Fergus Falls, Minnesota
Tornado
June 22, 1919
TORNADO DEATH LIST IS PLACED AT
FORTY-EIGHT
Fergus Falls, Minn., June 23—Forty-eight
persons are known to have been killed and 150
injured in a tornado which struck Fergus Falls
late yesterday. The list compiled today by the
state officers, does not include casualties from
the surrounding country, struck by the twister.
The most deaths occurred in the Grand (correct)
hotel which was crushed by the wind. A Great
Northern passenger train was blown from the
tracks near Fergus Falls: 250 passengers escaped
without serious injuries.
Four churches, the jail and court house,
buildings of a small college and a number of
dwellings were wrecked. Property damage was
estimated at between $1,000,000 and $2,000,000.
ST. PAUL, Minn., June 23—Adjutant
General Rhinow, who reached Fergus
Falls today on a relief train, reporte [sic]
that there are about 50 dead in that city,
following the tornado which wrecked two blocks
of the business district, including the grand
central hotel last night.
Rhinow said thirty-six bodies had been recovered
and that at least fourteen others were believed
dead. His report covered only the Fergus Falls.
Communication in the outlying sections was cut
off almost entirely.
Most of the dead, Rhinow said, were taken from
the wreckage of the grand central hotel. He said
there were many injured, now well cared for in
hospitals.
Rhinow’s first call was for linemen and
electricians.
Harold Darker,
publisher, of Elbow Lake, who left Fergus Falls
early today, said not over sixty were killed but
that 160 were injured.
The Evening State Journal and Lincoln
Daily News, Lincoln, NE 23 Jun 1919
Fifty Reported
Dead
(By Associated Press)
EVANSVILLE, Minn., June 23—Forty-seven are
known to be dead, 106 are injured and in
emergency hospitals, and property valued at
$6,000,000 is destroyed as a result of the
tornado which swept through Fergus Falls late
yesterday afternoon. Relief work is under way
with plenty of doctors and nurses on hand. There
is a possibility that the death list may reach
sixty when the ruins of the Grand hotel have
been thoroughly searched, as it is known many
bodies are still beneath the pile.
The greatest loss of life occurred at the Grand
hotel, a three story building. Thirty-five
persons are believed to have been killed when
the hotel was smashed by the twister. More than
fifty guests were in the building.
Special relief trains from St. Paul and
Minneapolis arrived at Fergus Falls this
morning.
The Otter Tail county court house, county jail
and sheriff’s residence were destroyed. At One
Mile lake, near Fergus Falls, four children of
John Kreidler
were blown into the lake and drowned.
Information obtained from the passengers on the
Oriental Limited said the rear coaches of the
train, which numbered eleven cars, were lifted
into the air by the tornado. Only the high banks
of the out through which the train was passing
saved the coaches from toppling over when the
rear coaches slid into the hole gouged in the
road-bed by the blast as it swept the baggage
car out from the train. The baggage car probably
saved the others from going into the Pelican
river, which was only 200 feet ahead of the
train when the storm came. Twisted across the
rails, the baggage car effectually halted the
rear coaches, which then toppled over against
the bang, remaining almost upright.
Fort
Wayne News, Fort Wayne, IN 22 Jun 1919
SCORES DEAD IN
WINDSTORM
STORM DOES MUCH DAMAGE NEAR FERGUS FALLS.
CUTS A PATH 30 MILES LONG
GRAND CENTRAL HOTEL COLLAPSES KILLING 40 OR MORE
Relief Train From St. Cloud Reaches Devastated
Country—Heavy Rain Follows in Wake of Violent
Wind.
St. Paul, Minn., June 23—More than one
hundred persons were reported killed and many
injured in a storm which struck eFrgus [sic]
Falls, Minn. Late yesterday. eFrgus [sic] Falls
was cut off from communication today. Nearby
towns were slightly damaged. Meager reports from
the vicinity of Fergus Falls, said the death
toll will go much higher.
Probably the heaviest casualties were at the
Grand Central hotel where 40 or more were said
ti [sic] have been killed yhen [sic] the
structure colapsed [sic].
Hospitals were packed with injured, and many of
these will die, reports said.
The Great Northern “Oriental Limited” was
brushed from its track by the heavy wind
acompanying [sic] the storm. All but two
cars—the diner and the sleeper—were overturned.
“No one badly injured reported Great Northern
officials.
A relief train from St. Cloud, Minn., reached
Fergus Falls district early today, reports said.
Governor on Way to Scene
Governor J. A. A.
Burnquist, Adjutant General Rhinow
and sanitary trops [sic] were expected to reach
the city later.
The storm swept northeast from Fergus Falls and
the tail crumpled buildings and crashed
telephone lines to the ground os [sic] far as
Brainerd, eight-nine miles away.
Heavy rain drenched al [sic] of Minnesota and
Eastern North Dakota during the night. Bridges
were washed out in many places.
Wendell, Minn., twenty-five miles from
Fergus Falls, said reports there hod [sic] it
two score buried in the debris of the Grand
Central hotel. A. Larsen, real estate man, who
drove a motorcycle thru [sic] the rain to ask
aid, said he helped take ten bodies from the
wreckage.
Great Northern officials could not confirm
reports that the railroad depot was wrecked.
Two persons were killed when the storm wrecked
the Northern Pacific depot at Fergus Falls.
Debris there blocked further traffic.
Superintendent of transportation
P. H. McCauley
said he received a report that 200 were killed.
He said it was possible there were many
casualties thru [sic] the country northwest of
the town not yet reported.
