Rochester, Minnesota Tornado
August 21, 1883
Swoop of Death.
TERRIBLE CYCLONE IN MINNESOTA LAST NIGHT.
The City of Rochester in Ruins.
Hundreds Believed to have Perished.
A Train Blown from the Track and 100 Passengers
Killed or Wounded.
The Governor Called on for State Assistance.
The Disaster Thought to be Unprecidented in the
Northwest.
FIRST DISPATCH.
St. Paul, Aug. 22. -- A cyclode [sic] which
raged at Rochester last night is reported to
have been very severe. 24 are reported killed,
50 or more injured. Vague rumors of a train
disaster by being blown from the track are also
coming in, but no particulars.
FURTHER NEWS.
St. Paul, Aug. 22. -- The passenger train on
the Rochester & Northern road was blown from the
track last night during a cyclone and 100 were
killed and wounded.
Governor HUBBARD
just received word from Rochester, Minn.,
stating that the town is in ruins and forty
persons killed. It is impossible to learn any
details, as the telegraph wires are all down.
The storm in other directions was only a severe
hail storm and no great damage was done.
Particulars are expected on the special train.
MORE PARTICULARS
St. Paul, Aug. 22. -- Passengers from
Owatonna state that 25 were killed in the R. R.
accident. The injured were taken to the hospital
at Owatonna. The Mayor of Rochester telegraphs
for assistance and states that 25 were killed
and about 40 injured. One-third of the train is
an entire wreck. It is believed from all the
reports that come in that the whole country
around Rochester is in ruins. The killed may
reach up into the hundreds.
MR. COLE,
proprietor of the Zumbrota mills at Zumbrota was
instantly killed. He was in the mill when the
storm struck the town, and the building was
wrecked. Gov. HUBBARD has sent $5,000 to aid
sufferers.
The Oshkosh Northwestern Wisconsin
1883-08-22
MINNESOTA'S BLOW.
More Details of the Great Cyclone.
A Ruined Town, Ruined Crops and a Suffering
People.
A Portion of the Deathly Calendar.
APPROACH OF THE TEMPEST.
A correspondent at Rochester telegraphs. Just
one month ago a fearful cyclone passed six miles
north of Rochester. Now it passes through it.
The day had been beautiful, although being warm
until afternoon, when clouds began to gather.
The atmosphere was oppressive, heavy and hot.
About four o'clock it seemed as though it had
commenced to clear up, but soon heavy black
clouds came from the northwest and rain fell
heavily. Directly after six the clouds assumed
the greenish appearance that is the fore-runner
of these terrible visitants, accompanied by a
rumbling noise, and in a short time the wind
rose, increasing in violence until the full
force of the cyclone was upon it. What was once
a well-populated portion of the city was a scene
of ruin. To describe it is impossible. It must
be seen for the mind to grasp its terrible
destruction. The cyclone possessed the same
peculiarities which marked the one on July 21st.
Its main course was through the lower town, but
its force was felt more or less in all parts of
the city and its freaks were simply wonderful.
It demolished well-built structures on Broadway,
doing no harm to adjacent buildings beyond
overturning chimnies {sic] and stripping the tin
coverings from roofs.
As before stated, that portion of the city
north of the railroad called Lower Town,
received the most damage. Indeed there is not a
house that is not injured and not to exceed
twenty that are left standing. In some parts it
looks at a distance as though there never had
been a building standing in that portion of the
city, while in other sections the remains of
houses show the
TERRIBLY DESTRUCTIVE FORCE
of the wind. As soon as the cyclone had passed
and people in the more favored portion of the
city began to learn of the damage, they went at
once to Lower Town to render what assistance
they could, many working all night.
Commencing at the J.
R. Cook House on the St. Paul Road,
which was entirely demolished, the cyclone next
took LELAND'S
residence, barn and out-buildings, not leaving a
stick standing. Thence it swept through Lower
Town. From the appearance of the ground it seems
as though a terrific flood had swept over this
section. In many places where there had been a
residence scarcely a board was left on the
premises. The grass is filled with dirt and
sand, as if a muddy stream had poured over it.
THE PRINCIPAL LOSSES
in the city, as nearly as have been estimated,
are as follows: Court House unroofed and dome
demolished, $2,000.
High School building, tower and part of the roof
gone, $2,000.
Methodist church, roof gone and building
wrecked, $6,000.
Congregational church, steeple off, $1,000.
Railroad depot unroofed, round house gone,
bridge ruined and other losses, $15,000.
