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Show I ALMOST WITHOUT WARNING TOR- I NADO BURST ON CITY OF OMAHA i J Omaha, Noli., March 24. Tho H " etorm cauio almost without warning, H tho overcast skies at the morning hav H,' lug cleared In tho afternoon. H Tho llttlo town of ltalston tlirco H. miles west of Omaha, flrsi relt Uio H. fury of tho Btorm, which thcro took Hu n toll of half a dozon or inoro lives B ami practically destroyed tho town. H In a northcastorly direction and In H J almost a- straight lino it traveled with H i lncredlblo speed wrecking many H . hundsomo homes In tho fashlonahlo H West rornum and Bomls park dls-H dls-H ' H Many business buildings In the vl- H clnlty of Twenty-fourth and Lako H streets wero totallly wrecked or H badly damaged. Tho ldlowlld pool H hall, patronized by colored men, col- H lapsed and tho debris caught fire. It H Is believed that forty or fifty persons BB , perished thcru. H From Twenty-fourth nnd I.nko tho B storm boomed to veer a llttlo to tno H east and Dually passed over tho state H lino Into Iowa at Carter lako where B man)' summer cottages wero demol- B Jshed. Itesldonccs wero wrecked all along thu line. BB Oodles Perhaps Cremated PB A dozen or moro Ilres wero Btnrt- B ed by stoves and furnaces and It Is H believed many bodies wero cremated. H Among tho buildings destroyed Pfl wero cloven churches and eight school B houses. To tho day and hour of tho BB catostropho was duo tho fact that no B loss of llfo accompanied tho demoll- B tlon of theso buildings. Sacred Hart m convent was entirely destroyed hut B tho fifty Inmates escaped safely rn B being cared for nt St. Josephs hos- H pltal. PB Tho Missouri Pacific roundhouse at B Fifteenth nnd Emmett streets and B tho roundhouso of tho Chicago, St. B Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha railway B wero wrecked. B Twenty Fires In Track B Twenty llrcs wero reported In tho PB track of the storm and every piece BB of II ro lighting material or ttio city Bfl as well as companies from South Pfl Omaha and Council II luffs wero kept BB at work all night preventing a goner- PB al conflagration. In this they wero PB aided by a torrential rain that fol- H lowod tho blow. PH Tho city commissioners passed an PHJ ordinance appropriating 2!,000 for PB relict work; citizens present at tho Bb mooting organized and $25,000 moro Bfl wan donated. A citizen's relief com- Bb mltteo was organized, composed of Bfl fifty citizens nnd an oxecutlvo com- Bfl mltteo of four to work with the soven Bfl city councllmen. BB Governor Morehcad announced that BB ho would send a special message to Bfl tho legislature asking for tho appro- Bfl prlatlon of sufficient funds to care BH for tho horaolcss throughout tho state BJ I'ollco Commissioner Ryder Issued flflt orders for all saloons In tho vicinity Bfl of tho wrecked district to remain B closed until further notlco. Bfl 5 Auditorium For Homeless BB ' Cote wero placed In tho Auditor! BB ' urn nnd thoBo without shelter will bo BH housed there. Tho city purchasing BB agent boa arranged for enough beds Bfl to caro tor all thoso who cannot get Bfl Into tho Auditorium. Tho Elk's homo BH has been thrown open to tho home- BBJ less nnd tho Union Gospel Mission Bfl .will provlJo eoventy-flvo men with BBJ bcdB. PB Tho citizens commltteo has asked Bflj ttio newspapers to accept donations BBJ and turn tho money over to tho com- H m(tteo for distribution. B A number of peoplo wero seriously H injured whon a streot car waa blown H over at Forty-seventh and Leavon- H worth streuts. Conductor John Coop- B or was seriously Injured. Tho motor- K man, Fred llcutioy, Jumped JuBt ns H tho car started to roll over. Tho w'nd H picked him up, 'carried him 200 feot B and Bet him down In a flold unlnjur- B od, but considerably shaken. H Conductor Cooper says thcro were H at least fifteen peoplo In the car at H the time. All wero Injured. H Pathway of Storm H It was lato today boforo all the do- B