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Newspaper
Dixon Sun
Location
Dixon, Illinois, United States of America
Date
Feb 29, 1888
Page
5
The Mount Vernon Illinois cyclone left over 350 residences leveled or destroyed in minutes with only a few business structures left on foundations. Reports totaled thirty six dead or burned with many others fatally injured as the catastrophe unfolded and rescue efforts began.
The area where houses once stood shows no trace of prior occupancy, leaving the footprint of the former dwellings uncertain and conditions unclear for redevelopment.
The tornado stretched about three hundred yards wide with edges as destructive as the center. Roofs were stripped from the Supreme Court house and churches, a parsonage collapsed, six two story houses and an entire block of small homes vanished. The Mount Vernon Milling flour mill lost roof and upper walls while floor chests remained atop ruins. Debris filled the area as more than a hundred houses were ruined and a boardinghouse was left brickless. one visitor died.
A tornado climbs the hill sweeping houses from their foundations and scattering debris across the country. It destroys a Baptist church and parsonage burying the preacher, family, and a young woman under ruins. Mud and dust stain timbers a dull ash as wrecks line both sides of the damaged area. Evidence of widespread devastation includes furniture and clothing strewn amid the rubble.
The report details 147 injured, many with life changing wounds, and about 480 buildings destroyed or severely damaged requiring rebuilding. Financial losses estimated at 500000 to 1,000,000 dollars, with railroad workers and other homeowners hit hardest as single story homes vanish.
A cyclone formed five and a half miles southwest of Mount Vernon and moved northeast. It first appeared on a hill as a funnel shaped black mass with a roaring wind. Lon Beaul’s farmhouse was picked up and scattered. Case’s Grove saw elms broken and stumps left. The West End School House cupola was torn away.
A southwest to northeast tornado struck a city block tearing away a tower and destroying eight houses while sparing one center house. The storm wrecked Stratton and Ferguson's woolen rail plant and left the area with widespread rubble and debris. Residents report three nearby homes blown away and many structures split apart as the tornado migrated across the street and neighborhood.
Destructive tornado lifts the county court house tower and shatters the square. Buildings collapse leaving brick and timber heaps, while a few structures such as the Schmidt saloon and Sexton shoe shop survive largely intact. J. D. Murray is killed in the Crews block ruin. One hundred fifty dwellings destroyed with many fatalities and injuries. East Main Street shows widespread ruin though some shelters remain standing.
The city hears funeral processions for cyclone victims all day as a long list of names is read. Among the dead are David Yearwood and wife, J T Watters and babe, J C Murray, Mrs Russell Dewey and babe, Ada Harper colored, and many others including children and spouses.
The list details numerous victims of a building collapse. Lizzie Bennett’s leg and head injuries are critical. Corrinne Hambrick is fatally injured. Mrs. Isam and Mrs. Malloy are not expected to live. Names span multiple families with varied severity.
Laney and William Brazzle with wife and child badly hurt. John Isam and Sam Pountney both suffer broken arms. Mrs. Gave Geries not expected to live. John Dodson and wife badly injured and not expected to live. George Jones and his colored children also seriously hurt.
Injured were taken to homes or a makeshift Supreme Court room turned hospital. Dr. Watson and Dr. Owen led care supported by town physicians and volunteers from nearby areas. Eight to ten patients were not expected to survive. three Jones children, all colored, were found missing briefly after being laid on commons and later recovered. Two of the children needed amputations due to severe leg injuries.
The two story Supreme Court building stands near the depot with no roof as generators of destruction blow past. Eastward along the railroad, laborer cottages are obliterated, oaks torn from the ground, fences toppled, and foundations reduced to rubble across six acres where only three houses remain standing in the storm’s path.
The account details widespread destruction from a wave up to 600 yards, with intact areas around a shattered post office corner. A three story brick flour mill, crushed Baptist Church, and torn down Commercial Hotel stand amid partially damaged surrounding homes and a toppled court house dome.
