Kingston Mines, Illinois Tornado
June 11, 1902
THREE DEATHS AT KINSGTON [sic] MINES
Heavy Damage There and in Other Tazewell Towns.
Pekin, Ills., June 11. -- A tornado passed over Tazewell county last night,
killing three and fatally injuring two persons at Kingston Mines. The
dead.
Mrs. Thomas Murray and infant,
Willie McElwee, aged 3
Patrick McElwee and wife fatally injured.
The entire east end of the little village of a thousand inhabitants was swept
away.
Houses and barns were blown down in Groveland, Minler, Dilon, Hopedale and
Delavan. As yet no loss of life is reported from those towns.
Opposite Pekin the river overflowed its banks and covered 60,000 acres of
corn, which is believed to be ruined.
The Daily Review, Decatur, IL 11 Jun 1902
Transcribed by Audrey. Thank you,
Audrey!
Three Killed, Three Fatally Injured and Seven
Others Injured at the Kingston Mines –
Peoria, Ill., June 11.
Rain fell [illegible] torrents and the damage
caused by the high winds is inestimable at this
time. Probably the worst damage in proportion to
the size of the town was at Kingston Mines, a
small mining town twenty miles below Peoria.
Three people were killed outright and ten were
injured, three fatally.
The killed are:
MRS. THOMAS MURRAY
INFANT CHILD OF
MRS. MURRAY
MRS. ROBERT McELWEE
The fatally injured are:
Infant child of Mrs.
McELWEE
Robert McELWEE
Thomas MURRAY
The other injured are:
Mrs. MOCHA
Roy BITNER
Jud MARSH
Cora ROSBOTTOM
James LACOCK
Mrs. Frank BRAZENA
Mrs. KEEFE
Storm at Kingston Mine.
The storm struck the village at 10:15 and was
preceded by a phenomenal electrical storm. It
was perhaps fifteen minutes after the
commencement of the electrical storm that the
wind came, bringing with it the awful wreck and
ruin. The storm first struck
NEWSAM
brothers’ big engine house, laying it flat,
besides carrying away the dump trestle, track
and all. The mine stables were caught and
carried completely away. The loss to
NEWSAM
brothers will exceed $10,000. The home of
Thomas MURRAY
was next in the storm’s path and besides
literally wiping the little home from the face
of the earth the wind took the lives of
Mrs. MURRAY and
child, and left the father in a dying condition.
They had prepared for an emergency of this kind
by building a cave and had evidently prepared to
go to it, as they were on the outside of the
house in the direction of the cave. A piece of
scantling had penetrated the bowels of
Mrs. MURRAY
and she had fallen across her child. When found
one arm was thrown out and the other clasped the
baby as though to protect it. She must have
missed her aim, as the little one had evidently
died of exposure. Mr.
MURRAY’S spine was broken.
Mr. and Mrs. McELWEE
were in their home, which was demolished. They
were preparing to retire. Their child was killed
in its mother’s arms, while she was fatally hurt
and the father will die. They were all struck by
falling timbers.
James LACOCK,
his wife and three children were all injured but
none seriously.
Mrs. MOCHA
and child had a miraculous escape from death.
The house was completely wrecked, but a
partition had fallen as a protection and while
they were pinned down for hours, were not badly
hurt. They were discovered by a relief party,
who heard Mrs. MOCHA faintly calling.
Mrs. KEEFE
of South Peoria was visiting her mother,
Mrs. SMITH. The house was wrecked and
Mrs. KEEFE was badly cut about the head, but not
seriously.
Following is a list of property completely
destroyed:
NEWSAM Brothers
barn, coal dump, engine house and powder
building and the following residences:
James McCUNE, Frank
BRASENA, Frank McCUNE, Mrs. MOCHA, Lemon BAKER,
Mrs. SMITH, James LACOCK, G.C. CLARK, C.M.
THORP, H. ASBALL, Thomas MURRAY, J.M. GLASFORD,
John KELLY, Louis WOODWORTH. The M.E.
church was completely wrecked.
Des Moines Daily Leader, Des Moines, IA 12
Jun 1902
Transcribed by Rosemarie Thank you,
Rosemarie!
The storm struck Kingston Mines about 10:30 p.m.
and lasted half an hour, causing $15,000 damage.
Des Moines Daily Leader, Des Moines, IA 12
Jun 1902
Transcribed by Rosemarie Thank you,
Rosemarie!
Two Killed in Tazewell.
Pekin, Ill., June 11. – A tornado passed
over Tazewell county last night, killing three
and fatally injuring two persons at Kingston
Mines, south of here. The dead are:
MRS. THOMAS MURRAY
WILLIE McELWEE, infant.
Patrick McELWEE and wife were fatally
injured. The entire east end of that little
village of 1,000 inhabitants was swept away.
Des Moines Daily Leader, Des Moines, IA 12
Jun 1902
Transcribed by Rosemarie Thank you,
Rosemarie!
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