Jasper County Democrat, Volume 20, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 May 1917 — STORM EXACTS OVER 240 LIVES [ARTICLE]

STORM EXACTS OVER 240 LIVES

Eight People Killed io Northern Indiana FOUR MILLION PROPERTY LOSS I’oiir Killed at Kouts, Three at Hebron and Another at Shelby— Hiul Does Much Damage. One ot the most severe storms in years that started in Kansas late Friday evening and swept across Illinois and Indiana late Saturday exacted a toll of more than 240 lives and Inflicted property damage roughly estimated at $4,000,000. Scores of cities and towns were hit and hundreds of homes laid waste with the occupants either killed or injured. This Immediate vicinity was miraculously spared, the storm coming no closer than Shelby and Kouts. At the former place John Wright was struck and killed by flying debris and four other persons were seriously injured. In the country between Shelby and Lowell and surrounding the latter place many farm buildings were overturned and demolished or swept away.

Three Killed at Hebron. Three people were killed at Hebron when the storm swept the outskirts of the town, overturning houses, uprooting trees and slaughtering livestock. E. B. Pratt, 50 years old; Mrs. Alice Kennedy, 35, and Leslie Kennedy, 13, were killed outright. Pratt was .crushed beneath the debris of the Gridley elevator, which was totally wrecked. Mrs. Kennedy was crushed when her home was blown down and her son was instantly killed when he was struck by a piece of winddriven timber. A number of other people were seriously injured and some of these may die. Roy Smith, a former resident of Rensselaer and a son of Mrs. E. L. Harp, now of Lebanon, was caught by the storm and both of his legs were broken. The west part of Hebron, on the hill, where most of the better homes are located, suffered most, scarcely a house there that was not damaged. Between Hebron and Kouts the property damage was very extens-

ive, practically every building f along the route being damaged in j some way. Roofs were blown front houses and barns, and others were I twisted off their foundations. I Pi- ces of timbers were found that had been blown a mile or more. Four Lives Lost at Kouts. i In the vicinity of Kouts four ■ people were killed. ' Mr.' and Mrs. ,D. B. Pesh and Miss Julia Hane. , who made her home with them, were all killed when the Pesh farm home was demolished; C. J. Bes;seeker of New York, cook for a , railroad construction gang. was j killed whep the cats in which they lived were demolished by the vyind. Mike Mitske, foreman of the gang, was fatally injured and twenty or I more of the men were seriously ' hurt. Joseph Luers. a former resident of Rensselaer, who now conducts ' a general store at Kouts, suffered damage to the extent of about $1 ,- j 500 when the front of his store was blown out ahd the plastering torn off the walls, badly damaging his stoek of goods. The path of the storm was visiti c-d by thousands of people Sunday jto view the destruction wrought, rlt is twelve . miles from Hebron to ' Kouts and the entire distance was lined with two strings of autos, many being from Illinois. Michigan and Ohio. Many Rensselaer people were among these and some of them remarked „that the scenes of

devastation were impossible for words to describe. a -)

Storm in Kansas Last Friday. The storm 1 that left such widespread misery' and ruin in its wake seems to have originated in Kansas late Friday evening. Andale, a small town twenty-two miles northwest of Wichita, was literally torn to pieces and about forty people killed. Two Illinois Cities Visited. No more was seen of the storm until Saturday evening when Mattoon and Charleston, Illinois, were struck. Sunday’s runrise showed that Mattoon had lost fifty'known dead, with it score of person’s missing and 500 injured, some of whom may die, in the devastation of 140 blocks of homes occupied by workingmen, in the north part of the city. The wind razed 496 homes and partly destroyed' 146 more, rendering it persons hofiieless. These are sheltered by friends, in public buildings and in a tented refuge in Peterson park. Charleston; lying ten miles east of Mattobn, with 5,000 population, suffered a larger loss in proportion to its size than Mattoon, the known dead totalling thirty-seven, with twenty or more missing. Scores were injured in Charleston also and some buildings were wrecked, including a hotel, tw'o railroad stations, three grain elevators and a lumber yard. The twisting wind chose its victijns in spots, and reports from the rural regions indicate that small loss of life occurred outside Mattoon and Charleston and only at widely separated places. The scope of territory covered by the storm is perhaps the largest ever known. There is little doubt that there was more than one storm as places widely’ separated were hit at practically the same time. ' . / , : ;

8200,000 Loss in Jennings County. A dispatch from North Vernon states that the property loss -in Jennings county will easily reach $200,000. The property loss in North Vernon is quite extensive and the absence of any fatalities appears almost miraculous. The twister razed trees’, barns and houses. The storm, accompanied with hail as large as hen eggs, arose so suddenly that telephone and telegraph wires were snapped before news of the disaster could be sent out, hnd not until late Sunday communication available outside of the city, and then authorities were unable to confirm reports that several lives were lost in the county. Practically every house in the city is damaged, either the roof is gone, stripped of chimneys or without windows. The greatest propertv loss occurred in the downtown business district. The roof on the Stemm hospital was blown away and patients were removed to nearly residences. The Catholic, Methodist and Baptist churches were partially unroofed and the Chris* tian and colored churches demolished. The. brick residence of Mr. and Mrs. Asa Mingus, an aged couple, was swept from the foundation and both persons were seriously injured. At Vernon the roof was swept from the court house, and many other buildings seriously damaged. About fifteen families were made homeless by the storm in the vicinity of Bloomington but no deaths have as yet been reported. Black Hawk, a small village in the southeastern part of Vigo county, was almost wiped from the map, and Mrs. Ada Pierson, aged 40, and Murray Falyard, aged 87, were killed when their homes collapsed before the terrifflc wind. At Clear Creek, near Bloomington, the storm destroyed several .Monon freight cars and littered up the track to such an extent that a large force of men were engaged most of the night in clearing the right-of-way. The telegraph and telephone lines were also quite extensively damaged. Death and Ruin In the South. Delayed repoits from Southern states which were struck Sunday indicate that the storm did fully as much damage in that section as it did further north, and exacted a toll of lives numbering over 100. Telegraph and telephone communication is practically destroyed for the time being and hews of death and devastation from many points are coming in slowly’. Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama seem to have been hit hardest and the death list in those four states was placed at 103 yesterday morning. It is impossible to make even an estimate of the- property damage, but from present indications it may possibly reach half a billion dollars: