Tornado Strikes West of Decatur

One Man Injured, Building Wrecked and Many Fruit Trees Blown Down By Gale

Reports of high wind and much rain were received from all over the county. Much damage was done to the oats crop, fields being blown down flat in some places. Orchards, too, were badly damaged.

Hits Forsyth Barn

Lightning struck the barn of HENRY REESER, near Forsyth Saturday morning. It knocked some of the shingles off the roof, but did no further damage.

Inside Street Car

The motorman on a Marietta street car reached the west end of the line about the same time the storm struck on Saturday afternoon. He feared that the car would be blown from the track, so he put on the brakes, took off the trolley and shut all the windows. There were several passengers on the car, but they decided they would trust themselves inside the car than outside in the storm.

One man was seriously injured, several large barns and outhouses were wrecked and hundreds of fruit trees were destroyed when a tornado struck just west of Decatur about 1:30 o’clock Saturday afternoon.

Struck By Tree

LAWRENCE PROVOST, a farmer residing about a mile and a half northwest of the city, was injured when struck by a falling tree in his orchard. One of his ears was almost torn off and his chest was injured. It is feared that he was also internally hurt.

Hit Ryder Farm

The tornado struck the farm of JOHN T. RYDER on Mt. Pulaski road, just north of Fairview park. Two large barns and several outbuildings were laid flat. The house was also damaged but none of the occupants were injured. About half the Ryder orchard was also blown down. Between 200 and 300 chickens were also scattered about the yard, many of them killed.

It Swooped Down

The storm seemed to be traveling from the southwest to the northeast and missed the group of buildings a quarter of a mile west of Ryder’s, on the Pugh street road. The PERCY B. SULLIVAN home was also missed. The tornado seemed to swoop down from the sky, crossed a section about four block in length and then went back up.

Barn Over Fence

At the HUGH SINGLETON place near the Pythian home, the wind did a great deal of damage. It lifted one barn clear over a fence and tore up some of the big trees by the roots. Several were carried over the railroad tracks. Some cattle were in the barn at the timed the cyclone came up and they would have been killed had it not been that there was no floor.

The Harper barn near the Singleton place, was also blown down.

The Daily Review, Decatur, IL 10 Jul 1915
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Transcribed by June. Thanks June!