People's Pilot, Volume 4, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 September 1894 — THE ELEMENTS. [ARTICLE]

THE ELEMENTS.

Wind, Rain, Lightning and Hail Cause Much Damage. UTi« Storm in Chicago—A Cyclone Makes Itself Felt Near Huntley, 11l Several Fatal Accidents Are Reported— Cloudburst in the East. HEAVY RAINFALL. Chicago, Sept. 11. — Another heavy rainfall was experienced in this city Sunday at G:3O p. m. During the past week nearly eight inches of rain has fallen in this vicinity. The recent storms have been accompanied by electrical disturbances, and considerable damage has been done to property by lightning. One man was killed and several others are reported injured by lightning Saturday night. Fro mall parts of Illinois come stories of damage by wind and rain. Live Stock Killed. Near Huntley,lll., the storm was in the nature of a cyclone. A path 3 miles in width was swept by the wind and many barns and windmills were leveled to the ground. Great fields of corn were leveled to the earth as though by a roller. Farmers turned their cattle from the stables and thus saved hundreds of head of stock. On the Schroder farm the barn was wrecked and ten head of horses were found in the fields attached to fragments of the mangers which they had dragged loose in their fright. Louis Gamon’s barn fell

»nd buried eight horses in the ruins. Five horses- were killed in <,he wreck of John Hooker's barn. •John Conover lost several cows by lightning. The roof of the house of the William Humbrecht farm was blown away. On the T. S. Huntley tSetrat nine horses were killed anil .several barns were burned in that section. The losses will aggregate many thousands. The storm reached Algonquin and played havoc on several farms there. The barn of Patrick Ballister was blown down and several horses killed. *The Ketchum barn, between Dundee and Algonquin, was blown to pieces. On the Hawker farm the house, barn and outbuildings were ruined and four horses killed. The inmates of the house had narrow escapes. Daniel Price's barn was demolished and fifteen cows were Killed. At the farm of Chris Wendt the barn was wrecked and an entire orchard ruined, some of the trees being snapped off and others uprooted. Although the storm was the severest known through this section, no deaths •have been reported. The damage, however, will aggregate a great many dollars. At Other Points. At Watseka, 111., sewers and cellars were flooded, many houses and barns were struck by lightning and considerable live stock was killed. Fruit was badly damaged by hail in the vicinity of De Kalb, 111. In the vicinity of Marengo, 111., numerous barns were blown down and several struck by lightning and burned. Horses and cattle were killed and poultry drowned. In the city large shade trees were blown over, tearing down the electric light wires, sidewalks were floated off, cellars and basements flooded, windows broken and large signs torn down. The big Muscoda bridge over the "Wisconsin river at Muscoda, Wis., was wrecked by a cyclone Saturday night. Several houses were blown down and unroofed. Great Damage at Rockford. Rockford, 111., Sept. 11.— The electric storm which was accompanied by rain and wind in this section, Friday afternoon and night, was the most terrible for a year, and all night long it was a continual cannonade. Great damage was done, dozens of big barns with stock and implements being burned. William Sullivan, a prosperous young farmer who lived near Kings, was killed bj- a bolt while driving to his barn, his team also l>eing killed. The loss to farmers in this section will be very heavy, as reports of destruction are coming in hourly. Cloodbont in Pennsylvania. !Ixth.lkuk m. Pa., Sept. 10.—An area of 1 square mile suffered from Satur-

day night’s cloudburst. The flood reached the second stories of houses on Goeppe and Spruce streets, Old Bethlehem, and Second street in South Bethlehem. The damage to private property is estimated at §50,000 and to sewers and highways §IO,OOO. That no lives were lost is a miracle. The people in the flooded districts are very poor and are suffering for want of assistance. The funeral cortege of the late Mrs. William Skinner was caught in the storm returning from the cemetery. The horses took fright at the pelting hail and ran away. Mrs. Jacob T. Shimer. of West Bethlehem, had her arm broken, and Mrs. Curtis, who was picked up unconscious, is in a precari ous condition. Damage by the Storm. Elgiit, 111., Sept. 11.—Five valuable imported stallions owned by M. W. Dunham were killed by lightning Sundaj’ night at Wayne. Farmers in this part of the state complain that more damage has been done by the storms o i the last week than was done by all the drought. Between here and Marengo over 100 barns have been blown down in the last seven days. Corn has been destroyed by the acre and much stock killed. The damage can scarcely be estimated, hut will aggregate hundreds of thousands of dollars. Niles, Mich., Sept. 11. —The severe storm of Sunday night blew down fruit, shade and even mammoth oak trees. Hardly a field of corn stands. The lightning was terrific and the

wind swept nearly everything before it. The city is a field of woodchoppers clearing the streets. Boscobel, Wis., Sept. 11.— The damage clone at Muscoda by the windstorm amounts to much more than first reported. At Orion, a little town just across the Wisconsin river from Muscoda, houses were unroofed, barns blown down, and acres of timber laid to the ground. Isaac Thompson, bridge-tender at Muscoda, was standing on the bridge when it was blown down, lie received fatal injuries. A number of other serious accidents have been reported.