USA > Iowa > Calhoun County > Pomeroy > The story of a storm, a history of the great tornado at Pomeroy, Calhoun County, Iowa, July 6, 1893 > Part 6
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The Harmon home was on the corner of the next block south, fronting west. The eldest son of the family succeeded in gaining the cellar just as the storm came, but the others were carried away with the house and tumbled out on the ground at a point about six rods southeast of where it had stood. W. J. Johnston, who was with the family, was carried some distance farther
SOLE SURVIVORS - HUMAN AND BRUTE-ON ONE FARM.
From Copyright Photo by Garrison, Ft. Dodge.
AMONG THE RUINS-LOOKING EAST.
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than the others. He was only dazed a little by the experience, and, upon recovering himself, started, as he supposed, to return to the Harmon home, but after traveling a block or two found that he was going in exactly the opposite direction. There were no landmarks left to guide him and he discovered his mistake only upon meeting persons who lived, or had lived, in that part of town. The Harmons were all quite badly hurt, excepting the boy who went to the cellar. Mr. Harmon had an arm broken, Mrs. Harmon a number of bruises, and the daughter, Emma, had a stake driven through her knee. Lloyd, the younger son, was burned about the ankle and on his leg to the knee, and had every appearance of having received a severe electric shock.
C. R. George's house, at the southwest corner of Maple and Otsego streets, was divided by the tornado, the main part being taken northwest, the wing, or kitchen part, southeast. The family, consisting of Mr. and Mrs. George and four children and their niece and nephew, Carrie and August Myer, all went into the bed- room at the northeast corner of the house, when they saw the whirling mass of vapor and shower of sticks and tim- bers approaching from the west. Five of the party were taken with the part of the house they were in, northwest, and the three others were carried one hundred feet south. Mr. George was bruised some but was on his feet imme- diately after the storm had passed gathering together his" scattered family. He found his wife after a five minutes' search. Although mortally wounded, she was yet con- scious and able to converse with him. But in another five minutes she was dead. The eldest child, a girl of ten years, had a broken leg, a head wound, and a stick was run through her hand. Her brother, eight years old, had bad wounds on head, arm and leg. The latter
6
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was injured in a way that baffled medical skill for some time. The member remained badly swollen and was very painful, and it could not be determined what the exact nature of the injury was. He finally had to be relieved by an operation. The third child, a boy of six, went through the ordeal almost unscathed, and the little girl of four had only a cut on one knee. Mr. George had just completed a new residence at the northeast corner of Oswego and Third streets, into which the family had intended removing the day of the storm but were delayed by Mr. George's having felt ill that day. The new house remained in its place and would have afforded them pro- tection from serious injury.
A RACE WITH THE STORM.
Ray Brownell and family and Mr. and Mrs. Frank Ackerly occupied the residence at the northwest corner of Ontario and Harrison streets. Mr. and Mrs. Brownell and son Mead were two miles west of town with horse and carriage when they first saw the angry-looking clouds, and they had quite a race with the storm. The horse made about the best time of which he was capable, for a two-mile heat, and, when Mr. B. ran to the house, after putting his horse in the barn, the rain which preceded the tornado but a few minutes was descending with its full force. Immediately upon entering the house Mrs. Brownell and the two children and Mr. and Mrs. Ackerly went to the cellar, but Mr. Brownell waited to change his clothes, and joined the others with no time to spare. The house above them moved about three feet off its founda- tion, rested there a moment, then the crash came, the house being carried across the street to the eastward and dashed in pieces. Niles and Joseph Brownell were up stairs with T. J. Brownell, father of Niles and Ray, and who was an invalid, confined to his bed. When they
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saw the house going Niles and Joseph got on the bed to try to protect the old gentlemen, and the three were car- ried with the mattress a distance of one hundred and twenty feet through the air. The old gentleman received a bad bruise on the head from a flying timber. Niles had his head and leg hurt, and Joseph two ribs broken. Those in the cellar were uninjured, although the place was almost filled with débris. The harp from the Ackerlys' piano was found a week after the storm, all in perfect tune except one string.
