William Fulton Farm
Guy Hedges Farm
Michael Lucas Farm
Charles LeRoy "Roy" Moncelle Farm
Charles LeRoy "Roy" Moncelle Farm
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The territory northwest of Colfax as visited by a genuine old cyclone last Friday afternoon about four o’clock, which tore up tees, upset and demolished houses and barns, windmills, sent chickens flying through the air, but luckily no one was seriously injured and but little stock killed. The afternoon had been warm and of a thunderstorm nature, and a heavy black cloud which swept over Bloomington developed into a cyclone with the genuine funnel shape, when it reached the territory a few miles north of Cooksville. People saw it coming and hunted cellars where they had one or other places of safety where they had not cellars. Others just stood still in their houses knowing not what the outcome would be.
Among the first places to be struck were the Joshua Freeland farm, the Wm. Fulton farm and Mrs. H. W. Langstaff’s farm, occupied by her daughter, Mrs. Guy Hedges and husband. At the Freeland home, a portion of the house was blown away. At the Wm. Fulton place, picture of which we show above, the barn and out buildings were badly damaged and also the house.
At the Hedges home there is not much left but a portion of the house, all other buildings being blown over the farm and a large grove lifted out by the roots. Mr. and Mrs. Hedges and little child happened to stay in that part of the house that remained intact, or else they might have suffered severe injury. Above we show a picture of the damage done at the Hedges home. The barn belonging to John Grimes was destroyed and the roof blown off the house.
Farther northeast and possibly the worst individual loss of any in this district, was the damage at the home of Mike Lucas and family. The picture above shows only in a small way the damage done by the terrific storm. The family sought refuge in the cellar, but the sight after the storm was over was awful. The house was taken off from over their heads, all but a small kitchen on one side of the house. They were penned in for a while with brick, although not seriously injured. But the farm is a complete wreck. The buildings were scattered all over the farm, not a one left, only the fences. The trees were uprooted -- well, everything is demolished, together with farming machinery. A large crowd was at the place Sunday and a liberal collection was taken and presented to them. Another peculiar incident at the Lucas place - their cows were just west of the house with a four foot chicken tight fence between them and the house - that is before the storm - after the storm they were about thirty rods east of the house, but as the light chicken fence was not injured only about a foot at the top, the cows must have been lifted over it bodily, but were caught in another mess of wire east of the house and suffered some scratches.
At the Moncelle home place, two pictures of which we show above, the house was missed entirely, but the two barns and crib received the force of the storm. In the foreground of the pictures showing the barn and crib, was the main barn, a comparatively new structure, but you would never know it had been there except for the foundation. It was completely blown to pieces, scarcely two boards being left fastened together, only the concrete foundation being left. The lumber that was in the barn is blown all over the farm you might say. The picture of the Moncelle crib shown above, that building must have been bodily lifted in the air for underneath it, holding it off the ground are a lot of the heavy timbers out of the barn that was demolished. One of the almost unbelievable incidents in connection with the destruction of the Moncelle barn is that there were about fifteen head of horses on the inside and not a one was injured to speak of. It was a miracle.
The cyclone cloud performed some funny tricks. It would swoop down on a farm and make a cleaning and then raise in the air and miss the ground altogether and then come down. It evidently made a miss once and came down and grabbed three large hedge trees along the road and tore them out by the roots. The storm continued in a northeasterly direction, damaging houses and barns across north Lawndale, south of Fairbury doing considerable damage, clear on up to Otto; near Kankakee, where the I. C. water tower was pitched over on the track. South of Lexington the house and barn on the J. J. Wiley farm was considerably damaged. The experience of those who were victims of the storm’s fury is thrilling and their lucky escape is remarkable.
Another happening that might have ended more seriously - Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Beasley were returning to their home and had reached the Moncelle farm and noticing the cyclone cloud they drove in and unhitched their team, putting it in the Moncelle barn and joined these people in the cellar. Their carriage which was left in the crib was a complete wreck. In the carriage was two bushels of potatoes which were strewn for a quarter of a mile down through the fields.
One distressing feature in connection with the storm is the extra amount of work to clean the wreckage up, coming just at a time when the farmers are at the busiest putting in the spring crops. Some are very much discouraged. Mr. and Mrs. Guy Hedges have moved to town, as it will be impossible for Mrs. Langstaff, who owns the farm, to get suitable buildings up, in time for occupancy, as a complete new set of improvements will have to be made. They expect to return to the farm next year. Mr. and Mrs. Lucas, who suffered even more, expect to remain on the farm and brave the difficulties.
Sunday was a fine day and the roads good and automobiles from all over the country came with loads of people to see the storm damage. It is variously estimated that anywhere from 500 to 2,000 people were viewing the wreckage at different places along the path of the storm.
The Press is indebted to Mr. J. Royce Huffman for the photographs from which the above cut is made. Mr. Huffman will be able to supply post cards also to any who desire. The press has a limited number of extra copies of this issue which may be had for five cents each. Order early.
[The Press - Saturday, April 25, 1914 - (Moncelle Family Records with Photos)]
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