Wreck and Ruin in Pittsburgh – Scores of Persons Killed and a Large Number Injured by Falling Buildings.

PITTSBURGH, Pa., Jan. 10. -- The storm which passed over this city yesterday afternoon and wrought such frightful destruction to life and property possessed every feature of a tornado. United States Signal Officer STEWART said that the storm came from the southwest. It made its first appearance in Texas on Monday, reaching Arkansas on Tuesday, and struck Chicago at eight o'clock yesterday morning. The storm then swerved in a direct line for Pittsburgh, which, however, escaped the greatest severity on the track of its fierce strength, and the storm lay just north of the city. When it struck this city the barometer recorded 29.08. At half-past twelve o'clock the velocity of the wind was fourteen miles an hour. Five minutes later it had attained twenty-five miles, which rapidly increased in force until the greatest velocity, that of forty miles an hour, was reached at 12:45 p. m. After the first shock, lasting only five minutes, the fury of the wind subsided, and ten minutes later had decreased to thirty-two miles an hour.

Pittsburgh was never before visited by a storm so furious. There was also a remarkable change in temperature. Between twelve and two o'clock the temperature changed from 54 degrees to 40 degrees.

At the time the whirlwind struck the building, most of the men were on the first floor, it being the dinner hour, and were sitting around the fire, eating. The rear of J. R. GALLINGE'S store was crushed in.

The sight was heartrending and moved many to tears in the midst of the work of rescue. There is nothing left standing but the rear wall and part of the side toward Market street. Toward Wood street there is nothing left but a mass of broken brick and shattered timbers.

The new Iron City Nut-works building, at the corner of Forty-sixth and Hadfield streets, was entirely demolished by the wind. WM. HEINZ, a shafting rigger, was instantly killed. Loss on the building, $10,000; insured.

The historic Fort Pitt Foundry, at the corner of Aetna and Thirteenth streets is badly wrecked. The Thirteenth streets side was blown out entirely. Loss, $7,000.
Telegraph, electric light and telephone wires throughout the city are badly broken and tangled. Several houses in the west end and south side of the city were more or less damaged, the most serious being the destruction of the roof of the South Side Market-house, and part of the roof of OLIVER BROS. & PHILLIPS MILL.
There was but little damage to property in Allegheny City.

The killed recovered up to eleven o'clock were:
ANNIE REIDNOUR.
ELLA LONG.
AMELIA CHRISTMAN.
HARRY CROCKER, foreman.
MARY REIDNOUR.
KATE LEAS.
JOHN ROBER.
SOPHIA WINKLEMAN.
WM. ROBINSON.
ROSE KLEMMER.
TILLIE GROH.
EVA LEEDDS.

The injured are: GEO. NEWMAN, JOHN AUTENBACH, SADIE RHOADES, MARY REESE,
GEO. NIEMAN, SALLIE YOUNG, SALLIE HASSON, GEO. GRIMSHAW, JR., one of the owners: AUGUSTUS FROSSLEYS, KATE AULBACH, KATE HARTMAN, SALLIE E. BRIGHT, JOANNA FRANKENFIELD, KATE FITZPATRICK, MISS MESKEL, ANNIE AND HOWARD BUCKNER, SALLIE SAVAGE, LIZZIE AHRENS, BUHL A. HESMAN, CARRIE SALEM, ELLA PAREFERN. These have been taken out. It will take until six o'clock in the morning, probably later in the day, before the debris can be cleared away and the killed and injured are recovered.
The following is a list of the killed as reported at police headquarters up to eight o'clock:
SAMUEL SPRINGER, taken out of the wreck, dead; lived in Allegheny.
W. W. McKEON, still in wreck; believed to be dead.
SAMUEL BROWN, JR.: lying dead under steam boiler.
CHAS. FRITCH, apprentice in barber shop; suffocated.
WM. GOETIMAN, still covered by debris; lived in Allegheny.
Two Men, names unknown; at the morgue.
GEO. MASON, residence unknown; at the morgue.
THOMAS JONES, single; bricklayer, Allegheny.
_______ HILL, colored, aged fifteen.
An Unknown Man.

