A modern Herculaneum. Story of the New Richmond tornado

Dedication

To the humane and kind who deem it a pleasure to share with the unfortunate, not boasting of charity, but bestowing with brotherly love, and to the true hearted and tender who read between the lines suftering unseen and wounds of the heart unhealed.

PRKKACE,

This account of the grievous whirlwind which swept over the little city of New Richmond and adjacent country, June 12, 1899, is given as a record of the event in its many phases of detail, because of the importance of the results to individuals affected by it, and in the hope that some benefit may result from its suggestions.

CHAPTER I. Dark Shadows Faix

"A thousand fantasies Begin to throng into my memory, Of calling shapes and beckoning shadows dire."

The occurrence known hereabouts as the "Cyclone of June 12, 1899," might be briefly stated in this wise : A cyclonic cloud was formed at about 5:30 p. m., by the meeting of two portions of cloud above Lake St. Croix. Turning eastward and then northeastward, this whirlwind, growing in size and velocity, devastated an area about three hundred to Ave hundred yards in width and fifty or sixty miles in length, inflicting unusual destruction and loss of life throughout its course, but more particularly at New Richmond, at which point its force and rapidity was greatest. This, I say, might, in a way. describe the occurrence. But to dismiss the matter with such meager information as the above paragraph contains would be to treat with cruel flippancy an aggregation of important events remarkable in the rapidity of their happening and in the severity of their effect upon the lives of several hundreds of people.

The meeting of the two or more clouds above Lake St. Croix was witnessed by a number of intel- Hgent people, whose well-authenticated statements have furnished reliable information for these pages. An eye witness describes the occurrence as follows :

''A top-shaped cloud came dancing along up the lake; aiTother mass or column of cloud came from the vicinity of Stillwater. These two clouds were merged together in a funnel-shaped cokurm, or a cohunnar mass, spreading somewhat at the top, and boiling or tumbling rapidly within itself. Thus agitated, it turned eastward, and skirting the hills south of Hudson and hugging the ground closely, it took a northeasterly course toward New Richmond."

The follow^ing description of the formation process, as given, at my request, by Dr. O. F. Thomas of Lakeland, is interesting in its minute details, and is stated by him to be the consensus of opinion of several different observers. He occupied a good position for ol:»servation, being on the ferry boat, back of the Hudson water\vorks.

"It had been warm that afternoon, and many complained of the heat as oppressive. So many scorching days have come and gone since, that one might forget the past while enduring the present. But it was unseasonably warm for a June day. At the noon hour, and up to three or four o'clock, there were no indications of the coming storm. Then the clouds began to gather in the west, and gradually spread over the sky, finally extending to the horizon all around. But there was nothing alarming in their appearance at that time. About half-past four o'clock it commenced to rain, and rained briskly for about twenty minutes. Hail stones were mixed with the rain, but they were not large, and there were not many of them. When the rain ceased the clouds did not break away, but seemed to indicate that there was something more to follow. The sky cleared somewhat in the southwest, leaving only a thin haze, of the color of the fleecy clouds sometimes seen on a fair day. Upon this white space was a singularly formed cloud. Once seen it riveted the attention of the observer, and he called others to look at the strange thing. It extended about one-third the distance from the south to the west, and was about fifteen degrees from the horizon. Lowering and dark, it had a well defined margin at the base, but with the upper part less distinct, as it had some other dark clouds for a background. It was moving rapidly toward the east, and probably toward the north, though this motion was not apparent to us. But what appeared the most peculiar were two protuberances, or inverted cones, which hung from its eastern end. ft is difficult to describe them, but imagine two cones suspended, base upward, say six feet across the base and four feet from base to apex; also imagine them to be suspended about three hundred or four hundred feet away, and they would fill about the same space of cloud surface, i. e., would subtend the same angle. 'That looks very much like a cyclone,' said one of a group standing near me. 'Very much, indeed,' remarked a person who had just joined the group, — a stranger, temporarily stopping in town. 'I had both legs broken at Grinnell, Iowa, and I have had experience.' So we were not surprised to see the westward cone suddenly lengthen out to three or four times its original length, and stay in that position six or eight seconds, then suddenly draw back, while the rest of the cloud seemed in violent commotion. This was repeated three or four times, while the whole formation was moving rapidly toward the east. This was about two miles south of the village of Lakeland and one-half mile west of Lake St. Croix.

