Year: 1860

and set hOcnty.thrcs broken limbs.


We saw twenty-eight dead bodies, and
there were eighty-two that required strict
medical attendance, and as many more
that are more or less hurt, yet are able
to be around In addition to this mum
Der twenty-eight were swept from a raft
in the river that WAS passing at the.
time, and ten are yet missing from the
town, that are supposed to be buried in
the ruins, or are blowo into the river,
and drowned.


Wi,h the exception 4r half q dozen
| houses on the northern side Of the
town, every single building is either
torn down, uurOofed, or otherwise dam
aged.


a worse sight no human eye ever be-
held; and the heart grows sick at seeing
such q destruction of life and property.
The town is entirely ruined, and we do
not see how it can ever be rebuilt
There are whole blocks Of lots that are
vacant, entirely with nothing but the
cellar to indicate that o house ever stood
there.


Out of the contents Of three dry goods
stores not one cents worth Of the goods
have ever been found


The tornado struck the town a little
past seven o'clock, and In less than ten
minutes the whole was in ruins. After
| it had passed, the town was all aaoat
with water; all that could, began to run
from place to place screaming at the top
Of their voices, calling for friends and
for children. In every pile Of rubbish,
and from every demolished house, the
groans Of the dying and wounded were
! heard, and as the sound came from
every part of the town, no one knew
where to go first The darkness occa-
stoned by the black clouds, the air be-
/ ing filled with rubbish Of every con-
ceivable character, and the near ap-
prOach of night rendered the scene still
more appalling, and such a wall of la
mentatiOn, sorrow and woe never went
up from any place in the history of tor
nadocs, as did from this ruined and des-
Uoyed city Nothing could be found to
bind up the wounds Of the suffering, no
medicines were to be got, and the walls
of the mother over her dead children,
the anguish of wife over the lifeless
remains Of a husband, the father over
his slaughtered children, hunting in
vain for his wife-all these are scenes
that cannot possibly be described.
In one family all that was left were
three little girls, the father and mother
and two children having been instantly
killed


We visited the graveyard and saw
twenty-eight graves side by side all dug,
waiting to receive the rough boxes con.
taing the remains of the slaughtered
people.


The whole atmosphere around the
town is sickening, aud a stencil is per.
vading the whole path of the storm
that is almost impossible to endure


We have just learned that three of
the men on the raft have made their ap.
pearance They state that they were
blown from the raft clear on the Iii.
nois shore beyond Albany, and for d
long time were unable to move or stir
but after recovering from the shock sue
ccedod in crawling to a house, where
they were kindly cared for. They know
nothing of the rest of their comrades
not having seen them since they wor,
on the raft together.


In this vicinity, near Sterling, The
wounded are dying almost every day
and every farm house is a hospital fol
the dying and wounded.
I The following carefully prepared lis
embraces the number Of those killed in
Iowa. 1t will, we think, be found near
lv correct.