The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-05-10
The DEAD ARE 81.
Half Hundred Seriously In
9 jured at Marquette.
Homes Representing Savings Of
Years Destroyed.
SWITZER GONE CRAZY.
Death of Three Gown Daugb-
ters Affected His Mind. )
Twenty-Five Nurses PresentFrOm
Bethany School.
Burial of the Dead Has Begun
To Continue Three Days.
Scenes and Incidents Connected
With the Storm.
Burial of the Dead Has Begun
To Continue Three Days.
Scenes and Incidents Connected
With the Storm.

Marquette. Kan. May 1O-A care
fully revised list shows thirty-one
persons killed by the tornado and a
half hundred seriously injured.
Business has been suspended here
pending the burial of the tornado vic
Tins. The funerals began today and
will continue for the next two or three
days. There has been no further
deaths
Lou Switzer, the engine watchman.
whose three grown daughters were
killed in the tornado. has disappeared /
and his friends fear that he has lost
his mind.
Three churches, thirty-two town res /
licences and seven country homes are
in ruins. Many have been made desti- /
tute by the storm wrath, the earnings
of years being swept away. Beautiful
homes the pride of the pretty town, /
were crushed and the less imposing 1
structures of the poorer people are en-
tirely swept away. The residences that
escaped destruction are being used as
hospitals for the injured.
Numerous incidents of heroic en-
durance are related One man
with several injuries and COW
cred with blood entirely, for
getful of his own pain, hastened to
the succOr Of the more unfortunate.
Clyde Norris, an 18-year-Old son of
Samuel Norris, lost his life in an en-
deavOr to save the remainder of the
family. When he had them safely on
the outside the building collapsed be-
fore he could make his escape.
At a conservative estimate, twenty
five families are entirely destitute.
They will, temporarily, be dependent
on charity William Barclay, a car
penter, paid the last dollar on his
n l.
nOhshed and he was injured so as to
incapacitate him for work for some
weeks In his distress it was a matter
of comfort that ne could begin again.
Where It Started.
An investigation shows that the
funneI-shaped cloud which caused the
damage formed and began the destruc- /
tiOn of property eleven miles south of
here at the Haywood farm. The house
and Outbuildings on this place were
wrecked, While those south and west
of it stood intact. The farm houses on
the Haywood place were demolished (
by the storm and Mrs Haywood was
dangerously injured. The next farm
house 1t struck was the Gottheld Mel /
son farm. Nelson and his entire fam
lily lost their lives. 1t was in the Mel 1
son neighbOrhOod that it exerted the
most fury.
Another place struck by the storm
was the large farm dwelling of Olaf /
Hanson a little less than three miles
south of here. 1t was one OF the largest
farmhOuses in the community surround
ing the town. The wind tore it to pieces,
killing Hanson and his wife and one
sOnf and injuring five more children.
The tornado pursued a northerly course
and on its way struck the home of An
drew Peterson. which it demolished. in
juring Peterson and wife.
AS it came into this place from the
south. following the main Travelled road,
it touched only the lower part of the
m ain street of the town, unrOOfng the
opera house and tearing out the rear
end and second floor of the building. As
1T struck the town it left its course as
If i'm quest of victims Veering to the
west it crossed from Main to Lincoln
streets, the residence street of the town.
Here it turned again due north and fol-
lowed the street to the town limits.
Young Women Nurses.
Twenty-Five young women from Beth
any college came here to care for the
injured Miss Maggie McCulloch. d
nurse deacOnesS from Bethany hospital
in Kansas City, arrived here and will
help care for the victims of the storm
The tornado showed the usual freaki-
ness for which such storms are known
The house of S. Norris on the north side
OF the road was blown across and the
mouse OF j. NJ EIersOn was carried
from The south side and placed on the
MOTIFS site. There are numerous in
stances of beams driven through the
Welll9 g1 llouStS- Inc tornado carried /
Mrs. Allen Swanson a distance of forty
rods and dropped her in a wheat field
at the edge Of the cemetery. Her son'i
recovered her some time afterward. Her
lower hmbs We're driven into the ground
up to the knees. In this posture she
was found praying
Storm Incidents.
a woman with babe in her arms
was taken from between the legs of a
horse The barn had blown away ana
the morse lay on the ground. her life
ana that of her child being thereby
saved Gottfried Nelson, living two
miles south Of town. was blown fifty
rods with his family and picked I'D in
an alIalTa field. Nelson, wife and child
were dead when found. The house had
been scattered within a half mile OF
the town.
A w. Toksdorff and wife, fearing a
storm, slept in their parlor off their /
usual sleeping room up stairs. a flying |
scantiins was driven through the sleep /
ing room and through the head of the |
bed and would probably have killed |
Ihem but for their precaUtion. One I
large house standing Just to the west /
OF the path of the tornado was turned /
around on its foundation, crock of 1
milk on the table not even being |
spilled
A remarkable feature of the manner
IN which the injuries were inflicted was |
the fact that nearly all of those in the /
temporary hospitals are suffering from
injuries about the head and shoulders |
An Awful Experience.
Harry Coyne is a Missouri Pacific