Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1904-08-30
HAYOCIN NORTHWEST
DESTRUCTIVE TORNADO STRIKES
ST. PAUL AND MINNEAPOLIS
Sixteen Lives Are Lost and Property
Damage Amounting to More than
$3,000,OOO Is Done-Two Theaters in
Minnesota Capital Unroofed.


Minnesota Capital Unroofed.
Sixteen known dead. scores injured
and property loss of 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 its 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 a block
Rway were not injured. Huge Office
buildings We're shorn of glass as
though they had been made targets
for siege guns. Two spans were swept
from bridge. leaving the remainder
Of the structure intact. The middle
was cut out of long freight shed as
though planned and performed by
trained workmen. All this by storm
which lasted less than thirty minutes.
Reports are that large portion of
the town of WacOnia is wiped out.
-Four persons are known to have per-
ished. Over two score are injured and
1t is feared many of these viii die, The
property loss there is enormous. Large
factories, includms the plant Of the
Minneapolis Sugar Beet Company. are
In 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
Smelling there is evidence that the
storm struck with damaging effect. 1t
came from the southwest and bowling
in its 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
structure and carted away by work.
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 flats below,
where flying steel girders and heavy
planks fell ON several small frame
houses of the fiat jewellers 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.
St. Paul Theaters Crushed.
With deafening roar and the hiss
and splash of falling sheets of rain
the storm struck st. Paul at the Wa
basha street bridge. Here were 10.
Gated, on opposite sides of the street,
the Tivoli concert hall and Empire
Theater, both of which were crowded.
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 timbers as the frame structures
gave way before the tornado. Sec
lions of the Tivoll roof were blown
through the air and landed in Third
street, a block distant.
Tin roofs on several buildings were
,ollaI IN,,pJln. a ono tx5p,t1d 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 slIyward
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 Gernan-American Bank Build.
ing. the Pioneer Press Building, ten
and twelve story structures, had
scarcely whole pane of glass left
above sthe second or third story on the
sides exposed to the storm. These
with the First National Bank Build
ing, on East Fourth street, and several
wholesale houses farther east, had tho
appearance of having been bCmbarded
by battery of guns.
In the path of the wind stood the
long freight warehouse Of the Chicago,
Milwaukee and St 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 fifty children in the ruins.
One child was killed and a score Of
others were hurt, including one of the
sisters of the house.
Damage in Minneapolis.
The center of the storm seemed to
hit the business district of Minneapo-
lis at the corner Of NlcOllet avenue and
Sixth street. Here the immense front
of the Glass Block was blown out and
huge skylight carried off, the rain
doing damage to stock that cannot be
estimated All of the stores in this
district suffered damage to stock.
The street car service was tied up
until noon Sunday, trolley wires being
down in all parts Of the city as the
result of falling trees. Many Of the
fine residence districts suffered terri
bly,, but the greatest damage was done
to Minneapolis beautiful shade trees.
Te1egraphic Brevities.
The Standard Oil Company viii begin
the construction of an eight-inch pipe line