Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-05-27
HUNDRED KILLED !
AS TORNADO WHIPS
CENTRAL ILLINOIS
Factories Blown to SpIinters
and Growing Food Crops
Seriously Damaged. ]
SEVERAL HUNDRED HURT:
HAIL HAMPERS RESCUERS
Nation and Charleston Are Heay.
lest Sufferers; 1000 in For.
mer Town Homeless. /
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press
CHICAGO. May 26.-Spring tornadoes.
making their appearance earlier than
usual in the central west, caused the
deaths of more than 100 persons today
and twenty-four to thirty yesterday,
the injury of several hundred more.
and property damage which cannot be
estimated because of serious loss in
growing food crops.
Mattoon. ILL.,, was the heaviest suf.
ferer in the storms. from fifty to
seventy persons being killed there late
today. This was more than twice as
many as were killed in Kansas on FRI
day, when the village Of ,Andale vir-
tually was wiped out and heavy toll
taken in the surrounding country. the
dead being estimated at nearly thirty.
The storm today wrecked the northern
half of Mattoon. including almost all
the business section, and rendered 1000
persons homeless.
According to advices from the offices
of the Big Four railroad in Charles
ton. ILL.,. tonight. thirty-two persons
were killed in the tornado there this
afternoon. A long distance telephone
connection had been established with
Charleston. but 1t was interrupted be.
Death and Destruction.
While the principal force Of the storm
struck Mattoon and Charleston, other
sections of Illinois were visited by
vagrant tornadoes, which left death and
destruction as they twisted through a
rich farming territory. Casualties were
dead. twenty-one injured. three OF
whom will die; MANHATTAN, one dead.
six injured; Joliet. tEo injured; Elwood.
four injured; ModeNo. one dead. nine
fatally hurt: Pearl. ofr fatally injured.
fouS hurt; Charleston. mary reported
injured. but definite information lacn-
ing until wire Communication is re-
stored. q
Early reports of property losses ins
dicated that serious damage had been
tories were blown to splinters in Mat.
toon. Joliet estimated half million
dollars damage in VIII county alone.
Hall folloWed the wind In many
s.sssss; splSsns. ssas'nE growing crops to the
Thousands Homeless in Mattoon.
NATION. H.. May 26.-From fifty to
seventy persons were killed and more
than 300 were injured when a tornado
struck Mattoon late today. The entire
business section of the town is wiped
The storm. travelling from east to
west. destroyed practically the entire
northern half of the town. leaving no
building standing in Sc. tion several
blocks In width.
A lumber yard directly in the path of
the tornado contributed largely to the
damage Flying planks struck a num-
ber of pedestrians who had been unable
to find shelter, and other pieces of tim
Der were hurled for miles around the
rnu hainV discovered Stfcks
ing through the side of a farmers house.
Bits of broken and twisted steel also
flew through the air, damaging buildings
entirely out of the path Of the storm
A canning factory contributed to the
loss in this way.
Rescue Work Begun at Once.
Rescue work was begun almost i'm.
mediately. Within an hour every
church and public building standing
was filled with injured. many of whom
were unable to obtain adequate med
Efforts to estimate the casualties
with accuracy were futile because OF
the confusion which followed the tor
nado. Hundreds of persons reported
members of families missing. but II
was believed many of these would be
found tomorrow.
A heavy hailstorm which followed
the wind hampered the work of rescue
being dug from the ruins of wrecked
buildings. City officials asserted that
there is a possibility that the death
list may be materially increased when
the full extent of the damage is de-
termined tomorrow.
Few reports from the surrounding
farm country were available. but II was
not believed that the damage anywhere
In this vicinity was as great as in Mat
toon.
In addition to pleas for doctors and
nurses, the mayor sent an emergency
call to Gov Lowden for at least two
companies of the state National Guard
to be used in policing the ruins.
The wind played the usual number of
freakish tricks. A scantling from the
lumber yard passed entirely through a
home in which the family was dining.
hurtling through the air over their
heads and out through a window with
out injuring any of the diners.
Wire and rail traffic was practically
at a standstill for hours after the dis
aster. miles of telegraph poles in each
direction from Mattoon being leveled.
Pals and ties were torn from their
fastenings for yards at clip
Guardsmen Ordered Out.
SPRINGFIELD. ILL.,. May 26.-One
company of the 4th Infantry. Illinois
National Guard. was ordered tonight 10
Mattoon for patrol duty
Several Dead at Westervelt.
wESTERvELT. ILL.,. May 26.-Sweep-
ing through a twenty-mile stretch of
between Westervelt and
Owaneco. a tornado late today caused
the death Of five persons and the injury
of twenty-one. three of whom prob
ably will die. Nearly all the injured
were children practicing a children's
day program in a church. which COL
lapsed. pinning them under heavy
timbers.
Physicians from Pana who hurried
here in response to distress calls hard
ly had time to administer To the In
jured when they were summoned to
Mattoon. likewise devastated by a
coronado.
Manhattan, ILL.,, Houses Raced.
JOLIET. ILL.,. May 26-Manhattan,
III, ten miles southeast of Joliet. was
partly wrecked by windstorm late
today. Wreckage strews the roadway
for two miles outside the village. A
.all for help reached this city tonight.
saying that many were injured. and.
possibly, some were dead. Stores and
homes were blown to bits.
Elwood, six miles south of Joliet,
also was damaged by the storm. The
wind swept Joliet, but did no serious
lamage. One boy was killed by light.