Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2015 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ ========================================================================= USGenNet Data Repository NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization. Non-commercial organizations desiring to use this material must obtain the consent of the transcriber prior to use. Individuals desiring to use this material in their own research may do so. =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== The Ludington (Michigan) Record Thursday, May 7, 1896 Volume XXIX TRAILS OF DEATH LEFT. --------------------- Eight Persons Killed Outright in a Kansas Cyclone. A cyclone swept through Clay County, Kansas Saturday night, leaving a trail of destruction and death to mark its visit. Eight persons were instantly killed and four fatally hurt, so far as known, although investigation is likely to add to this grewsome list. In addi- tion a number of others were more or less seriously hurt, and property worth thousands of dollars, herds of stock and growing crops became the plaything of the devastating tornado. To add to the terror of the occasion, the storm came at night, arousing the panic-stricken people from their slumber to face death in terrible form. There was scant warning, a few fleecy clouds in the evening giving no sign of the howl- ing tempest that was about to descend three hours later. The list of killed, so far as reported, is as follows: E. BELTZOR, MRS. BELTZOR, JESSIE HALL, aged 5 years; MRS. OLE HALVERSON, J. HAYNES, MRS. FRANK PETERSON, SELMA PETER- SON, aged 10 years; JOSEPH TREMBLY. The fatally injured: JOHN MORRIS, FRANK PETER- SON, aged 40 years; JULIA PETERSON, aged 8 years; MRS. FRANK WILKERSON. A mile east of St. Joseph the first vic- tims of the storm were found. There dwelt a well-to-do Frenchman, ELI BELTZOR, his wife and six children. The farm house and outbuildings were torn to pieces and MR. BELTZOR and his wife killed. The family were preparing to go into the cellar when the storm struck them. Just east of there another farmer, JOSEPH TREMBLY, was killed. None of the family, so far as can be learned, was injured. Three miles south of Clifton several houses were torn down and a number killed. The cyclone took the people unawares. There had been indications of a heavy rain all day, with local showers, but nobody ex- pected a storm. So far as learned, the vic- tims were in their houses, and most of them had retired. The storm struck PETER ANDER- SON'S house at 9:30 o'clock. This was about a mile from the starting point. The house was demolished in an instant. Every member of the ANDERSON family was injured. When they had extricated themselves from the de- bris they discovered that ANDERSON'S grand- child was missing. The dead body of the child was found in a ravine half a mile away. It evidently had been carried there by the wind. ANDERSON alarmed the neighbors who lived out of the track of the storm, and search was commenced for victims. A large number of cattle and horses were killed, and fruit in the storm's track was ruined. It is impossible at this time to estimate the damage to buildings and other property. Heartrending tales of suffering are told by persons who visited the scenes of the storm. Many of the injured lay all night, pinned down by wreckage or paralyzed in the mud, while others crawled or hobbled across the country to a neighbor's house. In several instances people were lifted into the air by the cyclone and carried for a distance, and then suddenly dropped. Buildings were lifted up and then hurled to the ground with force enough to demolish them. The wife and daughter of JOHN MORRIS were reading when the shock came. The house was divided. The women managed to get out, when the wind picked them up, carried them 200 yards and let them safely down on a pile of straw, just away from the storm's track. ===========================================================================