Sherman, TX Tornado, May 1896 - Death Rode the Gale, part 2

FILLED WITH WOUNDED.
The physicians and druggists responded promptly to the call for succor and drugs and everything needed came spontaneously. Hundreds of ladies responded to the call of humanity and with a score of physicians, were soon at work. Color and caste disappeared, in the supreme moment of woe and desolation.
Thanks to the excellent police service, the crowds were restrained everywhere about the improvised hospitals and citizens and physicians found their labor more effective on account of non-interference. The cries of the injured were supplemented by the agonized shrieks of those who, passing

FROM CORPSE TO CORPSE
at last found some loved one, perhaps a husband or a wife or son or daughter.
MR. MONTGOMERY'S wife and two or three children are dead. The children are terribly mangled.
One of them, about five years old, had the top of her head knocked off. Another child was found dead 500 yards from the house.
On West Houston street several are dead.
A man named BILL HAMILTON is fatally injured.
MR. CEPHUS, and child, colored are reported dead.
Several negroes have been picked out of the creek dead.
A young white woman, unidentified, was found dead, three hundred yards south of ELY'S residence.
Every moment brings new victims. It is likely as many as 50 people are dead. The victims are

HORRIBLY MANGLED.
JOHN AMES and wife and two children are dead and a five year old boy fatally injured.
T. W. JENKINS, daughter and wife are dead.
The most miraculous escape so far as learned by the reporter was the case of the family of Captain ELY. The residence, quite a roomy, brick structure, was razed to the ground, and but for the presence of some heavy timbers standing upright in the debris, which sheltered them from the avalanche of brick and stone, they would have all perished, but as it was only one member, a little girl, was bruised.

A public meeting raised $3,000 for the immediate relief of the sufferers and the

PERMANENT RELIEF COMMITTEE,
consisting of C. H. SMITH, C. B. RANDELL, C. H. DORCHESTER and COLONEL GEORGE M. MURPHY, will take donations.

It is distinctly stated that donations from points outside of Grayson county will not be received. Denison has responded nobly and nurses and physicians from that city are here rendering great assistance. All railroads running into the city placed special trains at the disposal of the local authorities and brought help from all neighboring cities.
Reports are that the storm killed many persons in the country west of Howe.

A large number of police and searching parties are looking for missing persons.

ADDITIONAL DEATHS.
The following are additional deaths reported up to 1 a. m.;
JIM ENGLISH, colored.
JOHN TAYLOR, white.
KATE KING, colored.
The unknown woman at the morgue has been identified as MRS. I. L. BURIES.
Another infant of the BALLINGER family has been found dead.
CHARLES WEDDLE, of Fairview, is dead, with a piece of timber driven through his body.
The family of JOHN HAMILTON has been discovered, all badly injured.
One of the HAMILTON boys, aged 20 years, will die. Two girls, one aged 15 and one 9, were fatally injured, and another girl, aged 11, was injured internally.
It is impossible to get a correct list of all the missing. Nearly every family in the district has some member that they can not account for and it is believed that most of

THE MISSING ARE DEAD.
A water spout accompanied the cyclone and the creeks are all out of their banks. Several objects thought to be human bodies were seen in the water, but could not be reached. The officers are making every effort to dredge all creeks in the vicinity to-morrow. It is a remarkable incident that in every case where there were deaths the bodies from the houses destroyed were found from 100 to 150 yards away, in a direction opposite to that in which the storm was moving. The storm was moving northward and in every instance the bodies were found to the southward. Telegraph poles were torn up and driven into the ground. A great many of the wounded are in private houses scattered all over the city. It is safe to assume that at least one quarter of the number

INJURED WILL DIE
in the next twenty-four hours. Another storm of a similar nature passed about six miles west of the city at about the same hour. Several houses were blown down and many persons injured. Their names can not be obtained.
At Carpenter's bluff it is reported six persons were hurt, five seriously.
Buildings and other structures in the way were demolished.
A daughter of TOM JENKINS was found lying in a pool of water. She was evidently drowned, for no marks or bruises could be found on her body.
The police department is employing every means in its power to help the sufferers and all have been given comfortable quarters

AT CARPENTER BLUFF.
After passing over Sherman the cyclone went southeast.
At Carpenter Bluff, seven miles east at Denison, the dwelling of JOHN DEVANT was blown down and four persons, DEVANT and wife, and DEVANT'S hired man, named ARMOUR, and a little child, received injuries from which they will die.

THE EARLY ACCOUNT.
Sherman, May 15. -- A most disastrous cyclone struck Sherman at 4:30 o'clock this afternoon, wiping out the western end of the town entirely.
The loss of life is appalling. The dead are estimated at between 30 and 40. This is a very conservative estimate. Many more are fatally or seriously injured.
At 6 o'clock, the evening twelve bodies are lying in the court house and as many more are scattered about across the desolated west end of the city. No accurate estimate can be made yet of the loss of life and property. The work of rescue and search for the missing goes on. The business part of the town is deserted and the greatest excitement reigns. The Western Union office is overflowed with anxious ones sending messages and inquiring the fate of other towns. Every available wagon, buggy and horse is in use by searchers and workers on

THE FIELD OF DEATH.
As time passes reports of greater loss of life and property are arriving. Many stories of miraculous escapes are told.
The Sherman court house is insufficient to hold the dead and wounded. The vacant Moore building, on the south square, was utilized at 6 o'clock, fifteen colored people, dead or dying, being placed there.
Express drays, baggage wagons and all kinds of vehicles continue to come in with dead bodies. Around the Moore building the highest excitement prevails and the greatest difficulty is experienced in getting the names of the victims and accurate reports.
The storm struck Sherman without warning, on the southwest corner of the city, and cleared a path 100 yards wide along the west end of the town. Houses, trees, fences and everything went before

THE TERRIBLE FORCE
of the cyclone. The negro part of the town suffered the most severely.
There are probably, 30 negroes killed. Ten bodies have been picked up in Post Oak creek.
The flood of rain which attended the storm was severe. The town is a mass of mud and floating debris. There is much difficulty in finding the dead and injured.
Captain J. E. ELY'S house was demolished and his wife and two children had miraculous escapes.
Captain B. BERGE'S residence was also leveled to the ground, but fortunately the family was away from home.
FRANK RYAN, manager of the Sherman baseball team, had his house blown off its foundation and completely turned around. His wife and two children escaped serious injury.

Leadville Daily and Evening Chronicle 1896-05-16