"The cloud formation did not extend to the earth until it reached the lake, and not for some time after, for the w^ater could plainly be seen rising from the surface before the clouds reached it from above, thus showing that there may be great disturbances on the ground while the cyclone is still in the air. The appearance of the water rising in the air was perfectly white, like a heavy spray or steam, or like a stream of water projected from a nozzle at great pressure. It spread out as it rose, and in a very short time, perhaps half a minute, the cloud reached and enveloped it, and. all was black to the surface of the water. At this time the point of cloud resting upon the water seemed to be about two hundred feet across, in shape like a half-opened fan, and moved rapidly toward the north, directly up the lake. Continuing thus for about one mile, it suddenly turned to the east, passing up the bank, and leaving a track of broken and twisted trees. It seemed to us to go about due east for a distance wc could not estimate, and then turning north again passed behind the bluffs east of Lake St. Croix and the city of Hudson, and we could see, by the diminishing angle, that it was also moving eastward. It continued on its frightful journey until it was lost to view on the northeastern horizon. As it went from us we could see that it increased in volume and violence. Occasionally it would bound from the ground and continue its fearful whirling in the air, while great masses of black vapor, left behind, would jump from the ground and join the mass above."

Mr. Harry K. Huntoon, a well-known resident of Hudson, had a very intimate acquaintance with the edge of the cloud after it passed the banks of Lake St. Croix. The treatment which he and his companions received had something of the ludicrous in it, since it did not result in serious harm to any of the party, and their own jocose manner of relating the escapade led to considerable fun at their expense. Mr. Huntoon's account begins from a point of view further down the lake than that of Dr. Thomas, and to the south of the cloud formation, and is drawn in part from his personal observations and in part from stories of others sifted to correctness. The statements correspond, except in the omission of details, with what has been given, and traces the progress of the cloud for some distance beyond the bluffs to the east of Lake St. Croix.

"At about 5 :30 p. m. the residents of Afton, Washington county, Minnesota, who, being apprehensive of danger from a storm, stood watching the skies, saw two large dark clouds coming towards each other, with terrific speed. They met and united at a point commonly known as Catfish Bar, just below St. Mary's Point, and immediately began to revolve and assume the appearance of a huge black balloon, spinning like a top, and gathering force and momentum with which to accomplish its awful mission. The huge mass of destructiveness then started diagonally across the lake, in a north-easterly course, being plainly visible from Hudson, whose people thought their city doomed ; but fortunately for them it left the lake about two and one-half miles below the city, and traveled through the farming country.

''As it left the lake it ascended the hill, and crossed the Whitten farm about half way between Prescott road and the county fair buildings. Its first victims were three traveling men, J. K. Lobdell and A. R. Vullmer of St. Paul and Harry K. Huntoon of Hudson, and a driver, Charlie Leavitt, who were on their way from River Falls to Hudson, and were caught by the storm near the Catholic cemetery. The twoseated surrey in which they rode was overturned, and the occupants dragged under it into a field of grain. Although the carriage was a total wreck, and the men minus hats, valises, etc., they were not seriously injured, though much surprised and interrupted in their conversation." (It is related by someone whose name is not given that wdiile the party were hunting themselves up after their flight through the grain fields, one of them, while groping for his spectacles, found a piece of ice about half as large as his head.

l6 A MODERN HERCULANEUM.

