The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-10-30

KILLED IN A TORNADO
John S. Moor Aged 63, Meets
Death Sunday Night.
HOME TOTALLY DESTROYED
Josiah Moor, a Brother Escapes
With Slight Injuries.

A small tornado, the only twister ever
known in this section so late in the seas
on. dropped down in East Gypsum town
Ship Sunday afternoon shortly after six
o'clock, .wrecldng the house occupied by
the Moor brothers. farmers. and killing
the elder John S. Moor, aged g. The
tornado from the usual direction, south
west travelled less than a mile then lift
ed and disappeared.
The Moor farm IS about ten miles
southeast of this city. Both Of the
brothers. John and Josiah Moor were sit
ting in the house when the storm occur
red. 1t had been raining all day and the
last thing that had been expected was a
cyclone. On account of the heavy clouds
that had hung low all day, darkness came
on very early in the evening and John
Moor had lighted his lamp in order to be
able to read.
In the southwest for some little time
previous TO six o'clock it had been thun-
dering and lighting but DO attention was
paid to this. A darker cloud than the
others formed and yet it was not noticed
10 be in the least threatening. The first
warning was when hard puff Of wind
struck the house and the shingles began
to fly off the roof. Josiah stepped to the
window to look out He realized in
moment that they were in storm, so he
rushed to where his brother was sitting
in the other room, at the same time tel
ling him to put the light out for fear of
ct Ii
struck Josiah IN the hack of the head
and rendered him unconscious.
When Josiah recovered from the blow,
the storm had past and he was partly
under the ruins of the wrecked house.
His first thought was of his brother John
He quickly regained his feet and called
his brothers name. There was no an
swer to the cry. He called louder and
then above the shrieking wind he thought
he heard a rapping noise from wehre his
brother had been sitting. In the dark
ness he made his way in that direction
but could find nothing except parts of
partition walls piled up. After searching
in vain for his brother he ran to the near
est neighbor, Mrs. ]. ]. Huse and told
the story of the destruction.
Mr.. Moor and Mr.. Huse hurried back to
the Moor house and after igniting a pile
Of straw they discovered the body 'of
John Moor underneath fallen partition
The two men could not lift the partition
but by this time Mr.. Michael Dillon, who
lives half a mile distant had arrived and
assisted in removing the body.
1t was found that the deceased had
been crushed TO death by the wall which
i'm Ia r,fv
chair by the kitchen stove His face
was toward the floor, which showed that
he was pitched forward by the partition.
If he had not fallen with his chest on the
chair he might have escaped death for
the furniture III the room held the parti-
ton above the floor
When the body was taken from the de-
bris there did not seem to be any broken
bones, neither were there any external
wounds. Even though the body had been
under the wreck for quite awhile it was
warm when taken out. The indications
are that Mr.. Moor did not suffer instant
death. He was probably alive when his
brother Josiah called, but could only
knock with his feet on the floor.
After the body was removed from the
wrecked house it was placed in a corn
crib which the storm did not hurt. A
party Of neighbors then came to this city |
and notified the authorities. Coroner NJ. |
NJ. McCollister and Undersheriff D. c. |
Simmons started for the Moor farm at
once. When they arrived there already
large company Of farmers had assem- |
bled at the scene of the disaster Coro- |
ner McCollister decided that there would |
be no need of an inquest. The cause of |
the death and the way it occurred was |
easily TO be seen. The body. was brought /
TO the city by Undertaken I. ". Gill and /
prepared for shipment east Mr.. Josiah /
Moor left with the body last night over /
the Frisco. He viii take the remains to /
Paxton, H., where a sister lives. q
The Moor brothers were born in Eng |
land. They came to this country years |
ago. There is a brother living in Eng /
land vet Neither Josiah nor John Moor /
have ever been married and they lived F.
out on their farm and kept house for |
themselves 1t seems that John Moor
had succeeded in accommodating consider
able property. He owned the farm where /.
ne and his brother lived and had It we'll
improved. Besides this he had money
invested in eastern property. Coroner
McCollister took possession Of all the pa
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