The Miller sun. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 190?-19??, 1904-08-31
NORTH WEST
OBSTRUCTIVE TORNADOSTRiKES
ST. PAUL AND MINNEAPOLIS.
Sixteen Lives Arc Lost and Property
Damage Amounting to More than
100000 Ii Done-Two Theaters in
Minnesota Capital Unroofed.

Sixteen known dead. scores injured
and a property loss of S 100000 is the
story in brief of the storm which
swept down the Mississippi valley
Saturday night and visited Its fury
upon st. Paul and Minneapolis.
Aside from it's force, it was the most
remarkable tornado which this Sec
ton of the country has ever expert
enced. Two theaters were wrecked,
while frail structures less than q block
away were not injured. Huge office
buildings were shorn Of glass as
though they had been made targets
for siege guns. Two spans were swept
from a bridge, leaving the remainder
of the structure intact. The middle
was cut out Of a long freight shed as
though planned and performed by
trained workmen. All this by a storm
which lasted less than thirty minutes.
Reports are that a large portion OF
the town of Waconia is wiped out.
-Four persons are known to have per-
ished. Over two score are injured ana
1t is feared many Of these will die. The
property loss there Is enormous. Large
factories, including the plant OF the
Minneapolis Sugar Beet Company, are
I'm ruins. The depot Of the Minneapo-
lis and st. Louis Railroad was blown
from its foundation and destroyed.
Numerous dwellings were wrecked.
Waconia has a population of 400 and
is located forty miles southwest of st.
Paul.
Beginning at a point below Fort
Smelling there is evidence that II
storm struck with damaging effect. 1t
came from the southwest and bowling
In it's fury uprooted trees and demol-
ished buildings in its pathway toward
st. Paul.
1t tore off two spans Of the high
bridge as completely as If they had
been unbolted from the rest Of the
men. The bridge connected with the
high bluffs at West st. Paul and it is
$50 feet above the river. This mass
of steel was carried to the fats below,
where flying steel Orders and heavy
planks fell on several small frame
houses of the fat dwellers and crush
ed them completely. None of the oc-
cupants of these houses was hurt, as
they saw the storm coming and took
refuge in the caves in the hillside
Ga Dnrr Tk.ao@o~. Crr.had
With a deafening oar and the hiss
and splash Of falling sheets Of rain
the storm struck st. Paul at the Wa
basha street bridge. Here were To-
Gated, on opposite sides Of the street,
the Tvoli concert hail and Empire
Both buildings stood on the edge of
the bluff overlooking the river, with
the sides open. When the buildings
began to sway the audiences became
panic stricken. Men and boys rushed
over each other for the exits. The
lights went out and the rapid light
ming flashes illuminated a scene of
pandemonium, which was intensified
by the crash Of glass and the tearing
of umbers as the frame structures
gave way before the tornado Sec
tons of the Tiyoli roof were blown
through the air and landed in Third
street, a block distant.
Tin roofs on several buildings We're
rolled In bundles as one would roll a
huge sheet Of paper. and deposited In
the street. Wires were torn down
and part Of the city was In darkness.
The high buildings reaching skyward
above the smaller ones on East Third
street were shaken to their founda-
tons. The fine large plate glass win
dows were blown in, and In several
skylights were blown out.
The German-American Bank Build
ing, the Pioneer Press Building, ten
and twelve story structures, had
scarcely a whole pane of glass left
above the second or third story on the
Efdes exposed to the storm. These,
with the First National Bank Build
ing, on East Fourth street, and several
wholesale houses farther east, had the
appearance Of having been bOmbarded
by a battery Of guns.
In the path of the wind stood the
long freight warehouse OF the Chicago,
Milwaukee and Sc. Paul Railway, and
a section of this building about 400
feet long was shattered.
The large dormitory Of the House
Of the Good Shepherd, a two-story
frame building adjacent to the insti-
tuition. collapsed during the storm,
burying ffty children in the ruins.
One child was killed and a score Of
others were hurt, including one Of the
sisters Of the house.