Holding it up to the others who stood watching the cloud as it fled across the country, he exclaimed : '*My stars, boys! Just look at that hail stone." ''That's not hail, man ; that's a chunk of ice," they explained. It is said that the farmer who owned the field found a nice mess of fish next day which was not called for.) "From this point the storm passed near Frank Matteson's farm, tearing down some small buildings, and them proceeded to destroy about six thousand dollars' worth of buildings on the Harry Matteson farm. Mr. Alatteson and family saw the storm coming, and took refuge in the cellar, thus escaping any injury. From Mr. Matteson's place on, for nearly four miles, the storm did comparatively little damage, except to blow down a large barn belonging to Mr. Edward Daily and unroof the Graves' barn. Then crossing the railroad just north of Burkhardt's station, destroyed a barn belonging to Julius Beers and demolished all the buildings on the HefTron farm, killing the owner, Mrs. Kate HefTron. From this point it followed the valley of the Willow river to Boardman."

During the passage of the cyclone cloud from Matteson's to Daily's place it w^as observed by Mrs. George Martin, to whom we are indebted for her impressions, graphically portrayed :

"The cyclone cloud (or clouds; for the clouds on each side were even more w^onderful, as they were twisting and turning in every direction, sometimes appearing to touch the earth, and looking like steam mingled with smoke from a great fire) was a very large, dark cloud with a point. When I first noticed it it was south of us, and appeared to be going a little north of east. My view was a side view, and I was very thankful I did not have to look it in the face. There was no serious damage done nearer to us than three-quarters of a mile distant. It appeared to be about eighty rods from us, though I know it was farther away than it looked. The funnel-shaped cloud itself did not touch the earth while I watched it, but appeared to rise and fall, still leaving quite a space between it and the ground.

''After passing our house the course of the cloud appeared to be directly northeast, and it traveled rapidly. The first building demolished east of us was the Edward Daily barn."

The roof of. a barn was carried over an abruptly steep hill that rises tuiexpectedly from the level surface of the prairie, the elevation not serving to deflect the whirlwind from its course. Like some wild monster it swept on, uttering a sullen growl as it devoured whatever lay in its path. According to Mr. Edward Hyde, who witnessed the maneuver: ''It was joined just beldw Boardman by a larger and blacker cloud, but without the point, coming from the direction of Stillwater, and from this point on to beyond New Richmond it seemed as if all the demons of hell were turned loose to do their worst. There was a rolling, boiling mass of clouds, filled with constant lightning." The reinforcing cloud which came from the west or northwest was also wind laden and destructive. Mr. Fred Wolf, in the town of Grant, Washington county,

Minnesota, had his barn twisted and six horses killed, and every other bnilding on the place blown to flinders, with the exception of his house, which was so badly damaged as to be practically a wreck. A smokehouse, where considerable meat was in process of curing, was carried completely out of sight, no vestige of its contents ever being found.

The two learns, granaries, chicken house, etc., on the Tozer farm, at Carnelian Lake, were blown to pieces, and scattered over the farm. Buildings were also destroyed on the farm of Thomas Wood, a mile to the northeast of the Tozer farm.

John Schneider, a farmer living in the vicinity of Lake Elmo, was returning from Hudson, and was nearing his home just as the storm came down. He declared that he saw a building sailing through the air; and not only that, but it was on fire, making- a rather startling pyrotechnic display, as it passed across the lurid heavens.

Rev. Dr. Degnan, from his home in New Richmond, watched the approaching clouds. He says: "It seemed to me that the b^'g funnel-shaped cloud was struggling with the terrible northwest wind. The struggle lasted but a minute or two. The vortex of the funnel sucked up all the clouds that came near it."

Thus augmented in power, with greater- rapidity and with added terror in appearance and sound, now leaping aloft and again darting down to earth to snatch its prey, with resistless fury the monster continued on its way. Groves of trees were caught froni the earth and hurled far out on the prairie, bridges were carried away, water was sucked up from lakes and millponds even to the dregs of mud, and dwellings, barns and granaries were leveled to the ground, leaving- men and be-'sts alike exposed to the drenching rain which followed.

Besides the wholesale destruction of live stock, buildings, wagons and machinery were broken up, and most of the fragments carried away from the farms along the line of the Omaha Railroad track, it being a coincident fact that that railroad runs in a northeasterly direction for several miles, and that the storm traveled for some distance parallel with it.

