The Chattanooga news. [volume] (Chattanooga, Tenn.) 1891-1939, 1919-06-23
FERGUS FALLS
LIES in RUINS
Hundreds of Persons Reported
Killed by North Dakota
Tornado.
SOLDIERS TO RESCUE.
Passengers on Oriental Linn
tied Escape Death by
Almost Miracle.

Fargo. N. D., June 23.-Fergis
Falls, Minn., lies In ruins today, and
soldiers are searching the debris cor
the bodies of hundreds of persons re-
ported to have been killed by the tor
nado which swept through the town
late yesterday. Reports received here
early today placed the death list at
from 800 to 400. Earlier estimates
gave the number of dead as about
zoo.
Relief trains are on their way to
Fergus Falls to aid in the work of
caring for the dead and injured and
to give, assistance to townsfolks
whose Homes have been demolished.
Gov. Burnquist, OF Minnesota, is in
personal charge of the relief work
and is expected to reach Fergus Falls
today. Members of the sanitary
corps, Fourth regiment. Minnesota
national guard, and a number of dog
tors, nurses and railway officials are
giving aid to the stricken town.
The cyclone wiped out the business
section of the city, cutting a path
several blocks wide through the cen
ter. Most of the larger business build
ings were destroyed and many resi-
dences were blown down.
Among the buildings destroyed was
the Grand hotel. in which seventy
five persons are said to have perished
when the building collapsed. The
Great Northern railway depot also
is reported to have been blown down
with considerable loss of life.
Passengers aboard Great NORTHERN
train No. !, the Oriental limited.
westbound from Chicago to Seattle,
escaped death almost by a miracle,
when the train was blown from the
track, twenty miles west of Fergus
Falls. Only one person aboard was
injured, girl, suffering a sprained
ankle. The passengers were taken to
Moorehead, Mimi, where other trains
picked them up. More than 200 pas
sengers were on the train.
Telegraph and telephone wires
throughout the entire region swept
by the cyclone are down and COM
munication with the stricken district
Is interrupted.
Lifted From Track.
st. Paul, June 23.--Information OBJ
tained from tthe passengers on the
Oriental limited said the rear coach
es of the train, which numbered
eleven cars, were lifted in the air by
the tornado. Only the high banks of
the cut through which the train was
passing saved the cars from topping
over when the rear coaches slid into
the hole gouged in the roadbed by
the blast as it swept the baggage
car out from the train. The bag
y, -4I1
from going into Pelican river, which
was only 200 feet ahead of the train
when the storm came. Twisted acres
of rails, the baggage cars effectually
halted the rear coaches, which then
toppled over against the bank, re-
naming almost upright.
Both telephone and telegraph wires
are down for miles an all sides of the
city, and those who have tried to
reach the scene of the disaster in
automobiles report that the roads
are impossible.
Railroad officials here said they
were unable to obtain accurate in
formation of the conditions caused
by the storm. Efforts to learn the
number of persons injured when the
Great Northern passenger train No.
/, known as the Oriental limited was
swept from the track have been un-
satisfactory. Early reports said that
only one girl was injured, and her
injuries were not of a serious ma
ture. No mention has been made
OF the members of the train crew.
The storm swept through the 3usi-
ness section of the town, demolish-
ing everything in its path. At least
fifty bodies are said to be in the
wreckage of the Grand hotel, which
was razed, as was virtually every
other building for two blocks on
either side of the hotel.
Evansville Mimi, June 23.-Forty-
senven persons are known to be dead,
$50 are injured and in emergency hos
pitfalls and property valued at Sc 900. 900
is destroyed as a result of the tornado
which swept through Fergus Falls late
yesterday afternoon. Relief work is
under way with plenty of doctors and
nurses on hand. There is a possibility
that the death list may reach sixty
when the ruins of the Grand hotel have
known many bodies are still beneath
the pile.
Relay Trains Arrive.
Evansville, Mimi, June 23,-The
greatest loss of life occurred at the
Grand hotel, a three story building.
Thirty five persons are believed to
have been killed when the hotel was
smashed by the twister. More than
fifty guests were in the building.
Relief trains from st. Paul and
Minneapolis arrived at Fergus Falls
this morning.