Iowa Old Press
Alton Democrat, September 8, 1894
Alton, Iowa
Short and Sweet
Nettie Hass, the five-year-old daughter of Chas. Haas of Marcus, was kicked by a vicious horse last Thursday and died on Sunday. They are relatives of Mr. and Mrs. Nic Sheckel and well known in this county.
A Warning to Threshers
On Tuesday of this week, a thrashing machine engine belonging to R. J. and Thomas Walker, went through the bridge eleven and one-half miles east of Remsen, toppling over backward and falling on and killing both boys. The engine has been detached from the separator and both boys were on the engine, which was a self-propeller, and rant it onto a bridge about thirty feet long. The hind wheels broke through, tipping the engine over backward and precipitating it down about twelve feet, with both boys under. The smokestack stuck in the ground with all four wheels in the air. One of the brothers was killed instantly. The other called for help a few times. Aid had to be brought from Remsen, however, before the engine could be removed, and he was dead before this was accomplished. The bridge was unsafe and the boys had been warned.
The Walkers were both young men, unmarried and owned several good farms in the vicinity of the accident. Their mother lives in LeMars. The remains were taken to Remsen, where the funeral was held Thursday. The bodies were badly scalded and bruised when recovered. Had they planked the bridge as required by law, the bridge would have held the engine.
[transcriber LZ, Nov 2019]
Hawarden Independent, Sept. 28, 1894
CYCLONE NEAR LE MARS.
LE MARS, Ia., Sept. 22-The worst storm clouds ever witnessed by the people
of this city passed over here about 5:30 p.m. yesterday. A heavy bank of
rain clouds to the north, kept in place by a strong north wind, acted as a
wall against which a strong south current of air rushed in vain, and
returning received a circular motion which very quickly imparted to the sky
the aspect of a roaring, seething body of water. The atmospheric disturbance
was terrible and was one of the grandest sights conceivable. The conditions
were perfect for a cyclone and as long arms from the cloud were extended
towards the earth the people of LeMars commenced to realize the awful
destruction it might wreak upon the city. One arm touched the ground on a
hill a mile north of town, taking a barn and scattering a straw pile over
several acres. The disturbance finally passed off, the more dangerous
looking clouds going northeast, in the direction of Seney.
The farm of A. Johnson, north of LeMars, was also reached by the cyclone and
his barn and sheds utterly destroyed. Reports are coming in of other damage
along the road to Seney, and it appears that the country affected will cover
a large surface. The country north of town is badly flooded, giving evidence
of a tremendous rain or a small cloudburst.