The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-06-28
BAERC|NJNIY STORM
Straight Hurricane With
TWisters Incidental.
ED PUTNAM WAS KILLED
Many Persons Injured--6
Damage to Property.

Guthrie. o. IT, Jun Z.-The Hardesty
Herald thus graphically describes the re-
cent severe storm which swept a portion
Of Beaver county:
1.-THE storm Of Sunday evening worked
havoc in this section of the country At
this place it was straight hurricane,
hut at other places it assumed the form
of tornado. The general course of the
storm was from the northwest TO the
southeast. In hardesty one or two build
ings were blown down and scattered, the
photo gallery Of Carson Bros. was swept
away and outbuildings, barns and ouggles
wrecked, but luckily no residents OF the
village were injured.
over northwest two miles, at the resi-
dence of Tom James, everything was
swept away. Mr.. James was absent, but
Mrs James and the children were at
home Several neighbors were present
and in all, fourteen persons were in the
house when the storm struck. The house
was smashed TO kindling and scattered
for ever a mile. The occupants were car
ried from % to $50 yards. Mrs. James
and all others of the party were taken
to the home Of James Beasley and cared
for. Word was sent to Hardesty for re-
lief about 10 O'Clock. Mrs. James was
severely injured, and no one escaped
severe bruises. Young Lindsey, slightly
injured, and Ed Putnam; Were brought TO
Hardesty and placed in the back room
of the Herald office. Ed was crushed
and bruised beyond recovery. He was de-
lirious when the relief party found him
and remained so till he died. which oc-
Cured Tuesday.
mo one knew of the complete destruc-
ton of the Neff ranch tia Monday about
noon. M. Neff was away attending a
roundup About ten minutes before the
storm struck the ranch Mrs. Neff and
children went into their dugout to avoid
lightning A genuine tornado hit the
ranch and destroyed everything above the
surface. Probably one-sixth of the lum-
Der of the residence barn, corrals and
sheds is scattered within 100 yards of
where they formerly stood, and no trace
Of the remainder has yet been found. A
buggy was broken to pieces, though it
was not moved over three or four feet
Everything on the ranch was swept away
and broken to pieces. Mr.. Neff did not
return home till Monday at noon. and
knew nothing Of the tornado until ne ar
rived at the wreck of his home. No mem
bers Of his family were injured and Mrs.
Neff certainly displayed rare courage.
pete Hashbarger and family took
refuge In a vacant building near Buffalo.
It was swept away and Pete's boy sus-
tanned a broken leg. At Grandvalley, John
Burns was thrown out of a wagon and
his arm broken. On all ranches in the
track of the storm outbuildings were
wrecked and in some instances houses
were unroofed
"Those assembled at the James home
certainly had a narrow escape from death,
and it is a wonder that every occupant
of the house was not killed Had the
same force OF wind struck Hardesty prob
ably not one of US would have escaped.
There is a dugout back Of the Herald Of
fee, but we couldn't get to it,
THE path of the storm was five or six
miles wide. At this place it was hur-
ricane, and the wreck at Mr. James in
dfcates the same, but at Mr.. Neffs
nothing except a tornado could have
wrought such destruction. During the
progress Of the storm a small twister
passed a few yards east of town; others
report similar whirlwinds so the storm
appears to have been a terrific hurricane
in which there mingled a multitude Of
whirlwinds in additio> ito the resistless
twister that struck the Neff ranch"