Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 268, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 November 1911 — TORNADO SWEPT SECTION OF JASPER COUNTY [ARTICLE]

TORNADO SWEPT SECTION OF JASPER COUNTY

Saturday Night Storm Destroyed Barns, Z% ' .1 ' r '■ nr I I »' • Outbuildings, 1 elephone Lines, Hay and Straw Stacks. ■

KILLED SOME STOCK

Land Owners West and North of Rensselaer, the Greatest Losers— Very Little Insurance. ’ A destructive tornado swept through a section of Jasper county Saturday night at about 8:15, destroying barns, outbuildings, hay and straw stacks, orchards and forests and doing extensive damage to country telephone lines. An estimate of the damage would be difficult to make but at least several thousand dollars will be required to rebuild the destroyed property. ; Saturday was a beautiful day aside from a strong wind which blew incessantly at a 60 mile rate. The temperature was warm and fires were permitted to go out and windows and doors thrown open. The thermometers registered up to 75. Men went about ln s their shirt sleeves. In the evening a little sprinkle gave some warning to the heavy rain that followed and between 7 and 8 o’clock the rain fell in torrents. It soon

began to get colder and by midnight the rain had turned to snow and the mercury at 20 degrees above zero and the driving wind from the southwest and later from due west made a regular blizzard. Rensselaer escaped the worst part of the storm, however, as the tornado entered the county from the southwest and near the Henry Davli farm swept to the northwest, doing the last serious damage, so far as we have learned, on the Mike Burns fgrm, northeast of town. * Ellas Koons lives on the Henry Harris place. The barn was torn down as was also the windmill and several stacks of hay and stfaw. On the Ben Harris farm, occupied by Isaac Parker, the Jiay barn was blown down, a hog house 14x30 feet in dimensions was blown away, the woodhouse was moved off its foundation, the windmill was torn down, 15 window glasses were broken out Of the house and the kitchen of the house was moved slightly. Feed troughs were carried away. Every tree in the orchard was pulled up or broken off and lajge trees in the woods were twisted from the ground. Telephone poles were torn down all along the wake of the storm. On the Blsloskey farm, occupied by H. "T. Feldhaus, the barn and many outbuildings were town down. One good horse was killed but the' other stock escaped with slight injuries. Buggies, wagon and machinery in the barn were badly damaged. The buildings were insured against tornado.

The Makeever farms suffered some damage. Several barns were destroyed and others moved off their foundations. Hay and straw, stacks were' blown down/ On the Mrs. Rebecca Porter farm, occupied by Leßoy Lewis, the roof was blown off the corn crib and machinery house, haystacks and the wheel off the windmill were blown down. *

On the Chas. Porter farm, occupied by Sstel Osborne, outbuildings were blown down, the sheds were torn loose from the barn and the doors of the barn blown off. the windmill was blown down and many trees uprooted. Henry Gowland suffered a great deal of loss. The roof was blown oft the barn, the well house and windmill were blown down, the old house and a number of outbuildings were blown away. A wagonbox was blown entirely away. Sam Lowery, on the Bill Baker farm, reports considerable damage there, large pine trees in the yard were pulled up by the roots. One straw stack composed of straw from 100 acres, was blown entirely away. Shock corn was blown into an adjoining field and standing corn was blown down. Seven large trees in the orchard, two windmills, hogracks and the smokehouse all went down. At'Ralph Zeigler's home ho damage was done except that a hay rack was taken off the wagon and eardied a half mile and broken to pieces. At Werger Miller's place the old

'if'-:- x ' '■ ■ ’ ' barn was blown down and the new one shifted about on the foundation. Other small buildings weret Iternt down. Mike Bu*is’ barn was torn entirely down and other damage resulted. Constantine Zellhart had a barn what damaged and blown off ihe foundation and a pew blacksmith shop entirely destroyed'. ' . Tom Callahan had damage on a farm he owns 1 mile west of Newland, which he estimated at SSOO. He had it covefed by tornado insurance. The big oak barn was shifted on the foundation about 6 feet on one entf and B~feet on the other. A double corn crib was moved off thie foundation and a henhouse was entirely destroyed. The chickens and several turkeys, the property of J. C. Tow, the tenant, were killed. At John Dexter’s, near Newland, a new henhouse was carried away. ■ A barn in course of construction on a place owned by Commissioner Fred Waymtre had the ends blown out)

Chas. Anderson, north of Newland, had a new wagon badly broken up hnd a number of small outbuildings damaged and the roof snatched from the barn. < At Newland a number of buildings were slightly moved on their foundations and window panes broken out. The schoolhouse was slightly damaged and the woodhouse taken from one side of the building and set over on the other side and badly damaged. Reports of other damage keep coming in. The Jasper County and Bruner telephone lines in the country suffered heavily, many poles being down and the wire twisted and broken.. Their damage is extensive and wiH some time to repair. From all over the state and in many other states come reports of destructive wind storms, the toll of life being considerable in the aggregate. From a balmy, springlike day Saturday, the temperature fell from 55 to 65 degrees in* five or six hours and today is frigid and much lilje midwinter, although the wind that kept up all day Sunday has subsided. Over much of the country the telegraph and telephone lines are down and Rensselaer was entirely cut off for a time Sunday, both long distance telephone Union wires being down. The Western Union gained connection about 6 o'clock Sunday night. L ?• Lafayette papers report a terrific hurricane in that county causing b'ig property loss. At Waterloo, Ind., the business portion of the town suffered heavily. The city hall, two school buildings and the opera house were damaged to the amount of 120,000. At Bedford numerous stone mills were damaged, the loss being estimated to be a half million dollars. Damage similar to what occurred here is reported from twenty or more cities. The forecast for tomorrow is snow with rising temperature.