Mattoon, Illinois Tornado
May 1917
Mattoon, Ill.,
May 27.-Thirty-five persons are known to be
dead and it is estimated that an equal number
are buried in the ruins of Mattoon as a result
of a tornado which struck the city about 4
o'clock Saturday afternoon.
200 INJURED.
In addition more than 200 persons were injured
by the wind storm, many of them fatally.
CITY IN DARKNESS
Mattoon was in complete darkness Saturday night
except for the lights of hundreds of lanterns
carried by volunteer rescue workers and not
until daylight can the full extent of the damage
be known.
PATH OF STORM FOUR BLOCKS WIDE.
Without warning the funnel shaped cloud came
swirling its way toward the city and before
persons on the streets could seek safety a
district on the northern side of the city, two
miles long and about four blocks wide had been
devasted.
PROPERTY LOSS HALF MILLION.
The property damage, it was estimated tonight,
will exceed one half million dollars and
hundreds of families are homeless.
BIG FACTORY LOSS
The T W CLARK
Manufacturing company, in whose plant one
hundred men were at work at the time the tornado
came, suffered the heaviest property damage, the
loss being estimated at $200,000. That none of
the workmen were killed was one of the freaks of
the storm.
The Daily
Review, Decatur, IL 27 May 1917
TOLL OF DEATH AT
MATTOON
THE IDENTIFIED DEAD.
MRS. EMMA HYDE.
THOMAS HYDE.
TEDDY BRIDGES.
MRS. CHARLES TEMPLE.
JOHN PIERCE.
I. C. SPITZ.
OWEN WAGGONER.
MRS. OWEN WAGGONER.
JOSEPH TAYLOR.
CHARLES GULLION.
JAMES TURNER.
HARRISON STOKES.
MRS. NANCY J. COON.
MRS. LEE TAYLOR.
JOHN WILLIAMS.
EDWIN DAUGHERTY.
WALLER MELLON.
MRS. J. DEHOHN.
____ SWANSON, child.
EARL WHITE.
HARRISON FRAZIER.
_____ HICKS, child.
_____ BEAVERS.
MRS. GRUBB.
_____ DAVIDSON.
Two children of
MRS. LEE TAYLOR.
TOM HYDE.
JACOB DIGGERS.
MRS. MARY DAVISION.
_____HICKEY, child.
MRS. EMMA _____.
MRS. ORA HERITAGE.
Child of
CHARLES HICK.
IRWIN WAGGONER.
MR. _____ BEAVERS.
MRS. _____ GRUBB.
_____ DAVIDSON (boy)
VIRGIL MALCOM.
_____ THOMPSON.
The Daily Review, Decatur, IL 27 May 1917
48 Recovered at
Mattoon.
Mattoon, Ill., May 28.-According to the
best obtainable figures, in the absence of any
official statiscal agency, forty-eight bodies
have been recovered, forty-six of which have
been identified as a result of Saturday's
tornado. Between fifteen and twenty persons are
unaccounted for. Three hundred persons are
badly, though not fatally hurt. Two hundred more
are suffering from slight injuries and
approximately twenty are expected to die.
The revised and Amended list of dead as gathered
unofficially is as follows:
MRS. E. HYDE, THOMAS
HYDE, TEDDY BRIDGES, MRS. C. TEMPLE, JACK
PIERCE, I. G. SPITZ, ARLETTA TUDOR, MR. AND MRS.
OWEN WAGGONER, OJSEP [SIC]
TAYLOR, JAMES TURNER, MRS. N. COONS, MRS. L.
TAYLOR, MARGARET TAYLOR, JOHN WILLIAMS EDWIN
DAUGHTERY, WALTER MELTON, MRS. DE HOHN, MR. AND
MRS. W. REDMAN and son and daughter,
JOHN GRUBB, HARRY BEAVER, MRS. C. ANDERSON,
two unidentifed women,
MRS J. DAVIDSON, MRS BICKERS, MRS. J. GRUBB MRS
J. REED, WILLIAM BURKES, EUGENE BURKES, WILLIAM
BROWN, T. C. BENSON HARRISON STOKES, F. A.
SPAULDING MRS. E MULLINIX, MRS. A. TURNER FREST
DAVIDSON LIZZIE HICKEY, MISS LLWELLEN, MISS
HERITAGE, ____SWANSON (boy)
EARL WHITE, MRS. D. HOLLOWELL
The Iowa City Citizen, Iowa City, IA 28
May 1917
496 HOMES
DESTROYED IN MATTOON
Property Loss in City That Suffered Most
Estimated at $2,000,000 with 54 Known Dead
MATTOON, Ill., May 27-Stoically taking up
the task of recovering the dead, nursing the
injured and housing and feeding the homeless,
Mattoon and
Charleston, swept Saturday evening
by a tornado, that took a toll of more than 100
lives in central Illinois and northwestern
Indiana, tonight had established systematic
methods of relief.
