St. Clair County
Remnants Of The Past

St. Clair County Courier
1 June 1950

Twister Cuts 15 Mile Path Through County Friday

Damage Is Extensive On Some Farms

Personal Injuries Limited To Minor Cuts

Friday afternoon a dipping, swirling twister rampaged along a 15-mile path in southeastern St. Clair county causing extensive damage on 10 and possibly more farms. While property damage was heavy at almost every place the tornado touched, there were no deaths and personal injuries consisted only of minor cuts. A torrential rain accompanied the storm.
The first damage caused was at the A.B. Capps farm seven miles southwest of Collins. Stopped electric clocks there set the time of the storm at 1:15 p.m. At 2:00 p.m., it struck the Ira Todd home approximately 14 miles northeast. This would set the cross country speed of the tornado at about 19 miles per hour.
Visitors at the scenes of the damage were especially impressed by the extreme fury and power of the storm. At the Capps farm nine outbuildings were obliterated, 180 chickens and several small pigs were killed and the two story dwelling was given rough treatment. A dozen of its windows were broken out, most of the shingles pulled off the roof and the interior damaged by wind and rain. Clothes were found outside the house, milk filters that had been left on the kitchen table decorated a fence and mattresses were sucked from the bedroom into an adjoining attic. Two light poles were twisted off at the ground.
No one was at the Capps home when the twister struck, but Mr. and Mrs. Capps and son, Herman, were within three-quarters of a mile of home after spending the morning in Osceola when they narrowly missed driving into the center of the storm. Upon arriving home they were met with the discouraging results of the wind. No insurance was carried on buildings, equipment or livestock. Volunteers assisted all day Saturday in patching up the house and helping pick up such things as wool from recently shorn sheep which was scattered through an adjoining field for one-fourth of a mile.
The second dip was at Mrs. Addie Truitt’s home two miles northeast of Collins where the twister came down over the hill and caused extensive damage to the house and all the outbuildings. A large segment of the roof of the house was sucked off and set in a lot 50 yards away. The entire roof of the barn was removed. A 50 foot shed disappeared. A hickory tree about 12 inches in diameter was twisted off 10 feet from the ground. A six inch piece of rusty barbed wire was driven into the side of the chicken house and a piece of one inch lumber was pushed diagonally through the corner of the same building.
With Mrs. Truitt at the time the storm hit were her son, Paul, her son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Braden, and the two Braden children, seven years and 18 months old. They were eating a late lunch when Mrs. Truitt noticed the wind increasing. Upon going to the door she reported she saw milk buckets going by and immediately warned the entire family. They started for the cellar but were unable to get there because of the fierceness of the wind which rocked the house, battered the doors and broke windows. Mrs. Braden reported that it was all over before they hardly knew what happened. She stated that the noise was not extreme but much like that of any strong wind. Mr. Braden placed the time of the storm there at 1:25 or 1:30 p.m. None of those in the house was injured. The buildings were insured.
From the Truitt home the tornado roared across the valley of Little Weaubleau creek and struck with seemingly the greatest fury at the home of Mrs. J.L. Boswell and her daughter and son, Miss Lola and Sherman. The new two story Boswell home, while it was not disintegrated, was badly damaged. Most of the shingles were torn from the roof, nearly all the windows were broken and partitions inside the house were twisted by the tremendous suction. The old Boswell home was reduced to rubble and nothing remained of the large barn but a twisted pile of lumber.
An electric light pole near the house was twisted completely off at the ground and large trees were uprooted, twisted and bent. In the house at the time the storm hit were Mrs. Boswell, her son and daughter, I. Richard Atwood, who was working for the Boswells and Miss Sammy Anne Hodges, a student from Warrensburg who was visiting Mrs. Boswell. Mrs. Boswell had the first warning of the approaching catastrophe when she heard a loud noise. Looking out the window she saw something coming through the air and, at first thought, supposed it was a disabled airplane which was going to crash into the hilltop. It later was found that what she saw was the larger part of the 50 foot building which disappeared from the Truitt farm. Miss Boswell, who is a Democratic candidate for the state legislature, stated that the house seemingly was shaking violently during the brief onslaught. Looking up into the air she reported that she saw large trees whirling around as though they were feathers. Atwood jumped down to the basement.
As usual a number of the “unbelievable” things that usually happen during tornados occurred here. A sack of seed corn that had been stored in the barn ended up in the living room of the house. A Jeep that was parked in the barn was sucked out of the driveway just before the barn collapsed and it was comparatively damaged. The hay rope was separated from the barn’s ruin and wrapped up in tight knots with the electric light lines. A large dresser mirror which was on the second floor of the old house which was completely demolished was laying in the center of the debris without a crack in it.
The occupants of the house suffered minor cuts from flying glass and debris. A few guineas, one cat and several chickens were killed and a horse was injured. Insurance was carried on the new house but not on any of the other buildings.
From the Boswell farm the tornado headed on toward the Gerster community.
On the way it dipped again at the Dick Kauffman farm about one mile northeast of the Boswells. Here it caused considerable damage to the Kauffman barn.
On Route T east of Gerster a large tile was pulled out of the top of a well and across the road on the R.H. Sapp farm a hog house was destroyed. The storm passed through the Dewey Wheeler farm with comparatively minor damage. At Pete DeLozier’s home three and one-half miles northeast of Gerster this phenomenon of nature again showed its power by uprooting and twisting off trees, demolishing a chicken house and damaging the house. Mrs. DeLozier was alone at home when the storm struck and as she stood in the door between the kitchen and living room she reported a sensation that the kitchen floor was moving up and down and she saw the well curbing go straight up and presently come down almost in its original position. She pointed out several good examples of what the extreme suction did inside the house. A curtain was pulled out between a window glass and the window frame despite the fact that a crack was not discernable. Out of four pictures that were resting on a mantle, two were laid unbroken across the room and the other two were unmoved. Bed clothes upstairs were rolled up in a ball. Six windows were broken and the chimneys were blown off. a 63 year old cedar tree in the front yard was twisted off neatly about 10 feet above the ground. Flying boards plowed some neat furrows in the driveway. No wind insurance was carried on any of the buildings.
The storm struck at the Sid Rons farm but damage was not reported to be serious.
On northeast at Ira Todd’s farm a hog house and chicken house disappeared completely. Shingles were blown off on a large area of the roof of the house and other buildings were unroofed. Trees in the orchard were leaning badly. It is reported that the twister did some damage at Tom Hammond’s place on northeast from Todds.