The Lacey, Dorgan, Beebe, Arthur Spencer, Robinson, Hurd, Toal, Odett and other farms were successively visited by the twisting cloud, the people rushing to their cellars, or not having sufficient warning were overtaken and injured or killed. At the Garrett Lacey farm all the buildings were sw^ept away so clean that ''there was not enough stuff left to build a fire with." The Arthur Spencer and the Pat Dorgan places fared the same. At the S. S. Beebe farm the dwelling house alone was left, minus roof, windows and doors. In fixing it up again it had to be newly plastered, like so many other buildings that were left standing in part, the old plaster all coming off from the twisting and subsequent wetting. At the Herbert Robinson, Hiram Toal and Napoleon Odett places the damaged dwelling houses alone were left, barns and granaries were destroyed. In Boardman also the small grist mill was unroofed and the engine house torn away. The depot of the

Omaha Railroad was entirely destroyed. At the Burrowes place, although the buildings were left standing in a damaged condition, the monster reached out a clutching hand and gathered up a grove of fruit trees to scatter along its route. The Granville Hurd homestead was the scene of a terrible experience. A young man by the name of Neitge had driven from New Richmond with a young woman, his intended bride. They came into the yard at about the same time with ]\Ir. \\^ A\^ears, who was accompanied by a son and a daughter. Mr. Wears frequently passed the house. He noticed that the cellar bulkhead was open, and also the windows of the house, and thought it a little strange, as Mrs. Hurd, an aged lady, was always very particular to close everything up when a storm was coming. The trees obscured the view so that she had not noticed the clouds. She came out and asked all into the house. Bessie Wears went in with her and sat down in the sitting room. The boy, not wishing to go in without his father, remained with him while he unhitched the horses from the wagon and put them in the barn without removing their harness. Then Mr. Wears and his son had just time to jump into the cellar when everything was leveled to the ground. A rock weighing seventy-five pounds bounded from the cellar wall past Mr. ^^^ears, cutting of¥ his trousers leg below the knee and not touching him. He did not notice at the time that his boy was cut upon his head. Seeing him alive he hastened out to look after the others. When jumping for ^he cellar Mr. Wears had shouted to Mr. Neitge:

''You had better get in somewhere." But Mr. Neitge had replied: "I guess we'll be all right here/' and remained seated in the buggy very near the house. Mr. Wears, on coming up from the cellar, saw the young woman unhurt, but crying that Mr. Neitge had' disappeared. There was nothing to be seen of the horse or buggy. Mr. Neitge was discovered under a pile of debris, dead. The young woman related that he had jumped from the buggy, and held out his arms to assist her in alighting. At that very instant a stick was thrust through his head from the back, protruding at the mouth. They fell to the ground together, and were pushed along with a mass of sticks and other things, from which she had extricated herself. Mr. Wears could see nothing of his daughter nor Mrs. Hurd in the ruins of the house, and was still making a dazed search for them when neighbors arrived. "^ The aged lady, the young girl just entering womanhood, and the young man looking forward to his wedding day had all been called to their last account. Undiscriminating in its rage, the cloud swept on. Mr. Wear's horses were found dead about forty rods to the southeast, one having a collar only left on and the other bare of harness. It is thought the horses must have been carried in a circle, as they were wrapped around with telegraph wires from the line to the north.

Mr. Wm. McShane, a resident of New Richmond, was driving toward home when he saw the storm coming up. He was accompanied by one of his daugh-

*See B. Burrows' account.

