Sorento, IL Tornado Destroy's Small Village, Oct 1905

EIGHT KILLED BY TORNADO.

HOUSES WRECKED OR MOVED -- FLOOD IN SURROUNDING TERRITORY.

St. Louis, Oct. 18. -- A tornado that struck the village of Sorento, Ill., thirty- two miles northeast of St. Louis, last night, killed eight persons and injured thirty-five others. Forty houses were wrecked or carried far from their foundations, in fact, everything in the track of the storm was reduced to debris or blown away.
Those killed were:
MRS. THOMAS FILE, 38 years old.
MRS. WILLIAM STEWART, 60 years old.
WILLIAM MANN, 60 years old.
HARRISON MANN, 18 years old.
Four Unidentified Persons.
WILLIAM KIRKLAND and wife and WILLIAM STEWART will probably die.
The storm approached from the southwest and swept through the main residence portion of the town. The wind was quickly followed by a heavy downpour of rain, with lightning and thunder.
The same storm deluged Alton, a few miles south. At Grafton, fourteen miles distant, the main street was three feet under water. Ten miles norht of Alton a Chicago, Peoria and St. Louis freight train struck a washout and plunged down an embankment into Branch Creek, containing six feet of water. Two cars contained cattle and horses, and only a few of the animals escaped death.

The New York Times New York 1905-10-19

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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!