People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1896-05-21

A Terrible Twistcr's Dreadful Havo,

NuAN Uu ii lVN,
A Terrible TwiSter'S Dreadful Havoc.
Newton, Kas., May l5.-Contrary
to majority of the records of cyclones,
a twister descended at 4 o'clock this
morning on the house of David Boehs,
tWenty-one miles out of Newton, and
killed him and fatally injured his wife.
For several days past the people in
this section have been nervous in re-
gard to cyclones. The heavy. scatter
ed, disunited storms have worried
most people into an anxiety which has
kept them on the lookout in the after
noon and awake up until 10 O'Clock
at night. 1t appears 10 have been an
established belief, until today, that
the cyclone hours extended from . un-
til 10 o'clock p. M, but now people
can feel no safety in regard to cyclones,
at any hour. Since the visit of the
dreadful twisting monster in the
northern part of the county before
day-oreak this morning, it has been
recalled here that the disastrous
Marshall, Mo-, cyclone also occurred
ct a. m.
The cyclone this morning did its
worst work four miles northeast of the
small town of MOundridge, which is
sixteen miles north of Newton. just in.
side Mcpherson county. At this
point, four miles northeast of Mound.
ridge, lived David Boehs and wife,
both very aged, on a rented farm.
somewhere in the middle Of the
night, the boiling elements writhed
themselves into the electrical, super.
heated and resistless struggle which
spreads so much terror to atoms OF
humanity underneath.
The tornado plunged from mid-air
and struck down the Boehs house in
an instant. The house was leveled
and torn board from board, shingle
from single, lath from lath. The
aged Mr.. BOehs was terribly injured
His face was split open and his skull
fractured. He was sleeping when the
storm broke and he never awoke. His
wife was hurled to the ground. but
was not so badly injured as her hus.
band. At $3.50 o'clock this afternoon
Mr.. BOehs died aud it is not thought
probable that Mrs. Boehs will live
until morning.
-Four o'clock in the morning at this
time of the year does not see daylight,
and the formation of the storm, could
not be determined with any exacti-
tuse afterward for, rather curiously,
the storm appeared to have formed
above the Boehs farm and to have
vented its rage on the single house
and to have then lost most of its force.
This surmise is the conclusion at
which most of the people in the vicin-
ity of the Boehs place have arrived.
When the storm struck the Boehs
house it was travelling to the north
and not to the northeast as is the US.
ual course of the twisting storm.
After demolishing the Boehs house il
turned southeast and struck the farm
of Mr.. Elyria, where it did some slight
damage. Thence it travelled, with
some deviation, eight miles to the
southeast, demolishing some barns
and q few houses, but injuring no one.
Farmers were awake in thu neigh.
borhood and watched tho storm with.
out knowing that a twister was near,
as there appears to have been no roar,
as is common to tornadoes.
The electrical display at the time.
however was terrorizing and many
posted to their cellars. The atmos-
phere was Ovsrheated and sitting.
Mr.. BOehs and his wife were very
poor and collection was taken up in
the town of Moundridge this morn
ing for the people who suffered along
with the Boehs in the storm, Mound
ridge is town of 200 people. If the
tornado had struck the town it would
not have left splinter.