The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1913-03-26
STORIES OF THE STORM

Stories replete with thrills and
pathos were related in Chicago yester-
day by eyewitnesses of the tornado
which swept over parts of Nebraska,
Iowa and Illinois last night. Terror
stricken, the narrators had sat fas-
cinated in the coaches of a Chicago,
Burlington and Quincy railroad train
watching a great dark cloud skippin &
weirdly on it's work of destruction. In
several villages they helped pick up
| the dead and dying. The wounded and
| the dead were placed on seats and in
| the aisles of the cars until the train,
| which had passed through the be-
ginning of the track of the whirlwind
that struck Omaha reached the latter
city.
On the way in, the injured told tales
of the tornado and gave vivid descrip-
| tions of escapes which seemed to them
miraculous. William Coon, of Lincoln,
| Neb., gave a graphic description of
the storm as he viewed it from the
platform of the observation car.
For miles," be said, 'ft seemed as if
| the train were being pursued by the
storm. We were approaching Ralston,
| Neb., when 1 first noticed a copper col
ored cloud mounting toward the sky.
The cloud grew rapidly and was trav-
cling at tremendous speed. It assumed
| the form of a funnel and the air was
| filled with a curious noise, very pierre
| ing. The funnel seemed to grow black
and the smaller end-that near the
ground-was about a half mile in diam
eter II swished across the railroad
| track, then struck the town. Houses
collapsed as though made of paper.
| The roofs sailed away and the sides
| fell in. AS the passengers comprehend
ed the desolation wrought, a cry of
horror went up. 1t was a terrible
sight"
Then the train stopped and the
passengers ran over to the wreckage
of the houses. We could hear the
groans of dying men, injured women
and children were moaning. We got all
of the injured out of the ruins and
brought them to the train.
I'VE were about to leave when our
attention was called to a little house
some distance from the others. 1t had
| been wrecked and moved from its
foundations, but we found a mother
and her baby lying upon a bed unin-
jured. man was in a basement of
| the house. His house was carried away
and he was left standing with a very
surprised look on his face, uninjured.
| Houses were rolled and tumbled
along the ground by the wind. 1 saw
a box car carried along by the terrific
| air current for a quarter of a mile.
| When it split open, six or seven men,
who turned out to be part of a repair
gang, dropped out.
! The next town we passed through
was Benson, where the scenes were
4 still more appalling. Several large fac
tories there were strewn in heaps We
picked up a lot Of injured and I don't
know how many dead We're left be-
hind. Then the cloud wheeled and
made toward South Omaha We were
not far behind, but our way was block
ed by debris the tornado had thrown
on the tracks
| Another passenger was Mrs. George
| J. H. Aldervent, of Syracuse, y. Y.
When the houses began TO fall"
she said, 81 saw a little girl dressed in
white start from one OF them and run
down the street with her hands above
] her head. Just then the side OF a
house came soaring through the air.
1t struck the child and buried her be-
meath it."
Another eye witness was Chica-
goan who told of the scenes at Omaha
when the train stopped there He said:
II was just recovering from what I
had seen on the train when we pulled