The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1917-05-28
Over f80 Lose LIVES
As RESULT Of STORMS.
LOO Are Injured and Mil
lions Of Dollars in Prop
erty Is Destroyed.
ILLINOIS IS HARD HIT
Mattoon Suffers Heaviest
Tolls in Deaths, Injured
I. and Damage.
ILLINOIS IS HARD HIT
Continued From Page One)

(COnt1nueO from rage One)
intermission of bright sunshine, by
the blackness of night, because the
lighting system was damaged. For
hours there was confusion in the
stricken area. Efforts to send for help
were thwarted by the collapse of wires,
but finally messenger was dispatched
to Champaign by automobile, so that
relief train arrived before midnight.
Word was later gotten to Springfield
and militiamen were sent to aid in
guarding property and helping the
homeless.
Before the earliest dawn disclosed
the spectacle of devastation, order had
been established. The wounded were
disentangled from the debris and hur-
ried to the Memorial hospital and to
temporary operating room in hotel.
Beds for the injured were also placed
in the public library. the Odd Fellows
home and in various churches and
schoolhouses.
Comfort and Care Provided.
Business and professional men of the
city arranged organizations for the
various duties imposed by the storm.
Every business house in the city was
thrown open to do what it could in
relieving suffering BY daylight more
than 100 doctors and twice as many
nurses were busy, aided by the Red
Cross facilities under the direction of
A. l.. Davidson of Chicago. Hotels
distributed barrels of coffee and res
taurants served meals gratis to the
homeless.
All available tents were hurried to
Peterson park and erected for the oc-
cupancy of those whose homes had
been wrecked. Four companies of
militia aided by citizens established a
sentry line about the devastated area.
A systematic search of the ruins was
then begun.
The storm had swept a path four
blocks wide and 335 blocks long in
North Nation. The damage was esti-
mated at $2,00O.O00. Leveling sub
stantially all the modest homes Of
those living in the wind swept zone,
the tornado rushed through Dodge
Grove cemetery, turned over hundreds
of tOmbstones and demolished the
public stone mausoleum.
Vast damage was also done in an
area proximate to the swept zone and
twice as large as the 14O blocks laid
waste. In this area, however, houses
were merely shipped of chimneys, de-
nuded of porches or twisted on foun-
dations and few persons suffered
death or injury.
A few small factories standing in
the storms path also were damaged
or demolished, but the better residen-
tial quarter and all the main business
part OF Nation escaped damage ex-
cept from flying planks and broken
furniture, hurled by the wind, in some
instances for miles.
Gives Signal Of Distress.
1t was this veritable shower of tim
hers and household effects that aroused
the unscathed portion of the city to
the distress of their less fortunate fell
low tOwnsmen. Running to the rescue,
these citizens beheld for a few min
utes before darkness settled over the
scene, sight that nerved them to
heroic efforts.
Maple trees were stripped of bark
and limbs. Houses, sucked into the
NAV of the tornado, had been dropped
peacemeal or topsy turvy, here and
there. Men, women and children who
had escaped were running about in
search of those less fortunate.
Then began the all night labor to
Succor those in need. The bodies of
the dead were taken to the foui
lnOrgues. Most of the severely injured
had been dug from the debris by Ian
tern light and taken to the hospitals
for attention.
Morning disclosed hundreds of mer
and women, some accompanied by
children. struggling over and through
the demolished houses, peering under
tangled timbers and distorted walls fol
lost relatives. or seeking to disentanglt
Solae of their personal belon gings.
A typical scene was at the wrecked
home of Thomas Patrick. The mothe,
sat on a stool and cared for a bah,
while the father and other children
collected bits of broken furniture anG
bedraggled clothing from the debris o
their home. Later, this family. Xix,
many others, was taken to a suita bl.
shelter and the militia assumed d;
rection Of salvage.
Mrs. John Reed and her two chill
dren were blown through a window o
their crumbling home and deposited
unhurt at the entrance Of cellar il
which few neighbors had -taker
refuge.
A patriotic freak of the storm wa
the carrying Of flag pole four blocks
to a space swept clear where the staff
was planted in the soft earth with tn.
Stars and Stripes still flying.
Many sightseers came to Mattoor
during the day. but all except thos'
needed to help the wounded and home
less were advised to depart in order to
conserve the food supply and lessen
the confusion. A food dictator was