Sunday's sunrise showed that Mattoon had lost
fifty-four known dead, with a score of persons
missing and 500 injured, some of whom may die,
in the devastation of 140 blocks of homes
occupied by workingmen in the north part of the
city. The wind razed 496 homes and partly
destroyed 146 more; rendering 2,000 persons
homeless. These are sheltered by friends, in
public buildings and in a tented refuge in
Peterson Park.
Twenty Still Missing.
Charleston, lying ten miles east of Mattoon,
with 5,000 population, suffered a larger loss in
proportion to its size than Mattoon, the known
dead totalling thirty-eight, with twenty or more
missing....
The twisting wind chose its victims in spots,
and reports from the rural regions indicate that
small loss of life occurred outside Mattoon and
Charleston and only at widely separated places.
Sweeping through
Modesto, south of Mattoon,
where much damage was done, the storm rushed
northeast, dropping down on the north part of
this city. Leaving unscathed the business
section and barely touching the industrial
plants, the whirlwind lifted its tentacles until
it reached
Charleston.
There the tornado again gripped the earth and
tore away substantial buildings, crushing out
the lives of two score more human beings amid
the falling houses, the hurtling of timbers and
the snapping of trees.
The storm fitfully wore itself out in the
northwestern corner of Indiana, causing more
havoc here and there as it hopped along an
erratic course to its disappearing point.
Militia Guards Debris.
Fire, which so often adds its calamitous touch
to that of tornadoes, broke out in Mattoon, but,
as calm succeeded the windstorm, was soon put
out without any serious damage. But the darkness
of the cloudy whirlwind was succeeded after a
brief intermission of bright sunshine, by the
blackness of night, until relieved in the
stricken quarter of Mattoon by artificial light,
because the lighting system was damaged.
For hours there was a confused rushing about of
the survivors in the stricken area, seeking
relatives and friends. Efforts to send for help
were thwarted by the collapse of wires, but
finally a messenger was dispatched to Champaign
by automobile, so that a relief train arrived
before midnight. Later an uncertain wire to
Springfield was made workable and militia was
sent to aid in guarding property and helping the
homeless.
Before dawn order had been established. A
temporary operating room was set up in a hotel.
Beds for the injured were placed in the Public
Library, the Odd Fellows Home and in various
churches and schoolhouses.
Thousands of bandages, prepared by the United
States Hospital Aid Society for war use were
distributed to the hospitals. Hotels prepared
and distributed free barrels of coffee, and
restaurants served meals gratis to the homeless
to strengthen them in the search for lost ones.
Modest Homes Wrecked.
The storm swept a path four blocks wide and
thirty-five blocks long in North Mattoon,
causing an estimated loss of $2,000,000.
Levelling nearly all the modest homes of those
living in the wind-swept zone, the tornado
rushed through Dodge Grove Cemetery, turned over
hundreds of tombstones and demolished the public
stone mausoleum.
Vast damage also was done in an area near the
swept zone and twice as large as the 140 blocks
laid waste in this area, however, houses were
merely snipped of chimneys, denuded of porches
or twisted awry on foundations, and few persons
suffered death or injury.
A few small factories standing in the storm's
path also were damaged or demolished, but the
better residential quarter and all the main
business part of Mattoon escaped damage, except
from flying planks and broken furniture, hurled
by the wind in some instances for miles. It was
this verliable shower of timbers and household
effects that aroused the unscathed portion of
the city to the distress of their less fortunate
fellow townsmen.
A typical scene was at the wrecked home of
THOMAS PATRICK.
The mother sat on a stool and carried a baby
while the father and other children collected
bits of broken furniture and bedraggled clothing
from the debris of their home.
One woman and her two children escaped narrowly.
They were blown through a window of their
crumbling home and deposited unhurt at the
entrance of a cellar, in which
MRS. GEORGE KEMPER
and a few neighbors had taken refuge. The
woman and the children were taken into the
cellar to safety by
HARRY BEAVERS, who later left the
shelter to look for his wife and children, only
to be killed by a flying plank.
A patriotic freak of the storm was the carrying
of a flag pole from the home of
G. M. Metcalf
four blocks to the space swept clear of the home
of Raymond Coon,
where the staff was planted in the soft earth
with the Stars and Stripes still flying.
Sightseers Discouraged.
Many sightseers came to Mattoon during the day,
but all except those needed to help the wounded
and homeless were advised to depart in order to
conserve the food supply and lessen the
confusion. W. G. SAWIN
was named food director and meal
cards were issued to the unhoused residents of
Mattoon. This soon drove visitors to outgoing
trains.
At
Charleston, conditions were about the same as
in Mattoon. Destruction was complete in the area
struck by the storm and relief work was
vigorously and promptly pursued.
Westervelt and other towns hit by the tornado
experienced similar sufferings and displayed the
same fortitude. Farmers at many places sustained
losses to buildings and fences and in some cases
lost members of their families.
The Indianapolis Star, Indianapolis, IN 28
May 1917
List of Known
Dead in Storms.
MATTOON, ILL.
MRS. EMMA HYDE.
THOMAS HYDE.
TEDDY BRIDGES.
MRS. CHARLES TEMPLE.
