Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 May 1896 — FEEL A WIND’S FURY. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FEEL A WIND’S FURY.

DESTRUCTIVE CYCLONES SWEEP MANY STATES. Storms Accompanied by Lightning Create Heavy Damage —Residences, Trees and Crops Mixed Up in Confusion—A Farmer Rides the Tempest Long Drought la Broken.

TORNADO and cyclone held high carnival Tuesday afternoon, and many localities felt the [gvelfc' wind’s destructive g*r9[ fury. At Lincoln Neb., a terrific storm of wind, “ceding only the rotary motion to make it a genuine MHbL cyclone, prevailed between 4 and 5 o'clock in the after-

noon. The force of the wind was terrific, registering for fire minutes a velocity of eighty miles an hour. Houses and barns were wrecked or damaged all over Itie city. Many persons were hurt, but no lives were lost. The heaviest property loss in the city was sustained by the Merchants’ Hotel, the roof being blown off, windows shattered and the whole building flooded by the rain that followed. The roof of the Burr-Muir Block was blown off and part of one wall demolished. Heuvy boards from the roof w r ere carried across 9th street through the henvy plate-glass windows of the State Journal Building. At the hospital for the insane the electric light plant was razed and is a total wreck. Houses all over the city suffered the loss of roofs and other damage. These were broken, off or uprooted and fences leveled, making many streets for two or three blocks almost impassable. Following the wind the rain fell in torrents. A terrific hai] and wind storm swept over Omaha. Rain fell almost Incessantly for forty-eight hours, but the downpour .Tuesday was the heaviest in recent years.

No considerable damage resulted, but cellars were inundated, small buildings toppled over, small streams overflowed, trees broken and sign boards and chimneys blown away. A destructive cyclone struck near Elkhorn, Neb., the Bame afternoon. A fun-nel-sbaped cloud shot downward from the storm center, and a general stampede of citizens for caves and cellars ensued. At the schoolhouse the children fled panicstricken to the furnace-room. The scene at the schoolhouse was one of the wildest confusion. The cyclone struck the ground in a pasture just north of the town. Its course was northwest. The path of the storm was from 2GO to 300 yards wide, and everything in its path was razed'to the ground. Carl Johnson had a tenm attached to a wagon, and behind the wagon led another team. Before he was aware of it the storm was upon him. He endeavored to skirt it by driving onto a meadow tp the westward, but before he could lash his horses out of the way of the rapidly approaching hurricane he waß caught in its vortex, and man, horses and wagon were carried through space, together with fence boards, posts, wire and other debris. Mr. Johnson escaped serious injury. After traversing a distance of about two miles the funnel-shaped cloud arose as suddenly as it had shot down to the earth and at a point five or six miles farther to the northwest dropped again to the earth. Following the tornado was a heavy fall of rain.

Residences Torn to Splinters. At Worthington, Minn., the new residence of W. M. Guise wns completely demolished. The family were at supper when the storm struck. A little boy was struck on the head by flying debris and severely hurt. This was the only instance of injury to people living in the path of the storm, but there were many narrow escapes. The residences of Pc B. Curtis and Stephen Mack were also demolished, and the damage was completed by the heavy fall of rain that succeeded the wind storm. A storm visited Racine, Wis., between 8 and 9 o’clock in the evening which developed into a cloudburst, It lasted fully two hours and vast quantities of rain fell. In many places the water was even with the curbing on the main streets, and in low lands it was three feet deep. Cellars were flooded and altogether it was the greatest downpour known in years. It 'was accompanied by thunder and lightning, and the Engel brewery, on Douglass avenue, was struck and entirely consumed, entailing a loss of $3,000. A cyclone passed five miles north of Sterling, Kan., in the vicinity of Cow Creek, coming from the southwest and demolishing almost everything in its path. The houses of Logan Zerbe, Levi Wagner, Robert Deemez and others were badly wrecked. It is believed no one was killed. Considerable stock was killed. A heavy windstorm passed over Council Bluffs about 5 o’clock. One electric light sower was blown down, and the rainfall was the heaviest in years. Reports from the surrounding country say the storm was very destructive to fruit trees. A small cyclone visited the eastern section of Illinois and Western Indiana Tuesday night. The heaviest rainfall ac ccqnpanied by hail that ever visited the district is reported.