A Tornado at Cisco Tx., last Saturday afternoon destroyed 21 lives and injured a large number of people. The town was almost wiped from the face of the earth.

The Wellsboro Agitator, Wellsboro, PA 3 May 1893

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The most terrific cyclone that ever visited Texas devastated Cisco and Eastland county, laying waste everything in its path, which was about three-fourths of a mile wide. All but about fifty houses in Cisco were wrecked, not a church or schoolhouse was standing and but one house was intact. Thirty persons were killed and over 100 were injured. The most conservative estimates placed the total property loss at over $2,000,000.

The Stevens Point Journal, Stevens Point, WI 6 May 1893

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MANY CYCLONE VICTIMS

Details of the Destruction of the Town of Cisco, Tex.

FORTY OF THE INJURED WILL DIE.

Only One Residence in the Town Uninjured--Street made Impassable by the Debris of Wrecked Buildings--Property Loss Over Two Millions of Dollars.

DALLAS, Tex., May 1.--Further details of the disastrous cyclone which wiped out the town of Cisco have been received.

Out of 400 residences in the town one is uninjured. A freight train waiting at the depot for orders was hurled completely from the tracks and totally wrecked. The engine, weighing over twenty tons, was turned completely over. The brakeman was instantly killed and the conductor died yesterday afternoon from his injuries. The conservative estimates place the total property loss at over $2,000,000.

Immediately after the cyclone had passed flames were seen issuing from several of the frame buildings. It is thought some of the missing, of which there are a score, were burned to death, and their bodies cremated. Several of the streets of the city are so full of debris as to prevent the passage of even foot passengers. For miles around the city the ground is covered with wrecks of brick or frame buildings, household furniture and utensils, fences, telegraph poles, freight cars, etc.

Physicians estimate that of the 200 or more injured, at least forty will die. All the physicians from a dozen near by towns are here, and more are needed.

The stock of groceries available in the town did not suffice to give even a scanty breakfast to the suffering people. Trains from Weatherford and other adjoining places, laden with supplies, arrived during the day.

Many homeless and wounded ones are resting in improvised tents, but by far the greatest portion are out in the open air, with nothing to shelter them from the cutting wind that has followed the storm. Individual estimates of losses are not impossible, except to say that in nearly every instance it is total, many not even saving enough clothing to protect themselves from the inclement weather.

Middletown Daily Press, Middletown, NY 29 Apr 1893

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