The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-05-26
SCORES MEET DEATH
AND SCORES MORE SUFFER INJURY
OF A SERIOUS CHARACTER.
Awful Work Of Tornadoes That swept
Portions of Michigan, Illinois,
Iowa and Kansas.
MUCH PROPERTY IN RUINS
AND LITTLE LEFT OF SOME TOWNS
BUT DEBRIS OF THE WRECK.
Not a House Standing I'm lakewood and
Thomas, Two Villages I'm East
ern Michigan.
LOSS OF LIFE THERE GREAT
vARIOUsLY ESTIMATED AT TWENTY
FIVE TO ONE HUNDRED.
Many Buildings Destroyed at Mount
CIcmons and a Number of People
Badly Injured.
TWO DISASTERS IN IOWA
TWENTY OR MORE PEOPLE KILLED
| BY A BALLoON-sHAPED CLOUD.
And from Ten to Thirty Others Swept
to Death by Flood That Fol-
lowed AZ Heavy Rain.
Many buildings Destroyed at Mount
Clemons and a Number of People
Badly Injured.
TWO DISASTERS IN IOWA
TWENTY OR MORE PEOPLE KILLED
BY A ABALLoON-sHAPED CLOUD.
And from Ten to Thirty Others Swept
to Death by Flood That Fol-
lowed AZ Heavy Rain.

visited by a derth- dealing tornado this
evening, and the loss of life is variously
estimated by excited correspondents to be
from fifty to one hundred.
A dispatch from Oxford says: A tornado
struck the village of Oakwood this evening
and wiped it on The earth, destroying all
the buildings and leaving death and destruc-
ton in its wake. Just west of the village
the fields are srresn with dead and wound
ed but it will De Impossible to get cor
rect estimate OF the damage until day.
light. The storm also struck the village
of Thomas and destroyed about a dozen
buildings. including the Hotel Johnson.
the McDermott ard the large apple
houses. Many farm buildings are destroyed,
but no news can be obtained from the coun-
try on account of the roads being blocked
with fallen trees. etc. 1t is believed that
the number of dead and wounded will reach
nearly a hundred. Physicians have gone
from Oakland, Oxford and Metamora
ports seventeen persons killed and twenty
to thirty injured in that section. A partial
list of the dead in Brandon and Groveland
townships follows:
DANIEL THOMPSON and son.
WILLIAM MITCHELL. MRS. MITCHELL
and two children. I.
JOHN MILKY.
MRS. T.. G.. HEATON.
Two children of Mr.. Pewee.
The badly injured are: William Kitchen
and wife, the latter fatally; Oscar Granger,
Louis Porritt and wife, Archie Woodruff, T.
ID. Eaton and wife.
A Pontiac correspondent says: 1.-The coun-
try in the vicinity of this city was given
its first taste Of a tornado this evnng. and
the little village of Thomas has been wiped
out. Metamora and Oakwood were also
touched up and their inhabitants badly
frightened, some being injured. and a track
of devastation left to within three
fourths of mile of Ortinville.
The telephone and telegraph wires between
here and those places are all down and the
only data Of the work of the tornado is fur
nished by survivors, who have come here for
shelter. But from comparison of their sto-
ries it seems certain that from fourteen to
eighteen lives have been lost. The following
names Of the dead at Thomas have been re-
ported by their neighbors. who escaped with
their lives, but lost their homes:
JOHN POORITT
MRS. JOSEPH BIRD.
JOHN MILKEY.
T.. K. TORRANCE.
MRS. HENRY QUICK, ABRAM QUICK
and two children.
MRS. ALICE MITCHELL and two chill
dIen.
Actual details of the devastation caused by
the tornado are, Of course. meager, but all
of the witnesses agree that the storm was a
| regular Western twster. It's first appearance
| at Thomas Station was from the southwest
| in the form of a densely black funnel-shaped
| cloud, moving with almost incredible swift
ness and seeming to take long leaps. 1t
| seemed to have the elasticity of a gigantic
rubber ball and would strike the ground,
| then, leaving a footprint of devastation.
bound into the air and travel mile or more
| before again touching the earth.
A NEWSPAPER MANS STORY.
| b. L. Weaver. one of the Tribune's trav-
| cling collectors. came to Detroit the
Bay City division of the Michigan Central
train that passed through this evening. and
said that the tornado had followed the
railroad track very closely. As far as he
| could learn from observation from the
train and conversation with the people the
| tornado first struck the outer edge of Met
| amoras, but did not do very much damage.
| Il then took leap and struck a farm
| house and barn between Metamoras and
| Oakwood, leveling them to the ground.
| Whether or not the occupants were killed
could not be learned, but as they had not
| been seen IL was presumed that they were.
| Then the cloud descended upon Oakwood
and leveled every building to the ground.
Here fire added to its horrors to the terri
| be work of the storm and completed the
| devastation. When the train passed there
was not person TO be seen, but the flames
had nearly completed their work of de-
| stroying the wreckage left by the twister.
| The train had come slowly. as the track
! was Uttered with branches OF trees and
| telegraph po.es from New Metamoras
! through Oakwood and Thomas to near
| Pontiac.
| Mr.. Weaver said that the village O
Thomas was not entirely wiped out, but s,
nearly so that but necleus for town /
| left. Only a portion of the depot building
remains standing. and nearly the whole o
| the grain elevator, across the track from
| the depot. was carried away. He counties
| eight foundations OF buildings near the de
| pot from which the superstructures had
been blown away. The only hotel in th'