Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1913-03-28
SAW STORM STRIKE
!. AND PEOPLE KILLED
PASSENGERS ON BURLINGTON
TRAIN GIVE GRAPHIC DEscRIP-
TON or CYCLONE.
saw Houses Collapse, Heard the
Groans Of Dying Victims and AS
sisted in picking Up the DEAD
and Injured.

Chicago. = Stories replete with
thrills and pathos were related in Chi
cago Monday by every eye witness of
the tornado which swept over parts of
Nebraska and Iowa and Illinois Sun
day night, killing and injuring nun
dreds
Awed and horror-stricken, the mar.
rators of these stories had sat fasci-
mated in coaches of a Chicago, Bur
lington & Quincy railroad train, watch.
ing great dark cloud skipping fan
tastically at its work of destruction.
In several villages they helped pick
up the dead and dying.
The wounded and the sIain-muti.
lated, groaning, dying-were placed
on the plush-covered seats and in the
carpeted aisles of the cars until the
train reached Omaha. Here they
were removed and taken to hospitals
or morgues.
On the way in the injured told
heart-rending tales of suffering and
narrow escapes which seemed to them
miraculous.
William Koon, president of an auto
mobile company of Lincoln, Neb.,
gave a graphic description of the
storm as he viewed it from the plat.
form. of the observation car. For
miles it seemed as If the train were
being pursued by the storm
we were approaching Ralston
when | first noticed strange, copper.
colored cloud mounting toward the
sky" said Koen. Before that 1t had
been clear The cloud grew rapidly
and was travelling at tremendous
speed toward Ralston 1t assumed
] the form of a funnel and the air was
filled with curious noise. something
between hiss and moan, nut very
piercing. Then the funnel seemed to
grow black and the smaller end-that
near the ground--was about a half a
mile in diameter. 1t swished across
the railroad track and swept toward
the little town.
Then the storm struck the town
Houses collapsed, the roofs went sail
/ ing away and the sides fell in The
passengers sat as though glued to
their seats when the cloud struck
Then, as they comprehended the desc.
lation wrought, a cry of horror went
up from everyone. 1t was fearful
sight
Then the engineer brought the en-.
CINE to a stop and the passengers ran
over to the Wreckage of the houses.
We could hear the groans of dying
men and the walls and shrieks of in
jured women and children | entered
a house, or rather what had been a
house, and beneath me lay woman.
/ looked and | knew that she was
G.ead. We got all of the injured out
OF the ruins and brought them to the
train. We were about to leave when
our attention was called TO little
house some distance from the other
side It had been wrecked and moved
from its foundation, but we found a
mother and her little baby lying upon
a bed uniniured Another man was
in a basement His house had been
carried away bodily, and he was left
standing with ye.y aa..asise4 look
on his face in the open, I'M. tired
q recall that there WAS a big thresh
ing machine standing near one of the
houses, and when the cloud struck il
shot straight up into the air and was
carried about forty rods. Houses
were rolling and tumbling along the
ground
4 saw a box car carried along for 6
quarter of mile. When it spl.t eper
six or seven men. who turned O. tC
he part of a repair gang, dropped CIT
Some of them lay still While otter.
feebly crawled away.
The next station our train passed
through was Benson, where the scene
was still more appalling There were
several large factories there and al
were strewn in heaps We picked III
a lot of injured, and I don't know
how many dead we left behind. The
cloud wheeled and made toward.
South Omaha. We were not far be
hind, but our way was blocked by the
debris the tornado had thrown upol
the tracks. Then, too. we stopped
frequently to pick up the injured
There were some with their limb
torn off and all were cut and bleea