1915 — July 7, Tornadoes and Windstorms, IL/1, IN/3, KY/1, MO/7, Cincinnati OH/38– 50

— 50 Blanchard tally of State and locality breakouts of tornado and windstorm fatalities.
— >50 Daily News, Decatur IL. “50 Killed, Many Hurt in Violent Storm.” 7-8-1915, p. 1.
— >50 Evening Tribune, Albert Lea, MN. “Fifty Killed in Terrific Storm,” July 9, 1915.
— 37 Information Annual 1915: A Continuous Cyclopedia and Digest of Current Events. 551.

Illinois ( 1)
–1 Lawrenceville, Lawrence County. F3. Grazulis. Significant Tornadoes. 1993, p. 744.

Indiana ( 3)
–2 Bedford, Lawrence Co. F2. Twins, 5-years-old. Grazulis. Significant Tornadoes. 1993, p744.
–1 Martinsville. Electrician electrocuted while making repairs; Floyd Oakes.

Kentucky ( 1)
–1 Erlanger, Kenton Co. Windstorm. Interior Journal, Stanford KY. “Windstorm.” 7-9-1915, 4.

Missouri ( 7)
–7 St. Charles County. Commercial Tribune, Cincinnati. “Tornado Toll in Southwest.” 7-9-1915, p. 1.
–3 Dardenne. Thomas Flaherty home demolished; Mrs. Flaherty and two children die.
–1 Gilmore. Mr. Frank Kunsel.
–2 O’Fallon area (Mrs. Daniel Minor and child.)
–1 Wentzville. Mrs. Herman Oberling.
–4 St. Charles County. 1525 (3:25 pm), F2. Grazulis. Significant Tornadoes. 1993, p. 744.
–2 “A woman and a child were killed when a horse and buggy were thrown 200 yards.”
–1 Gilmore. (Frank Kunsel. 50 Daily News, Decatur IL. “50 Killed…” 7-8-1915, p. 1.)
–1 Wentzville. (Mrs. Herman Oberling. Daily News, Decatur IL. “50 Killed…” 7-8-1915, p1.)

Ohio (>38)
–>38 Grazulis. Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991. 1993, p. 114.
–>38 Cincinnati windstorm. (Schmidlin / Schmidlin. Thunder in the Heartland. 1996, p. 248.
–~15 Ohio River. Boats overturn. Schmidlin and Schmidlin, P. 249.
— 18 Sixth Street. Five attached buildings collapse. Schmidlin and Schmidlin, P. 249.
— 3 Terrace Park. Train derailment. Schmidlin and Schmidlin, P. 249.
— 38 Cincinnati. Ohio Historical Society, “July 7, 1915: Cincinnati’s Deadliest Winds.”
Cincinnati Windstorm Fatality Breakouts.
–18 Ohio River. Towboat Convoy capsizes. Indianapolis Star. “Cincinnati Swept…” 7-8-1915, 1.
— 6 Ohio River, opposite mouth of Mill Creek, Cincinnati, towing steamer Convoy capsized.
— 1 Ohio River. Towboat Fulton capsizes. Captain Brad Williams reportedly drowned.

Narrative Information — General

Safety Engineering: “On the night of July 7, a tornado swept over Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois, doing damage approximating $2,000,000 and causing the deaths of more than two score persons. Church steeples were blown down, hundreds of buildings leveled to the ground, vessels wrecked, trees uprooted and general devastation caused. A train carrying a stable of valuable race horses was wrecked, killing 14 of the animals, val¬ued at more than $100,000. One inci¬dent of the windstorm was the carrying of an automobile 300 feet and depositing it on the ruins of a build¬ing on a prominent corner in the city of Cincinnati.” (Safety Engineering. V30, N1, July, 1915, p.2.)

July 9: “Chicago, July 9 – More than fifty persons were killed and several scores were injured by the violent wind and rain storm which extended from Nebraska to Ohio. The property damage is estimated at several million dollars.” (Evening Tribune, Albert Lea, MN. “Fifty Killed in Terrific Storm,” July 9, 1915.)

