Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1903-06-09
STORM IN THE SOUTH.
STRIKES GAINESVILLE. GA WITH
AWFUL FURY.
Many Women and Children Killed and
Two Hundred Buildings Razed-Hu-
man Beings and wreckaae Carried
Through the Air.

Eighty-fve men, women and children
dead, forty more fatally injured. and
property loss of 100000 is the result of
a cyclone which struck Gainesville, Ca.
New Holland and White Sulphur, sub
urbs, Monday afternoon. The death list
IS imperfect, not all the bodies having
been identified. Many of them were man.
gled beyond recognition, the only means
of identification being the records of the
two cotton mills in which most of the
victims worked.
The death-dealing storm appeared sud
denly little before 1 o'clock, and with
in two minutes it had killed nearly a hun
dred persons, torn two stories from the
livefoor brick factory of the Gainesville
cotton mills, demolished almost 200 cot
tages, RACED two brick stores, and blown
down innumerable outbuildings BY what
appears to be a miracle, the cyclones
fury was confined to the outskirts of the
city, the main business and residence por-
ton not being touched Torrents of rain
accompanied the wind. but within FIVE
minutes after its first onslaught the sun
waS shining upon a scene of fearful DESC
lation. The list of the dead is confined
mainly to operatives Of the Gainesville
cotton mills and the Pacolet cotton mills,
two-thirds of whom weve women and chill
dren.
Work of an Instant.
The cyclone did its appalling work in
an incredibly short time. 1t appears to
have swept down from the southwest,
striking the Gainesville mills with roar
like the report of artillery. After lifting
two stories from this structure it swept
on to the northward leaving a trail of
destruction along Summit street, which
is inhabited almost exclusively by ne
groes. Nearly hundred cottages of col
ored people on this street were leveled
to the ground, but by fortunate circum-
stance the tenants We're all absent, hav-
ing left the city in the morning to take
part in negro picnic.
The furious wind next descended on
the plant of the Pacolet cotton mills at
New Holland, two miles from the South
ern Railroad station. This is one of the
largest cotton mills in the South, employ
ing more than 600 hands. The storm
spared the Pacolet factory, but entirely
demolished a hundred Of its cottages
standing near and tenanted by its opera
tives. Here the fatalities were greatest,
upward of thirty-fve persons being
buried in the ruins of the cottages. Bod
les were blown hundreds of yards and
many of them when picked up bore no
semblance to humanity. The trunk of
one young boy was found with the head
decapitated as if by the guillotine.
From New Holland the tornado swept
onward to the east in the direction of
White Sulnbur q TOWN of ahout 100 NOR
sons, and caused considerable loss of life.
The bodies of most of che dead in the
two cotton mills were fearfully torn and
mangled, the skulls of many of them
were crushed and the limbs broken. The
property loss, it is now estimated, will
reach about 100000. The heaviest los
ers are the Gainesville cotton mills, $780,
900, and the Pacolet mills 100000 The
other losses of individuals and firms
range from $1,000 and less, upward.