CRUSHED BY A CYCLONE.

The City of Mt. Vernon, Ill., Almost Totally Destroyed by a Storm.

Thirty-five Persons Killed, and Twice as Many Injured, Many Fatally.

People Take Refuge from Rain Only to be Crushed to Death in the Demolished Buildings – Fire Adds Its Horrors to the Disaster – Distressing Scenes in the Stricken City – Details of the Calamity.

MT. VERNON DESTROYED.
Many Killed And Wounded.
MR. VERNON, Ill., Feb. 20.-- This city was visited by a terrible cyclone about 4:15 yesterday afternoon. It had been thundering and raining for some time, when suddenly a low, rumbling noise was heard, and a black, dense cloud that seemed to touch the earth swept over the city, and it became very dark. The cloud and the terrible blast passed over the city simultaneously, leaving behind an awful record of death and disaster. As soon as the cloud passed the sky brightened, and people realized the shock and loss they had sustained. Hundreds of houses were blown down and many people were crushed in the ruins. The south and east parts of the square are completely destroyed.

In a few minutes after the cyclone had left the town behind flames burst forth from half a dozen heaps of ruins and added a new horror to the situation. There being but meager fire apparatus in the place, appeals for aid were sent to several neighboring towns.

The town is about two miles long east and west, and the course of the cyclone took in about two-thirds of the east end, the western portion escaping. It is impossible yet to estimate the number of houses destroyed, but it will run up into the hundreds. The larger portion of the business part of the town, known as the square, is totally destroyed. Out of a row of buildings about two hundred yards long none escaped entirely, while most of them are consumed. The north side is badly damaged, but the wreck there is very light compared to that on the east and south sides.

The county courthouse is one of the most complete wrecks in the city. There is no alarm felt in regard to the records, as they are easily accessible, and unless a fire should spring up in the ruins they are perfectly safe. All of the largest and best buildings seem to have suffered the most. The Commercial hotel is almost completely ruined, but none of the guests or others were injured as far as known.

THE SCENE IN THE STRICKEN CITY
last night was peculiarly distressing. Through the great heaps of ruins men, women and boys were struggling in their efforts to reach those imprisoned beneath timbers and bricks. Cries came from every pile of debris. In some of the streets where the great cloud swept with resistless force the dead lay in the warm rain, which mingled with their blood. Above the scene of desolation the sky was red from the conflagration, and the wind, which was blowing from the south, was laden with blazing brands. Such a picture appalled the stoutest heart. For hours the survivors thought of nothing but themselves. With flames roaring behind and upon all sides of them, there was no alternative but to flee over the bodies of the dead and the wounded and the mass of ruins which pinned them to the earth. For an hour it looked as though the victims of the blast would be burned where they lay. As the night wore on the survivors became braver and plunged into ruins of the East End, where many hapless creatures lay groaning and praying.

Torches, lanterns and lamps flickered over the desolate tract as far as the eye could reach. Men and women who had not yet removed their Sunday garments worked nobly in the falling rain and wreckage. There were no means of identifying the dead and wounded. All were so horribly crushed that some of the hysterical searchers bore their own dead without being able to distinguish their ghastly burden.

In some places in the east end blocks of houses were blown down as though they had been made of cards. It was in this district that the most distressing scenes were witnessed.

Whole families were buried under their roofs without warning save that given by the storm cloud as it bounded over the earth like an immense rubber ball. The wounded lay in the remnants of over a hundred houses, and every few moments a dead body, battered out of all semblance to humanity, was tenderly dragged from its prison and borne to a place of safety.

The storm came just after the Sunday school closed or there is no telling what the loss would have been, as the Methodist and Baptist churches were totally destroyed.
Everything that can be done for the wounded is being done, and the hundreds who are rendered homeless are being looked after. Many families are likely to be destitute of food and clothing, as they have lost all they possessed. Nashville came promptly to the rescue and sent men and fire engines. The city is well guarded by both mounted and patrol policemen. The fires are all now extinguished.

THIRTY-FIVE KILLED.
DETAILS OF THE CALAMITY.
MOUNT VERNON, Ill., Feb. 20. -- The cyclone that visited this place yesterday afternoon at 5 o'clock destroyed nearly three hundred residences and places of business and unhoused from 1,200 to 1,500 people. In the fall of walls many people were buried under the debris and thirty-five were killed, while twice as many more were injured, eight or ten so seriously that their lives are despaired of.

Preceding the destructive wind was a heavy fall of rain for half an hour, which drove all inhabitants to shelter. This was followed by a slight hail storm, accompanied with lightning, and then a furious blow which formed into a funnel-shaped cyclone and struck the south-western portion of the city, unroofing everything in its path. Taking a diagonal course through the business part of the city it unroofed and dismantled the supreme court building, near the Louisville & Nashville depot, and skipped along to crushing them into worthless masses. At one point the destructive element jumped upward and missed several stores and residences, but soon poured down again tearing down heavy brick buildings, wrenching and tearing frame structures out of semblance, and making useless a mass of solid banks. The massive court house that occupied the public square in the center of the city was literally torn to pieces. This was the extreme point to the north which was reached. Fifty yards south of the court house the storm seemed to be at its height. On the corner of Washington street and the public square was Crive's block, a three-story brick building, 80 feet front, occupied by EVANS as a grocery and saloon. This building was demolished and then taking fire all inflammable was consumed. The owner of the building, McMURRAY, was caught in the falling walls and cremated.

ED HANNAL, wife and a small boy were in the basement, having taken refuge from the storm, and were buried by the walls, but the man dug his way out of the ruins, making a passage for his wife and child, and then made an effort to extinguish the flames. Across the street on Washington street was a row of two-story frame buildings with an occasional brick. Brick buildings were caved in and the frames were crushed out of shape against each other. Near the corner to the south were a lot of groggeries(?) and frame structures which served as dwellings and warehouses. They were blown down and then burned up entirely. The storm was over in three minutes.
People who were unharmed gave assistance to the needy. The fire company aided by citizens who had organized into squads, began the work of putting out the fire and rescuing unfortunates. The mayor called for assistance from neighboring towns, and fire engines and physicians were sent from Centralia, Ashby, Nashville and Evansville, promptly. What was left of the supreme court building was turned into a morgue.

The storm does not appear to have done any damage outside of Mt. Vernon. Had it occurred an hour earlier the loss of life would have been frightful. The Methodist and Baptist churches, both of which were totally destroyed, were crowded just before the storm.

The Quincy Daily Whig Illinois 1888-02-21