VOL. LVH.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., JULY 5, 1902.
NO. 27
THE GREAT INDIANA  HURRICANE.
Terrific Force of the Wind—Great
Destruction.
Before this number of the Farmer
reaches its readers most of them will haTe
heard of the terrible windstorm that swept
through central Indiana on the morning
of Wednesday, of last week, June 25th. It
was much the most wide-spread and destructive storm the state has experienced
since the settlement by the whites. Beginning in Cass county it extended in a
southeasterly direction through Tipton,
Hamilton, Madison, Hancock and Rush
l*. Fayette county, a distance of over 75
miles and covering in places 20 or more
miles in width. Two days after the
storm we visited a portion of its track
between Greenfield and Knightstown, and
witnessed its terribly destructive work At
Charlottesville, Cleveland and the country
for a few miles north of these places.
In company with Mr. B. F. Stinger, of the
former place, we drove northward two or
three miles and then west and south to
Cleveland, through the worst desolated
region, perhaps, of the entire storm area.
In the two villages named the people were
busy clearing away the trees that had been
blown down and the limbs that were blown
off, in their yards, lawns and on the streets
and sidewalks, and heaping and burning
them. Every yard had its rubbish of
this kind in greater or less amount. In
some that we saw it will require weeks
to put all in order again and the premises
will never be the same, as the shade and
fruit trees were up-rooted. In a nursery
at Charlottesville the entire stock of young
trees was denuded of leaves and so
stripped of bark by the hail as to be entirely worthless. Even the strawberry
plants were left bare of both leaves and
stems. They will recover themselves,
however. We saw potatoes with all
their stalks turned one way, southeast,
and the skin and leaves stripped from the
northwest sides. Onions had the stalks
entirely stripped away; cabbages were
leaning to the southeast with all the leaves
on the opposite side torn away. Tomatoes
were totally destroyed. In Mr. Stinger's
yard was a fine pear tree that had lost
nearly all its fruit, though it was heavily loaded before the storm, and had all
the leaves on the west and north sides
stripped away. A cherry tree in a yard
near by was broken off at the ground, and
tossed into a neighboring garden. Apple
trees suffered most, owing to the large
surface they expose to the wind. We
saw numerous orchards with scarcely a
tree standing erect, and most of them were
completely uprooted. One very large
Rhode Island Greening, with limbs loaded, lay partly across our road, a complete
wreck.
On* a hill just northwest of Charlottesville stood, on the morning of June 25th,
one of the largest and finest sugar orchards perhaps in* Hancock county. It
contained COO fine, large trees, and the
camp was fitted with improved sirup making apparatus. It was a source of much
revenue to the proprietor. It stands now
a forest of tall stumps, some of them 50
feet high, with a tangled mass of huge
limbs and boughs between. The owner
says that there are hardly 40 good trees
left, and he would not take $3,000 for the
loss he has sustained.
On the north side of the national road
just east of the village the roof of a large
barn, some 40 by 60 feet, was lifted by
the wind and carried southeastwardly
across the road into a grove of tall pine
I lies iu the large door yard of another
farm 300 to 400 yards away, and there a
section of it was deposited. The remainder "was carried in fragments, no one
knows how much farther. The family
could not tell us. All along the course
of the flying roof were shingles and rafters
that the wind fiend wrenched apart in his
mad flight.
On our ride north and west from Char-
way, was about the only barn that had a
cyclone policy. What became of the cattle that were in the open pastures during
the pastures we did not leain. They escaped with only a severe hail pelting we
presume, as we did not hear of any being
killed. One man was picked up and
tossed over a wire fence, while crossing
the barn lot. We saw him nailing up a
gate and he seemed none the worse for the
— 7*1 ♦    s*.
i  'fm'"  *
M»
Orchard   trees  on  the  place  of   Benton   Ranb,   MeOordsville,   destroyed   by   storm.
lottesville we passed through a fine farming country, where the houses are snug
and neat and the barns large and roomy,
but in at least four cases out of five, either
the big barn had lost its roof or was
crushed in a heap to the ground. The
mows were exposed to the drenching rain
that attended the storm. Although hail
fell while the hurricane was at its hight,
ride through the  air and  the  pelting he
got by hail when he lighted.
