Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 April 1886 — DEATH-SMITTEN TOWNS. [ARTICLE]

DEATH-SMITTEN TOWNS.

Awful Work of the Cyclone at Sauk Rapids and St C;oui, Minn. . The hi-imin, Ml n Ist hi-, and Eleven Olliers of a Wedding Party Instantfr Killafl. __ . Terrible Scenes at the Davastated Towns —Deadly Storms in lowa and Other States. i [&t. Cloud (Minn.) special.] So far from being exaggerated, it ia certain > tlmt the first reports of tlie korrible work i f uio ’cyclone did not roach the full moasuro of thu calamity: It in now known that 'fttty'.e'lght pi ople have been killed, viz., thirteen as St. tiloiul, thirty-three at tiatik Rapids, and twelie on the roail to Rica's. At least one hundre d more are still on tho list of injured, and it is certain, will only be removed from that list to ho added to tho-roll of the dead. It is not St. Cloud which has suffered most terribly. Here the death of thirteen pe iple is bad enough ; but tlie, tale that Bauk Rapids lias to tell is immeasurably naddi r. Perhaps that of Rice's is saddest of all. Hero tho outskirts of tlie city only were struck. The very core mid heart of jiahk Rapids was torn out. All of that portion of tho village of St. Cloud northwest of tho bridge presents a scene of almost total obliteration. tVlibre yesterday Wcri> tho scenos of active business, to-day hcrrbr and total destruction roign supremo. Tho tine passenger und freight depot of tho Northern Pacific Railroad lies piled up, a huf.e mass of giouuilup lumber. The schoolhouse was rent into the finost pieces imaginable by tho destroyer, and, like all buildings iu the lino of the storm, is far boyond repair. Fortunately school bail boon adjoumoil for vacation last Friday, and no one was in tho building at._lhe time. The Court House is a conglomeration of building material fully ten feet deep, which is being rapidly chared away by tho worktnen. Noarly all tho records are saved intact in the vaults, oxcept a few that wore lying loose in the building and in' uso at tho time tho cyclone passed through, It was hero that tho County Auditor and Register of Dcods were killed while working at their post of duty. Judge of Probata Boaupre recoilod a wound upon his skull in the fall of this building, but ho will probably live. Sauk Rapids is a sickening sight. The dwelling houses aro strewn in extreme confusion, and their owners arc unablo to distinguish the material that yosturday made up their peaceful homes. The pen is powerless to paint a picture that would give tho reader a perfect idea of the condition of affairs. Men aro here who have lost every dollar's worth of property that they ownod, and, added to this ailiictlon, many of them have to bear tho load of grief caused by the calamitous death of deal friends or relatives. The rumor of ‘.he destruction of a wedding party near Rice Station, on tho Northern Pacific Road, proves too true. Tho party was assembled at the residence of John Khulz, a farmer, to celebrate the wedding of ills daughter Mamie, and the ceremony was performed about 1 o'clock by Rev,Gustavus Smith. Tho afternoon was spent in social enjoymout, and at 4 o’clock the party, only a few guests having departed, gatheral about the wedding feast. It was a happy party of nearly forty pcoplo celebrating the bridal festivities of the faiorito (laughter of the house. Tho cyclone came, aud in the space of five minutes the house was converted into kin'd-ling-wood, and scattered all ovor the farm. The nuptial viands woro distributed over several acres, aud ol tlie happy party of a few minutes before ten wore corpses and many others injured, several of whom will die. There was not a build:nig loft in which the few survivoas could not care for those not post help, Tho bridegroom was lcillcd outright, but the bride was only injured. Tho neighbors who had escaped the ftuy if tho cyclone came to tho rescue* and tho bodies of tho dead were taken to the school house at Rico Station Was there ever a more miserable, more appalling, picture of the sudden approach of death in the midst of life and happiness? Farmers from the northwest toart of tho -Bounty tell almost incredible Stories of finding remnants of buildings on their property twenty miles distant from the city, and portions of organs and pianos have been picked up fifteen miles from the city and brought in as’ curiosities. The prairie for miles northwest of tho track of the cyclone Is full of pieces of plank driven a foot or more into the ground, which gives a limited idea of the