The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-06-12
Strikes Peoria at 10 O'Clock and Again at Z O'Clock
 NeXt Morning,
SEVERAL PERSONS KILLED j
 HEAVY PROPERTY DAMAGE
At Times the Wind Reached Velocity of 100 Miles an Hour, and Houses Were Swept Away Like
 Mere Chaff.

Peoria. III, June 1.-The double storm That struck Peoria at 1G o'clock last night and again at o'clock this morning, was the worst Cent al Illinois has experienced since 1S43. Rair fell in torrents and the damage caused by high winds is incstima- ble at tbis time, but 1t will amount to hundreds of thusands of dollars Every railroad ntering the city is crippled. Telegraph communication was cut off and not resumed until 10 o'clock this morning. Telephone connection with the outside world is completely severed Fac- tories throughout the city are completely crippled, as slmost every smokestack IS down The entire street railway system was put out of business for several hours but at noon today the operation was partly resumed. Probably the worst damage in proportion to the size Of the town was at Kingston mines, small mining town twenty miles below Peoria, where three people were killed outright and ten were injured fatally.
 THE DEAD.
 The killed are
 Infant child of Mrs Murray.
 Mrs. Thomas Murray.
 Mrs. Robert McEllwee
 lJURED.
 Infant child of Mrs. McElwee.
 The others injured are: Mrs. Mecha; Ecb iBtner and Jud Marish
 An electrical storm swept over the vil- lage first followed by the tornado. The ,, ih of the storm was over 200 feet wfde Sixteen homes gre completely demolished as was the Methodist church, the engine house. blacksmith shop and born of Newson brothers at their mine. Total loss to all property will exceed s20,000.
 The nome of Thomas Murray was liter ally wiped from the face of the earth. The wind took the lives of Mrs. Murray and child and left the father in dying condition. ..
 MT. and Mrs. McElwee were in their home which was demolished. Their child was killed in it's mothers arms, while she was fatally hurt and the father Will probably die.
 Mrs. Mocha and child had miraculous escape from death. The house was com pIetely wrecked, but partition had fallen as a protection and while they were pinned down for hours they were not badly hurt.
 In Peoria, George hearuOIl, dil eilploye of the electric company, was instantly killed this morning while repairing the storm damage at Glenoak Park. He was caught by live wire and died instantly George Ashlock another lineman, was seriously burned in attempting to extrl- cate Reardon from the wire.
 The Peoria and Pekin round house was blown down shortly before 10 o'clock. In 1t at the time were eight men, and all escaped without serious injury, but Sam uel Spencer an Iowa Central engineer who was caught by the falling walls, received serious injuries to his back.
 Twenty Engines Wrecked.
 Thirteen locomotives owned by the 1lli- nois Central, two by the Iowa central, four by the Toledo, Peoria and Western, and five by the Big Four were almost to- tally wrecked. Three large dry goods houses were on fire at the same time and the entire fire department of the city was on duty all night.
 The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific train which left this city at n:25 o'clock last night for Chicago ran into wash out just above the city. The engine IS buried In sand and mud and the baggage car Is turned over. Robert Atkinson, the engineer, was the only person injured The roofs of the Corning & Co.'S dis tillery warehouse and the Clark distil- lery were blown off
 
 store, and Charles Canon & Co.,, mems furnishing store, was almost wrecked by water Shortly after Il o'clock report reached the police that the people living in Dry Run on the bluff were in danger of drowning as they had been caught by the flood. Row boats were hurried to the scene at once and the police took twelve people from their homes. They were standing on pianos with the water almost to their necks. Within an hour all of them would have been lost. All communication from without was destroy ed for over 12 hours and 1t was almost noon today when a wire was secured be- tween Peoria and Chicago and St. Louis All street car service was stopped and the fire alarm system was wrecked.
 Shipping Craft Disappear.
 A tugboat and a steam launch which have been plying on the river at this noint have disappeared since the first storm and 1t is believed they are now at The bottom of the Peoria lake, Their nilots have not been seen. The storm was general and extended as far east as Bloomington where it was even worse than at Peoria
 The steamer City of Peoria out on the | Illinois river with an excursion party of i6ve hundred women, was caught in the tNarrows several miles above Peoria, but was landed safely at 2:3O this morning. The steamer City of Henry was driven far in shore by the wind and waves and will be a total loss The fish market boats were torn from their moorings and carried across the lake. It is not known whether any lives were lost on these Aboats. The storm struck Morton small fvillage fifteen miles below here, and Ed ward Beeman and farmer named Eli son were killed The damage to farmers is beyond estimate at this time and it is ,rnnossible to get a list of the dead.