ters, and hastened to the Toal place for sheher. Reaching there he drove the horse and buggy into one of the barns, and he and his daughter went into the house. Mrs. Toal and her daughter and Miss Doty, a seamstress, were there. In a few moments Miss Toal looked out at the storm and returning spoke quietly to Air. McShane, not wishing to alarm her mother needlessly, and asked him to look out and see what he thought al)out the approaching cloud. Stepping out upon the porch they saw a grand l)ut awful spectacle. This was about the instant that the wind-laden cloud from the northwest rushed into the whirling funnel. There was a confused mountain of cloud tum1)ling violently within itself, dropping to the ground and lifting again with a churning motion. Realizing that they would in all probability be directly in_ its course, they rushed to the cellar. The ladies supposing that Mr. Toal was out on the road coming from Bass Lake, Mr. McShane went upstairs again, and looked out at the door. He noticed then that the cloud had the funnel-shape; at least, that he could see that the cloud bore somewhat the shape of a funnel, which had the previous moment been obscured by the intervening mass of cloud now forming a part of it. The l)ase or tail was now elongated and slender, and furiously lashing the ground. It was probal)ly at al)out this moment that Mrs. R. G. Wears, while 1)usied with the preparations for supper, noticed the early darkness and the roaring of the tornado still some little distance away from her place. She called her little son, and said: ''Dickey, I wish you would go to the door, and see if you think it is going to rain." She had thought that if there were a rain storm coming up the milking had l^etter be done before supper. The little fellow came back quickly, and said : ''How can it rain when there's a big umbrella up in the sky?" "An umbrella!" said his mother. "What do you mean?" "Well," replied the boy, "if you don't believe me, you can go and see it yourself. There's a big umbrella up in the sky, with the handle hanging way down." The mother looked out, and was convinced that the child had well described the object moving along the heavens. She hastened to go to the cellar with her children. Fortunately her home was not struck, but after coming up from the cellar they experienced the effects of the wind that followed and which threw their windmill down.

To return to Mr. McShane, whom we left standing at the door of the Toal residence. He had been there but a moment, had glanced at the storm, and looked down the road for Mr. Toal. Not seeing him, he had turned to go back, when Mr. Toal drove rapidly into the yard, left his team and wagon standing there, and came into the house. Grasping his arm Mr. Mc- Shane told him that the others were in the cellar, where both men went at once. Only a moment or two they waited ; as the weird rumbling came nearer, it seemed to deafen their ears, then rolled past the house, taking up two barns and a woodshed, carrying them away clean, and demolishing the barn into which Mr. McShane had driven the horse and buggy.

24 A MODERN HERCULANEIUM.

So completely were these covered with a mass of broken timber that it was useless to try to uncover them. It was a foregone conclusion that the horse was dead. The team and wagon which Mr. Toal had left standing in the yard were found about forty rods away, across the railroad track, the horses stripped of harness and separated from the wagon, but still alive. A large tree fell upon the house from the south, breaking the roof.

Miss Doty had been at work upon a black silk dress, but on account of the darkness had drawn near the window, and still being unable to see to sew went to the kitchen for an iron to do some pressing. Seeing there was no fire, she said to Mrs. Toal that she had thought she would do some pressing, to put in her time before supper. Mrs. Toal replied to her, saying she had not built the fire for preparing supper, as she feared there was a storm coming up, and she didn't like to be about the stove when there was li^htning. Miss Doty went back to her work, and decided that she might do some cutting out, but just then Miss Toal came in and said all must go to the cellar. Miss Doty looked at her watch, she says, and found the time to be five minutes to six.

While in the cellar Miss Doty tried to comfort little "Dot" McShane by saying: "You can see out through the cellar window that there is no wind. There seems to be nothing stirring." Mr. McShane remarked : ''We shall see something stirring pretty quick." Then in about a half a minute Miss Doty noticed that the trees were bent to the ground and

DARK SHADOWS FAI,L. 25

twisting about. There was a shower of something wet and sharp, and she threw her apron over her head, thinking it was hail. Then a big crash came, as something hit the dining room door overhead, and threw it across the room in a heap, with table and chairs, which were heard moving across the floor. She took her apron from her head, and saw that the shower which she had taken for hail was a shower of dirt and mud. She distinctly remembers the first crash, then all other sounds were lost in the general noise. They afterwards watched the cloud rolling, ''like a cart wheel," across the prairie.

A host of difificulties confronted all who wished to get from this locality to New Richmond. It was soon evident that much damage had been done. Coming up from the cellar, looking about to see that all were there, and taking a hasty inventory of the ruins in sight, were mutual experiences of the many, but just as important to each individual as though his were the only case.

