Jasper County Democrat, Volume 6, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 August 1903 — DESTRUCTIVE HAIL STORM. [ARTICLE]

DESTRUCTIVE HAIL STORM.

Section of Union and Barkley Townships Is Devastated.—Two People Killed at Beaver City.

One of the most severe hail i storms that ever visited Jasper county came between twelve and one o’clock p. m., last Wednesday. The storm came up quite suddenly from the north-west, and in this county a strip of oonntry a mile to a mile and a half wide extending in a south-easterly direction through Union and Barkley townships suffered severely. Corn fields were stripped of their leaves, cucumber crops ruined, clover and other crops cut to pieces, apples and other fruit cut from the trees and pounded to a jelly, garden truck cut to pieces,' chickens killed, cattle stampeded and hundreds of window glass broken by the hail. At some places hail stones still lay on the ground Thursday morning. will not permit us to mention each individual loss, but suffice it to say that the storm passed through north-west of Fair Oaks, the Geo. Casey and Comer neighborhoods in Union tp. down through Barkley in the Doc Nichols, Wallace Murray and Fred Waymire neighborhoods near Valma, and for about fifteen miles it left destruction in its wake. The hail was very large and irregular in shape, cattle were covered with welts wherever they were struck. Farmers along the line of the storm estimate their damage all the way from S2OO to SBOO each. A farmer named Miller, 3 miles north of Fair Oakß had 9 cows and 1 horse killed. Horatio Ropp says his clover waß ent al) to pieces and his corn field was stripped, only bare stalks

and ears remaining. Of the latter, where well advanced, the husk protected the ears and there may be enough vitality left iu the stalk to mature it. The less advanced corn did not fare so well and in numerous instances he found where the kernels were broken. This, of coarse, will rot. Mr. Ropp estimates his damage now at SSOO. At George McElfrcsh’s 14 window panes were broken, as were many at Ropp’s and other places. Over in Newton county a man and boy were killed by lightning at Beaver City. The man was named George Hooker, aged about 30 years and the boy was John Clark, aged nine years, a son of Joe Clark, a blacksmith. When the storm came up the boy with six men stepped into one of the tile kilns to get out of the storm. A bolt of lightning came and killed Hooks and the Clark boy. The others of the group were little affected. Near Foresman a strip of country was devastated by the hail, great damage being done to corn, while chickens, turkeys and ducks were beaten to death by the hail. A gentleman who was over about Buffalo, White county, told us that it hailed there steady for an hour, not large stones fell, however, but the ground was covered several inches deep and considerable damage done to corn. Three barns in that vicinity were strnck by lightning and burned together with their contents. The damage to corn and other crops in this county will amount to many thousand dollars.