tails of tho storm with accompanying B' wrockago wero known, oven within PHB this city Itsolft Tho pathway of tho BBS.' storm, from threo to seven blockB In BBI width, cut a ewath twenty tour Bflr " blocks long, first through an exclus- mW " ivo rosldenco section of tho city thon fluf through a gradation of dwellings un- m til It expended Its final onorgy In tho K wrecking of a pool hall and moving B plcturo show. 1 Tho total numbor of deaths In this m part of tho city retched almost fifty. BBl Within tho spaco of this storm eea- 1 tor, which, It made rectangular would K cover a quarter section ot land, 1200 BBBJ bouses nro wrecked, 100 dead bod'e BflH have been recovered and workmen Pjl aro still engaged In searching th BBB iwlns for bodies. Several ire known B to bo still in the ruins at the end ot B tha storm's patk. A Property Damage Millions Estimates of tho value of property demolished by tho storm vary between be-tween $5,000,000 nnd $12,000,0000. Somo of tho moro substantial houses can bo partly rebuilt, but this numbor Is small, and where tho buildings build-ings havo not been torn asunder they have been bo twisted that even tho mntcrial Is useless for rebuilding. Todny flvo public schools wero out of uso In Omaha.- Soven churches nro partly or wholly wrecked. Ono prl-vato prl-vato school for girls Is a total although tho students escaped. Tho rest of tho loss Is to homes. Tho destruction began with tho nillllonalro homes In tho exclusive West Fnrnura and Hcmls park district. dis-trict. 1'ow lives wero lost In this exclusive ex-clusive district, but farther northwest tho buildings collapsed moro easily and largo numbers of deatns resulted. result-ed. Hescuo work started as soon as tho residents of tho town wero nblo to hurry to tho stricken dlslilct, but tho night's work wns by tho light ot lanterns lan-terns nnd llttlo wns accomplished. Tho storm In passing, took down all tho wires in tho path of the tornado, tor-nado, and tho electric power wns shut off Immediately to piovcnt further loss of llfo. With tho arrival of day light a tralnload of mllltla from Lincoln Lin-coln and tho presenco In tho city of Governor Morohend, tho work was sys tcmntlzcd, and tonight Indications nro that ono moro day will end tho search for bodies and will oven witness a general attempt at rebuilding work. Des Moines Sends Train Hospital facilities wero generally ndequato. Dos Moines sont n special train with forty physicians nnd these, nrrlvlng at noon, helpod out tho local lo-cal staff, who had been nt work slnco G o'clock of tho night before Nurses and medical supplies wero also brought In this train. Money Is already pouring Into tho city, the city organizations tnklng tho lend In providing funds. Stnto and rcllgloua bodies nro falling In lino nnd offers of help are coming from nil quarters of tho United States. Tho Child Saving Instltuto at 619 S. Forty-second street was a verlt-ablo verlt-ablo death house after tho storm had spent its fury. Every available room was pressed Into service, and one after af-ter another tho dead ana Injured woro brought Into tho houso. Rescues Mother's Body A pathetic sight was that of n young girl keeping watch ovor tho dead body of her mother. Tho mother, moth-er, Mrs. John Nowman, had boon killed Instantly. As th0 body lay on tho porch of tho Instltuto awaiting sultablo burial arrangements, tho daughter, Mabel Nowman told of tho storm: "Mother was 111 and confined to a room on tho second floor of our homo on 4224 Dewey nvcnuo," sho Bald. "When tho raging winds hit tho houso It toppled over as If built ot pasto board. Mother and mysolf wero burled bur-led in tho wreckngo. As soon as I could pull myself from tho dobrls 1 begnn a search for her. Board aftor board I lifted; I tuggod and pulled at them until my hands wero cut Mid bleeding. Finally I reached her. I bent down to rnlso hor, but sho was dead." Dry-eyed and cslm, tho girl recited tho story, Justifying it with tho remark re-mark that