When the storm was approaching ten head of horses on the Burrows' place had been seen going toward the barnyard. After it had passed Mr. Mc- Shane, on his way to get a horse and rig to come home with, saw the sole survivor of the ten limping toward home on three legs, the fourth one broken and dangling. The others were found in a heap several rods away, in a small ravine, either dead or dying. Among them was a horse belonging to John Merrihew, who worked half the night trying to get him out of the barbed wire which was wrapped around him. Finally the horse had to be kiUed l)ecause so badly injured. Securing a cart and the old family carriage horse from Mrs. Burrows, who begged him not to kill the horse in his anxiety, father and daughter set out in the pouring rain and heavy wind to learn the fate of the family at home. The rain and wind, bad as they were, held only a secondary place in mind, but the annoyance of being repeatedly forced from the road and horse and buggy becoming mixed up with wire and fallen trees served the purpose of obliging consideration of present difficulties. The Hurd place lay beside the way. razed to the ground, and the numerous trees in the yard twisted and broken in fantastic shapes, while across the field to the southeast could other broken trees be seen marking the path of destruction. Near Gloverdale all looked undisturbed. Perhaps New Richmond had escaped ! But ascending the hill east of the Russell place, brought the fires to view. Further along was the place where the Taft buildings had stood. Now there was nothing on either side of the road, and a general flatness was about the only impression made by the landscape. Is it to be wondered that this man was overtaken momentarily by a sensation similar to that which he might have experienced at being swung out over a chasm, with only the sky above and deep darkness beneath? He had one little daughter by his side, but a tumult of uncertain conjectures arose within him as to the fate of the remainder of his family. There seemed small hope of their being unhurt. He saw some men, hatless and coatless, running- toward the center of town, as if for dear life. Anxious to learn something definite, if possible, he shouted, "How is it with New Richmond?'' again and again ; but the men ran on, not answering a word. Their actions seemed so extravagant, and the surroundings so weird, that a strangely excited feeling took possession of Mr. McShane as he picked his way along streets, that morning so familiar, now so obscured and disordered. And as he met or fell in with other men he found that this feeling had taken possession of all. Some appeared almost beside themselves; perhaps not with fear of anything to come, but with horror at what had transpired. Answers were irrelevant and unsatisfactory, as all were studying up on the w^hereabouts of their own family or friends.

CHAPTER 11.

"Oh beautiful, awful summer day!

What hast thou given, what taken away? Life and death and love and hate, Homes made happy or desolate, Hearts made sad or gay."

— Longfellow.

"And I looked, and behold a whirlwind * * * a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself."

— / 'ergil.

On the day which brought its downfall New Richmond was a place of pretty homes, prosperous business, and happy people. Situated on both sides of the pictures(|ue Willow river at the junction of the Wisconsin Central and northwestern branch of the Omaha Railroad, surrounded by an undulating prairie country, dotted with fruitful farms, the place was noticeably attractive. Reposing among its groves of oak, maple and elm, when the rising sun gilded its roofs and steeples and brought out iridescent sparkles upon the dewy grass, it looked the picture of an ideal western city. Though still somewhat in embryo, it was rapidly taking on metropolitan improvements and manners. No doubt many country boys and girls, too soon awakened from their morning nap to begin the labor of the day, thought they would w^illingly leave the fragrance of clover and growing grain, with its accompanying toil and uncertainty, and try the neighborliness and rest which the clustering chimneys of the town, not spouting smoke too early, seemed to indicate. Perhaps they looked forward with impatience to the drive and good time there, long set down on the day's program. No doubt the drowsy passengers on the morning trains, raising the windows and spying the neat outskirts and the high and level site, made the mental, if not audible, comment, ''This is one of the prettiest places along the line," and their inclinations were to leave the close atmosphere of the car and stroll along the pleasant, shady streets. Beautiful trees, tilled with an unusual number of nesting birds, gently waved their foliage banners, as if waving a welcome to country friends who were expected that day. Clean lawns and yards well kept testified to the recent spring cleaning, in the doing of which every householder had exhibited a commendable spirit of rivalry in trying to out-do his neighbor. Stately rows of painted poles supported the wires which brought the water-power