Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1904-03-30
STORM DOES DAMAGE.
CHICAGO AND VICINITY HIT BY
WIND AND RAIN.
Several Killed end Many Hurt-Sub-
urbs from North to South Swept by
Fury of Gale and Flood Tornado De-
scribes Circle About City.

A cyclone, the worst for years, Wis
tied the outlying districts of Chicago
about 1:30 o'clock Thursday night kill
ing three persons, fatally injuring many
others, and destroying hundreds of thou
sands of dollars worth OF property.
Wires were torn down in all direc-
tons, so that many of the outlying
towns were in darkness throughout the
night. and Chicago herself was practi-
cally cut off from all telegraphic COM
mnnication with the outside world.
The storm, which was followed by tor
rents of rain and binding lightning,
passed over the entire northern portion
of Illinois and Indiana, Telling houses,
wires, poles and trees as IL they had
been straws, and then as suddenly as it
descended passing ON to work fresh
havoc elsewhere. The rain added TO the
already extensive floods, and wrought al
most as much damage as the wind The
storm was most serious in the Calumet
region, the towns of Indiana Harbor,
Hammond and East Chicago suffering
severely.
The most reliable information to be
obtained from Indiana Harbor was that
twenty-four houses had been wrecked,
two men killed and fifteen seriously hurt.
Reports from East Chicago told of four
buildings being damaged, including
school house and Tod's opera house, the
latter three-story structure, the larg-
est in the town. No lives were lost al
East C''icago.
The path of the storm was meteoro-
logical freak 1t described wide curve
around the city. extending from Wauke-
gan, Crystal Lake and other points on
the north through the north side and,
taking in the western suburbs of River
side, haywood. Lyons. Melrose Park, La
Grange, Hawthorne. Clyde and Berwyn
and then sweeping south to Morgan
Park, Dauphin Park, West Pullman and
still farther south to Hammond and the
adjacent Indiana towns.
In the brief space of fifteen minutes
the tornado, which left scarcely mark
in Chicago. wreaked destruction on the
towns in its pathway. Trolley lines were
swept down by the wind and street car
traffic blocked so completely that hours
elapsed before the damage could be re-
paired. Electric light plants were tied
up and thousands of stores and homes
were plunged in darkness. In Washing
ton Heights and Morgan Park ten houses
were blown down, ne woman was hurt,
and the tracks of the Rock Island Rail-
road were blockaded by fallen telegraph
poles for miles.
The utmost fury of the storm was felt
at Thornton. where church was wreak-
ed and many persons were injured by
falling buildings. The German Lutheran
Church was lifted from its foundations
and fairly blown to pieces, the roof being
torn off and the structure ruined \
saloon crowded with men, was blown
down and it is remarkable that no one
was killed. Several were injured. how
ever. A house was blown from its foun-
dations and another was hurled into
stone quarry and demolished.
As far north as Crystal Lake the force
of the wind was strong enough to un-
roof many buildings, demolsh store
fronts and carry away outbuildngs.
Forty head Of fine cattle We're killed on
the Bryant stock farm near Crystal
Lake by the barn collapsing under the
vviuf