Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1896-08-06
FREQUENT HEAVY STORMS.
Central States Continue to Suffer from
the Furious Elements.


Central States Continue to Suffer from
the Furious Elements.
Central Ohio and Indiana experienced
still another young tornado AT
Springfield il struck the northwest
portion of the city, tearing up trees
and unroofiing houses. Mrs. Kinney's
residence and Schafers grocery were
demolished. Telegraph and electric
street car poles were snapped off,
throwing the city in darkness and par
alyzing street car traffic and telephone
service. The First Presbyterian church
steeple was blown away and part OF
the Thomas Manufacturing Co.'s plant
was unroofed and several houses were
damaged. At Milford lightning de-
stroyed three barns with loss of
$4,000 and injured three of John
Schafer's family. A number of houses
were unroofed at Sydney, o., and crops
badly damaged. A Touring mill and
two barns were burned by lightning
at Athens. Portsmouth and South
Charleston report enormous loss of
crops.
In Indiana the damage was heavier
and in the vicinity of Bluffton the
storm swept everything before it.
Robert Cavin's huge barn was crushed,
killing cattle and horses. Dwellings
were overturned and the Methodist
church was unroofed at Liberty Cen
ter. At Petroleum a dwelling was
blown to pieces. Upton lost n $50, 600
school house; Jesse Welchel was
drowned trying to save his live stock
in his barn, and hundreds of head of
stock persisted. Elwood, Muncie and
Huntington and surrounding country
suffered severely.
And Still Another Big Blow.
Three storms within one week is the
record of portions of Ohio, Indiana and
Pennsylvania. The damage to prop
erty has been heavy and loss of life
has occurred in each case. The third
visitation of the wrath of the elements
did much damage about Pittsburg and
three persons were killed by lightning,
as follows: James Ellis, West Overton;
John Schiller, Homestead; unknown
woman, Duquesne. James Foyle's
family, consisting of mother and three
children, of Duquesne, were shocked
by lightning. The storm in and around
Duquesne assumed the nature of cy
clone, destroying six residences and
two stores besides unroofng others.
"a Houses Wrecked at Steubenville.
The storm took the character of
cloudburst at Steubenville, o. Par
mars and Fishers runs became mighty
torrents with few minutes and peo-
pie had to flee from their homes to save
their lives, mGny wading through
water which was above their knees be-
fore they reached the hills. During
the flood on Parmar's run William
Bush and wife took refuge in tree.
The water came down the creeks 20
feet high, sweeping before it barns,
houses, bridges, trees and outbuildingS.
The houses that were washed away
and completely wrecked were occupied
by the families of Mrs. Philabaum,
Robt Richie, VIM. Risdon, James Bur-
CESS, Andy Albaugh, benjamin Wise,
Grant Stroud, John Hart and Henry Il.
Bowman's store. The houses of %
others were wrecked or damaged by
the water. Two hundred people are
homeless as a result OF the flood. The
damage will aggregate $500, 900.
A destructive cyclone visited Glous-
ter, a mining town. Several houses
were smashed and number of others
wrenched from their foundations. j.
L. Dougherty was killed by flying tim
bers. The house occupied by James
McClelland and family of six was
crushed like an egg, but the occupants
escaped injury. The tornado lasted
scarcely moment, but the rain fell in
torrents for an hour Thousands of
dollars worth of damage to growing
crops resulted. Another heavy storm
of rain visited Glouster soon after; no
serious damage was done, but Mrs.
Chas. Smith died of fright. At Scott
dale and Derry several houses were
struck by lightning. Other Ohio towns
report heavy loss-Chillicothe, Jackson,
Wellsville, Salem, Martins Ferry and
other points.
About ParkersbIrg, w. Va, over
$4,000 damage was done and the Il. e.
o. railroad says this seasons storms in
West Virginia and western Pennsyl-
vania have cost them 81 100000. Sew
eral localities in Kentucky and Indiana