Lanark & Wacker
Carroll County, Illinois Tornado
May
18, 1898
... A second tornado in Illinois started near
Stillman valley and swept northward, wrecking
farmhouses and killing as it went, but the
greatest loss of life was at the point of
origin, where four were killed. At Lanark,
the storm ended its career by striking the
county almshouse and killing
[illegible] inmates. Three others were fatally
injured. There were over fifty persons in
the building when it went down and all of them
were more or less injured.
At
Lanark:
NICHOLAS SCHULTZ
SAMUEL HOOVER
MRS.
JOHN KESSLER
All
inmates of the county poorhouse, which was
destroyed. Three other inmates were
injured fatally.
The Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, GA
20 May 1898
Dubuque, Ia., May 18. -- Passengers on
an incoming Milwaukee train report a very
 heavy
storm throughout western Illinois. At
Lanark the poorhouse, a brick structure, was
demolished and some of the twenty-five inmates
may have been buried in the ruins.
The Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, GA
19 May 1898
On May 18, 1898, Carroll
county experienced a severe storm. Cal Feezer,
Mt. Carroll Editor, reported:
“The Lanark vinegar factory
was unroofed; everything but the house at
Christ
Rowland’s is gone;
Henry Arnold’s house, barn,
etc. gone: upper part of
Charles Wentz’s
house demolished; at Cal Puterbaugh’s all but
house blown away; William Johnson farm buildings
a total loss, but he had $2900 tornado
insurance; excessive damage in streets and in
cemetery; all buildings at
George Taber farm
demolished; extensive damage at
John Stineman
and Nichol’s farms; grain ruined and much
livestock killed.”
Mr. [Orrin] Eaton related …
the destructive tornado that hit Carroll County
May 18, 1898.
A young man in his late
teens, he was plowing with his father in the
late afternoon when he noticed the sudden
darkening of the sky. They hurried home. When
his father was opening a window to close the
shutters a large branch of a tree blew in with
great force. They could see afterward the
extensive damage to the County Home and Farm a
half-mile to the north. In driving over there
they had to clear the road of debris to be able
to travel.
The upper floor and roof
had been blown off the County Home and one
inmate killed. One woman was blown out of an
upper floor window and carried above trees and
deposited along a creek a quarter of a mile
away. She walked back and created much amazement
upon her return. One man hid under a wagon load
of fence posts in the barnyard. The wagon was
carried through the air and upset near a
neighbor’s line fence but the man was unhurt. A
dozen or so cattle and horses were so seriously
hurt it was necessary to kill them; the large
barn was demolished.
After crossing the river,
the tornado first flattened the Tomlinson
residence southeast of Wacker and killed a hired
hand who had been plowing in a field. The team
and plow were never found. In Wacker, the
grandmother of Supervisor
Charles Kessler
of Mt.
Carroll township was killed when her home was
demolished. Proceeding east, the Downing
farmhouse and barns were destroyed by the
whirlwind which killed or crippled many ponies
for which this farm was famous. After smashing
the Preston school, it skipped to the County
Farm.
The
Campbell farm lost the
house, a large circular barn, and a large circle
of cattle killed. A long row of maple trees were
so severely twisted that only splintered trunks
remained.
Several of the farms along
Cyclone Ridge also were struck by the tornado.
When the storm of the
century hit the county farm, it struck from the
west about 5 p.m. blowing off the top floor of
the brick home and dumping it in a heap on the
east side. County farm residents took refuge
downstairs. At least 20 persons were reported
killed in Carroll and Ogle counties and scores
were injured. The tornado continued on east into
Ogle county destroying hundreds of houses and
barns in its path. Most persons escaped with
their lives by going to the cellar.
Carroll County: a
goodly heritage, Mt. Morris, IL.: Kable Print.
Co., 1968, Pages 123, 184, 298
 Carroll County : a goodly heritage Read it online at ancestry.com.
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