The home next north of the Brownell place was that of Tim Mudge. Mr. and Mrs. Mudge and little boy and J. F. Wilkinson were standing in the hall. They had been watching the clouds and thought the worst of them had gone by. The boy went to pass into the sitting- room and the door was slammed against his arm, bruis- ing that member badly. Then all were carried into the street with the house, and the three adult per- sons were caught beneath a wall that fell over them as the house went in pieces. The wall was lying across Mr. Mudge's limbs, pinning him to the ground. Mr. Wilkinson was back farther under the wall, and suc- ceeded in raising it on his shoulders sufficiently to free Mudge, who then held it up with his hands while Wil- kinson crawled out. Afterward, the combined strength of eight men was required to remove the wall from the street. Mrs. Mudge was hurt about the hips and back, Mr. Mudge had a wound on the head and his legs were badly bruised, and one of Mr. Wilkinson's shoulders was bruised.
Mrs. Drummer and her two sons, at the house just north of Mudge's home, saw the storm in time to go into the cellar, where they were also joined by Mrs. A. J. Wil- kinson. Mr. and Mrs. Wilkinson lived just across the
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street, in Will Barr's house. Mr. W. intended to accom- pany his wife to the Drummer cellar, but thinking there was plenty of time, remained to close the windows and doors, and was caught by the death-dealing tornado before leaving the house, which was crushed and the ruins scat- tered in a northeasterly direction. Mr. Wilkinson was found under one of the fallen walls of the Wykoff resi- dence, across the street north. His thigh was broken and he was otherwise mashed and bruised. He died at 6:30 the following morning. The occupants of the Drummer cellar, excepting Mrs. Drummer, who had a broken arm, were uninjured. Their escape seems almost miraculous when it is known that a large stallion was dropped into the 10 by 12 cellar with them and floundered there in his death agonies.
FLOATED THROUGH THE AIR HEAD DOWNWARD.
The residence of N. Fecht, at the northwest corner of Ontario and Maple streets, was doubtless as near the cell- ter of the storm's track as it would be possible to locate the center from after-indications. Mr. and Mrs. Fecht, with their six children, were at the supper table when a gust of wind came that impelled them to get up and close the doors. Before their object could be accomplished there was a crash, the house was crushed like an egg shell and carried to the middle of the next block east, the occupants going with it. Mr. Fecht says that he experi- enced quite distinctly the sensation of passing through the air with his head downward, and the one thing that occupied his mind during this time-which could have been but an instant, although it seemed to him much longer-was the desire that he might strike something and be rendered senseless. His wish must have been granted, for, when he next realized anything concerning his
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surroundings, he was lying on the ground and discovered that his eldest son was looking among the ruins for the other members of the family. He then joined his son in the search, and they were not long in finding the loved ones, although all were unrecognizable except by the sound of their voices. Mrs. Fecht had been struck on the leg by a timber, and was otherwise injured so that she died four days later. Albert, eleven years old, had a stick run through the fleshy part of his leg and was bruised about the face and head. Ed, aged thirteen, had a stick in his arm; Earl, his knee cut; Fannie, ankle dislocated; Viola and Flora, holes in head and bruises. Viola was found under a section of sidewalk which it required the 'strength of two to remove. They expected to find her crushed to death, but her injuries were not serious. Mr. Fecht had a badly mashed shoulder, but he helped gather his own family from the ruins and tried to remove Mr. Wilkinson before realizing that he was hurt.
In the same block with the Fecht place, and immedi- ately north, was William Knudson's residence, and next door north of him lived his father, Peter Knudson. Will- iam Knudson was engaged in holding his north door closed when a 2 by 6 scantling came through the door with such force that it was driven through the back wall of the house. Then the house began to move, as easily as a train of cars would start, but was carried only about six- teen feet when it went to pieces. Mrs. Knudson,- with her baby in her arms, was thrown on the sidewalk in front of the lot, and Mr. Knudson fell just inside the walk. A team of horses were blown against the back end of the house, and one of these, crazed by its wounds, ran directly over Mrs. Knudson, striking her on the head and stunning her for a time. An oil stove struck Mr. Knud- son, cutting an ugly gash in his head. Nels Anderson
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and a Mr. Peterson, who were in the rear end of the house, were left in a pile of rubbish where the kitchen had stood. Peterson was badly hurt.
