Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 August 1895 — ALMOST A CYCLONE [ARTICLE]

ALMOST A CYCLONE

THE WORST STORM IN Struck Rensselaer Sunday Afternoon, And Left RUIN AND DEVASTATION IN ITS PATH. Stores Unroofed, Barns Torn Down, Dwellings Moved Prom Their Foundations. 1 Cyclonic Wind, Torrential Rain and Pelting Hail, Combine to Work Destruction. Lucky it was no Worse, For an Actual Tornado Passed Over Us High in Air. Last Sunday afternoon, about 2 o’clock, Rensselaer was struck by the worst storm that ever visited the town. It came up suddenly from west of northwest; developed into destructive magnitude less than a mile before it struck the town, and had spent all its fury in tcareely more than a mile, after it had passed the town. The path of destruction was scarcely more than half a mile wide; and its center passed over the center of the town. The wind blew with almost cyclonic violence; the ruin fell in such perfect torrents that the rainfall Was fully two inches in less than thirty minutes time. To have gone 20 paces in it would have drenched one to the skin. Hailstones as large as hickorynuts fell in vast quantities and gsve added- destructiveness to the storm. About two thirds of the tin roof was torn from Leopold’s brick block, corner of Washington and Vanßensselaer, occupied on the ground floor by Ellis A Murray’s big double store. This roof, taking with it a large wagon load of the timber of the roof, was carried diagonally across the street, a distance of fully 150 feet, and thrown against the watering tank and court house fence, at the comer of the public square. When this debris was cleared away it was found that a 2 by 6 scantling had struck the end of the watering tank, and been driven clear through its two inch planking. The torrents of rain pouring into the building thus left roofless, and soaking down through the intervening floors and ceilings, working great distraction to Ellis A Murray’B stock of dry goods, clothing and boots and shoes; and they were, by far, the heaviest single sufferers from the storm. The bell tower of the high school building was blown ofi and falling point downward, on the lower slope of the roof, it broke through the slating and the timbers and made a great hole in the roof The tall steeple of the Catholic church wm blown down, and demolished, and a bad hole left in the roof of the building. W.. R. Nowels’ big hay barn northeast of .the depot, which he bought of S. R. Nichols a few months ago, wm totally demolished. The steel covered roof, with Ml its rafters and sheeting, was carried bodily a distance of 270 feet, and deposited on the cattle shutes and railroad track. The balance of the building was scattered about in every direction. A railroad woiker, of the extra gong, with his wife and child were camping in this barn, and they were in it when it wm blown away. It had no floors and they were left, practically uninjured; although both the man and his wife were struck by flying fragments and somewhat bruised. They took shelter with

; John Carmichael, living not far away. Frank Osborne’s barn, a good sized and very strongly built structure was carried across the alley, and deposited exactly bottom side up. Wm. Eger’s barn, a much less Strongly built, and not 25 feet away, escaped with nothing more than a bad wrenching. Mr. Osborne had a good buggy in his barn, and this made the flying trip with the taming barn, and hardly got a scratch. genry Thorntdny-hB- Thompson’s addition, had his barn demolished, and two buggies in it badly broken. Two horses in the barn were hurt some, but not badly. Lewis Day, Wm. Smith, W§»h Scott, Wm. Stephenson and several others had their barns demolished or badly injured. About half the tin roof of McCoy’s bank building was torn off, and the rain ruined the new papering in two of Thompson A Bro’s rooms, and also did a good deal of damage in Ike Tntenr’s store. About a third of the roof of Starr’s store was torn off. The Knights of Pythias lodge room was soaked, and also the rooms in the second story. A considerable section of the roof of C. D. Nowels’ building, formerly the Bedford block, was torn off. The Masonic Lodge room was soaked. Mr. Nowels also had one of his plate glass front windows broken. Frank Siers’ house, a small building in Columbia Addition, was moved eight feet, with the family in it, and leaned 18 inches out of plumb. Deli Thornton’s house, in the same neighborhood, occupied by his brother, Will Thornton, was moved off its foundations. A new house, building by Rush A Coen, also in the same vicinity, was yery badly wracked and twisted. Joe Kight hod the frame np for a new house. Not one stick was left standing. Ed. Kays had a boose in about the same condition, only part of the lining was on. This also was totally wrecked. John McColly’s chicken house, near the railroad, was blown to pieces, and several dozen chickens and ducks tnrned loose. The fowls remained in the vicinity and were all caught at night. The big tent of the colored campmeeting, in Thompson’s grove was blown down. Several persons were in it at the time, but no one was hurt. The wind mill wheels at Dr. Loaghridge’s residence, Makeever House, at thejKurt house, and at A. Leopold’s residence were all destroyed. The skylight of the Peoples’ Picture Parlor was broken by the hail and the rain damaged the furniture and fixtures of the gallery considerably, and also got in on Porter A* Son’s grocery on the floor below. At the Model store a back window in the second story blew in, and also the window of a skylight blew off, and the rain pouring in wet and much damaged the cloaks, clothing, carpets Ac in that room, and also w«t some of the goods in the room below. The force of the wind blew large pieces of the broken window glass almost the whole length of the long room.

