Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 39, Number 81, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 June 1907 — WIND CARRIES DEATH [ARTICLE]

WIND CARRIES DEATH

BTORM ANO FLOOD COSTS MANY LIVES. diana and Kentucky—Thirty Perzon z Known to Be Killed—One Town Swept Away. » At least twenty-nine persons wers killed, scores were injured and property damage aggregating- hundreds of thousands of dollars was done by wind, rain and thunder storms which devastated large sections of southern IlliKentucky between midnight and dawn Saturday morning. Throughout a large area houses were sweptTaway, hundreds of head of live stock were killed and crops were devastated. Long after the storms had ceased the rivers continued to rise until thousands of acres of wheat and corn land had been hooded and the crops ruined. Twenty-one persons perished at Gradyville, Ky., a village of 175 inhabitants fifteen miles from a railroad. Owing to a cloudburst Big Creek suddenly changed its channel, rushed through the town and swept away almost every house. The Inhabitants awoke to find themselves surrounded by water and their dwellings crumbling away.

Those left alive made their way to the hills And shivered in the rain until dawn. It was hours before the news of the disaster reached Columbia, the nearest town of any size, and then physicians and relief supplies were hurried to the scene as fast as the condition of the roads would permit. A tornado, accompanied by a deluge of rain, devastated York, 111., where three lives were lost. Property damage in the town and vicinity was $150,000. Besides those killed, eight persons were probably fatally injured, and more than a score less seriously hurt Nearly every house in the town was damaged, and several were blown down, theit occupants being buried In the debris. That the loss bf life was not larger was remarkable, in view of the damage done. Mrs. Lucinda Pinkerton was blown into the top of a tree several hundred feet from her home, and her body hung in the branches for hours before it was found by searchers. The Methodist church was demolished, its timbers wrecking a saloon across the street. The saloonkeeper was blown fifty feet and stuck in a hedge, but escaped serious injury.

New Minden, 111., also was struck by a tornado, and five lives weer lost, while a number of persons were injured. Nearly every house in the northern part of the town was destroyed and the German Lutheran church was wrecked. An odd feature of the tornado is that hundreds of head of stock has disappeared from nearby farms, and no trace of them or their bodies can be found. It is supposed they were blown into the Wabash River and their bodies swept away. On the north side of the church a parochial school was destroyed. Eleven years ago the village of New Minden was struck by a tornado and four or five persons were killed. At that time almost every house in the village was demolished. Nashville, IIL, and other nearby towns were quick to send aid to the stricken village. A party of searchers also left Nashville to look for a farmer who was driving from Hoyleton to Nashville when the storm broke and has not been seen since.

Grayville, Ind., not far from York, 111., also was badly damaged by the tornado. The home of James Layton was demolished and Mr. and Mrs. Layton were so badly injured that it is feared they cannot recover. Many other houses also were badly damaged. Mach Damage Elsewhere. Reports from such other places told of heavy rains and high winds which did great damage, but of no other loss of life. In many localities bridges were washed away, roads made impassable and wires broken, so that it is feared other fatalities will be reported when communication is restored. A telegram from Evansville, Ind., reported much damage for a hundred miles in every direction. At Corydon, Ky., lightning destroyed the Baptist church, and at Smith Mills, Ky., a residence was struck by lightning and burned. At Petersburg, Ind., much damage was done by wind and rain, and White River rose until it spread over thousands of acres of farm land. A few miles south of Petersburg the storm swept a path half a mile wide, destroying trees, fences and barns. Bridges over all the streams in the vicllnty were washed away. As far as could be leaftaed, however, there was no loss of life in that neighborhood. Louisville and Lexington, Ky., also suffered some damage from electrical storms and an 'Unusually heavy rain. The vicinity of Harrisburg, 111., also was visited by a destructive storm. Bams and fences were blown down, and Liberty Church, near the town, was wrecked by the wind. The heavy rain caused floods in all the small streams which washed away many wagon bridges.

Advices from Duquoin, 111., said that storm did damage amounting to 8150,000 In that immediate vicinity. Many houses in the town were damaged and hundreds of trees were uprooted.