Long Branch, NY "Syracuse" Tornado, Sept 1912 - Damages

As far as could be ascertained today the first farm upon which the full force of the tornado was vented was upon that of Robert Loveless, situated a mile and a half from Long Branch.

Mr. Loveless and his children had been standing in the yard and the sticks and stones which the tornado carried began to fall about them. The top of the barn was torn off, broken into [illegible] and distributed about the fields.

The wind then took its path through the meadows to the farm owned by Will Walters, which is situated one-half mile nearer Long Branch. It completely wrecked the barn and hen houses, and corn houses and a smoke house were carried into the woods a half mile distant.

Cuts 500-Foot Swath

The woods into which Mr. Barker's out houses were blown are the beginning of the grove which runs down to Long Branch. The tornado entered the woods directly in the rear of his house and cut a swath about 500 feet wide...

When the tornado struck Long Branch it widened out and its effects were felt for a width of an eighth of a mile. Its most disastrous work was accomplished in the immediate vicinity of the dance hall and railroad station.

The huge pillars supporting the summer house in which picnickers generally had their lunches were blown from under the heavy roof. The tables and chairs were all smashed when the roof fell.

H. C. Graves, employed on the grounds, told a reporter that no warning was given of the approaching tornado and that several of the more superstitious employees and pleasure seekers cried out that the end of the world had arrived...

The storm then swept down the road directly to the south and wrecked outhouses and barns belonging to Waldo Duer. Mr. Duer was sitting on the porch of his home when the tornado struck. He with his seven children narrowly escaped.

Duer Fields Unharmed

Nowhere in the fields surrounding Mr. Duer's home were the effects of the tornado visible. It is the [illegible] that its center ascended into air and that it did not descend until it reached the farm owned by Charles Dundee located near Liverpool.

The damage accomplished on the farms near Liverpool was great. On one owned by Frank Bailey, the barns were torn down and the roof of the house carried away, but no one was injured.

Two Cars Overturned

The tornado was aided in overturning one of the Lake Shore & Northern trolley cards by the roof of the waiting room which was lifted and hurled against its side with irresistible force.

George W. Dopp, the motorman of the car, who was cleaning the windows, was fatally injured in the crash and died later at Genesse hospital. Many others were injured when, as a car rolled over, they were thrown against its roof.

Another trolley car, of which Patrick L. Devin was motorman, was torn from its trucks and rolled over into a ditch near the waiting station. There were only a few people in the car. Most of its side was crushed and had it been crowded there would have been many fatalities.

Both of the cars were of the lighter type which are used chiefly between the city and the lake resorts. Their trolley poles were torn off, the window lights were all broken and the front of the car which Dopp was running was reduced to kindling wood.

Michael Riley, who was standing at one side of the station when the storm struck, was still at the Branch this morning. His nerves were completely unstrung and his hands and shoulders were shaking as he told the story of what he saw.

"I can't tell much about it," he said. "The noise was so great and the shouts of some women who were standing near me confused me and I don't remember just how it happened.

Heard Terrific Noise

"All that I know is that I heard a great sucking sound and it seemed as if my ears would break open. The thing that struck me peculiar was that when I saw the station move from its base there didn't seem to be much noise with it.

"I saw a man, whom I suppose was Madison, throw his hands in the air just as the building moved and then I threw myself on the ground. Sticks fell all about me, but I was too frightened to pay any attention to them.

"When it was all over I was dazed and the other people were looking at each other strangely. Then someone shouted to look for the injured. It didn't look natural and those that were standing about didn't look like people at all.

"Soon after that we formed an exploring party. All of the lights were out and we had to feel our way over fallen trees, torn wires and all kinds of wreckage. At every step we thought that someone would touch a live wire."

Syracuse Herald, Syracuse, NY 16 Sept 1912