A wrecking crew sent to Fergus Falls said the
Northern Pacific railroad tracks will be cleared
in six hours.
The
Evening State Journal and Lincoln Daily News, Lincoln, NE 23 Jun 1919
Victims of
Twister at Fergus Falls
(By Associated Press)
Fergus Falls, Minn.,--At noon today it
was announced that the bodies of forty-three
persons had been removed from the wreckage and
identified. Six additional bodies of men had
been removed, but not identified.
The names of sixty-six of the injured had also
been tabulated.
The known dead are:
MRS. W. FOSSEN,
Fergus Falls.
WILLIAM JONES, Minneapolis.
M. BRADY, trainman, Fergus Falls.
OLSON,
trainman, Fergus Falls.
H.E. LARSON, Fergus Falls,
W. A. FRAZIER, Fergus Falls.
FLORENCE HASKINE, Foxholm.
MARION JOHNSON, Balmoral.
VIOLA NELSON, Fergus Falls.
F. M. JOHNSON, wife and son, Fergus
Falls. M. INGBLAD,
Fergus Falls. W.
A. DOUGHTERY, Fergus Falls.
F. M. WARD, Fergus Falls.
MRS. J. S. NELSON, Fergus Falls.
M. JOHNSON, Fergus Falls.
STRADER (negro) address unknown.
HERMAN STEIN, Fergus Falls.
T. TOMPAVE, Fergus Falls.
JOE BAREAU, address unknown.
MR AND MRS. AUGUST PALM
and daughter, Fergus Falls.
L. E. LARSON,
Fergus Falls. W. W.
BRADEN, Fergus Falls. NETTIE THOMPSON, Fergus
Falls. M. HAULBERG,
Fergus Falls.
ADA NELSON, Fergus Falls.
W. FOSSEN, Fergus Falls.
EMMA JOHNSON, Fergus Falls.
E. T. THOMPSON, Fergus Falls.
SISSENIRE SLETTEDE,
Fergus Falls.
ALMA HAUGBERG, Fergus Falls.
A. BRANDENBERG, Fergus Falls.
GEORGE WOODHOUSE, Fergus Falls, Four
KREITZER children, Fergus Falls. Six
unidentified men.
Evansville, Minn.,--The following list of
victims was sent here from Fergus Falls:
KNOWN DEAD.
W. A. FRAZER, FLORENCE
AUSTIN, VIOLA NELSON, WILLIAM FORSON, MRS. J.
NELSON, EMMA JOHNSON. EDWARD THOMPSON, W. A.
DOUGHERTY, S. SHETTED, AUGUST PALM, MRS PALM
and daughter, ELMER
HOAGER, MRS. WILLIAM FORSON, L. E. LARSON.
The address of the victims were not listed.
MISSING
MR. AND MRS. J. M.
JOHNSON and son,
GEORGE WOODHOUSE,
proprietor of Grand hotel,
ALONZO BRANDENBURG, president of
First State bank (believed to be in ruins of
Grand hotel).
An unidentified girl was found in Lake Alice.
Night Clerk Strand of the Grand hotel, was
rescued from the debris. Both legs were broken.
State soldiers and volunteers began clearing the
debris this morning. Bridges over the Red river
were destroyed.
Before the death
list was compiled this forenoon, the work of
clearing the debris was well under way. The
first masses of wreckage removed did not
disclose the bodies.
It was not necessary to establish military law
or to enforce drastic quarantine regulations.
Adjutant General Rhinow
declared he had received
unusual assistance from city officials and other
volunteer workers.
Alfred Jacques
of St. Pauls, [sic] United States district
attorney, was in the Grand hotel a short time
before the storm struck, but he and his
assistant escaped injury. His personal effects
and papers were in his room when the building
collapsed.
Carpenters, electricians and waterworks employes
[sic] were detailed to reconstruction work on
municipal properties.
It is expected that the electric light plant
will be in operation tonight.
The Daily Northwestern, Oshkosh, WI 23 Jun 1919
TWO SALESMEN ARE
KILLED
Two Minneapolis traveling salesmen were killed
when the Northern Pacific freight and passenger
station collapsed. The victims were
Harry E. Olson
and W. W. Braden.
The state insane asylum at Fergus Falls escaped
serious damage. The business district was hit
hard by the storm.
The Ottertail county courthouse, county jail and
sheriff’s residence were destroyed. At One Mile
lake, near Fergus Falls, four children of
John Kreitzer a
farmer were blown into the lake and drowned.
The Daily Northwestern, Oshkosh, WI 23 Jun 1919
BURIAL IS BEGUN.
The burial of the city’s dead commenced this
morning, the first funeral being that of
Sissenine June Slettede,
the four year old daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. James
Slettede. She was killed in the ruins
of the family home.
Another death occurred this morning when Baby
Fennock,
colored, died of injuries at the Wright
hospital. Father and mother of the child are
injured and are in the same hospital where the
child died.
.....With the death
this morning of A. L.
Zulauf, the number of dead in the
tornado that struck Fergus Falls Sunday was
today increased to fifty identified and one
unidentified with three persons still
unaccounted for. The missing are
Mrs. Emil Hauge
and child, and
A. E. Brandenberg, president of the
First State bank.
The Daily
Northwestern, Oshkosh, WI 24 Jun 1919
Articles transcribed by
Patty. Thank you,
Patty!
June 22, 1919, (4:45PM) 59 lives were lost when the second deadliest
killer tornado in Minnesota history roared through Fergus Falls.
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