The Washington herald., 1917-05-27
District Forty Miles South of
Chicago Swept by Storm.
Toll at Mattoon May Ex-
ceed 200, Militia Called
Out.
CBy the international News servIes.D

CBy the international News Serv1eel
Chicago. May &c. - From sixty 70 10,
persons are reported to have been killed
scores were injured and property valued
at hundreds Of thousands Of dollars was
damaged late toay by a freak cyclone
or two cyclones which swept the south
central part Of Illinois and the district
about forty miles south Of Chicago.
Mayor swan, OF MattOon, a city of
1900, sent the following telegram to-
Governor Dowden at s;45 tonight:
From fifty TO 100 dead in storm in
Nation. Please send militia"
One report reached Springfield that the
death list at MattOOn may exceed 20
Nurses and doctors in automobiles are
en- route TO the stricken city.
Other dispatches state that the Village
Of Modesto, in the southern part Of the
State, was virtually wiped out with the
loss Of one life. Palmyra on a line d.
rectly west from Mattoon was also hit,
but reports regarding the casualties at
that town are contradictory. A dispatch
from Altoona tonight reported five dead
at Palmyra, while earlier dispatches said
no one was hurt.
Town Almost Demolished.
The town OF Goodenow, thirty-four
miles south OF Chicago on the Chicago
and Southern Illinois Railway, is said to
have been almost demolished Several
Of the injured have reached hospitals
here.
Several persons were injured at Monce,
Ill, where the wind attained a velocity
Of ninety miles an hour. One mile south
Of MOnCe a string Of several empty coal
cars and the Csboose, south bound. were
blown clear of the tracks The conduc-
tor and brakeman escaped with slight in
jury. A viaduct over the Illinois Cen
-
completely blocking traffic on the line.
Paris and Charlestown. in the sans
county as Nation. are reported 10 have
been hit, and further loss Of life Is feared.
At Minooka, fifteen miles west Of Joliet,
several houses and a church were blown
down, and several persons were reported
injured.
The extent of the territory covered by
the storm could not he fully determined
today because telegraph and telephone
wires leading to many OF the rommuni-
ties believed TO have been hit were down
Two Separate Cyclones.
Evidently. however. two separate cyc-
lones went rushing across the state, one
sweeping through the Mattoon region and
the other cutting across the northern part
Of the State just south OF Chicago.
Railroad companies received the fr1t
reports that a severe cyclone had struck
Mattoon. but Mayor Swans message
brought the FIRST word that there had
been heavy loss Of life. Shortly after
Swans first message was received 10y
Gov. Lowden. there came another tele-
gram from the Mattoon mayor Hun
dred killed and injured. Need help bad
ly. Will you order one or two companies
Of militia? Will furnish them trains
At the request Of Gov. LoWden, Ad.f.
Gen. Dickinson at once ordered the Ef-
Iatto0u- At the same time a train carry
ing four cars filled with the Red Cross
auxiliary started for the scene.
Efforts TO obtain more details from
Hattoou after the mayors message was
received were UnavailinE. From nearby
loWn~ however. confirmed reports Of
much heavier loss Of life than was indi-
Gated in the mayors message reached
Chicago.
Springfield hard that the dead num-
herrd more than 3'o, and a dispatch from
Champaign said il was reported there
that the northern part Of Mattoon was
completely rszod with the loss Of sew
oral hundred lives
An Unconfrmod dispatch from Pana,
Ill, reported that five persons were kill.
ed at W"stoTyelt, west OF Mattoon.
The illinois Central Railroad received
a report tonight that fifty bodies had
been recovered al Mattoon and that 800
persons 1-o injured. Starting at Shelby
avenue. the cyclone swept a path three
blocks wide through the northern part OF
Mat,oon for distance OF thirty blocks
-Four persons were killed and several
fatally injured at Westervelt a small
town west Of Mattoon
The cyclone struck the United Evan
gelist Church At Westervelt when the
building was filled with little children
praCticing for Chfldren'S day exercises
June 4. More than dozen children were
badly injured. suffering broken limbs and
internal injuries
F. W. Muelke. Of Bloomington. q fire.
man, stepped from his engine at Dunkle
and was fatally injured by a flying tim
Der.