The Penn's Grove record., 1913-03-28
WIND AND FIRE
RAVAGE OMAHA
TERRIFIC STORM TEARS PATH
OF DESTRUCTION THROUGH
THE NEBRASKA METROPOLIS
AND LEAVES WAKE OF RUIN.
TORNADO SPREADS DEATH
AND HAVOC In 5 STATES

United States Regulars and State
Troops Called Out to Prevent Loot
ing in Path of OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
Part of the Town Devastated
Illinois, Indiana and Kansas Also
felt the Effect of the Blow.
Omaha, Neb., March 25.-Tragedy
and ruin stalked hand in hand through
the streets of Omaha, grinning hide
cusly at the damage done by the
cyclone which tore through the city
on Sunday evening. Two hundred
lives, twelve million dollars of man
made property and ~incalculable an
guish and physical suffering make up
the price paid by the Gateway of the
West" to the angry elements.
Across the river, at Council Bluffs,
and environs, a similar situation ex-
lists though the comparative damage
is less. Soldiers patrol the stricken
districts of both cities and business is
at a standstill.
Offers Of aid are pouring in from
all sections of the country and from
foreign lands, but Omaha is shoulder
ing her burden brayely, as did San
Francisco, and declares she will &C.
complish her own rehabilitation.
Already the work of clearing away
the debris has commenced and Mayor
Dahlman declares that semi-normal
conditions will obtain in the city
within 48 hours.
The storm signs were first noticed
in Omaha shortly before 6 o'clock
Sunday evening. The vanguard of the
storm was a huge f~an-shaped cloud,
dark and lowering, which gradually
narrowed into a funnel-shaped cloud
that dipped earthward, and wherever
it struck left a wake of death, injuries
and wrecked homes. Almost all over
the city people stood and watched the
storm approach, even when in its very
path, some seeming without power to
move, or not knowing which way to
go.
Entering the city from the south
west, after wiping the hamlet of Rails
tOu Cl1IllCly lIOlh IAO map, IlIS uduO
swept past the county hospital to the
west in a n~ortheasterly direction, TAX
ing everything in it's path. 1t travelled
east to the river, and lost itself in the
Iowa bluffs.
Buildings were blown down or
picked up by the terrific force of the
wind. Trees were leveIled and small
er structures were completely wrecked
by the wind, which swept a path for
itself directly through the most costly
residence section as well as the most
lowly parts of the city. Some of the
finest homes, those recently erected
by Omaha's wealthiest men, are a
a of ruins.
The reports of property damage
were more than confirmed by the in
spection. The path of the storm was
six blocks wide, and along the way
houses were slashed to bits, torn to
shreds, or heaped in queer piles.
Forty-seven city blocks, most of
them in the residential section of the
city, felt the full fury of the tornado.
There were 100 houses demolished
and 250 badly wrecked. Fifteen
churches and eight schools we're de-
stroyed.
Fire followed in the wake of the
great gale. The streets were blocked
with debris, and it was almost impos-
sible to get the fire apparatus to the
fires. The fire departments of nearby
towns and cities were summoned. 1t
was hours before the flames were I'M
der control. In all fifty alarms had
been sounded at the central Office of
the department.
Decatur and Franklin streets in the
residence portion of the city were
filled with debris and lined with blaz-
ing homes for three-quarters of a mile
Immediately after the tornado. AS the
fires spread the destitute families
wrapped their wet garments about
themselves and hurried toward the
central part of the city, The high hill
overlooking the scene of desolation in
the Decatur district was early crowd
ed with the destitute and injured vic
tins of the storm. Scores of weeping
men and women watched the burning
wrecks of their homes lighting up the
sky.
Many of the victims, exhausted and
almost hysterical, gathered together
in family groups and sat on the side
walks through the cold rain that fol-
lowed the tornado.
The morgues of undertaking places
are filled. Friends and relatives of
the people who lived in the path of
the storm are focking to view the
bodies. Weeping, hysterical women
stand in front of the undertaking
places in small knots begging for in
formation regarding those they be-
lieve met death.
Hospitals are b~esieged by frantic
persons, all demanding information
regarding the injured. Every avail
able ROOF in all hospitals in Omaha,
South Omaha and Council Bluffs is
filed to it's capacity. Those who are
least injured are placed on cots in the
Railways and corridors.
Shortly after 8 o'clock on Sunday
evening United States troops, State
militia and police threw a line entirely
around the path of the storm. Loot
i1o nod haop OoipU IN oil during thn