any measure of safety could be adopted the body of the
mighty tempest dashed itself on the houses along Fifteenth Street and
tore itself diagonally across the city, leaping the river at Front
Street to Jeffersonville.

The passage across the city was not continuous and in uniform direction,
but the storm lifted itself up, fell with furious force on a block, then
rolled over into adjacent blocks, when it rested a moment, then dashed
furiously up and forward again, launching to the right and left with
demoniacal whimsicality.

Everything it touched suffered. Church steeples fell, crushing beneath
their weight the buildings over which they had stood guard. Wrenching
warehouses to fragments the tornado passed to the river front, leaving a
broad swath of wreckage and dead bodies. The belt of destruction
extended from the west side of Seventh Street as far as Ninth and Main
Streets, and an equal width across to the point where the city was first
touched. Along this path were demolished homes and wrecked business
houses--the annihilated work of years. On the river the storm found full
sway. The tawny water of the swollen Ohio became a lake of seething
foam. Steamboat after steamboat was driven from its moorings and tossed
like a drop of spray in the boiling stream.

CITIZENS MADDENED WITH GRIEF

Almost immediately after the storm had passed thousands crowded into the
distressed district; maddened men and women fought and struggled through
the debris trying to find some loved relative or friend. From every side
arose the groans of the wounded and dying. About the Falls City Hotel
groups thronged waiting for news.

Fires burning in several places added to the horror, though no great
damage was done by these. Crushed and blackened ruins marked the spot of
the Union Depot, which collapsed during the storm, crushing a train
which was just ready to depart. Every building, tree and telegraph pole
in the district struck was leveled, and almost all the railroads
entering the city were obliged to suspend all passenger and freight
traffic.

RESCUE, RELIEF AND RECONSTRUCTION

The work of rescuing the mangled dead was bravely carried on the
following day and before many hours the American genius for
organization, order and action had met the demands of the overwhelming
disaster. While the dead were still lying awaiting burial, plans were
made to rebuild and resume again the work of life.

The local police and militia kept or