The Butler weekly times., 1896-04-30
TWENTY-PEOPLE INJURED
Houses Wrecked. Trees Up
rooted and Animals Perish
Storm Struck the Village Of st.
Joseph, Then Plowed Its Way to
Clifton, Destroying Every
Standing Thing in Path
Nearly Half a Mile
Wholesome Won
u

jured is the result of a cyclone which
struck the village of st. Joseph, near
here, last evening, then plowed it's
way through to this place and thence
eastward, cutting a path from $50
yards to nearly half a mile in width. |
The day had been a very warm one,
and in the early evening there were
indications of rain, but later it
cleared away. About 8 o'clock clouds !
formed near st. Joseph, and q half |
hour later full-fiedged cyclone broke |
upon the village and partially de-
stroyed it. Thence it seemed to rise, |
until within a few miles from this |
place when it again struck the |
ground.
A large number of cattle and horses |
also were killed and injured. The |
cyclone started about six miles south |
Of Clifton and went in northeastern
ly direction for twelve or fifteen miles |
and then lost it's force by spreading |
1t passed about half way between
Clifton and Morganville. Its track
varied from $50 yards to a quarter of
q mile in width. 1t tore through a
farming community and left nothing
standing. Houses and barns were
wrecked, trees torn up or broken,
fences leveled and hay stack blown
in every direction. The cyclone was
followed by a terrific rain storm,
which lasted several hours, flooding
the devasted district.
The cyclone took the people una
wares. There had been indications
of a heavy rain all day, with local
showers, but nobody expected a
storm. So far as learned, the victims
were in their houses, and the most
of them had retired. The storm
struck Peter Anderson's house at $50
o'clock. This was about a mile from
the starting point. The house was
demolished in an instant. Every
member of the Anderson family was
injured. When they had extricated
covered that Anderson's grandchild
was missing. The dead body of the
child was found this morning in a ra-
vine half mile away. 1t evidently
had been carried there by the wind.
Anderson alarmed the neighbors
who lived out of the track of the
storm, and search was commenced
for victims, but little headway was
made in the rain. Couriers were sent
to Clifton and Morgansville for doc
tors, but it was daylight before they
arrived, and the extent of the injury
and damages is not known. At noon
to-day it was thought that all the
victims had been found.
| Heart-rending tales of suffering are
told by persons who had visited the
scenes of the storm. Many of the in
jured lay all night, pinned down by
wreckage or paralyzed in the mud,
while others crawled or hobbled
across the country to a neighbor's s
house. In several instances people
were lifed into the air by the cyclone
and carried for a distance and then
suddenly dropped. The buildings, it
seems, also were lifted up and then
hurled to the ground with force
enough to demolish them. The wife
and daughter of John Morris were
reading when the shock came. The
house was divided. The women man
aged TO get out, when the wind pick.
ed them up, carried them 200 yards
and let them safely down on pile OF
straw, just away from the storms
track.
The people for miles around today
gathered at the different points where
damage had been done, and rendered
, assistance in every possible way
The track of the storm looked like 9
piece of ground which had been lev
eled with a roller. Half a dozen tele
graph poles were torn down wher.
the cyclone crossed the road. Tele
graphic communication between Cliff
ton and the outside world was cut of
from the hour ot the storm till
o'clock this morning. 1t is expected
6 that much damage was done in TIL
vicinity of Palmer, Washington coun
$ ty but the details can not be learned
There was no damage to crops t,
speak Of, but fruit in the storm
track was ruined. 1t is impossible a
this time to estimate the damage t
buildings and other property.
WORST IN KANSAS HISTORY.
Concordia, Kan, April 26.-Th
cyclone which swept through thi
section ot the State on last evenin
was 0rOba bly, one of the most sever
that Kansas has ever eXperie nceo
1t formed about O'Clock last ever
ing near the little town of St. .Iosep
IN the eastern part of Cloud county
and passed in q northeasterlv dires
Jion through the northern part {
Clay and probably III the souther
edge of Washington county. ForsnT
ately, it struck no towns, but ii
course was through a thickly-settle
portion of the Republican vale,
The cyclone was funnel-shaped. an
its power seemed unlimited. House
: and barns were lifted into the air an
dashed back 70 earth. Trees weY