At Peter Knudson's, Aunt Betsy Talbot, of Manson, who was visiting there at the time, was fatally injured, and Mrs. Knudson was badly hurt. The elder Knudson's house was taken toward that of his son, and the old gen- tleman was found between the two, under the ruins of his cook shanty, but slightly injured. Just as the storm struck his house he was in the act of supplying the places of two broken window lights with a couple of pillows, and when the house commenced going to pieces he put the pillows to either side of his head, and they doubtless protected him not a little from the flying boards and tim- bers. Mrs. Knudson was thrown into the gutter on the west side of the street, and, although she was already severely wounded, it is thought the gutter saved her life, much of the débris having been blown directly over hier. Before alighting here some heavy object had struck her broadside, bruising lier body badly ; a gash five inches long was cut in her head, a nail had been driven into the top of her head, and a stick run through her right leg. Aunt Betsy Talbot had a cut in the back of her head, from the effects of which she died an hour afterward.
THE FAMILY NOT DIVIDED.
J. W. Anderson and wife, living at the southwest cor- ner of Ontario and Maple streets, were making prepara- tions to go into their cellar, but the storm was nearer, as well as far more terrific, than they anticipated. Mr. Anderson went out to close the barn door ; he had barely entered the house upon his return when the kitchen part was taken away. At this Mrs. Anderson rushed into the front room and took up her baby, and Mr. Anderson caught both wife and child in his arms, and the three were
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carried together thus a distance of two blocks. When they next realized anything they were lying in the mud, and Mrs. Anderson's hair was so firmly imbedded in the sticky soil that she was unable to free herself. Neither she nor the babe was seriously injured, however. Mr. Anderson was badly crippled, but he did not realize his condition until some time later. After getting his wife out of her uncomfortable situation, he went to seek a place of shelter for the family, and, although accom- plishing his errand, was unconscious a good part of the time, or, at least, had no recollection afterward of what transpired. What he accomplished that night, in his condition, is certainly a striking illustration of how will- power may sometimes supply the place of physical strength ; for his injuries were such as, it would seem, would render a man absolutely helpless. His right arm was broken, and the left badly hurt; three ribs were broken, one in three places, and a stick had been thrust into his side, taking an upward course and forcing an opening at the shoulderblade.
Henry Orthman's buildings, at the southwest corner of Ontario and Elm streets, were all swept away, but the members of the family who were at home found a safe refuge in their cave.
The city school building and grounds occupied the east half of the block on Ontario street, between Third and Elm. The building was not entirely razed to the ground, but the second story was taken off and the rest so badly wrecked that it had to be torn down and a new temple of learning erected in its place.
TWO FAMILIES LEFT UNHURT IN THE MIDST OF RUINS.
Along Ontario street, between Second and Third, stood the Methodist and Presbyterian churches and
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parsonages. Both churches and the Presbyterian parson- age were wrecked completely, while the Methodist parson- age- the frailest looking building of them all - was left standing. It happened that during the storm the family liv- ing in the Presbyterian parsonage, Mr. and Mrs. Winchel, were with their neighbors, the Rev. W. T. McDonald and family, at the Methodist parsonage, and all were saved. Their experiences were by no means tame, however, during the progress of the storm. The Presbyterian par- sonage, which stood north of the Methodist parsonage, was lifted up and hurled against the northwest corner of the latter, moving it about six feet from the foundation and knocking a hole in the roof. A I by 7 timber came through the north wall of the room occupied by the two families and buried itself in the ceiling. The limb of a tree, fromn near Myers' furniture store in the next block east, was blown in at the north window', striking Mrs. McDonald on the leg and bruising it quite badly, but aside from this the two families escaped uninjured. The ruins of the Presbyterian church and parsonage were deposited in the rear of the Methodist parsonage, together with what was left of Rev. McDonald's barn. The north wall of the Methodist church was carried north against the parsonage, while the west end of the building, the bell and its settings went one block southwest, and the spire was taken the same distance northwest.
The German Lutheran church, at the southeast corner of Ontario and Second streets, was the only church edifice in Pomeroy not completely wrecked by the tornado. This was moved about thirty feet off its foundation, the cupola torn off, the rear end knocked out, and other minor dam- age done, but it was soon straightened up and repaired and used for a time as a storehouse for supplies sent in for the sufferers.
