Mattoon, IL Tornado, May 1917 - 35 dead, 200 injured

Mattoon, Ill., May 27.-Thirty-five persons are known to be dead and it is estimated that an equal number are buried in the ruins of Mattoon as a result of a tornado which struck the city about 4 o'clock Saturday afternoon.

200 INJURED.

In addition more than 200 persons were injured by the wind storm, many of them fatally.

CITY IN DARKNESS

Mattoon was in complete darkness Saturday night except for the lights of hundreds of lanterns carried by volunteer rescue workers and not until daylight can the full extent of the damage be known.

PATH OF STORM FOUR BLOCKS WIDE.

Without warning the funnel shaped cloud came swirling its way toward the city and before persons on the streets could seek safety a district on the northern side of the city, two miles long and about four blocks wide had been devasted.

PROPERTY LOSS HALF MILLION.

The property damage, it was estimated tonight, will exceed one half million dollars and hundreds of families are homeless.

BIG FACTORY LOSS

The T W CLARK Manufacturing company, in whose plant one hundred men were at work at the time the tornado came, suffered the heaviest property damage, the loss being estimated at $200,000. That none of the workmen were killed was one of the freaks of the storm.

The Daily Review, Decatur, IL 27 May 1917