Mr. Crippe, the section boss, bad his glass front door broken to pieces, and the wind rushing in lifted Mrs. Cripps np bodily and deposited her several feet away. John Minicns’s summer kitchen was torn to fragments. That of Jake Schultz wm overturned Numerous woodsheds were wrecked, while the remains of smaller but equally necessary outbuildings were scattered about, thick as “autumn leaves in Vallambrosa.” Leopold’s roof, in its aerial flight, knocked down the electric light pole, near the court -house well, and smashed the arc light there. That and other accidents lift the town in darkness Sunday night. The telephone wires also suffered greatly, and nearly all of them hod to be re-

stretched the next day, Some parties in Leopold’s Mock, when the roof blew off thought the whole building wm a goner. And their fears were not groundless for the big cornices and projecting fire walls caught so much wind that the front wall was nearly blown out, and was sprang so m to leave cracks in the plastering an inch wide. Several chimneys were blown down, including one at the Christian church aud one at A 1 Catt’s residence, and at the M.E. —church, at J. F. Randle’s, G. H. Brown’s, Berry Paris’s and various other places. The wreck and rain wrought to shade trees was too great to mention in detail. In eome places, rs on Angelica street near Mrs. MosSfc place,andon Milroy St , near Q. B. Steward’B the streets were entirely blockaded by fallen trees. tlepine trees were the worst but maples and walnuts and cottonwoods also fell, right and left* In several casts trees fell against houses, aud caused some damage, the wont being to Mrs. E. P. Hammond’s house, occupied by J. G. Reynolds

The M. E. church bad a round window broken; Uncle Charley Rhoades’ harness shop also lost a window; and a section of an attic side of Wright’s furniture store. Other parties, too numerous to mention in detail, bad windows or doors broken, or otherwise suffered small losses. Apples and other fraits were Whipped off by the wind or pelted by the hail, and as far as the storm extented the corn fields were riddled by tbe hail stones. The heaviest losers in corn will be J. W. Oowden, F. W. B dford, Geo. Strickfaden and Elias Marion. The fall of hail was much greater in some places than others. At Worden’s places, east of C. C. Starr’s residence, it laid in drifts several inches deep, four hours after tbe storm. An Interesting feature of tiU storm was the way the population s warmed out to look at the wrecks, after it was all over. On foot, in buggies,, in wagons and on horse-back, from three o’clock until dark, every street wm crowded; many also coming in from miles around. Ellis A Murray began immediately after the storm to move tbeir stock into tbe opera house, the front part of the post-office being also temporarily filled np. They will do business in the opera house until their own building is repaired. Tbe reports of the storm sent to tbe Chicago papers were fall of the wildest exaggerations; and many of the most astonishing statements were entirely without foundation.

AN ACTUAL TORNADO. Extensiye as the damage was the people of the town can forever congratulate themselves that it was not infinitely worse, and that the town is not now a wreck, and dead and mangled victims on every hand. That the storm was an actual whirling tornado or cyclone there is no doubt, bnt it passed over ns, high in air, and what we received was only the wind which always accompanies them. Many persons saw the balloon shaped cloud, the invariable indication of the tornado, as it formed a a few miles northwest. They saw the whirling pendent tail, and saw the clouds rushing towards it from every direction. The rains that soon began to fall obscured it from the view of those directly "in its path but those to one side of its course could see and watch its movements. The best description is given by Granville Aldrich, who lives just north of town, and who has previously seen and watched at least two tornados, lie saw the "tornado form, and grow in size, and its pendent tail drop lower and lower towards the earth. He also saw it, alter its fall apparent size was attained,'suddenly shoot upward, like a suddenly released balloon, and as it rose upward it also turned sideways so that its downward hanging tail reached backward in- • v

otead of downward. He watched it pass directly over the town, at the speed of a railroad train, all the time whirling round and i ound and brard its continuous roar, like a dozen freight trains. From his previous experience of tornados he fully expected that the town wm in rains, and so told his wife, and as soon as he could he came down expecting to find only a wreck. Many others saw tiie whirling clond, some of them as far away as Wm. Essen, in Jordan Tp. And almost everyone, on or near the borders of the storm, who was not shat inside the house, plainly beard the loud continuous hamming roar, as the tornado swept on its coarse' To those in the center of the storm, the tornado’s roar was drowned by the other and nearer soands of the rushing winds, tha pelting hail and the torrent fall of rOin. The inky blackness of the storm, as seen from a distance, the torrential fall of rain and bail and the sadden cooling of the temporal are, were all well recognized accompaniments of the tornado, or as the more common, bnt less proper name is, the cyclone. That the tornado spent itself in the air and did not actually touch the earth at all, is not an unusrol occarencein storms of thstcbareeter, The damage by the wind wm all done, almost in an instant seemingly, by one nrghty puff pf wind, and this came a few minntes after the rain tegan. No donbt this single awful blast marked the passage overhead of the tornado, whose nearer presence we so providentially escaped. THE EXTENT OF LOSS. To give any very accurate estimate of the money extent of the damage would be quite impossible. Ellis A Murray, after the most thorough examination, figure their damage at least $5,000. The sum total of all the other losses, will ’ probably be not Ism than SIO,OOO more, perhaps $15,000.