Delmar, Iowa Tornado

May 18, 1898

Last night about 4:30 o’clock a terrific cyclone passed through this county, scattering death and destruction in a most horrible manner....

Storm at Delmar. The cyclone just missed Delmar passing along the outskirts of the city. Every member of the family of a Mr. Allison were more or less injured and one boy was killed outright.

From Delmar.  A most terrific cyclone visited this section of the country, one-fourth mile south of town, yesterday afternoon at about 4 o’clock, killing numerous persons and demolishing everything in its path. Six persons were killed near here and several more near Rigg and Charlotte. One son, Obe, 18 years old, of John Allison is dead. The rest of the family are more or less injured. His entire farm and stock was destroyed. Two men working on the Jake Staman farm, west of town, were killed. Soren Clemenson and another man working on the Wm. Cook farm are also dead. The farm houses, stock, barns and shed of the following persons are also completely destroyed: Marvin Fenton, James Davis, Robert Brady (newhouse), L. L. Harrington, B. D. Brooks, Chas Goodall, M. D. Davis, Henry O’ Grady, and Albert Doty, who lives on a rented farm. The town cemetery was swept clear. A school house in the Benjamin district, Miss Mae Kneer, teacher was destroyed; also one in the Quinlan district, Miss Ellen Corty, teacher, who were blown away. A man with a team stopped in the road in front of Mr. Russ’ house before the storm. After it was over nothing could be seen of man or team. Have heard nothing yet.

....A correct list of the dead as far as reported:

-Delmar.
Obe Allison
Soren Clemanson

-Near Delmar.
Unknown man

-Near Riggs.
Two unknown men

Injured.

-Delmar.
Entire Allison Family

At the Maloney residence barb wire was wound several times around five pigs. Men caught in fields sought safety in creeks, wells and in every imaginable place. In the cemetery near Delmar, not a monument or tombstone was standing after the storm. At Delmar the roar of the storm could be heard fully an hour before it passed the town. Trees were stripped perfectly clean of leaves and small branches and are as bare as in January.

Clinton Daily Herald , Clinton, IA 19 May 1898

Iowa heads the list with nineteen fatalities [from the tornado].  They are as follows:

Near Riggs Junction:

MICHAEL HINES

MAGGIE MALONEY

JAMES MALONEY

ROSE MALONEY

MARY CALL

Near Dealmar

ORA ALLISON

PAT HYNES

SAUREN CLEMENZEIN

TWO CHILDREN OF FRANCIS ALLISON

A. D. HILDER

WILLIAM GRIEM

Near Preston:  

CHARLES FLORA

MRS. CHARLES FLORA

TWO FLORA CHILDREN

Near Quigley:

WILLIAM O'MEARA

CHILD OF JOHN CLARK

The Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, GA 20 May 1898

The dead as far as reported are: .... At Delmar Junction, Iowa:  Oba Allison, Saueren Clemensen.

The dead as far as reported are: .... At Quigley, Iowa:  Wm. O'Meara, child of John Clark, at Riggs station, Iowa, Martin Hines, daughter of Michael Salon

Manitoba Morning Free Press, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, 20 May 1898

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