Democratic Sentinel, Volume 10, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 May 1886 — HOWLING HURRICANES. [ARTICLE]

HOWLING HURRICANES.

Several Town? in Illinois and Indiana Partially Wrecked by Cyclones—Loss of Life and Property. A terrible hurricane accompanied by lightning and sheets of rain struck the town of Odell, 111., eighty-one miles south of Chicago, on the afternoon of Wednesday, the 12th inst., causing loss of life and great destruction of property. The northbound Chicago and Alton train encountered the storm some miles southwest of Odell, but did not experience its full force until that place was reached. As the train pulled into the station a shower of boards struck the engine and tender, a large shed on the right of the track having been demolished and its wreck sent whirling over the prairie. On the left of the station a livery stable with an adjoining shed full of horses, carriages, and farmers’ teams was totally wrecked. The large brick store of S. S. Cole was laid in ruins and four children buried beneath it—the daughters of John Miller. As the store went down, broken bricks, fragments of mortar, and pieces of timbers were whirled through the air and dashed against the sides of the cars, breaking the windows and creating a wild degree of terror among the passengers. As soon as the tempest lulled sufficiently many of the passengers jumped from the train and made a hasty exploration of the ruins. Efforts were made to clear the debris from the Cole building, and the children were rescued. Three were seriously hurt, but will survive, and the others miraculously escaped injury. The searchers then proceeded with their work, assisted by the calmer of the citizens, but for the most part the residents seemed crazed by the calamity and stood about the streets gazing at the wreck of their property and wailing in a distressing manner. Altogether about seven persons sustained serious injuries, of whom those likely to die are: Lottie Zwifle, a ten-year-old girl, who was carried over 200 feet in the air and fell on the railroad track, smashing her skull. George and Charles Hoke, liverymen. S. S. Cole, hardware merchant. The view presented to the eyes of the passengers as they looked about the town was startling. Every portion of the village showed traces of the wide-spread wreck wrought by the storm. It demolished one brick block, wrecked three warehouses, unroofed the hotel, the Masonic Hall, and four store buildings, and tore to pieces the upper story of the Angell block, in which the Odell Rank and the Odd-Fellows’ Hall were located. Hardly a storeroom in town escaped injury, and many dwelling-houses were demolished. The loss will exceed s's(),000. Houses, barns and sheds were twisted from their foundations and completely destroyed. Trees a foot in diameter were twisted entirely to pieces. The storm did not last more than five minutes. Ten minutes before it appeared the air seemed to get green. Two clouds appeared to advance, one from the southeast, the other from the southwest, and met over the town, forming a monstrous whirlwind, which swept everything in its track. P. W. Kenyon’s lumber yard, a few yards away from the station, was taken up bodily by the wind and scattered for rods around, but the flying boards broke the force of the wind to some extent and protected the train from injury. At Dwight floods of rain bad fallen, preceded by hailstones of remarkable size, some weighing from five to six ounces. The storm moved in an easterly direction, passing into Indiana.