DR. J. L. REED, one of the oldest physicians in the city, was on the second floor of the WELDIN building. He was caught by the falling wall, and is lying dead under the elevator cage in the cellar.

The elevator boy in WELDIN'S store is also pinned beneath the elevator. For a long time his agonizing cries for relief could be heard. His voice has not been heard for nearly an hour, and he is thought to be dead.

At half-past nine o'clock to-night the dead body of a colored boy, name unknown, was taken out and removed to the morgue. A few moments later the elevator boy, JAMES GARIN, employed in WELDEN'S store, was removed. He was unconscious, and is probably fatally injured. A rescuing party are now engaged in tearing away the foundation wall from under another part of WELDIN'S building. Voices calling for assistance are heard at frequent intervals.

Among the pitiful sights to be seen at the ruins are the feet of two men sticking up through the debris. It is impossible to get them out until a trembling wall that appears to be ready to fall has been secured. The imprisoned victims are undoubtedly dead.
It is believed that there are three other persons buried underneath the debris at the same place.

GEORGE L. HOLLIDAY, who had an office in the rear of WELDIN'S building, is among the missing, and it is feared that he has been killed. MR. HOLLIDAY was president of the Pittsburgh Select Council, and one of the most prominent citizens of the city.
The following is a complete list of the injured, as ascertained up to 9 p. m., at the Homeopathic Hospital. A full description of their injuries can not yet be obtained. Many of them will die:
THOS. McKEE.
ALFRED LAMBERT; head and back cut and bruised.
JOHN DOWNEY.
GEO. MASON; fatally hurt.
W. McCURDY.
CHAS. PETTICORD.
ALICE CARTY.
J. A. RAEMER.
A. A. DAVIS.
PETER FOSTER.
OSCAR P. SMITH.
BERNARD O'CONNOR.
WILBER MASON, JR.
JOHN REDUT, colored.
THOS. LEMON.
MIKE RYAN.
DAVID COURTNEY.
FRANK BARRETT.
ELMER McKEOWN.
MARTIN HILLER.
JAMES WALL.
WM. SPRINGER.
ALICE McGLORE.
WM. WILSON.
CHAS. CALLY, fireman truck A.
EVAN PEW, hose company.
THOS. BARKER, engine company No. 12.
JOHN M. GAEHERING, attorney.
JOE GEARING, elevator boy at WELDIN'S.
_______ BARBER.

The following are at the West Penn Hospital:
MORRIS RYAN, fatally injured.
J. H. HERRING, fatally injured.

Others injured and assisted by friends are GUS MEASNER, GEO. SCOTT, T. E. MELVILLE and GEO. LONG, all compositors in JOSEPH EUCHENBAUM'S printing house.
HARRY FAAULKNER.
JERRY HUCKSTEIN.
WM. LANDON.
JOHN McGLONE.
SAMUEL BROWN.
ERNEST REINHARDT; was removed to the Allegheny General Hospital.
OWEN DONNELLY; was taken to Mercy Hospital.
Some of the losses in this city have been estimated as follows:
WALL & CO., books and stationery; loss, $2,000.
J. A. GALLINGER, china store; loss, $3,000.
J. R. WELDIN & CO., stationery and books, wholesale and retail; loss on building and stock, $75,000.

A report has just reached the city that the storm this afternoon struck the shops of the Westinghouse Air-Brake Company, a large brick structure, at Wilmerding, fourteen miles from the city, on the line of the Pennsylvania railroad. One side of the foundation was damaged, leaving the building in a dangerous condition. The damage will be very heavy.
At Appollo [sic],on the West Penn railway, considerable damage was done, and one man was killed.

Several buildings were blown down at Jeannette, on the Penn railroad.

Telegrams to the Times from Altoona state that wires are down throughout the central part of the State, but that trainmen coming into Altoona report damages in all the interior towns, which it is expected will reach several hundred thousand dollars. Several bridges were also blown down.

Reports of a similar nature are coming in from all points in the western part of the State.

The Rolla New Era Missouri 1889-01-12
__________________

Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!