Rensselaer Democrat, Volume 1, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 May 1898 — DEATH IN A STORM. [ARTICLE]

DEATH IN A STORM.

Life and Property Lost by Tornado in lowa, Illinois and Wisconsin.

Storms of wind, hail and ruin ravaged widespread sections of the Northwest. lu Eastern lowa cyclones brought death and disaster to scattered communities, and in Illinois, Wisconsin and in Southern Kansas cyclones and high winds leveled frame buildings, killed some stock and damaged crops. In all the afflicted sections wires were blown down and early details of the disaster were meager. Almost all the vast territory mentioned was rain soaked and wind blown. The cyclones moved the usual narrow’ paths of from eighty rods to eighty feet in wjdth, and swept for a distance of twenty miles or less. The cyclone passed north of Clinton, lowa, between the towns of Charlotte and Riggs, at 4 o’clock in the afternowi, doing an immense amount of damage and killing ten people, as far as reported. The storm, after leaving Tipton, passed between Clarence and Stanwood, swept south through Lost Nation and Elwood, running north near Delmar, touched the lower end of Jackson County, and, crossing the Mississippi at South Sabula, lowa, struck Illinois between Savanna and Thompson. Trees were uprooted and buildings wiped out. The storm passed two miles southeast of Riggs, on the Milwaukee Railway, and ruined everything in its path from southwest to northeast. In the vicinity of Cedar Rapids the cyclone first appeared one mile south of Stanwood at 3:20 o’clock in the afternoon. Great damage was done to property in the vicinity of Tipton, Charlotte, Quigley, Clarence, Elk River, north of Wheatland, and near Maquoketa. It is estimated that not less than twenty-five people have been killed, while the number of injured will not be less than fifty. Many saved their lives by fleeing to cellars. The cyclone which struck Preston, lowa, destroyed most of the buildings in the town and killed Charles Floy, his wife and three children. The bodies of two of the children have not been found. In Ringgold County, southwest of Des Moines, the buildings of J. A. Miller, east of Blockton, were swept away, and Miller aud his daughter were injured. The latter had both legs broken. At Maloy the schoolhouse and Chicago Great Western depot were wrecked. Two cyclones from southwest struck the village of Stillman Valley, til., the larger going north, doing but little damage. The smaller one stryck the southwest side, passing across the town, leveling ten houses, one church and several barns and damaging a dozen houses, one church, a creamery and the Great Western depot. M. Nelson, his wife and two children, and one Johnson are reported killed, and about twenty persons are more or less Injured, none fatally. In Joliet the wind and rain storm swept through the city and blew down the big tabernacle where Evangelist Williams has been holding revival meetings. A cyclone passed seven miles north of Sheffield, 111., going in a northeastern direction. It first struck the earth near F. W. farm, and destroyed everything in its path for railed. Several persons are reported killed. Paw Paw, 111., reports that a cyclone passed four miles north of the town. Several people were injured, and Mrs. Frank Chichester was killed.