The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1881-06-18

c continuously, lighting the whole valley like
/ day All those IN the vicinity were electrified
, as If by a gigantic electrical machine, feeling
upon their hands and faces the prlckling and
. burning sensation so well known, only IN q
I much greater degree"
Kansas appears to have had several cyclones
9 on the 10th and 1lth. One struck at about the
l junction of Dry and Plumb creeks, three
r miles from Beloit moving southeasterly and
sweeping everything before 1t. Every fence,
tree and house In its way was demolished, in.
GLIDING several stone houses, though happily
no lives were lost At BeloIt the most serious
, damage done was the destruction of window
t glass by the nail, as also at Solomon city; but
. four miles northwest Dennis Morgan and sis.
ter were instantly killed and their house total.
ly destroyed; and at Bennington, on the Val.
ley road, twelve miles northwest of Solomon
city, farmer named rockingham, his wife
and hired hand, were killed, and the house
three stone farm houses were blown down, but
the inmates were in the cellars and escaped
; fatal injuries. A large number Of houses and
barns along the valley between Solomon city
and Minneapolis, a distance OF twenty miles
or more, were blown down, but further loss of
life is not yet reported.
\ few hours later, apparently the same cy.
clone struck Lyon county, doing immense
damage. The town of Americus, near Empo
ria, was almost entirely destroyed, every build
! l., 4
Presbyterian church was literally torn to
pieces, and the Methodist church was blown
from It's foundation and almost totally destroy.
ed. Several houses IN Emporia were blown
down, and fences and other property seriously
injured. The north and east additions to the
State Normal School were unroofed, and the
walls partly torn down. The wheat inst ready
for harvest, and other crops everywhere in the
track Of the storm, were either blown away or
beaten into the ground by the hail, an i'm
mense quantity of which fell during the
storm. Near Olivet, horse was lifted out of
the stable, carried over a high hill and dashed
upon the ground in corntield mile away.
Cattle were lifted from the ground, carried in.
to the air, and dashed to pieces. Three negro
children left at home near Olvet were badly
injured, one having since died. and it is sad
the others cannot live. The physicians of
Melvern, Olivet and Lyndon are on the ground,
and hundreds of people are at work doing all
that can be done to alleviate suffering. Mr..
Rosecrants, who lives northwest, and Mrs
John Harper, who lives northeast Of Malvern,
are known to have been killed. Mrs. Rose
Grants, Nj. Colyer, Miss Frances Colyer, Mrs
Calkins, Mrs. John Harper, Mr.. Mart Neatly
and Mrs. Devlin are badly hurt.
But the most appalling of all the cyclones
of the week was probably that which visited
the little hamlets of King CITY, Rosendale and
Berlin, in Northwestern Missouri, on Sunday
evening. Early IN the evening a cyclone
swept down on the devoted villagers and their
rural neghbors with resistless fury, and mark
ed its pathway with desolatlon and death.
Scarcely had the people begun to comprehend
the calamity that had befallen them when al
second cyclone appeared to complete whatever
destruction the first had left .undone. The re.
sultant loss of property is placed at from
100000 to $5O0,000 while the death list is
large but not definite.
There were also, on Sunday and Monday,
fearful storms in Arkansas, Nebraska and
Minnesota, IN the last named state dong seri-
Gus damage to wheat on the low lands. A dis
patch from Blue Earth city Of the 18th says:
The most violent storm that ever visited this
section commenced at about O'Clock last ev-
ening. Five inches of water fell in one hour.
Trees were uprooted and buildings demolished,
but no great damage to crops by hail is re-
ported Mr.. and Mrs. Chatfee living in the
town of Lura, were killed by the blowing
down of their house. The barn of L. J. Prater,
IN the same town, was unroofed, burying his
daughter in the ruins. She was taken out IN
an unconscious condition, and the injury may
prove fatal.
While the storms were so general and &C
companied with such terrific electrical phe.
nomena, of course there were numerous casu-
alties by lightning. Among the more notable
OF these we have barely room to mention that,
during q thunder shower in Anne Arundel
county, Nd on the 10th, about 20 strawberry
pIckers took refuge in shed which was struck
by lightning, killing 5 outright and badly If
no, fatally lnjuring many others. Near Hun
neville, Kansas, Andrew d. Robson, nephew
OF ex Secretary Robson, of the U. S. Navy.
was killed by lightning while embarrassing
his horse IN the barn; at Henrietta, Texas,
LIZZIE Hutchison and Miss Cox were killed
on Sunday by lightning stroke; and on the
same day at Atkinson, Wis, man named
Elenfeldt wat killed. OF course this list could
be largely extended, for there is hardly an ac-
count of any of the other storms and cyclones
we have mentioned but speaks Of casualties
by lightning.
A correspondent of the Chicago Times re
ports chat with the venerable Horatio Sey- |