Rolenbaugh, Peter, Wife and Nephew - Died 1896

ROLENBAUGH

Posted By: Joy Moore (email)
Date: 2/9/2021 at 11:34:32

Source: Decorah Republican May 28, 1896 P 7 C 2, 3

A DEADLY TWISTER.
It Brings Death and Devastation In the Hawkeye State.
At North McGregor a Cloud Burst Ends 14 Lives. The Loss of Property Immense.
Des Moines, Ia., May 25.—The most alarming reports were being received here Monday morning respecting the cyclone which swept over Polk, Story and Jasper counties shortly after midnight Sunday night. Owing to the almost total prostration of telegraph and telephone wires it is not possible to verify the reports that have been received, but the indications received are that the casualties will reach 50 killed or injured. Fourteen persons are reported killed in the three towns of Valeria, Bondurant and Ankeny, The two latter towns are in this (Polk) county, while Valeria is in Jasper county directly east. So far as heard from. Slater is the only town in Story county which suffered, but as there is no means of communication with that section there is every probability that the restoration of telegraphic communication will bring news of disasters as yet unreported. No details have been received from Slater further than the bare statement that the whole town was destroyed. The same report comes from Polk City, this county.
Reports Grow Worse
The situation grows worse as authentic news comes from the cyclone district. At Valeria it is now known that 15 people were killed, the number being first placed at but five. Most of those killed were in the depot of the Chicago Great Western road, some of them having just alighted from a train, and others having taken refuge there from the rain. The depot was literally blown to pieces. The west bound passenger train escaped the cyclone but a few minutes. Had it remained at the station five minutes longer the list of killed would undoubtedly have numbered scores. As it was the train was uninjured.
A dispatch from Santiago, this county, says the storm was unprecedented in its fury in that section. Three miles west of the town a house was lifted bodily from the earth, carried some distance, and thrown to the ground a shattered wreck. The entire family of occupants were killed. The roads are almost impassable from debris, fences, outbuildings and branches of trees swept together in piles. Nothing has been heard from the northeastern end of the country, where it is feared the storm caused the greatest damage.
A Messenger’s Terrible Tale.
A messenger from Bondurant, who arrived at nine o’clock, says that R. G. Scott, a prominent farmer, was killed; also that a church at Ankeny was blown down and several persons were hurt. The town of Granger was hazily wrecked. The number of farmhouses wrecked between Valeria and Bondurant is very heavy. Mayor Mac Vicar called a meeting at the council chamber at ten o'clock to take active measures for the relief of sufferers. Four coffins have been shipped to Bondurant, on the Great Western extra, via Berwick, the nearest point.
Another Account of Storm.
Bondurant, Ia., May 25.—A death-dealing cyclone swept across the north ends of Polk and Jasper at 10:30 Sunday night.
Between 25 and 30 men, women and children are reported killed. Houses were unroofed, trees torn up by the roots and hundreds of horses, cattle and hogs killed. The dead here are: Mrs. Robert Bailey, aged 50; Miss Lizzie Bailey, aged 18; John Bailey, aged 23; John Mitchell, struck by lightning, aged 45.
Injured: Robert Bailey, splinter driven in side, will die; four Bailey children, all badly injured, may recover.
The storm formed west of this place, a town of 300 population, and swept east nearly parallel to the Chicago Great Western tracks, overturning schoolhouses and farmhouses and uprooting trees. A severe thunder storm commenced at nine o’clock Sunday night. People were just leaving church and remained in town. The wind was blowing from the northwest. At ten o’clock a severe gale set in from the southwest. The people feared a cyclone and ran for their cellars. Farmers living north of here in the track of the storm stayed in town, many escaping injury thereby. G. A. Turner, a banker, here, who watched the storm, said: “There were heavy clouds in the northwest coming toward town.
The Financial Loss.
In Bondurant the financial loss will be about $100,000. A strip of country a mile wide for 23 miles was nearly swept clean. Barns are nearly all gone, trees uprooted, stock killed, and growing crops covered with mud, and ruined.
The people escaped here in cyclone cellars. At the home of W. T. Scott the family went into the cellar, but Scott refused to go- he was badly injured in the wreck of the house.
At Santiago the house of Peter Rolenbaugh was destroyed and his wife and nephew, named Fletchy, were killed while asleep in bed.
At Valeria Charles Phelan and children were killed, and his wife will probably die. Relief headquarters have been established in a vacant store, and the dead are being brought in.
James Stouten was bruised about the head, and may die.
Reports from Other Towns.
It is reported that several people were killed at Ira, but the tracks are out at Valareia, no train running and wires down east of here. Mingo, between Ira and Valerie, is reported safe. It is reported that John Mitchell's house, five miles north of here, was struck by lightning. Mitchell was killed and family, wife and children injured.
Near Dubuque.
Dubuque. May 25.—A terrific thunder and lightning storm struck Dubuque shortly after nine o’clock Sunday night after a very warm and oppressive day. In the midst of the storm Mrs. Clark, station agent for the Chicago & Great Western railroad at Durango, eight miles northwest of Dubuque, was called from her residence to the depot near by to get orders for a train which had just arrived. She took her four children with her and was at work when the flood sweeping down the Maquok{et}a valley carried away the bridge, then the residence then the depot, which was borne down stream 1½ miles. The four children were drowned, as was also a brakeman named Tom Griffith, but Mrs. Clark clung to the roof and was saved by the train men. All railroads leading into Dubuque were washed out and telegraphic communication completely destroyed. Bridges on all the roads were washed out, the Illinois Central losing 30 between Dubuque and Lemars.