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Show HAVOC WROUGHT BY TOHHADOAT OMAHA TWO HUNDRED DEAD, FOUR HUNDRED HUN-DRED INJURED AND MANY HOMES WRECKED. reath and Destruction Wrought by faster Storm, Four Hundred Fifty Homes Being Wrecked and Fifteen Fif-teen Hundred Homeless. Omaha, Neb. More than 200 persons per-sons were killed and 500 were injured in a windstorm on Sunday that demolished demol-ished 650 homes, damaged hundreds of other buildings, and caused a monetary loss of at least $5,000,000. Most of the casualties were in Omaha, which was stricken as never before. Nearby towns in Nebraska and across the Missouri river in Iowa ! also suffered severely. Wires were snapped off in all directions, and it took many hours to gather and circulate circu-late the news of the disaster. Fire broke out in the debris' of many wrecked buildings ' in the Nebraska Ne-braska metropolis, and these were' menaces for some time, as the fire companies were' hindered by fallen walls and blockaded streets. A heavy rain followed the wind, however, and drenched the hundreds of homeless persons, but it also put out the flames. Perhaps 2,200 persons are homeless and 260 more are destitute. Aside from this 3,000 buildings were more or less damaged, many of these being church edifices and school buildings.1 Eight of Omaha's public schools were wrecked. All forms of communication were almost annihilated by the wind and only two or three wires were in working condition when daylight relieved re-lieved a night of high tension, which at times almost became panic. Soldiers, Sol-diers, state and national troops, poured into the city during Monday to aid in bringing order out of what for twenty hours had been chacft. These guardians of the peace are patrolling the residence districts, aiding aid-ing the police to maintain order and relieve such' cases ' of suffering as come to their notice. The greatest loss of life occurred sectionally. Three points in the path of the storm offered the greatest sacrifices. sac-rifices. These were at Fortieth and Farnum streets, where a crowd had sought refuge in a garage; at Twenty-fourth Twenty-fourth and Lake streets, where a moving mov-ing picture theater was demolished, and at Twenty-fourth and Willis avenue, ave-nue, where a poolroom had attracted a crowd. In each of these places the fatalities were large. The cathedral of the Omaha Episcopal Epis-copal church was temporarily turned into a coffee house. Catholic priests visited homes that had been destroyed, de-stroyed, in many cases administering the last rites of the church, and public pub-lic bodies began the organization of relief committees. Monday night $100,000 had been subscribed for the relief of the destitute. Governor Morehead arrived in the city early Monday and took personal charge of the policing- of the city. Three companies of the state mlitia augmented the federal troops, which were early sent to the city from Fort Creak, and the wrecked portion of the city is under martial law. Mayor James C. Dahlman opened negotiations with the governor lor the protection of the city and for the relief of those who nad been made homeless, with the result that not only the state officials became active in the work, but a majority of the members of the legislature, In session at Linclon, came to this city to secure se-cure such information as might be necessary in taking up the work of state relief. Insurance companies experienced heavy losses, most of their fire policies poli-cies carrying a tornado clause. The loss to the municipality itself will be great. Five school buildings have been partly wrecked and eleven churches partly destroyed. The residences resi-dences destroyed in the restricted Farnum district averaged in cost from $15,000 to $50,000. Among the finest residences razed were those of George A. Joslyn, Howard Baldridge, W. F. Bacon, Charles R. Sherman, C. E. Black, C. H. Pickens, Sidney D. Barka-low, Barka-low, E. A. Parmalee and G. L. Hammer. Ham-mer. The storm appeared to have started at Fifty-fourth and Center streets. From there it traveled north, veering slightly to the east to Leavenworth street. Then it took a northeasterly course to Fortieth and Farnum streets, sweeping its way through everything. Still traveling' a little east of north, it covered a . course from Fortieth street east to Thirty-fourth street, a distance of six blocks. Reconstruction was begun Monday nieht when at a meeting of the real estate exchange, a committee was appointed ap-pointed to take up this work. |