Illinois

July 8: “ILLINOIS—Russellville struck by tornado, reported seven dead. At Lawrenceville two reported killed. Enormous property damage at both these cities.” (Lima Daily News, OH. “Latest Information Shows These Results of the Tornado that Swept Five States.” 7-8-1915, p. 1.)

Indiana

July 7: “TERRE HAUTE, Ind., July 7.—(AP Bulletin.)—Lawrenceville, Ill., fifty miles south of Terre Haute, was visited by a terrific windstorm late today. Two persons are reported to have been killed and more than fifty homes were damaged. It is estimated the damage will exceed $500,000.” (Titusville Herald, PA. “Terrific Cyclone in Missouri and Illinois,” July 8, 1915.)

July 8: “INDIANA—One killed at Vincennes. One killed at Lawrenceburg. Heavy property losses in both places.” (Lima Daily News, OH. “Latest Information Shows These Results of the Tornado that Swept Five States.” 7-8-1915, p. 1)

Kentucky

July 8: “KENTUCKY—Covington, Ludlow, Dayton, Bellevue and Newport suffered heavy property losses. Reported nearly a score of lives lost in the cities.” (Lima Daily News, OH. “Latest Information Shows These Results of the Tornado that Swept Five States.” 7-8-1915, p. 1.)

Missouri

July 8: “MISSOURI—Seven reported dead in St. Charles. Town or St. Peters said to be partially wiped out.” (Lima Daily News, OH. “Latest Information Shows These Results of the Tornado that Swept Five States,” 7-8-1915, p. 1)

July 8: MISSOURI: “Five persons are believed to have been killed during the storm and a woman and child who entered the Borromeo church at St. Charles, just before it was demolished had not been accounted for at. midnight. Mrs. Thomas Slattery and her two children were killed when their home at Dardenne was wrecked, reports from that place said. Wentzville and Gilmore each reported one man killed. At St. Peter, Mo., there was heavy property damage…. St. Charles suffered most from the tornado. Wind gauges here registered eighty miles an hour and an area of more than 100 square blocks in that city was more or less ruined. The Wabash bridge over Dardenne Creek between O’Fallon and St. Peters was demolished.” (Titusville Herald, PA. “Terrific Cyclone in Missouri and Illinois,” July 8, 1915.)

July 8: “ST. LOUIS, July 8.—Seven persons lost their lives in the tornado that swept St. Charles county, Missouri, according; to unconfirmed imports…today. More than $250,000 damage was done in St Charles, St. Peters and Cottleville, according to the same report. Telegraph and telephone communication with the points had not been restored at an early hour today.

“Mrs. Thomas Slattery and her two children were reported killed when their home, 18 miles west of St. Charles, was wrecked by the storm. An unidentified man was killed in Wentzville and another at Gilmore. The St. Charles Borromeo church which was erected in 1869 at a cost of $70,000 was totally wrecked. St. Joseph’s hospital was seriously damaged.

“The storm struck St. Charles late yesterday afternoon. A small funnel shaped cloud with a twisting tail appeared as the storm approached, moving with terrible speed upon the city. A Wabash passenger train from St. Louis to Kansas City, passed Gilmore, Mo., just before the storm reached there. The train rode into the tornado a few miles beyond there, and the forward coaches were blown from the track. The engine and the remaining five coaches stayed on the rails…. Leaving Missouri, the storm took a northeasterly course into Madison county, Illinois, where heavy damage was reported to have been inflicted.” (Lima Daily News, OH. “Seven Lose Their Lives in St. Charles, MO,” July 8, 1915.)

Ohio

Ohio Historical Society, CINCINATTI: “A vicious wind and rainstorm swept southwestern Ohio on the evening of Wednesday July 7, 1915. The death toll of 38 at Cincinnati is the greatest known in Ohio for a windstorm in which no tornadoes were involved. The wind caused extensive damage throughout Cincinnati and in nearby communities. There were no reports of tornadoes and the damage was all toward one direction, so the wind is presumed to have been the result of thunderstorm microbursts.