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On south of the church, in the same block, the homes of Johnson, Dangerfield, McKeen and Hillman were left standing, although damaged considerably. G. W. Wilk- inson, editor of the Pomeroy Herald, and family were at Hillman's during the storm. The roof of the house was taken off and the north wall blown in, but none of the occupants were hurt. Mr. Hillman had just completed a new two-story brick business building at the corner of First and Ontario streets, and that was completely demolished.
G. W. Smith's house, on Ontario street, between Third and Elm, was on the very north edge of the swept district, but escaped with a severe racking. The doors and windows were shattered, and a long plank shot in through the north side and passed under the dining table. The family had gone into the southwest corner room and escaped injury. The front of the Smith & Reamer gen- eral store-on the west side of Ontario street, between First and Second - was blown in, but a show case within three feet of the front was not broken.
The lower walls of Fred Dilmuth's house, south of the Smith home, were left standing, but the roof and upper parts were taken off and the house completely gutted. The family was not at home at the time of the storm.
Smith Lowrey and family, living on the next corner south, went to Mrs. Wells' cellar upon seeing the indica- tions of a severe storm, and escaped injury. Their house seemed to have simply gone in pieces where it stood, and the débris was not carried any distance.
FAMILY CARRIED A HALF MILE.
A. L. Gilbert had been watching the clouds, and, at the first flurry preceding the real tornado, took his family
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into the cave. When it commenced raining he, like many others on this fateful night, was deceived into the conclusion that the wind clouds had passed over, and the family returned into the house again. They were soon brought to realize their terrible mistake. The Hulett house, next south, was blown over against their kitchen, crushing it into splinters, and then the main part of the house began to sway backward and forth. Mr. Gilbert and wife gathered their children about them and all lay down on the floor. After a few uncertain movements, first one way, thien another, the house was carried in a due southeasterly direction nearly forty rods before falling in pieces, and it seemed to be bumping along over tlie ground a good part of that distance. After being freed from the house the family was rolled and carried at least one hundred and twenty rods farther. When it became possible for Mr. Gilbert to look about, he saw a cow roll- ing directly toward him, and was compelled to do some hard scrambling to get out of her way. After regaining his feet it seemed quite dark for a little time, and he was unable to get his bearings. About the first object he saw was a little bundle of clothes apparently floating, or lying, in the muddy water which filled a ditch close by. He went up to examine it and pulled from the mire and slush his own baby. He was in the very nick of time, for in a few minutes more the child must have perished. Some - distance farther on Mr. Gilbert found his wife and the two other children in a pile. The wife was badly hurt in the back and one leg was severely bruised, but all were able to walk to the nearest house -that of Arthur Free- man - where they were given shelter and attention dur- ing the night.
William Wykoff and family, at the northeast corner of Ontario and Maple streets, were carried about fifty feet
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with their house before the building was shattered and the débris spread out all about them. Here another inci- dent was noted indicating that the storm-fiend was some- what partial to the babes. The Wykoff baby, four months old, was in its cab when the tornado struck that home with so little warning that the mother had not time to look after her offspring. After it was over the child was discovered lying almost contentedly in a pile of rub- bish, its only injury being a slight cut on the head. But no trace of the cab could be found anywhere - not even a piece large enough to keep as a relic. Mrs. Wykoff's face and one arni were quite badly wounded ; one child was fatally injured, the others were practically unhurt.
ONE OF THE SADDEST SCENES.