Pictures of tornado damage

Caption:
Last Week’s Tornado
These pictures were taken following the tornado which swept across southeastern St. Clair county Friday. By number these scenes are as follows:

1 – This picture shows the large section of the roof that was lifted from Mrs. Ada Truitt’s home two miles northeast of Collins.

2 – This is the new home on the Mrs. J.L. Boswell farm three miles northeast of Collins. This picture shows the way in which the shingles were torn off and the windows blown out. Much of the damage, such as twisted interior partitions and exterior walls torn away from the foundation, does not show.

3 – The old residence on the Boswell farm was a complete wreck as this view shows. A large tree can be seen laying across the wreckage in the background.

4 – The fury of the storm is well illustrated in this picture of the A.B. Capps barn seven miles southwest of Collins. A pile of corn can be seen at the right. Parts of the tin roof were scattered for one-half mile over the field pictured in the background. This view was taken looking northeast.

5 – Ira Todd claims that this building which was de-roofed and damaged otherwise on his farm northeast of Gerster is 115 years old. Mr. Todd’s outbuildings were damaged by the storm.

6 – At the Pete DeLozier farm northeast of Gerster the chicken house at the rear of the house was completely destroyed and trees were uprooted and twisted off. This picture is looking north and shows what is left of the chicken house.

Submitted by Stacy Kelly