Crown Point, Indiana Tornado
May 28, 1917
Hammond, Ind., May 28. – Over a
stretch of territory twenty miles in width and
five in depth the spent end of the Illinois
tornado of Saturday night inflicted death and
disaster whose results grow as communication is
established with the stricken district along the
Kankakee river in Indiana. Three dead, five
dying and forty injured with an estimated
property loss of half million dollars is the
toll so far, but the figures are expected to
grow in seriousness, as later reports come in at
Hebron, Shelby, Crown Point, Lowell, Cedar Lake,
where people were killed and injured, but until
wires are up full estimates of the damage will
be unobtainable. Hebron, a town of 1,500 in
Porter county, was the worst sufferer. Calls for
doctors and relief came from Crown Point and one
hundred autos hurried to assist.
Three Dead at Crown Point.
Three dead are reported at Crown Point.
E.B. Prattaged,
fifty-nine, was crushed the debris of an
elevator; Leslie
Kenney, aged thirteen, struck by
flying timber, and Mrs.
Alice Kenzie; skull fractured, are
the dead there. The injured are
Mrs. Louis Sunday,
both legs broken; Miss
Lettie Garvey, crushed and arm
broken; Wm. Simpson,
chest crushed;
Oscar Bagley, broken leg and
internal injuries;
Giles Aylesworth, internal injuries,
and Roy Smith,
legs broken, are the worst injured.
Car Upset, Foreman Fatally Hurt.
Between Crown Point and Hebron the wind
overturned a railroad construction camp of eight
cars on the Panhandle. The cook’s car set fire
to the others and Mike
Mitke, the foreman, was fatally hurt
while twenty members of the crew were more or
less injured. At Hebron the wind went through
the outskirts of the city and several cottages
were demolished and the Gridley elevator
destroyed. Huge trees were uprooted and carried
miles.
At Crown Point all the fair ground grand stands
and horse barns were demolished.
Joseph Shields,
an aged horse trainer, was fatally hurt. At
Cedar Lake, the Colmon
stock farm was razed and
Mr. and Mrs. Ailman were picked up
from the ruins fatally crushed. At Lowell and
east of it many farm houses were reported
overturned but no reports of death, though
several were hurt. At Shelby,
John Wright was
crushed when flying timbers from a house struck
him. Four are seriously hurt there.
The Iowa City Citizen, Iowa City, IA 28
May 1917
Transcribed by
Loraine Jordan. Thank you, Loraine!
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