Wellington, Kansas
Tornado
May
27, 1892
DETAILS OF THE STORM
Never In the History of Kansas Was There
Anything Like It.
LIST OF THE KILLED AND INJURED
Language Cannot Describe the Scenes at
Wellington and Harper.
WELLINGTON, Kan., May 28. --- The
destruction to life and the havoc to property
wrought by last night's cyclone is terrible. In
the darkness of the night and the confusion
incident to such a catastrophy [sic] it was not
possible to realize the enormity of the
calamity. The light of day invests the scene of
destruction with the distinct and awful
realization of its scope. The loss of life is
appalling and the ruin to property is great.
The storm came from the south-west and
approached the city with a rotary motion,
appearing to be some distance over the town.
When it reached here it descended upon the
center of the city with appalling force,
suddenly lifting, sucking everything into its
grasp and as suddenly dropping it. Trees were
torn from their roots, and stoves were actually
lifted until they landed on the upper floors of
the ruins. Freight cars which stood on the track
of the Rock Island road were picked up and
carried a distance of 200 feet.
In one instance a horse was actually taken
from the ground and carried to the top of a
two-story building. A little child was taken out
of its cradle, carried a distance of two blocks
and deposited upon the ground without being
injured.
The loss of property alone in this city will
amount to fully $5,000,000, as mostly all the
large stocks of goods in the city were destroyed
by the cloudburst which followed the tornado
after it had taken all roofs away. The reports
from all the country to the west are very
discouraging. While there is no detailed news
from the country in this immediate vicinity, the
indications are that the damage is terrible.
It is same to say that 150 buildings are
complete wrecks, while 150 more are partially
wrecked. All the casualties are not known, but
following is a list as accurate as can now be
make: The killed are:
JAMES HASTIE,
unmarried; killed in a barber's chair in
the Phillips house while being shaved.
FRANK CAMPBELL, married; leaves a
wife and child.
JAMES MAYNER, a piano tuner of Kansas
City.
MRS. SASHER, recently married;
crushed and burned to death. The shock has
affected the mind, temporarily, of her husband.
MISS STRAND, Mrs. Sasher's sister;
crushed and burned to death.
HENRY ADAMSON, a laborer who leaves a
large family.
JAMES WEAVER, occupation unknown,
crushed beneath a falling wall.
IDA JONES, a waitress; crushed to
death beneath a falling wall.
The fatally wounded and those likely to die
are:
CHARLES ADAMSON, an unmarried man,
aged 28 years.
MRS. CAPTAIN MAHAN, badly crushed
about the lower limbs.
MRS. J. T. HANNA, crushed and injured
internally.
MRS. MURPHY, skull fractured and arm
broken.
CHARLES STONER, Santa Fe conductor,
will die.
LITTLE MAGGIE KING, daughter of the
late I. N. KING,
wounded.
ED FORSYTHE, a printer; skull
fractured and internal injuries.
SYLVIA FORSYTHE, a printer; skull
fractured and otherwise injured.
WALTER FORSYTHE, a printer; internal
injuries.
EX-SHERIFF THRALL'S child, internal
injuries.
MRS. ROBERT MILLARD, probably fatal
internal injuries.
JAMES LAWRENCE, republican candidate
for attorney general; arm and leg broken.
LIEUTENANT WILLIAM FRENCH and CADET SAMMONS,
of the Salvation Army;
MATTIE HODGES, GUY COLBY, DICK WEAVER, CARRIE
MITCHELL and E. J. FORSYTHE received
injuries more or less serious.
Professor MAYER
and HART UPSON
are missing and between forty and
fifty are injured, but none serious.
The greater portion of the city was
completely devastated and the entire community,
consisting of between 5000 and 6000 people, were
thrown into a state of the wildest
consternation.
The shouts of the rescuers were mingled with
the cries of the suffering, while those unhurt
rushed from their homes but partially dressed.
The wind finally subsided and in a brief time
every available man in the city was engaged in
the work of rescue, conducted under the
leadership of GEORGE
WHITELY, president of the council.
Order was, however, soon brought out of
chaos. It was just 9 o'clock when a tornado
which came from the southwest descended upon the
town.
The Lutheran church was turned completely
over, the court house demolished, the
Presbyterian church reduced to splinters, and of
the Specknott block, on the principal street of
the town, composed of a half dozen brick
buildings, there is nothing but a pile of brick,
mortar and glass.
The Standard block, consisting of six, two
and three story brick buildings, was completely
wrecked.
In this block the Wellington Daily Mail
and the Sumner Standard were published.
These plants were utterly destroyed, as were the
Monitor, Press and Voice in the
Specknott block. The Wellington foundry and
stove works were also leveled to the ground.
On Washington avenue every house on each side
of the street was unroofed, back walls are out
of many of them and windows are generally
smashed.
The opera house is a complete wreck and the
Phillips
hotel in ruins. This house proved to be the most
fatal trap, for over a half dozen bodies or more
will be taken from its ruins.
The Episcopal church is in ruins while great
damage was done to the Rock Island lumber yard.
The school house is almost a total wreck.
There is only one telegraph wire up between
here and the East and it is very difficult
matter to get a messenger out over it.
There is no wire up west of Danville, but
messages from there report a very disastrous
cyclone at Harper. The telephone system is a
complete wreck; in fact every wire in the city
is down but one.
About 200 men are now clearing away the
debris of the Phillips house wreck, where at
least two more bodies are expected to be found.
The Santa Fe ran a special train from Wichita
to-day, bringing a corps of fifteen doctors.
Aspen Weekly Times Colorado 1892-06-04
Submitted & transcribed by Stu
Beitler Thank you,
Stu!
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