Of the many sad scenes in Pomeroy on that memor- able night of July 6, one of the saddest was enacted on the corner of Ontario and Harrison streets, where the home of George Guy had been. Mrs. Guy was an invalid, and, a short time before the storm, Mrs. Jane Davy, her sister, who lived near, went over to the Guy home, accompanied by her daughter and son, Katie and Ben Davy, and granddaughter, Bertha Davy, thinking that their presence might allay the sick woman's wonted nervousness at such times. All were in the house when the storm struck, although they had been in the cellar a few minutes before, but returned upstairs when the heavy fall of rain indicated to them that the wind cloud had passed over. They were therefore wholly unwarned of the approach of the monster of destruction, and, by some mysterious means known only to the Power that controls tornadoes, the house was taken away clean from the spot where it had stood, being shattered as it went, and the occupants were left on the bare ground in about the same
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relative positions they had occupied in the house at the moment the storm struck it. Katie and Ben Davy - the former a young lady of eighteen, the latter a young man of twenty who was home from college for a visit - were together where the kitchen part of the house had been, and the others were twenty feet away, where the sitting room had been. All were injured so badly that they could help neither themselves nor each other, and it was about three-quarters of an hour before relief came. Niles Brownell, who was himself lying on the ground disabled but a short distance from the Guy and Davy families, said they were all in a sitting posture for some minutes before lie saw Ben Davy lie down and the sister lean over hint. This movement was followed by a cry from the lips of Katie which Mr. Brownell understood only too well, even though he could not distinguish the words she spoke. He knew that Ben was dead - and without the additional evidence of seeing the mother, with an effort that must have been superhuman, in her wounded condition, tortu- ously drag her way over to the spot where lay all that was mortal of the boy who was so precious to her. It was well, perhaps, that the poor woman did not know then that this was only the beginning of the bereavement that the terrible tornado had in store for her-for just over across the street lay the mangled body of another son whose lips would never again forin the word " Mother," and the life of the wounded girl near her was to be claimed only four days later. The others at the Guy home, as has been said, were all seriously wounded, and the long exposure to the cold and rain and hail following the tor- nado must have added greatly to their suffering, but there were only the two fatalities.
A good part of the northeastern residence part of Pomeroy was saved by the storm's having pursued a
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southeasterly course until reaching the eastern limits, and, the extreme southwestern part of town being sparsely settled, the damage to life and property was not nearly so great after leaving Cayuga street. The residences of F. Keifer, Mrs. Wells, W. J. Smith and Thomas Miller, on Cayuga street, that of Mayor Stadtmueller, on Schuyler street, and, in fact, all buildings in this part of town, were racked and damaged more or less, but the damage was slight when compared to the destruction wrought in the main track of the storm.
There was one fatality at the home of Mrs. Holtz, be- tween Schuyler and Geneva streets, on the south side of Elm. In the house at the time of the storm were Mrs. Holtz and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Dilmuth - Mrs. Holtz's father and mother - Mrs. Fred Dilmuth and little boy, and Mary Peterson. They had thought of going into the cellar, but, when the first storm went over without damage, considered that there was no further danger. The first intimation they had that anything serious was going on was when the east end of the house was shattered by a portion of the German church from across the street being blown against it. Then everything was carried several rods south, the occupants of the house being roughly thrown about among its ruins. Henry Dilmuth was picked up dead, his neck having been broken. The others were all badly wounded.
In the majority of cases the persons who went into caves and cellars were the fortunate ones, but in one instance a family was probably saved from injury by not being warned of the tornado in time to gain their cellar. J. H. Collins, wife and four children, were in their house, at the corner of Geneva and Elm streets, when it was removed a few feet from its foundation and the roof taken off. They tried to go into the cellar, but were unable to
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open the door on account of the suction from underneath the house. After the storm was over they found that the cellar had been almost filled with sticks and timbers, and they could hardly have remained there without some of them, at least, having been seriously hurt.
The Catholic church building, on Schuyler street, be- tween Third and Elm, was completely wrecked, the débris being scattered a distance of two hundred feet or more, but, strange to say, the tabernacle was left standing and the chalice, communion cup and fixtures were undis- turbed, nor was the altar stone destroyed. The only other article in the way of furniture or fixtures not shattered in pieces was a chair which John Knight had put in the church when it was first built, in 1881.
At the residence of Rev. H. Myer, on Geneva street, there seemed to have been two currents from exactly opposite directions, for while the barn was carried west- ward some distance and a timber was blown straight into an east window of the house, yet the board walk on the west side of the house was carried around on the east side. The German Lutheran church, of which Mr. Myer was pastor, situated south on Geneva street, between Elm and Maple, was picked up bodily and jammed into the ground some distance northwest of its original site, then dashed in pieces and these scattered to widely separated points. The west wall of the building was taken west- ward and the south wall northward. The church organ was carried three blocks southwest and the communion cup was found forty rods southeast. Mr. Myer's buggy, carried from his barn two blocks north, was left standing within the foundation walls of the wrecked church. None of the pastor's family were injured, and his house, being only partially wrecked, furnished shelter for many of the wounded and dead after the storm.
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