The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1902-06-13
A STORM IN ILLINOIS.
Territory 100 Miles Wide and 200
Long Was Devastated.
Not Village or City in Mclean coun-
ty Escaped, and From Every Dis
trict Comes Reports of De.
stroyed Buildings.


storm that struck Peoria at 10 o'clock
Tuesday night and again at o'clock
Wednesday morning was the worst
Central Illinois has experienced since
1843. Rain fell in torrents and the
damage caused by the high winds is
inestimable at this time. Probably
the worst damage in proportion ID
the size of the town was at Kingston
Mines, a small mining town 20 miles
below Peoria. There three people
were killed outright and ten were iu-
jured, three fatally.
The Peoria & Pelin Union round
house was blown down shortly after
10 o'clock. In it at the time were
eight men, and all escaped without Sc
rious injury but Samuel Spence, an
iowa Central engineer, who was
caughc Oy the falling walls, receiving
serious injuries to his back.
Thirteen locomotives, owned by the
Illinois Central, two OIL the Iowa Cen
trail four by the Toledo, Peoria &
Western and five by the Big Four were
almost totally wrecked.
The roof of the Harmed & Won Maur
dry goods store was blown off, The
stock was damaged $4,000 by water.
CHARLES Canon & Co.'s mems furnish
ing store was wrecked by water. No
insurance. Schipper & Block lost con.
siderable on account of water. Short.
ly after II o'clock a report reached
the police IAat the people living in
Dry Run, on the bluff, were in danger
of drowning as they had been caught
by the food. Row boats were hurried
to the scene at once and the police
took II people from their homes.
They were standing on pianos with
the water almost to their necks. With
in an hour all would have persisted.
A tug boat and a steam launch
which have been plying on the river
at this point have disappeared since
the first storm and it is believed thew
are now at the bottom of the Peoria
lake. Their pilots have not been seer.
Bloomington. ILL.,, June 12.-Stretch-
ing across a pathway 100 miles in
width and devastating territory fully
200 miles long, extending from Liv-
ingston county on the north and Ma
coupin county On the south and leav-
ing its mark across the face of Central
Illinois, a tornado Tuesday night in
fiicted property loss which will aggre-
gate $1,000,000 and cost a dozen lives.
The brunt of the storm fell upon Nc
Lean and adjoining counties. Light
ming was lncessant for two hours, but
was marked by absence of thunder
claps. Inc wind reached a velocity
of 100 miles an hour and left a trail
of destruction and death. An almost
complete paralysis of telephone and
telegraph lines for II hours made it
impossible to secure full details of the
disaster. 1t is now known that while
the fatalities in Mclean county were
but three. scores of persons were seri-
Ously injured and hundreds of mar
row escapes from death were reporter.
Not village or city of Mclean coun-
ty escaped and from every district
comes the same report of destroyed
buildings, injury to growing crops and
RACED fruit and shade trees. The ag-
gregate loss in Mclean county, not in
Guiding three lives at Merna or thou
sands upon thousands of shade and
fruit trees that were leveled, will be
between $4,000 and 100000, rough
ly estimated Claims for tornado in
suralce up to Wednesday evening
among local agents have reached $50.
600 and it is believed that this sum
will be doubled. This amount only
represents the loss outside of Bloom
ington in Mclean county farming dis
tricts. The heaviest loss in proportion
to population fell upon Merna, vii
iage ten miles east of Bloomington,
where the town hall, used by party
of $50 for a dance, was destroyed,
three of the women dancers being in
stantly killed by falling timbers ami
so others were injured.