It wa thto work of Provi-donee. Provi-donee. A coincidence among tho Injured at tho child Instltuto was that nil wero badly cut nbout tho faco whllo tho bodlos wero comparatively free from Wounds. Ugly looking scalp wounds niorkcd every Injury. Home of Duncan Wrecked , The homo of Gcorgo J. Duncan, advertising ad-vertising managor of tho Omaha Doe, at 4101 Farnum Btroet, wub completely complete-ly destroyed. Mr. Duncan died at a hospital this afternoon Mrs Duncan Dun-can 1b In a critical condition. At tho homo of Patrick Hynea at 2704 N. Twentieth Btroet, a party in celebration of Mb eighty-first birthday was In progress. Tho guests had Just begun dinner and woro drlnglng a toast to tho health of Uiolr host whon tho Btorm swopt tho houso away. All tho party succeeded In gottlng out with minor Injuries, oxcopt a grand child, Mrs. Cocella Dtgolow, who was Injured Internally. "Tho party had JuBt bogun dinner," said Mr. Hynos. 'Tho young pe)lo woro making merry and old am I am I had entered Into tho spirit. Bud- donly there waa a roaring sound. The noxt mlnuto tho house was In ruins. I wiggled around and out and aided tho otherg In escaping." And then, suddenly brought bad: to tho fact that his grandchild was noar death, he eatd; "Oh, If it had only been mo laitend of Oocolla." When tho storm had pasd Mr, and Mrs. C. U, Wllhelm fouad thetn- selves burled under a mass of broken and twisted iumlttiro and tin cans which had been blown Info tho houBC. They extricated themselves with difficulty. dif-ficulty. Goes Through Three 8torms John Wright, a railroad watchman, probably owes his llfo to tho fact that ho went to work a half hour ahead of time, becauso ho feared that ho would get wet If ho did not hurry. Incidentally, this Is tho third tlmo that Wright's homo has been threatened threat-ened by a tornado. Sixteen years ago, In Norfolk, Neb., his homo was demolished, and forty-two years ago, In Pnnora la., ho barely escaped with his life during n tornndo. Llttlo Gladys Crook was revived after a houso had been blown over hor and sho had been Imprisoned for moro than half an hour. It was necessary nec-essary to chop a largo hole In tho bUIo of tho houso beforo tho little girl, whoso cries for help had brought rescuers, was taken out uninjured Family Exterminates Cliff Daniels, his wlfo nnd their two children met death together When soldiers, dlglng nbout tho ruins ot their homo found tho four bodies tho two llttlo girls wero found clasp-cd clasp-cd In tho arms of their mother while tho body of tho father was over them as It ho had tried to shield them with his own body. Mnry K Hudson, a servant girl, was blown out of tho houso of her em ployer nnd badly frightened, ran all tho way downtown to fall fainting In front ot a hotel. Her Incoherent Btory was tho first news of th0 disaster dis-aster received in tho downtown sec tlon. Although Dr. and Mrs. D. C. Bryant Bry-ant escaped without Injury from their home, tho aged mother of Mrs. Dry-ant Dry-ant was found burled In cellar of the houso and was rescued with dllllcul ty. Debris nad piled about hor until only her head was exposed and she was unable to take any steps to tree horself. From tho ruins of a negro pool hall tho body of n negro was taken out, along with many others. In ono hand of the dead man wns clutched a roll of bills. Doll Tucked Under Arm Tho body ot an unidentified child was found In tho ruins ot two houses with a lljt'o rag doll still tucked under un-der her arm. , When C. Saber discovered the crushed and almost unrecognizable body of his wlfo In tho ruins of an npartment house ho fled down the street shrieking at tho top of his volco. Ho 1b missing. E. II. Smith a private ot tho signal sig-nal corps from Fort Omaha, becamo lnsano after helping carry a number ot bodies and collapsed. Whon ho bad regained consciousness It was necessary to tako him to the post hospital, whero ho was placed under restraint. Wires Generally Prostrated Last night wlro communication