terrible force witif which thoy must have been driven by the wind. The freakish disposition of the tornado is evident in cases where small kitchens were taken from tho body of the bouse and carried hundreds of feet without disturbing the main structure in tho loast. Dogs were found with the scalps tom from their skulls as neatly as could have be on douo by the scalpel, And small houses are now standing with the chimneys torn off, while larger buildings but a sow rods away were so badly rent- and shattered that only the cellar remains to show where it stood. The sides of many of the buildings aro pierced with heavy splinters that tore a hole through the thick wall only large enough to nrotrude like huge pegs. In the walls of the other buildings holes are noticeable that seem to have been made by cannon balls. Panels have been torn from the doors, and, with this exception, the buildings seem to liavohoen untouched. In other houses window-panes have been blown out and tho sash untouched. The walls of many of the buildings have a blackened appearance as though they lind been fired and badly smoked. It is estimated that forty families are hcmeli-as and in destitute circumstances. and relief is badly needed. The. sign “Sauk Rapids." on the Manitoba Depot, and a ensket full of books were found in Rice Station, fifteen miles distant. This shows the terrible power of the storm. A box-car was picked up from the track and blown three blocks and dropped into a ravine. The storm extended from Jamestown, Dak., through Minnesota and into Wisconsin, though its most disastrous effects arc to be found in the three places first named. A corps of men were busily engaged during the day washing the, blood from the mutilated faces, and composing as we|l as possible the distorted features. During the forenoon the interior of the engine-house presented an appearance that would cause the stoutest' man to shudder. Fifteen coffins were ranged along the sides of the room, some of them containing the lifeless remains, the others waiting for their ghastly tenants. The Storm in lowa. (Omaha special.} Dispatches from towm in Western lowa state that the recent eyclone was of terrific force, going at the rate of nearly ninety miles an hoar. About fifty dwellings were destroyed between Griswold and Audubon. Nine persons were seriously wounded, one fatally wounded, and one killed. Several school children were seriously hurl at tho school-house at Audubon. The loss of property between Griswold and Audubon is estimated at $175,000. Fences, bams, dwellings, aud everything were laid low in the path of tho cyclone. The small loss of life is accounted for,by the fact that the cyclone occurred in the daytime; and: nearly everyone saw the cloud nppicaching, and ran to their cyclone cellars, which nearly every farm in tbat part of lowa is nrovidod with. Later reports show thattnc storm ranged from Taylor iCounty north to Pocahontas County. “Four persons are reported killed, and about twenty-five seriously injured. From fifty to sfeventy-five dwellings are demolished, and large damage done to bani' s , stock, and trees. At Wheeler Grove tho Mormon Church and several other buildings were wrecked. In the vicinity of Redford a number of buildings were demolished, one woman was killed,’ und several persons injured. A boy aud a girl were taken up Dy the wind and carried a distance of several hundred yards. Both were seriously injured. A black, funnel-shaped cloud swoojxd down upon the village of Knox. Tho postoffice, and five other buildings which happened to be in the path of the monster, .wore swept away like chaff. Had it not been for the caves prepared for just such occasions, the loss of lifo would have been heavy. Other Itlows. oyclone in tfie" region of Aurora, Texas, blew down every house in its oath and injured . a dozen or more people, twojaf them f atally. A tornado wrecked several farm houses hear Wetmore, Kansas. Tho inmates escaped by fleeing to the"cellar. At Schubert, Neb., a hurricane killed one boy and injured two women, ono in au ond,g. boy.

Pf.trr Kavanaugb, an old cripple of Detroit, has just fallen heir ’ |o an estate worth $1,000,000, left by his sister, who died in Sydney,vNew South Wales. A Minneapolis girl has married a St. Paul man, and precipitated another fight receive the increased population. H . A New YpRK paper suggests that General Grant's birthday (April 27) be made a national holiday. - v—-Wf'.-,.... i— —: )——'. What class of women are most apt to give tons to society? The bettaa.