People's Pilot, Volume 4, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 September 1894 — IT DEALT DEATH. [ARTICLE]

IT DEALT DEATH.

Many Human Lives Are Taken by the Recent Cyclone. Thickly Populated Portions of lowa and Minnesota Severely Stricken—Upward* of Seventy Are Killed—Many Towns Entirely Wiped Out. SCORES ARE SLAIN*. St. Paul, Minn., Sept. 25. — The cyclone of Friday night that swept through Minnesota and lowa was one of the worst that ever visited this section. At least seventy persons were killed and many others were fatally injured. In addition several towns were wrecked, some of them being totally demolished. Path of the Storm. The storm was first observed a few miles south of Spencer in northwestern lowa about S o'clock in the evening. Sweeping resistlessly across the state north of Emmetsburg and Algona it wiped out the town of Cylinder, touched Mason City, ruining buildings and crops northwest of Osage. Here the cyclone bore off to the northeast, crossing the Minnesota line, and soon after 10 o’clock wrecked the little town of Leroy, where a bad fire added to the destruction. Spring Valley was in the path of the cyclone and suffered severely. Turning again to the east the little towns of Homer and Lowther were badly damaged and at one time reported completely wiped off the face of the earth. Aftercrossing the Mississippi and doing considerable damage to farm buildings near Marshland, Wis., the storm seemed to have spent its force. A smaller storm did some damage at Dodge Center, which was not on the path of the main cyclone. The path of the storm was not wide, but it had all the characteristics of the deadly tornado and the dimensions of a cyclone. Upwards of Seventy Are Killed. Just how many lives have been lost Is still uncertain, but the reports received indicate that certainly not less than seventy are dead while some reports place the number from seventy , to 100. The towns damaged or destroyed are Cylinder, Hurt, Forest City and Manly Junction, in Iowa; Leroy, Spring Valley, Dodge Center, Homer and Lowther, Minn., and Marshland, Wis. Eliminating apparent duplications of names of dead tlje following from points in lowa is fairly accurate: Algona, 19; north of Garner, 13; north of Britt, 16; near Manly, 12. In Minnesota the storm seemed to start at Leroy, after traveling in the air for several miles. Three persons were killed at this place. At Chatfield, Minn., a dance was in progress at the opera house when the storm descended upon the town. The building was blown down and many persons were hurt. Sixty houses in all were demolished and 100 persons were injured. At Spring Valley three were killed. Aid Is Needed. Leroy, Minn., Sept. 25. — The cyclone sufferers are in a very destitute condition. The loss will exceed 8100,000. Thirty families are entirely destitute and many business men have lost their all Money is needed. Three thousand sight-seers were here Sunday. The local relief committee is doing all in their powe., which is limited. There Were Three Cyclones. Spring Valley, Minn., Sept. 26. That there were at least two and probably three twisters responsible for the work of destruction and death Friday night seems conclusive upon examination. While several points were struck at about 10 o'clock, Burr Oak, a village near Osage and to the southwest of Leroy, was visited at 11 o’clock, and it does not seem likely one cyclone would make such a complete circle and last from 9:45 to 11 o'clock in a radius of 6 miles. Furthermore, Leroy was struck at 9:45 o'clock and Cresco, la., on the southeast, at almost, if not precisely the same moment, so that it is quite clear that these were separate cyclones. Algona, la., Sept. 26.—Additional victims of Friday’s cyclone reported in this vicinity are: Baker, child of Albert; Frank Becklemeyer; Clouseden's child; Mrs. Christian Dau and two children; Roekvell's child; M. Sweeper and two children.