with tho otuBldo world was entirely cut oft. Tho only available report of tho disaster was taken to Lincoln by train and thcro filed over th0 Associated Asso-ciated Press wires. Telephone and tolegroph wires along all tho railroads rail-roads wero down. Last night at midnight tho battle of tho linemen commenced and at 8 o'clock tonight two now wires wro working out of tho city. Commercial bulletins wero sent to nearby cities In tho caro ot operators to bo Bent from there The wires continued In an apparently hopeless tanglo between be-tween Omaha and points dlroctly oast. Threo miles of wire wero down directly di-rectly cast ot Council Dluffs, while nt aovoral othor points In tho territory terri-tory botwoen Omaha and Chicago the linos woro paralyzed. Railroading undor these conditions ' was a. roturn to first principles, and , trains botwoen Omaha and Chicago crawled along with flagmen walking boforo thorn, taking tho placo of train dispatchers and block signals. Tho first train into Omaha from tho east was flvo hours lato and carried more than 100 llnomen to points east ot this city. Watches Storm From Attic A, L. Green,-advertising mnnngor ot a department store, living at 4904 Underwood ttvonue waa on his back (Continued on pngo soven) ALMOST WITHOUT WARNING TORNADO BURST ON I CITY OF OMAHA (Continued from page two) porch watching tho Btorm when it broko. "It camo llko a rushing and roaring roar-ing torrent of wator," ho Bald "It camo from tho south, and passed riht by ub to th east. I went to my attic window immediately afterward and saw fires bursting forth from houses along tho path of tho tornado. I could seo flvo Arcs burning at onco. Tiio flames lllumlnatod tbo acres of razed buildings nearby," J. F. Troynor, 513 N. Thirty sixth street rushed homo from his place of business to And his rcsldcnco in ruins Ills wlfo, bis aunt, Mrs. Edwards Baggot of Chicago, who was vlBltlng them, and her threo children, wero In tho house, but only Mrs. Baggott was hurt. B. W. Dickson, 438 N Thirty, eighth etroot, waa bruised about tlio hood and his wlfo and threo child ron sorlously lnjurod. Dickson started upstairs up-stairs aa ho saw tho tornado funnel swoop down and crush tho homes of his neighbors to tho south. An In-Blunt In-Blunt later the wind struck hla home. I lie waa hurled downataJra Into 'a dn-tug dn-tug room and fell flat on hla face. Daisd, h struggle to bto. (, ftd hurried his f.iinil to tho cellar. A second later his homo was swept away and tho family In ho basement had but tho sky above them. Flames sprang up on every side. "It seemed as If tho w.iolo city was afire," said Dickson. "1 lilted my wlfo nnd children out nnd ran down tho Btreet, joining Bcores cf my un fortunate neighbors. Wo hnd lost our all, but woro thankful for our lives." Church Wrecked; So 1st Dead "Tho strifo Is o'er, lie bnttie done tho victory of llfo Is won," sang Cas-slus Cas-slus Shlmer, a tenor of ICG S. Forty-second Forty-second street, at the Kastcr Bcrvlco In McCabo Methodist church Sunday morning. Mr. Shlmer was 'killed when tho tornado destroyed his home. The church in which he had sung was badly wrecked. Many of tho congregation congre-gation afterward remarked that It wns tho best Mr. Shinier hud ever sung; that ho had put sentiment nnd earnestness Into the sung. "Tho powers of death havo done their worst. Hut Christ their legions na.h outburst," out-burst," ran tho second erso. Oscar Carlson, night cashier of tho Calumet restaurant, residing nt For-ty-flfth nnd Leavenworth streets nnd his llfo saed In a peculiar way. When tho storm approached nnd tho wind began to blow a hurrlcano ho attempted at-tempted to lock an outsldo door, and in resisting a BUdden gust ho clung tenaciously to th0 door. Tho next thing ho knew ho was out In tho back juril with tho door on top of him. When ho arose nnd looked around there was not a house in sight as far as ho could seo in tho semi darkness. Aside from a fow bruises ho was unhurt. |