The cyclone rips through Burton and Washington streets leaving not a house standing on the eastern side. Buildings are mashed and twisted, roofs gone and fronts knocked out. The Evans bank corner shows a burning pit and a cracked safe as charred remains lie beneath the ruins.
A disaster wrecks Last Mount Vernon leaving only a foundation wall and cellar under a swaying floor. An able corps of physicians organized after the first call attended many sites and treated numerous injuries, with little more than breaks and bruises reported.
The narrative outlines property losses totaling $575,000 across churches, businesses, residences, cottages, warehouses, and stock. It notes no merchants carried storm insurance, predicting total losses for the community amid ongoing impacts and ancillary damages.
Citizens meet after injuries are secured and wounded cared for. City council appropriates $500 for immediate relief and banks cash the order. An appeal for aid goes out and Governor Oglesby issues a proclamation. Public contributions come in liberally.
A February 20 circular from Mount Vernon Illinois requests help after a devastating cyclone. About thirty people died and a thousand are left homeless as three hundred houses and key public buildings including courts and churches were wrecked. Fire compounded the losses. contributions should go to George W. Evans and Norman H. Moss.
The proclamation appeals for immediate aid and contributions from mayors, religious and charitable groups to assist distressed citizens. Subscriptions and supplies are to be sent to George W. Evans, chair of the Local Finance Committee, Mount Vernon, Illinois.
Reassuring medical bulletins from San Remo about the German Crown Prince fail to ease worry in Berlin. The public suspects that as a patient’s importance grows, physicians withhold the full truth, and the general mood is that the Crown Prince may never ascend the throne.
Reports indicate a major Russian troop shift from Odessa toward Kischenov with thirty six trainloads moved to camps near the Austrian frontier. The pattern suggests renewed war talk and preparations as spring approaches, signaling little chance of lasting peace.
Thieves seized Dr. D. D. Wickham’s Port Jervis residence while the family was away and shipped the furniture and goods to an undisclosed destination.
Debris blocks Washington street near the Court House with shattered walls and ruined structures. Fire destroyed bakeries and other buildings while food and clothing remain available. theft suspected in a warehouse but no suspects captured. J W Wilshire indictment linked to Harper’s confederacy in Fidelity bank sent to Cincinnati for action and Hawaii Supreme Court rules Kalakaua veto power is personal and unilateral.
A stark exhortation frames a bleak reflection on danger and compulsion. The author warns that sin consumes all and demands decisive action, casting moral peril as an inevitable pursuer.
A terse reflection notes that great pleasures often arise from pain and that the worst pains stem from pleasures. It adds that those who dine with the philosopher do not complain the following morning.
In Red Bud Christ Jaeger faced personal crisis reports after shooting. A Rockford child died within minutes from ingesting a screw. Taylorville farmer G W Livergood was robbed after being dragged from his horse. Unity resident A C Atherton found his buried $450 gone. Creameries at Sparta pay farmers large milk sums. Lydia Knowles, widow of Joseph Knowles, died in Wheaton at 68. John Streuth shot George Garnett near Marion, Garnett dying from lung wounds. Springfield court saw a bitter clash between State's Attorney J B Jones and Lloyd Hamilton. Effingham County’s oldest resident Mrs. William Dutton, born 1786, to celebrate 103rd birthday. Antelope pets appear in several homes near Anchor Colfax and Lexington. Springfield papers note Mrs. Elizabeth Edwards, sister of Mrs. Lincoln, died in Springfield. Joliet socialite Ahla Currey vanished after eloping with candy house drummer Thomas Brankin. Her mother, a wealthy widow, grieves the loss of her daughter.
The Washington Critic recounts that during a Virginia campaign Eppa Hunton Jr.’s friends praised his speeches, prompting the General to joke he has not heard any of them and warn against flattering him into making a “blamed tool” of the boy.
A Sunday school worker famed for pompous talk visits a sister city to start a bible class. Members, mostly women, praise a visiting professor as grand and deep while admitting his speech is inaccessible to others. The remark highlights how his language bewilders listeners.
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