“Homes, apartment houses, and commercial buildings were demolished or unroofed by the winds. Wires, signs, trees, cars, and streetcars were blown over in downtown Cincinnati. Most of the deaths were in collapsed buildings although three men died when a train carrying racehorses was blown from the tracks at Terrace Park. An uncertain number of people drowned in overturned boats in the Ohio River. The greatest tragedies developed in the collapse of buildings along West Sixth Street and a house on West Eighth. Eighteen people died in the collapse of five buildings on Sixth Street and another 11 people died when two nearby houses collapsed. Outside of Cincinnati, there was extensive wind damage at Washington Court House and Wilmington, and floods washed out hundreds of bridges in Montgomery County.” (Ohio Historical Society, “July 7, 1915: Cincinnati’s Deadliest Winds.”)

Newspapers — Ohio

July 8: “OHIO – Cincinnati swept by the storm. Thirty-three known dead. Property loss in Cincinnati estimated at nearly $1,000.000. Train wrecked at Plainville, Ohio.” (Lima Daily News, OH. “Latest Information Shows These Results of the Tornado that Swept Five States.” 7-8-1915, p. 1.)

July 8: “CINCINNATI, Ohio, July 8.—Cincinnati today is recovering from the most devastating storm that ever visited this city. The miniature cyclone tore through the western end of the city last night and within half an hour took a toll of lives estimated at 35, injured scores of persons, wrecked buildings and caused about a million dollars damage to property, A survey by the police of the suburbs, which were cut off from telephonic communication with the city last night, swelled the list of known dead to 15 and increased the number of missing.

“The streets today are littered with debris. Many avenues are closed by buildings blown from their foundations. Cincinnati la cut off from telegraphic and telephonic communication with the outside -world except for press wires. The death list -was cut down by the heroic work of the
police, firemen and ambulance companies who -were called out on a general alarm. The reserves pulled from underneath houses people who were pinioned by wreckage and rushed the injured to hospitals.

“Captain W. P. Curray is thought to be me only survivor of the tow boat Conway, which carried a crew of 18 men. The boat, bound from Cincinnati for points down the river, turned over in midstream. The swift current defeated efforts of the sailors to swim ashore. Captain Curry tied himself to a door and TV as washed ashore. The towboat Fulton capsized near the Kentucky shore, just off Newport. The crew struck out for shore, but Captain Brad Williams, who refused to leave his charge, was drowned when the raging current picked up the boat and crushed it against the banks.

“More than 25 houses were blown down in the west end of the city, plate glass windows in the business section were smashed, church steeples were razed and railroad communication was cut off for hours until wreckage was removed from the tracks. Joseph T. Allen, superintendent of the children’s department of the Ohio Humane society was killed when part of the Masonic Temple collapsed….The wind lifted the tiny cottage of Mrs. Rose Tennenbaum, on west side from its foundation and carried it several hundred feet. The woman’s body was found in the wreckage today….

“Mrs. Marcus Cohen, living in another section of the city, was instantly killed by sections of another house which were blown through her windows. Four cars of race horses, bound from Latonia, Ky., for Toledo, were wrecked 25 miles north of Cincinnati. The cars made of a section of a Pennsylvania freight train, which was blown from the track. Many of the horses, valued at thousands of dollars, were so badly crippled that train hands shot them to put them out of their misery.

During the height of the storm, the wind blew 70 miles an hour, according to the local weather bureau. The storm continued for about 30 minutes, during which rain came down in blinding sheets….

“The towns of Milford, Ohio, and Ludlow, Ky., and Dayton, Ky., have practically been wiped out. As a result of the storm, a Pennsylvania train was wrecked at Plainville, Ohio, and several persons injured. Forty persons were in a tenement house which was demolished at Sixth and Mound streets. How many were caught in the wreckage is not known. Four families were in another house in Sixth street when it was blown down. How many were injured or killed is not known. The rescuers could hear children crying in the wreckage. The storm struck at 9 o’clock. Most damage was done In the downtown section here, in the hill tops surrounding the city and in the river towns.” (Lima Daily News, OH. “Death List in Storms May Reach 100.” 7-8-1915, p. 1)

July 9-10: “CINCINNATI: The “hurricane” at Cincinnati lasted six minutes. At least 38 people were killed with 12 more were said to be missing. At least 11 deaths were on a special train bound for the New York City race tracks. Twenty died as a steamer overturned on the Ohio River. Six died in collapsed homes….

