving this city, striking Elkhorn, a
village of 500 people, ten miles away.
Half a dozen dwellings in that town
We're badly twisted and several small
buildings blown down. The elevator and
cribs of the Omaha Elevator company
received more damage than any other
property. The storm came up suddenly
and lasted a few minutes.
All day yesterday the temperature
registered from 60 to 68 degrees and the
weather bureau reports that the storm
is the result of the unseasonab BILE heat
which caused it to form over this Sec
tion.
OPERA HOUSE DAMAGED.
Valley, Neb.. March ia storm of
tornado velocity struck this town at 1: 80
O'Clock this morning. The fronts of half
a dozen business places were blown in
and several small buildings wrecked. 4
The damage to the opera house was the
greater, the windows being blown out
The storm struck the coal chutes of the
Union Pacific railroad while the engine
of passenger train No, 5 was taking
coal. The falling chute demolished the
cab and smokestack of the engine and
did considerable damage to the train.
None of the passengers was injured.