Waterbury Democrat., 1902-06-11

 ing a wide belt of country swept over northern and central Illinois early this morning. According to reports it ex- tended from Freeport in the northern part of the state to Bloomington and Clinton in the central part.
 Details as to the destruction wrought are incomplete as wires of the tele- graph and railway companies were quickly swept away.
 The suddenness and completeness of the Interruption caused alarm and the belief that the Windstorm was of unusual severity.
 Train dispatchers in Chicago and Jo- liet were cut off from their trains about midnight The Chicago & Al ton dispatcher at Joliet said that the latest train he had heard from passing through Bloomington was proceeding only IS miles an hour because of dam age done to the roadway by the storm.
 Bloomington was the center of the wind blast. Reports received from there last evening were that high wind was blowing, but no deaths or serious accidents were reported. The sudden break in all the telegrapss and loMg distance telephone service pre- vented any reports of casualties when the severe storm struck.
 Bloomington, III, June 11.-Death and destruction followed in the wake of the worst tornado last night that has ever visited central Illinois. The wind wrought ruin and woe and the property vii hc ms fhn1 d. of Growing crops suffered heavily. The saddest feature, however, was the kill ing of three young women who were attending dance at the town hall of Merna. a small village ten miles east of this city. A party of 250 young men and women were in the hall when the tornado struck the building. Every body rushed to the door. A number of young men held the doors to prevent the people from escaping, fearing that they might be injured or killed if they got outside. About half of them, how ever, escaped. and then the building collapsed. The others were buried in the wreck. Three were Killed and forty or fifty others more or less injured, some of them seriously.
 The dead are: Miss Lena Jahagan, Mrs Edward Matrin and Miss Anna Kelly. All are daughters of prominent farmers in this vicinity. A number of young people were taken from the ruins unconscious, and it is feared there may be other deaths.
 The storm struck Merna with the greatest fury-greater than any other place in the county. Many of the finest houses and barns were destroyed.
 The storm reached Bloomington about Il D. m.. commencing with a furious electrical display. Rain ac- companied the wind, and the business district suffered severely. Hundreds of trees in the city were broken down, telegraph and telephone poles were lev eled and the wires added to the block ade. Buildings all over the city were damaged, but no lives were lost nor was anyone seriously injured.
 Illinois Wesleyan university lost it's roof and was badly damaged by water
 Railroad tracks were washed out and a number of freight wrecks were caused by telegraph poles falling on the tracks.
 Chicago, June 11.-Meagre reports re- ceived here tell of a destructive torna- southern boundary of Wisconsin
 
 Bloomington. with ramTf1catfons west of the Mississippi.
 At Merna, Ill, three lives were lost and forty to fifty people injured. Ev- eret, little town in Marshall county, Ia, is said to have been wiped out by the fury of the storm.
 Bloomington, III, was hit severely and buildings in all parts of the city were seriously damaged and traffic blocked. So far as was known early no lives were lost in Bloomington. Wires were broken down in every di- rection and it was extremely difficult to secure any information.
 The storm swept through the state about midnight. accompanied by cleo trical discharges of a severe nature. For seven hours Chicago could get no connection with the places in the patch of the storm.
 After being cut off from communica- ton with the outside world since II :45 last night, the city of Bloomington was heard from at ' o'clock this morning, when the Chicago and Alton railroad reported that their train wire had been restored to working order
 A message received by the railroad officials at that hour stated that a se- were rain storm had visited Blooming ton last night. 1eveling wires in all di- rections, but that so. far as known no lives have been lost. The damage to property is not yet known.
 All attempts to reach Decatur. Springfield, Pontiac. C.3nton, Treeport and other cities proved futile since last night.
 At o'clock the wires of the Illinois Central were still down. The lines of the long distance telephone company were likewise useless.
 Des Moines. Ia, June 11.-Grinnell reports that the town of Laurel. in Marshall county, was destroyed by a tornado last night Owing to the wires being down it is impossible to secure definite knowledge as to the facts.
 Laura fs in Jefferson township, Mar shall county, and has a population of not to exceed 100 people. The only ueapa of communication with fhe toWQ