Gainesville, TX Hail and Wind Storm, Apr 1891

TERRIFIC STORM IN TEXAS

Hailstones Big as Eggs, and Two People Blown From a Buggy

The heaviest hail and wind storm that ever visited that section occurred at Gainesville, Texas, on a recent night. Hailstones fell as large as hens eggs and to the depth of several inches, drifting in many places a foot deep. Trees were stripped of their foliage, and the young fruit was swept from the limbs. Garden and field vegetation is badly damaged. Scarcely a house in the city escaped with whole window glass.

In the adjacent country the wind was as destructive as the hail. Large numbers of dwellings were blown down, barns were wrecked, and orchards and forests were laid waste. Fowls were killed in great numbers by the hailstones, and wild birds on the prairies were slaughtered by the hundreds. Cattle and horses were blown into wire fences, and many of them were killed outright.

HAL FINNIE and a young lady while driving in a buggy to church near Era, Texas, were picked up by the whirlwind and carried several yards, the young lady falling in a wheat field and MR. FINNIE lodging on a barbed wire fence. He sustained serious injury, but the young lady was only slightly hurt.

A large Baptist church was blown down in Era, and many other buildings suffered similarly. Many persons were seriously hurt by the blowing down of the houses in which they were at the time of the storm, but so far nobody has been reported as killed. The stretch of country covered by the storm is twenty miles long and about the same in width.

The Cranbury Press New Jersey 1891-04-17
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!