and a
gale which blew seventy miles an hour for a time, was felt most
severely in the northwestern section of the city, where houses were
overturned, windows broken, trees uprooted and electric light and
trolley poles blown to the ground. Nearly fifty small fires resulted and
hundreds of men, women and children fled from their homes in terror.

Considerable damage was done to Des Plaines, Park Ridge and other
suburbs. The property damage in the city and suburbs was estimated at
more than $500,000.

THE STORM-CLOUD OVER ILLINOIS

Illinois also suffered severely from a tornado on the night of Easter,
March 23d, and the following morning. The storm was less severe than
that which struck Omaha, but the wind was blowing at a rate of seventy
miles an hour for a time, and in Chicago alone thirty-two structures
were damaged and a number of persons killed. Out in the state the
heaviest suffering was at Rockford, Elgin, Wheaton, Bloomington,
Galesburg, Peoria, Erie and Des Plaines. The aggregate loss in other
communities was great.

The storm covered all of Illinois north of Peoria. In Galesburg many
buildings were moved from their foundations. Half a dozen residences in
Peoria were demolished. All streams rose high and costly floods occurred
along the Kankakee, Illinois and other rivers.

GALE AND FIRE IN CHICAGO

In Chicago all the elements seemed to meet Sunday night. The wind blew a
violent gale; snow flew before it in some places; hail crashed windows
in other parts of the city. Every available fire apparatus in the north
and west sides of the city was called out to extinguish fires which
broke out in business blocks and dwellings partly wrecked by the storm.

A number of lives throughout the state were lost by this storm and the
property loss was estimated at $2,500,000.

A second storm on Monday caused great destruction in Mahanda. Thirty
cars of a southbound Illinois Central freight train were blown from the
track a mile north of the town. Two firemen were injured.

CHAPTER XXII

THE TORNADO IN KANSAS AND ARKANSAS

THE "BLOWOUT" IN KANSAS--DAMAGE TO CROPS AND SOIL--DUST STORM COMES
SUDDENLY--TORNADO IN ARKANSAS.

Following a heavy downpour of rain on Easter Sunday night the atmosphere
at Topeka, Kansas, was filled with dust until it had the appearance of a
heavy fog. The dust came from the western part of the state where severe
dust storms prevailed.

In western Kansas the "blowout" has be