The age-herald., 1902-03-31
Houses of Worship Made Scenes of Death and
 Destruction
FLYING TIMERS CRASH
 DOWN ON CONGREGATION
wind Turns Its Fury Upon the Churches Around Pittsburg and Long List of Dead and InIur-
 cd Is Awful Result.

Plttsburg, Pa, March 3O.-One of the hercest wind storms ever known in this section struck the city today just before noon and did tremendous damage to prop erty and injured many people, some of whom may die. Scores of houses were unroofed many trees were blown down, mill stacks toppled over and telegraph and telephone wires were generally dis abled. The most serious accident report ed up to o'clock tonight was the un- roofing of the Knoxville Presbyterian church in Knoxville. The church was | filled with an Easter congregation num- bering about 600 persons. While the min | ister was in the midst of his sermon a gust of wind blew over the large chfrn- ney and lifted a portion of the roof of the building. The bricks from the chim- ney crashed through the roof and car ried huge piece of the hardwood ceiling, measuring about forty by twenty feet, down upon the people. A panic ensued | and a rush was made for the doors and windows
 Forty Persons Injured. The excitement soon subsided and the work of rescue began. At least forty per sons were caught by the wreckage and more or less hurt. Of this number five may not recover. The more seriously 1 injured are:
 Dr. R. J. Phillips aged 40 years. con- cussion of the brain may die.
 Curtis Ray Mcknight 1 years old, in- ternal injuries, both legs crushed; prob- ably fatal.
 Clarence Mc,Julty, 1T years of age, in- ternal injuries, badly crushed; may die
 Fletcher Byron, fracture at base of brain; serious. , David Smith, g years old, arm broken, head cut and badly battered; serious.
 Joseph Adams. Albert Schmit.
 John Meyer.
 thomas Mechlin.
 Evan Jones.
 Mrs. Rachael Schultz, all badly bruised and cut.
 ToWboat Completely Wrecked.
 The tow boat Belle McGowan was blown over in the Ohio river opposite Sawmil Run and completely wrecked Her crew narrowly escaped drowning but all were finally rescued by harbor boats.
 The corrugated iron roof of the union bridge at the Point was lifted from it's fastenings by the wind and parts of 1t carried a great distance off. Jones and Laugflin lost fourteen of their furnace stacks These were blown down, necessitating the closing of a DOT | tion of their plant for a week.
 Reports from nearby towns are coming | in slowly, probably account of the crippled condition of the wires. It Is fear l ed that much damage has been done in | these places.
 Another Church Disaster. | As Rev J. w. English, pastor of the Robinson Run Up church near Mcdonald was raising his arms to pronounce the benediction, lightning struck the church | spire and it toppled upon the roof. crushing it and injuring number of worshippers, two of whom will die. The injured are:
 Robert Patterson, aged 10 years, skull fractured; will die l Leon Averil, aged Il years, skull frac- | tured, will die. Mrs John Patterson mother of Robert, severely lacerated and bruised about body.
 Mrs. Mary Patterson. arm broken and badly bruised.
 Miss Mary G. Wallace, badly bruised.
 Mrs. Averll, mother of Leon, head and arms cut and bruised.
 The spire and part of the roof of an- other church at Mcdonald was torn off and the building considerably damaged but no one was killed.
 Third Congregation Escapes
 The First Presbyterian church was also unroofed but the congregation escaped injury
 The Forest oil Company had between 200 and 300 derricks blown down in It's oil region and considerable damage was sustained by its pipage system.
 The offices of the Monongahela Con- | meeting Railroad on Second avenue this city. were destroyed by fire during the afternoon because alarm could be turned in either by telephone or tele- 1 graph.
 l More than 2500 lights of glass in the Phipps conservatory in Schenley Park were broken and much of the gorgeous | east flour display ruined. | The damage in the Monongahela and Turtle Creek Valleys will reach thous- ands of dollars. | Almost the entire east end district of l the city is in darkness tonight, the elec- tric lighting system having been made useless by the storm. The downtown portions were repaired early in the afternoon.
 Minister Killed by Cyclone. Greenville, Pa, March 30-The Easter services being held in the United Presby- terian church at Jamestown, six miles north of here, came to an abrupt ending at 12 o'clock today. The sky became overcast and funnel-shaped cloud was seen approaching from the northwest. The tail dipped to the ground just before the church was reached. With a terrific crash a part of the south end of the church crashed in burying the Rev. J. M. Jamison beneath bricks and tmbers. The men of the congregation rushed to the pulpit and when the stricken minister was removed from the debris it found that he had received fatal injuries His jaw was broken and the temporal bone crushed hardly live through the night
 At Washington. Pa, the new bar mill of the Griffith Tin Plate Company was blown down entailing a loss of $10.000 The