Fort Wayne, IN Area Tornado, Mar 1920 - Hoagland, Townley, Monroeville

Hoagland, Townley and Monroeville Are Worst Sufferers, Nine Persons Losing Their Lives, Four of Them at Townley-Edgerton Almost Razed by Storm and People Saved By Refuge in Bank Cellar.

Damage Great at Hoagland

The damage east and northeast of Hoagland is very heavy. Along the diagonal line extending from Hoagland clear across the country to Edgerton, there is scarcely a farm home that is not totally demolished, together with its barns, stables and granaries.

Many Were Not at Home

Among the many families who were not at home was the WILLIAM WIEGMAN family, residing one-half mile east of Hoagland. Several head of houses were killed when every building on the place was demolished. The house was picked up from the foundation and crashed down in a shapeless mass about seventy-five feet away.

The home of WILLIAM FRANKE, one and one-half miles east of Hoagland, was also among the more severely damaged, the damage totaling nearly $7,000. Fortunately those of this family who were at home and escaped with their lives by taking refuge in the cellar.

Child Hurled 200 Yards.

Conditions found most pitiable at the home of HARVEY GROTRIAN, about two and one-half miles northeast of Hoagland. All of the family reached the cellar to safety except a three-year-old daughter, HELEN. While out making a final search for her, the father was severely injured. After the tumult had subsided, Mr. GROTRIAN maws hurried to a hospital in this city, while a thorough search was made for his little girl. After nearly four hours of frantic efforts the little tot was found half buried in the mud 200 yards from the house. She was still alive, but expired within half an hour. The mother is in a serious condition from shock.

Six Bodies In Morgue.

The bodies of six victims of the terrible tragedy are at the G.J. Painter morgue, at Monroeville. They are those of AUGUST FLUTROW, of Townley; Mrs. JOHN MCCOY and twin sons, aged 5 years, of Townley; Mrs. WILL SIMMONS, two miles north of Monroeville; HELEN GROTRIAN, of Hoagland.

Mrs. SIMMONS’ Death Pathetic.

The circumstances surrounding the death of Mrs. WILL SIMMONS, two very miles north of Monroeville, are very pathetic. According to the story of survivors, Mrs. SIMMONS was crouched on the floor of their home holding her two children and praying when the tornado broke. In the uncanny and freakish fury of the storm she was picked up bodily and hurled away from the children and out of the house.

Body Badly Burned.

She was hurled through the air about 300 yards near the wreckage of the home of a neighbor, which had become afire from the overturning of a stove. After the tempest had subsided, during the search for Mrs. SIMMONS, a neighbor noticed the hogs rummaging about a blackened form. He hurried to the spot and found the body of the woman very badly burned, with the hogs about ready to devour it. The face and upper part of the body were badly burned.

Mother and Twins Killed.

Mrs. JOHN MCCOY and five-year-old twin sons are among the victims of the terrible tragedy. They were I their home near Townley and failed to get in the cellar in time to escape the fury of the tornado. The mother and one son were killed almost instantly, and the other son died at 2 o’clock this morning at St. Joseph’s hospital.

Some Farms Wiped Away.

Some farms are literally wiped from the surface of the earth with scarcely a vestige to show where they had been. A number of families escaped absolutely unhurt while in refuge in their cellars. When they climbed out after the tornado, they were unable to see anything of their homes and barns with the exception of the jagged foundations from which they were torn.

Family Has Miraculous Escape.

One of the most remarkable escapes was that of FRANK GALLAPOO and five children, residing four and one miles northeast of Monroeville. GALLAPOO and his five children were in a grove nor very far from their home, when he saw the tornado uprooting the trees in a wood about three-quarters of a mile away. He gathered his children together and shoving them along started for the house. He then saw that he would not be able to reach it and started for a straw stack which was nearer. When about 100 feet from it and his barn, the fury of the wind broke, and in desperation, he threw three of the children beneath him and grasped on under each arm. Bracing himself against a fence post, he held on like a demon.

Suddenly something struck him in the back of the head and he knew nothing more until he regained consciousness and found his children hovering over him. A heavy cultivator had blown out of the barn and passing closely over the head of his little daughter, the tongue struck him on the head. Bodies of horses, sections of roofs and other debris passed over the cringing children and yet a single on suffered as much as a scratch. When interviewed this morning, Mr. GALLAPOO said:

“I lost my wife with the flu recently, and now I have lost everything, but thank God all of my children are safe.”

No Vestige of Farm.

At the home of NELSON VEIT, near Townley, not a vestige of a farm remains, and yet the entire family of four escaped without a scratch, having taken refuge in the cellar.

GINTHER Home Hard Hit.

The home of GRANT GINTHER, assistant county road superintendent, four and one-half miles north of Monroeville, was especially hard hit. The house was completely bottom side up, precipitated in a splintered heap nearby Mr. GINTHER and his daughter ONEIDA were seriously hurt but the rest of the family were unhurt.

A Shattered Torn Area.

The vast expanse of territory in the wake of the storm, is a shattered mud spattered desolate expanse of hopelessness. Here and there people are seen puttering around through ruins searching for heirlooms and valuables among the debris, but in most cases, none of the stricken people had recovered sufficiently from the shock to do much toward clearing the wreckage of the tempest.

For miles and miles the country is blotched with irregular fragments of galvanized iron roof, fence posts, telegraph poles, farm implements and sections of buildings. The area is far more torn and desolated that it could be had the most destructive engines of war gone over it. The tornado apparently churned up the water soaked earth and plastered and spattered everything in its terrible path of destruction.

Hundreds of head of live stock are lying among the ruins of the once fertile Hoosier farms. Under some of the debris, there yet arises the moaning of animals who, caught under the crush of falling timbers, are slowly dying, it having been sheerly impossible in some cases to get at them and put them out of their misery.

Bulletin.

Mrs. JOSEPHINE GRODRIAN, about 15 years of age, died at Monroeville today from injuries received in the tornado. This brings the number of dead at Monroeville to five. The body was brought to Fort Wayne this afternoon.

Bulletin.

Mrs. HARVEY GRODRIAN, of Monroeville, died at St. Joseph’s hospital at 1:30 o’clock this afternoon from injuries received during the tornado. Her husband HARVEY GRODRIAN, is at St. Joseph’s hospital in a serious condition and their three-year-old baby, HELEN, was one of the number who died last night from tornado injuries.

The Fort Wayne News And Sentinel, Fort Wayne, IN 29 Mar 1920