The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1950-07-27
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De1atsoI

Town talk for the past week CEN
tered about that twister which swept
|. Orange township and make no
mistake, there was plenty to talk
about-never within memory of the
oldest inhabitant has there been
anything even approaching it in
savage devastation-or demonstra-
tion of the worth of tornado insur-
ance-and Bluffton area sightseers
thronged roads through the country
side viewing with amazement dis
aster wrought by the gales fury
twisted trees, cornfields with mud
covered stalks stripped bare of their
leaves pointing skyward at crazy
angles like gaunt gnarled fingers
the Hartman woodlot near the old
Ewing school corner mass of
tangled trees wrenched out by the
roots or shattered tops and per-
vaded by the stencil from scores of
rabbits, pheasants and other wild
life slaughtered wholesale without
warning in the holocaust :. number
less incidents related in connection
with vagaries of the storm which
moved at an erratic pace as it cut
a swath several hundred yards wide
for five mile stretch through the
heart of the township, leaving some
nlQppG II ~ w
twister passed high overhead and
swooping down on others to bring
disaster and destruction most
remarkable was the fact that with
all the widespread devastation there
were no fatalities temporarily
overshadowed were all other phases
in Buttons day to day life
boarding which in the past week has
taken a new impetus since Wash
ington posed the possibility of con-
trolls and rationing =. sugar, cof-
fee, tires, autos, household gadgets
and what not . first polio case
of the season and July bowling
off the stage with less than the US
ual hot, humid weather ice cream
soclals galore !. corn overcoming
handicap of earlier cool weather
and mothers planning outfits for
youngsters as September 5, opening
day of school nears.
Orange township folks did some
fast thinking and faster action in
the emergency last Wednesday even
ing when suddenly confronted by the
menace of cyclone. Some sought
shelter in cellars while others piled
into the family car and fled before
the fury of the twister which moved
at comparatively moderate speed.
Among the latter were Mrs. Le-
land Sechler and daughter June who
were on their farm, the former
Henry Which place. Seeing the
storm moving slowly at the edge of
distant woodlot, they hastily sum-
moned their tenant, Franklin Beach,
who with his wife and two children
crowded into the Sechler car and
sped east to Route SO and turned
south, away from the storms path.
Their barn was badly >damaged.
Twenty head of cattle, however, es-
capped unharmed, having been fed and
watered and turned out into the
field only a short time before the
storm struck.
And there was plenty of neighbor-
ly assistance for those who had sus-
tanned damage. At the Milton and
Howard Benroth farm where dam
age was extensive, neighbors gath
cred early Thursday morning to
help clear away debris and repair
damage. The storm wrecked ga
rage and demolished an attached
chicken house, tore off barn doors
and part of the house roof as well
as damaging smaller buildings and
blowing down trees.
Helping at the Benroth place,
Thursday and Friday were John
Scothorn, Floyd Hartman, Russell
Ebay, Walter Hamilton, Bob and
Ezra Hartman, Louis Shellenbarger,
Grover Montgomery, Henry and
Jacob Schaller, Harry Gehrisch,
Stanley Weidman, Herbert Bormuth,