The Glasgow courier. [volume] (Glasgow, Mont.) 1913-current, 1919-06-27
FERGUS FALLS, MIMI,
WIPED OUT BY TORNADO
Prosperous Minnesota Town Laid Low
by Wind and Hundreds Perish
Train Blown From Track.

st. Paul, June Redistribution OF
the central section Of Fergus Falls.
Mimi, by a tornado this evening, with
a loss of perhaps 200 lives, was re-
ported tonight by railroad officials
and dispatches from nearby towns.
The storm struck the city about Z
O'Clock, destroying other buildings and
the Grand Hotel, which it is reported
IS persons were trapped when the
structure collapsed.
Great Northern train No. l, the Or
iental Limited, west bound to Seat
tie. was blown from the track about
six miles west of Fergus Falls, but
early reports said only n passenger
was injured. A girl received a sprain-
ed ankle. The passengers were taken
to Moorehead, MINI.
Reports from Staples said the Great
Northern depot at Fergus Falls also
was blown down by the storm and
many people killed there.
Rescue Train Goes.
At II o'clock tonight, a special
train left the Twin Cities bound for
Fergus Falls, and is expected to reach
there about 3 o'clock tomorrow morn
ing. Governor Burnquist, Adjutant
General Rhinow, Is sanitary corps
troops and a large party of doctors,
nurses and railroad officials, left on
the special. Other Minnesota nation
a guard units here and in towns near
Fergus Falls were ordered to hold
themselves in readiness for duty there.
The telephone operator at Battle,
Lake. Mimi, 10 miles west of Fer
gus Falls, said the tornado demolish-
ed all buildings between the Grand
hotel in the eastern section of the
city and the brewery in the western
section, both these buildings also being
RACED by the storm.
Train No. l was travelling between
80 and 40 miles an hour when the
twister struck the baggage car be-
hind the tender when about six miles
west of Fergus Falls, throwing seven
of the eleven coaches from the rails.
The baggage car was torn out of the
train and set down about 30 feet from
the rails at right angles to them. The
suction also tore out the tracks under
this car.
Another baggage care, an express
car, the smoker and three day coaches
kept their momentum and their trucks
were piled up where the track hat
been removed. The coaches deposited
along the roadbed, all in an uprigh.
position. The engine, released from
the train, kept going about 40 rod
before it was stopped.
None of the passengers We're ser
iously injured though several wer
bruised and cut by flying glass. Nor
than 200 passengers were on the train
For the past two days several sec
lions of the state have reported sc
we're electrical and rain storms an
the upper Minnesota river valley tt
day was visited by a flood which caus
ed half a million dollars damage t
towns along the river.
Shortly before midnight the storr
struck the Twin Cities, extending tn
storms tieup of the wires into tele
graph headquarters in Minneapolis
Railroad and commercial Telegram
wires were Frustrated all through tn
section adjoining the Dakota line an
only meager detailss Of the extent Q
the damage in Fergus Falls could b
gathered.
At the request Of Governor Burr
quist, Lieutenant S.. P. Rask and {
w. Rinsk Of the federal filters hel
a big airplane in readiness tonight t
leave tomorrow morning for the seer
of the disaster. When the governor
special left tonight all wire commun
cation with Fergus Falls had bee
broken and the ~airplane would be
use communicating with the capt.
for relief measures, it was believed.