Vandusen &
Co.'s elevator, $10,000.
H. T. PARTON'S elevator, $7,000
Harvester works and machinery, $12,000.
J. M. COLE'S mill, side and roof off,
mill wrecked and engine blown into river,
$3,000.
Crescent Creamery, $9,000.
Cascade Mill, $5,000.
GEO. STOCKBERG, store and stock,
$3,000.
WM. BEARDSLEY, building, $1,000.
A. D. VEDDER, machine depot, $2,000.
Ten business blocks unroofed, $5,000.
Two hundred and fifty houses, with contents,
$185,000.
Twenty houses damaged, $80,000.
Making a total of $394,000.
So far as heard from about six persons were
killed outside Rochester. The loss to crops is
estimated at about $300,000.
During a session of the committee of the
VILLARD
reception at their hall, Gov. HUBBARD received
the following dispatch:
Rochester, Aug. 22. -- Gov. HUBBARD: Rochester
is in ruins. Twenty-four dead bodies and forty
injured. Thus far one-half the city is laid
waste. We need help immediately.
MAYOR OF ROCHESTER.
In fifteen minutes a demand note for $5,000 was
signed by some of the largest business firms in
St. Paul, and the cash placed at the disposal of
the Mayor of Rochester. Three hundred houses are
destroyed there and 200 more damaged.
Following is a list of the killed and wounded at
Rochester as far as can be learned to-night:
KILLED:
JOHN M. COLE,
MILLER,
MRS. ZIERATH,
AUGUST ZIERATH, hotel-keeper, son of
the above,
MISS ZIERATH, his sister,
MR. VAN SCOATER, teamster,
MR. OSBORNE and infant child,
MAHALE McCORMICK,
MRS. STEELE, an old lady.
A daughter of LEWIS
MANLY,
MRS. SCHULTE,
MRS. WEATHERBEE,
JACOB HEIZEL, farmer,
A child of GEO. HANSEN,
missing and probably dead,
MRS. FRED CLOUGH,
MRS. McQUILLAN,
A daughter of
LEWIS IRVING, missing and probably
dead.
MRS. CHARLES QUICK,
JOHN M. COLE, a prominent business
man owning four mills, picked up by the wind and
hurled to the ground, breading every bone,
WM. HIGGINS and
MISS McCORMICK,
Many others not identified.
Eight bodies were taken into the country
before their names were learned, and four are
still unclaimed, making in all 26 killed. The
list of those wounded sufficient to be under a
doctor's care number 51.
THE RAILROAD TRAIN.
One of the most terrible features of the storm
was the blowing of a train from the track
between Rochester and Zumbrots, one the
Rochester & Northern Division of the Chicago &
Northwestern road, by which about 100 persons
were killed and wounded. It was caught in the
severe wind and hail storm that prevailed in
that vicinity between 4 and 6 o'clock in the
evening, and while running at a great speed was
lifted from the rails and precipitated into an
unrecognizable mass of ruins. A gentleman who
had been to the scene of the disaster described
it as one of the most horifying [sic] railroad
accidents he had ever witnessed. Every car in
the train was a complete wreck and was almost
literally shattered to pieces by the sudden
stop. The train was taken up bodily by the force
of the storm and hurled in a mass from the
track, burying the unfortunate passengers
beneath the debris, killing many and injuring
nearly every person aboard the train. The
gentleman stated that nine dead bodies had
already been taken from the ruins and a large
number of those seriously injured had been
removed to Rochester and Owatonna. As the time
he left the work of extricating the unfortunate
victims was still progressing, and it was
believed that the number of killed would reach a
score when there is a final summing up. The
Zumbro Mill, in Rochester, was demolished, and
the proprietor, JOHN M.
COLE, was instantly killed. MR. COLE
came to Rochester nearly twenty-five years ago,
and was a business man and public citizen of the
highest worth.
Ex-Congressman MARK.
H. DUNNELL tells a correspondent at
Owatonna that twenty-five dead bodies have been
taken from the debris in Rochester, and 100 are
missing.
MR. COOK,
proprietor of the Cook House,
JOHN COLE and other prominent people
were killed. CHARLES M.
ZIERATH'S mother and sister were also
killed.
The roofs were blown from the Asylum and the
Cook House.
Horton's
elevator lies across the main track. Seven
persons were killed five miles south of Kasson
in a Norwegian settlement.
Submitted & transcribed by Stu
Beitler Thank you,
Stu!
continued
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