St. Clair County
Remnants Of The Past

Appleton City Journal
24 June 1915

Tornados Kill Three Persons

Destructive Storms Near Nevada and LaDue -- Loss of Life and Property

(Nevada Mail) – One of the worst cyclones of recent years visited the Knan farm vicinity, four miles northeast of Nevada, Thursday night between 9:00 and 9:30 o’clock and literally tore the houses to pieces, twisted big trees up by the roots and caused the death of Mrs. Knan, mother of Fred Knan, injured three or four other persons and killed several head of livestock.
The houses were torn to pieces and scattered across the fields for a great distance, trees were carried many yards away. Mrs. Knan was picked up by the whirling wind and carried a distance of three hundred yards and when the unfortunate woman was found she was dead and her body had been fearfully mangled by the force of the cyclone, one limb and one arm being severed from her body.
The scene of the cyclone beggars description and can be better imagined than pictured by words. The neighborhood, which was enjoying the peace and comforts of ideal country life was suddenly changed to a scene of utter disaster over which hung the dark shadow of death. All this happened in the twinkling of an eye as the cyclone seemed to dip, and strike and bound away, leaving death and destruction in its wake.
The first news of the cyclone reached Nevada when Mr. McQueen came to town about eleven o’clock, coming here for physicians to attend the injured. Drs. Yater and Williams and Dr. Horn back soon were at the scene of destruction caring for the injured.
The cyclone first struck the Lem Strawderman place, where it blew fences to pieces and killed a calf and then jumped across the creek to the Knan farm and literally reduced the house to small pieces and scattered them across the meadow.
When the cyclone struck, Mrs. Knan, Triteman Fosburg, Mrs. Fosburg and two little children, one just a baby, were in the house and all five were picked up and carried various distances.
Mrs. Knan was carried down the road a distance of 300 yards and evidently was killed by the force of the storm before her body fell to the ground. One of her limbs and one arm were torn from her body and life was extinct when the body was found.
Mrs. Fosburg was found in the road where she, too, had been carried by the force of the cyclone. She suffered a compound fracture of her right limb between the knee and ankle and also a painful cut on the side of her head.
Mr. Fosburg was carried out into the yard but fortunately he was not seriously injured, but his body was considerably bruised.
The 3-year-old child was unhurt, as was the baby, which was found clasped in the arms of its mother.
The storm jumped from the Knan farm to the Frank Hunter home and picked up the house and blew it away. Mr. Hunter was carried out in the field quite a distance and rendered unconscious and laid out in the rain for nearly an hour before he recovered consciousness. He received a painful cut on the head and one of his ears was almost torn off. Mrs. Hunter was blown out into the yard and suffered a dislocated shoulder but forgetting her own injury she ran a distance of a half-mile through the rain to the home of Rex Poland to get assistance. At that time she supposed her husband had been killed and that his body had been carried away by the cyclone. On the way back she and Mr. Poland met Mr. Hunter coming down the road toward the Poland home.
All the stock on the Knan place was killed except a horse. Huge shade trees were torn up by the roots and scattered hither and thither as if they were only so many feathers. Dr. Yater picked up in the road a wagon wheel spoke three hundred yards from where the wagon stood when picked up. The meadows and fields were strewn with the debris evidencing the terrific force of the cyclone, which seemed to have dipped and rebounded from the earth and passed on.
Reports from Clear Creek Township were received telling of the practical destruction of the Kincaid residence and the injury of two members of the Scott family.
A severe windstorm struck Ft. Scott doing considerable damage. Two boxcars were blown from the tracks.
In Nevada many shade trees were damaged but no serious damage occurred. The report that Panama was destroyed proved to be erroneous.

Killed A Child

Awful Storm Demolishes Farmer’s Home Near LaDue

(Clinton Daily Democrat) – The severe storm of Thursday night assumed the form of a cyclone in the country southwest of LaDue, demolishing the home of L.J. Allen, some four miles from that town.
The house was on a part of the old Steve Vickers place and was a three-room, one-story frame. The wind was preceded by a heavy rainstorm, and at about 9:30 o’clock, came the cyclone, which in the twinkling of an eye wiped out every vestige of the dwelling, and scattered the family of five persons, Mr. and Mrs. Allen, their twin babies a year old, and a Mrs. Dold, a relative who was visiting them.
Mr. Allen by his shouts aroused neighbors who lived not far away, but who were not able to get to their assistance until the storm subsided; and then they found the rain had swollen a small stream and they were forced to make a wide detour to reach a bridge so that it was three o’clock in the morning when they reached the unfortunate family. Those who went to their relief were Charles Brown, John Beam, young Mr. Feaster, and others.
They found the members of the family huddled together in an open spot probably 100 feet east of where their home had stood. Mrs. Dold had her thigh broken and suffered a laceration of the muscles, besides severe bruises. One of the twin babies was dead, its head being crushed to a pulp. Mr. and Mrs. Allen and the other babe were all terribly bruised but suffered no broken bones. The family was assisted to the home of James Morgan nearby and Drs. Miller and Fewell summoned from Montrose and cared for them.
Mr. Allen is a newcomer in the locality. It is understood he formerly lived near Clinton but moved to the farm near LaDue about a year ago.
Later—A news item in Saturday’s Democrat states “The 12 year old sister of Mrs. L.D. Allen, who was visiting at the Allen home when it was destroyed by the storm, and who suffered a broken leg and other severe injuries, passed away on Friday as she was being taken from the scene of the disaster to the home of her father, Jacob Dold, just west of Lucas.
“It had been decided to take the injured family and the dead babe to the home of Mrs. Allen’s parents and it was while they were on the way that the little girl succumbed.
“The funeral of both the little girl and the infant was held at White Oak church Saturday afternoon.”