The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-06-07
BE THANKFUL!

Topeka, in her brightest green
dress after so many days of driving
rains terrific thunderstorms and ever
threatening clouds. should be happy.
If her citizens, self satisfied and con-
tent with their lot do not realize the
reason for their unusual Indebtedness
to nature, a trip to the desolate path
of Tuesdays tornado will open their
eyes of gratitude.
In the wake of the destructive
storm that so kindly detoured the set
Element of $4,000 souls an idea of the
ruthlessness. the savagery and the
fearful effects can be gained. The in
human pranks of this cyclone and the
utter uselessness IN which man is able
to cope with its ravages brings only
shudder to those who wonder-those
who dare think of results had the
storm struck Topeka
When a man sees MASSIVE tree
trunks stripped of their limbs, their
leaves and even their bark, and when
he sees the bare soil where model
and modern farm building once stooA,
he tries to overlook the danger that
swept past Topeka Tuesday-and by
bare margin of only four mileSi
A cyclone is as gentle as it is furious.
At Elmont, for instance, railway sta
ton was scattered in every direction,
bricks from the chimney were thrown
to a far away hillside, stoves, scales,
iron benches were crushed-and jar
of canned pears recently given the
station agent by his wife was found
fifty yards away. standing upright and
unbroken or even cracked.
No rule-above ground-applies to
a tornados fury. A man may be lift
ed into the air and impaled on dis
tant telephone pole. Or an entire
building may be crumbled around him
and he will stand uninjured.
Buildings of steel and concrete,
buildings of stone and brick, buildings
tucked snugly away between monster
! trees-none is safe from cyclone S
perfected violence. Topekas proud
! est monument of marble and steel and
concrete would be but a monument of
a catastrophe had Tuesdays tornado
reached out only few miles to the
/ east.
A view from the top of the many
beautifully wooded hills west of To-
peka including the wind swept path
taken by the tornado is most striking.
| Far to the right-the southeast-may
be seen the river. sparkling down its
| aisle of green and in the background
the thickly forested hills. But the
skyline is broken. Jagged tree stumps,
stripped of leaves and bark, naked,
painfully so, in the sunlight, indicate
the point where the storm, rushing
! from the southwest, leaped over the
fields, the orchards, the homes and
farmyards to the northeast.
Its trail is in no way hidden. Ma
ture outdid herself when she drew a
tornado across her throat. Works OF
nature or man are unable to maintain
themselves in the face of this whirl-
ing, roaring, deafening mass of mo-
bile destruction.
Looking straight east where the
valley of the Kaw is stretched out il
diverging railway lines, in telephone
pole and tree lined highways, IL
checkerboard marked means of agri
culture, and north to the gentle Slop
ing hills, rolling in fields, woods ant
creek draws, the futile barrier of the
cyclones anger is painted in life.
The scalped woods, the leveled or.
chards, the uprooted shade trees an6
hedges, the crushed shrubbery-thi.
gaping self inflicted wound of nature
the once peaceful farmyards strewr
with wreckage and destruction ant
the highways choked with poles anC
wires and debris: This is a tornado
the most vehement of the clouds
tyranny on land.
Along Topeka's wide velvet carpet
ed parkings the children, released
from their schools. are playing joy
fully this afternoon-only four shor
miles from what would have mean
sorrow, ruin and death.
Truly, Topeka should be thankful!