“CINCINNATI, OH, July 9 —The death toll, as a result of the storm which struck Cincinnati Wednesday night, leached thirty-one with the finding late today of the body of a…woman in the ruins of a wrecked building on Sixth, near Mound street. Earlier in the day the body of J. Cohen had been recovered.” (Indianapolis Star, “Death Toll of Storm at Cincinnati Now 31,” 7-10-1915.)

Sources

Commercial Tribune, Cincinnati, OH. “Tornado Toll in Southwest.” 7-9-1915, p. 1. Accessed 3-7-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/cincinnati-commercial-tribune-jul-09-1915-p-1/

Daily News, Decatur IL. “50 Killed, Many Hurt in Violent Storm.” 7-8-1915, p. 1. Accessed 3-7-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/decatur-daily-review-jul-08-1915-p-1/

Evening Tribune, Albert Lea, MN. “Fifty Killed in Terrific Storm,” 7-9-1915. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/PdfViewerTags.aspx?img=35710168&firstvisit=true&src=search&currentResult=1

Grazulis, Thomas P. Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991: A Chronology and Analysis of Events. St. Johnsbury, VE: Environmental Films, 1993, 1,326 pages.

Indianapolis Star. “Cincinnati Swept by Frightful Storm; Score May Be Dead.” 7-8-1915, p.1. Accessed 3-7-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/indianapolis-star-jul-08-1915-p-1/

Indianapolis Star, IN. “Death Toll of Storm at Cincinnati Now 31,” July 10, 1915. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/PdfViewerTags.aspx?img=6776355&firstvisit=true&src=search&currentResult=0

Information Annual 1915: A Continuous Cyclopedia and Digest of Current Events. New York: R.R. Bowker Co., 1916. Digitized by Google At: http://books.google.com/books?id=9mNMAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Interior Journal, Stanford KY. “Toll of the Windstorm.” 7-9-1915, p. 4. Accessed 3-7-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/stanford-interior-journal-jul-09-1915-p-4/

Lima Daily News, OH. “Death List in Storms May Reach 100.” July 8, 1915. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/PdfViewerTags.aspx?img=15967252&firstvisit=true&src=search&currentResult=1

Lima Daily News, OH. “Latest Information Shows These Results of the Tornado that Swept Five States.” 7-8-1915. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/PdfViewerTags.aspx?img=15967252&firstvisit=true&src=search&currentResult=1

Lima Daily News, OH. “Seven Lose Their Lives in St. Charles, MO,” 7-8-1915. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/PdfViewerTags.aspx?img=15967252&firstvisit=true&src=search&currentResult=1

Lincoln Daily News, NE. “Tornado Deals Out Death in 5 States,” 7-8-1915. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/PdfViewerTags.aspx?img=22807608&firstvisit=true&src=search&currentResult=3

Ohio Historical Society. “July 7, 1915: Cincinnati’s Deadliest Winds.” Severe Weather in Ohio. Accessed at: http://www.ohiohistory.org/etcetera/exhibits/swio/pages/content/1915_winds.htm

Safety Engineering. Vol. 30, No’s 1-6, July-December, 1915. NY: Safety Press, Inc., 1915. At: http://books.google.com/books?id=QtcMAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=editions:LCCNsc80000582&lr

Schmidlin, Thomas W. and Jeanne Appelhans Schmidlin. Thunder in the Heartland: A Chronicle of Outstanding Weather Events in Ohio. Kent State University Press, 1996, 362 pages. Partially digitized by Google at: http://books.google.com/books?id=QANPLARGXFMC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Steamboat Inspection Service. Report of the Supervising Inspector General of the Steamboat-Inspection Service. “Accidents Resulting in Loss of Life.” 1916. Pp. 899-986 in: Reports of the Department of Commerce 1916. Washington, GPO, 1917. Accessed 3-7-2020 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=mIA-AQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=true

Titusville Herald, PA. “Terrific Cyclone in Missouri and Illinois,” July 8, 1915. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/PdfViewerTags.aspx?img=106011761&firstvisit=true&src=search&currentResult=1