Wheat harvest had begun in several
fields the morning of the storm, and in
coming south towards Cleveland, we saw
two places where long strings of wheat in
the bundle lay piled against the slat and
wire fence, that had been on the west
side of the road but was torn loose from
Home of Mrs. Emma Horton, McOordsville,   demolished     by   the   storm.
heavy rain followed later, and added much
to the damage done to stored crops.
Wagons, buggies and implements were
badly wrecked in many places by the
weight of the walls of the sheds and barns
iu which they were stored. Horses and
cattle were killed in this way in several
cases. One horse, however, escaped unhurt although the barn fell upon and
around him, a total wreck.     This, by the
the poats by the wind and carried, wheat
and n\*\ across to the fence on the east
side which was stronger, being all of wire
and tbere stopped.
The wheat that was standing was tangled and beaten down, and the hail has
thrashed most of the grain from the
heads. But little of it will pay for cutting, except for the straw. The oats
will  be  better,  for  it    was  not    mature
enough to be shelled out. Timothy is
tangled and uneven, but may make a
pretty fair crop. The clover was in the
mows and, as most of them were unroofed, will be in a half spoiled condition.
The corn where small is cut to shreds
and beaten into the ground. It cannot
possibly recover we think, but hope we
are mistaken. The fields where the stalks
stood two feet high and more, and there
are many such, are a sorry looking sight,
but may come out and make a half crop,
or may be more in some cases.
We stopped at Earle's home where the
funeral was being held when the storm
broke. The story of the wreck has no
doubt been read ere this by most of our
readers. Across the road from the house
west, stood an old barn, as we were told.
ll was blown all to pieces, and one of
the rafters, cut 4 by 5 Inches after the
olil style, was shot across tbe barn lot
and street and yard in front of the house,
a distance of some 300 feet, through a
window nt the northwest corner, in a
diagonal direction, or cornerwise, through
the house, passing throngh the wall over a
bed in the room south, through a door into
tin* southeast room, and out at the south
window, tearing out the window casing.
There were about 00 people in the four
rooms of the house, and only one was
touched by the rafter. This was A. V.
Sample, of Greenfield, since dead from the
wound he received from a piece of the
rafter, broken off as it flew through the
northwest window.
The strangest thing about this awful
wind storm, or hurricane, is the small loss
of human life it caused. Only three persons have yet died directly as a result of
the etorm. There was time to have escaped to cellars, but we heard of very
few who took this precaution. Many
braced themselves against the doors on the
windward side to prevent their being
blown in, and thus admitting the wind,
which in that case might have blown the
roof off, or the walls down. All were
frightened, but had little time to think
about their feelings. The storm was over
in less than 10 minutes.
We could not have understood some of
the accounts we read nor the tremendous
force of the wind, had we not seen the
things we have described and many others. *
Writers had called the phenomenon a
cyclone, or tornado. It was not that,
there was no twisting done. It was sheer,
straight forward, fierce driving wind, but
it was enough. The people who survived
it and are suffering the loss of their property from it, hope and fervently pray that
they may  never see its  like  again.
It is said that $123,000,000 will be pai.l
out in this country in dividends on various
kinds of railway, corporation and industrial stocks, and that this is larger than
ever before for July dividends. The
avenues of business will feel the effect of
it   in   all   directions.
Our Lawrence Co., III., correspondent
speaks of having green corn on the table
only 50 days from planting. It is the
Early Adams, and would be a good variety for those in the storm district to use
for planting their devastated fields.
The cost of the Philippine war thus far
foots up $170,326,585. The islands are
proving a very costly luxury, both in human lives ami money.
 .	
A rate of one fare for the round trip
will be made to Cincinnati during the
great fall festival, September 15 to 26.