The Globe-republican. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1889-1910, 1899-05-04
THE KIRkvILLe TORNADO.

! Or more people were killed ana scores
were injured by a tornado that leveled
the eastern part of Kirksville at GET
last evening.
/ A gathering storm that had been
threatening all afternoon broke upon
this city at that hour, and q path a
quarter of mile wide and rs clean as
the prairie was swept through the
eastern portion of the city.
Among the first of the buildings
wrecked was the elegant $40. 900 resi-
dence of Mrs Mary Hensley, in the
southeastern part of the city. Not a
vestige of it is left. The Catholic
church. fine brick structure in the
northeastern part, was unroofed and
otherwise damaged. The large dwell
ing of Judge Andrew Ellison, in the
same locality, was stripped of its Sec
ond story. He and his family and
John Doneghy took refuge in the cell
lar and were saved. The residence of
d. Lowell, just outside of town. was
twisted into a heap of ruins and three
of his children buried in the debris
and killed. Otker large residences
were lifted from their fou ndations
and literally torn into kindling wood
Twenty-Five doctors from Moberly,
Macon and other points along the
line of the Wabash railroad came to
Kirksville in response to urgent calls
for medical assistance. The visiting
doctors co-operated with the local ply
sicians and the work of caring for the
wounded was expedited.
The scenes that met the gaze of the
rescuers were horrifying. An aged
man and his wife had evidently been
eating the evening meal when the tor
nado struck and carried their home
away. They had clasped each other
the ground some distance away from
where their home had been. No trace
of their house has been seen. Several
of the dead were found in spots which
would have been the center of the
house had not the building been
blown to splinters This was the case
with Mrs. Banschott, who suffered a
most terrible death.
Her headless body, with its arms
clasping her Ifeless baby, was dis
covered ON the floor of the house,
which was left as raised platform in
an open field. The head was as nicely
severed as if it had been done with
knife, and was about twenty feet dis
tant Two children had been lying in
a cot in one of the destroyed homes.
The house was carried away, but the
floor of the first story and the foun-
dation were left, the wind lifting the
house from the stills and tumbling it a
long distance. The cot on which the
little ones lay was lifted up with
them on it and carried fully block
and a half and set down ON the
groun. Neither of the children was
hurt.
DR.. Howells, his wife and three lit
tie boys crouched in their home in a
group. The house was demolished,
the father left dead, the mother badly
injured and the children more or less
hurt.
Mrs. w. w. Green and her daughter,
Miss Bessie, student in the state
nyrmal school, were crushed in their
home and their bodies were found far
out among the wreckage. The little
son Aubrey was found severely in
jured.
The Weaver family of eight saw the
storm coming, but stood calmly by
the chair of John C. Weaver, the aged |
invalid father. The grown sons might |
have run with their wife and baby out |
of the storms path. The house was
torn to fragments The old man was |
in his chair and the others |
were knocked senseless. Ella Weav-
er's legs were broken. The aged |
mother was not hurt. Joseph Weaver,
his wife and baby and brother Samuel |
were bruised
The Webster family of three were
carried in the debris of their cottage
for several hundred yards and were
dropped, not badly injured Blue
Parschott, Wabash railroad section
hand, came home after the storm and
found his wife beheaded, with her
lead babe in her arms. He was dis
covered an hour later with one dead
form embraced in each arm, crazed
with grief.
While John Mccall was holding onto
\ sapling on the outskirts of the
storm, ls.year-old boy. John Geb.
nardt, came down on him from the
sky. He caught and saved the boy,
whose home had been demolished two
blocks away.
At Henry Nichols farm. just out OF
own, in the path of the storm. an
,ther man was seen carried up 100 feet
rom the ground The body has not
ret been found
A. j. Glasee and his wife met death
n each others arms. Rubbish from
he house covered them entirely. He
vas a retired capitalist. In his
pockets were g., 600
The Rev. and Mrs. Theodore Brig
lam, well known in Methodist Epis- |
opal circles for evangelical work,
we're crushed by flying missiles. Mrs.
Brigham will die
onnn~ A., ~~O