Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1920-03-29
SEVERAL STATES
SWEPT BY STORM
KILLING 28 AND
|NJUR|NG MANY
Illinois, Indiana, Missouri,
Wisconsin and Parts of
South Visited BY Worst
TWister in History.
MILLIONS OF DOLLARS
DAMAGE TO PROPERTY
Greatest Toll of Life is
Taken at Two Churches.
Where People Are Struck
Down While at Worship.

ley MORNING JOURNAL SPECIAL LEASED wiHEl
Chicago, March 2S.-Twenty-siX
known dead. hundreds of injured
and a property loss of several mil
lion dollars were left in the wake
of tornado that swept northeast
ern Illinois and portion of In
diana, Missouri and Wisconsin to-
day.
Elgin, Joliet, the western out
skirts of Chicago and north shore
and western suburbs were in the
path of the Storm which destroyed
hundreds of buildings, uprooted
trees and demoralized railroad
traffic and telegraphic and tele
phonic communication. before dy-
ing out on the shore of Lake Mich
igan.
The fury of the tornado was felt
chiefly at Elgin and Melrose Park,
Eight were killed and more than
100 injured at the former city,
and the property loss there was
estimated at about $4,000,O00.
At Melrose Park, just west of
the Chicago city line, seven were
killed and four were reported miss
ing. Two Chicagoans were killed
and a score were injured, while at
Dunning, a northwestern suburb,
four deaths were reported. ID. More
than a hundred were injured and
1000 were made homeless.
While northeastern Illinois sus-
tanned the principal damage, the
tornado, in its freakish career,
swept several Indiana towns, kill
ing three persons at Zulu. Ind,
causing the death of one man and
the injury of several persons in st.
Louis, and killing Mrs. Louis
Brown at East Troy, Wis.
Reports from some of the coun-
try districts in Illinois and Indiana
We're meager and it was feared the
death toll would be considerably
augmented when isolated rural
communities were heard from. Tel
ephone, telegraph and power wires
to nearly all towns in the storms
path were down and many places
were in darkness
outside of Chicago. Wauconda,
McHenry. Woodstock, Algonquin
and Marengo felt the full effects
of the storm but communication
with them was cut off.
Edgerton, Ind, eighteen miles
from Fort Wayne, was reported
virtually destroyed.
Several persons were said to have
been Injured at Ossian, Ind. Heavy
property loss was caused IN
Evanston, Wilmette and other
north shore suburbs, while Bell
wood. haywood. Edgebrook, Nor
wood Park and other villages west
of Chicago were damaged. No
fatalities were reported from the
latter places, but many were in
iured by flying glass and timbers
The tornado struck Elgin at noon
and swept northeast in the Chicago
territory through the suburbs, leav-
ing path of destruction 200 yards
wide and a mile and half long.
In ten minutes 175 houses in the
Chicago district were leveled and
400 were damaged.
The wind tore into the business
quarter of Melrose Park, ripping
roofs from buildings, shattering
windows and piling the streets
with debris.
The Church of the Sacred Heart
was severely damaged. The church
hell, weighing nearly ton, was
thrown 100 feet away, The roof
of the parish house adjoining was
carried away and three nuns were
injured by flying debris. Fire for
a time threatened to add to the
havoc, but the flames were con-
fined to the wreckage.
The state hospital for the insane
at Dunning, on the edge of Chicago,
was converted into an emergency
hospital and a place of refuge for
the homeless. More than 200
houses were destroyed at Dunning.
Calls for medical assistance from
the suburbs poured into Chicago.
Emergency Red Cross stations were
established in several of the viii
lages, and physicians and nurses
from the municipal sanitarium were
hurried to the stricken towns.
A swath 200 yards wide was torn
through the main part of Wilmette