Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1903-10-14

! The little town of ST. Charles, in WI
nota County, Mimi, was practically
wiped out by a tornado which struck il
at 2:30 Saturday afternoon Seven PEE
pie were killed and twenty-eight injuI
ed, many of them seriously The entire
main street of the town was literally
wiped out, hardly a business place being
left standing. Forty-two residences also
were destroyed and the total property
damage is estimated at 100000.
The day had been abnomaily sultry for
the season Of the year, and during the
morning there had been showers of rain,
accompanied by ftful gusts Of wind. To
ward noon the sky became heavily over
cast. but indications of tornado were
entirely lacking. This being Saturday
the country people from the surrounding
farms had gathered in large numbers in
the main streets to do their customary
shopping. At 2:30 the storm cloud was
seen approaching from the southwest,
and there was an immediate scram-
bic foT places of safety. The tor
nado struck the town from the southwest
quarter and made a clean sweep through
it. following almost entirely the line OF
the main street, and devastating build
ings on either side. Then the residences
further back from the business center
were struck and many of them blown
completely away.
8. The storm seems to have followed
very closely the boundary line between
Minnesota and Iowa and damage to farm
buildings and grain stacks, with injury
to human beings and death to live stock
is reported from several points in that
locality.
Two boys, sons of Stephen Matter,
were killed at st Cloud. MINI, while
seeking refuge from the storm. They
had taken shelter beneath a string of
cars on the railway siding and switch
Ing crew backed another string of ears
upon them, killing them instantly.
The tail end of the cyclone struck Du-
luth and caused much damage to prop
erty, blowing down several buildings and
wrecking many boats in the harbor. No
one was injured. 1t is reported that
many of the mines of the Mesaba range
were flooded by the extraordinarily
heavy rain.
Deaths in Wisconsin.
A terrific windstorm, approaching a
cyclone, swept over Wisconsin, causing
death and destruction. At Independence
two persons were killed. three fatally in
jured and score of others badly hurt.
At Eagle Valley the Reformed Church
was demolished and houses on the prairie
were swept away.
At Racine trees were blown down, also
electric light and telephone wires, and
half of the city left in total darkness.
Carl Larson, painter, 30 years old.
was electrocuted on State street. He
ran into a telephone wire on the side
walk, charged w.teh Electricity. Specta-
tors knocked the wire from his hands
with board He was taken TO a hos
pital unconscious and will not live.
Thomas Galroth was killed and two
men injured by the demolition of a farm
house at Trempealeau.
I1 Baraboo reports a cloud burst more
severe than was ever known i'll that sec
ton this afternoon lasting three hours.
Fully four inches of water fell. Many
buildings and wind mills we're blown
down, cellars flooded and several wash
outs reported.
& A tornado which struck Blain and Al
mond killed FIVE persons near Sheridan,
Wis. and blew down twenty buildings
as near rs can be ascertained. In field
SLIGO in money was picked up, appar-
emily having been blown there by the
storm.
Twelve Perish ia Green Bay.
During a furious gale that swept over
Lake Michigan just at dark the steamer
Erie L. Hackley went down off Green
island and twelve persons We're drowned.
Nine survivors, after drifting all night
on pieces of wreckage. were rescued the
next morning by the steamer Sheboygan
OF the Goodrich line and taken 70 Fish
Crek. The Hackley left Menominee for
| Egg Ilaraor about an hour before the
coming of>the storm. ne day had been
hot and muggy, with hardly breath
| of air stirring As the sun went down
the storm clou commenced TO gather
and there were unmistakahle signs of a
| coming tempest. Suddenly. from out the
northeast. a furious blast swept the lake,
| causing the Inflated vessel to careen I'M
/ til the sails almost touched the water. As
the craft righted itself everyone or board
rushed on deck Then came a second
blast. stronger than the first, capsizing
the vessel and sending it TO the bottom
q Houses Are LeveIed.
A cyclone, accompanied by rain and
/ hail, visited the vicinity near Neponset,
( H., doing much damage TO farm build
/ irrs and crops. The houses of Charles
4 Turnbul and Thomas Murphy were lev
| eled to the ground Peter Johnson's res
/ idence was blown thirty feet off its toun-
/ dations The path of the storm was
/ forty rods wide and touched at several
! ,,af,,es Il, pureotI Stark and Henry cDun-
| ties.
| During heavy thunderstorm ut Mar
/ tiusville, Ind, lightning struck Hiram
! Pearcy's barn. three miles east, immedi.
/ ately killing John Slough, li-year-old
] farmland, and a horse in the barn
! Notes of Current Events.
100000 Independent theater is to