JACK PIERCE.
I. G. SPITZ.
ARLETTA TUDOR.
MR. AND MRS. OWEN WAGGONER.
JOSEPH TAYLOR
JAMES TURNER.
MRS. NANCY COONS.
MRS. LEE TAYLOR.
MARGARET TAYLOR, child.
LORRAIN TAYLOR, child.
JOHN WILLIAMS.
EDWIN DAUGHERTY.
WALTER MELTON.
MRS. DEHONE.
MRS. DORA HOLLOWELL.
MR. AND MRS. RILEY REDMAN, SON AND
DAUGHTER.
JOB GRUB.
HARRY BEAVERS.
MRS. CLAUDE ANDERSON.
MRS. JOSEPH DAVIDSON.
MRS. BICKERS.
MRS. H. GRUBB.
F. A. SPAULDING.
MRS. ETA MULLINI.
MRS. ALBERTA TURNER.
FREST DAVIDSON.
LIZZIE HICKEY.
MISS LEWELLEN.
MISS HERITAGE.
MASTER SWANSON.
EARL WHITE.
CHARLES HARRIS.
RAMONA NELMS.
MRS. C. JACKSON.
CHARLES FICKES, child.
FIVE NEGROES.
MRS. CELIA BEAVERS.
MRS. GRACE HUDDLESON.
MRS. SUSAN TRAVERS.
MRS. JOHN REED.
MRS. BELLE SWEENEY.
AGA LORAINE PELPHS.
The Indianapolis Star, Indianapolis, IN 28
May 1917
Storm Freaks.
Mattoon, Ill.-A flag pole was carried
from the home of G. M.
METCALF to the front yard of
RAYMOND COON,
four blocks distant, where the staff was planted
upright in the soft earth with the stars and
stripes still flying.
Fort Wayne News, Fort Wayne, IN 29 May
1917
BODY BROUGHT TO
INDIANA
LAFAYETTE, IND., May 27.-The remains of
MRS. LEWIS DEHAHN,
formerly of this city, who was killed in the
tornado at Mattoon, Ill., Saturday evening,
arrived here tonight and were taken to the home
of her parents, MR. and
MRS. MARK CRIDER. The funeral will be
held at St. Lawrence Catholic Church Tuesday
morning.
The Indianapolis Star, Indianapolis, IN 28
May 1917
BABY WILL LIVE
Word came from Mattoon Wednesday that the infant
which was born while the tornado was raging in
that city last Saturday will live. The baby was
first thought by its parents to be dead and was
sent to an undertaking establishment. Later the
undertaker was astounded when the baby began
kicking up its heels and showing much life.
The Daily Review, Decatur, Illinois 30 May
1917
FOUND NEPHEW INJURED
MR. AND MRS. LEE
WARREN, 520 East Olive street, were
in Mattoon Tuesday looking for
EARL WHITE, a nephew of MRS. WARREN,
who was reported killed. They found MR. WHITE
alive, but badly injured by flying timbers. MR.
WHITE was at work in the district caught in the
storm and hurt, but his home was not touched.
The Daily Review, Decatur, Illinois 30 May
1917
DECATUR FIREMEN CALLED TO MATTOON
Will Help Search for Bodies in Ruins.
PLATT IS IN CHARGE
Decaur [sic] Men Will Help in Any Way Possible.
Decatur is helping Mattoon in another way.
Wednesday morning MAYOR
SWAN called upon
CHIEF C. W. DEVORE
of the fire department, asking if the latter
could send some firemen to help. It seems there
are still a number of bodies buried in the ruins
that were not reported at first. Every available
man in Mattoon is working at some sort of relief
work and more are needed to relieve the men who
have been working hours and hours without sleep.
IN ALL SERVICES
The local men may be used to relieve Mattoon
firemen or to police the streets to help search
for bodies. They go willing to do anything they
can do to be of service and will probably remain
there for some days. Seven in all made the trip
and will be under the direction of
CAPTAIN PLATT
from No. 2 house.
The six others besides
CAPTAIN PLATT were
BILL BOWEN, DICK CARSON, SAMUEL MORTHLAND, JR.,
EARL SHENEY, FRED SMITH and BOB LUNSFORD.
LUNSFORD, however, will probably not
be gone over a day. He went down Wednesday to
attend the funeral of his aunt,
MRS. MULLINIX, who is one of the
storm victims.
REBUILDING PLANS
Wednesday's issue of the Mattoon
Commercial-Star says:
"Plans for rebuilding in charge of
R. A. GABBERT
and W. N. MCKAMY
are being worked out as rapidly as
possible, and already tangible arrangements have
been made insuring an early beginning of actual
work. Northing has been done in the way of
clearing the area of wreckage and to this task
the committee will give first attention, working
in conjunction with those in charge of
sanitation as the removal of the debris at the
earliest possible moment is essential to both
departments. In the meantime temporary homes
have been obtained for all victims of the
tornado.
The Daily Review, Decatur, Illinois 30 May
1917
Articles transcribed by Linda
Houston. Thanks, Linda!
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