Frank Boyett wrote about the 1914 Tornado:

Dangerous weather took Henderson for a spin 100 years ago to devastating effect, killing two, injuring many more and wreaking major property damage.

The tornado that came up the Ohio River at 5:50 p.m. on July 16, 1914, brought “the greatest devastation ever wrought by wind or fire in this city,” The Gleaner described July 18.

Both The Gleaner and the Henderson Journal were unable to publish their usual newspapers on July 17 because the tornado knocked out the city’s power plant. Both papers published “bulldog” editions ? printed on foot-powered job presses.

That handbill-sized paper was not microfilmed, but I’ve seen a Francele Armstrong column of Jan. 27, 1959, that describes it in detail, so along with the editions of the regular Gleaner on July 18 and July 19, I’ve got a pretty good idea of what happened.

But in their rush to get out that breaking news, the newspapers failed to get the names right. Francis Suell, 49, and her nephew, Alphonso “Fonnie” Parr, 13, were killed when a three-story brick building occupied by the Crane Furniture Co. at Fourth and Green streets fell on their house next door.

Fonnie’s last name has always appeared as “Prior” in news coverage and historical accounts up to now, but I took the trouble to check the death certificates.

The coroner determined their deaths were “caused by a falling house.”

William Suell, the woman’s husband, had been stranded in a boat at the foot of Audubon Street during the storm. “He was almost frantic with grief when he arrived at his home to find his abode crushed to earth and his wife’s body under the debris,” the July 18 edition said.

“The boy was standing near a stove when the house was crushed and the body was horribly mangled,” the bulldog edition said.

The Rev. Edward J. Lynch “crawled under the debris and administered the last sacrament to the boy, who died soon after,” local historian Spalding Trafton reported in a column published July 16, 1925.

The Barret tobacco factory, which had been erected about 15 years earlier for $18,000, was demolished by the storm, Trafton noted. “The building received the full force of the twister and within the twinkling of an eye was reduced to a debris of splinters.”

Only large pieces of lumber such as floor joists survived intact. Much of the debris was swept into the nearby Soaper tobacco factory, where it played havoc with that building. And not just the building. Labry Brown and Blanche Dade were strolling up Main Street when the storm hit and took shelter in a shed at the Soaper factory.

“Before they could move from their tracks large pieces of timber, with the speed of cannon balls, began to rain against the Soaper factory,” the July 18 edition said. “Turning to run for their safety, Brown was struck across the head and knocked to the ground. Miss Dade was blown down and rolled by the terrific wind a distance of about 100 yards.” Brown required 10 stitches and Dade was considerably roughed up.

An employee of the city light plant by the name of Marion Calvert was badly injured, and initially it was feared he would not survive. Many others suffered wounds and bruises of lesser degree.

The property damage, however, was severe, even though the tornado lasted only about a minute. The boiler room at the light plant was “badly wrecked” and it took 24 hours of dedicated labor to get one of the boilers up and running so lights could be restored.

Buildings nearest the river sustained the worst damage. “A hundred buildings were unroofed, others badly damaged,” the July 18 edition said. That’s probably overstated. Those listed numbered only about 25 ? about 15 lost their roofs ? but the story said many chimneys were toppled. Some sustained worse; the Methodist church was so badly damaged that it had to be condemned.

The streets were littered with debris and downed trees and it took days, if not longer, for things to get back to normal. People such as carpenters, tinsmiths, masons and other workers did not lack for paychecks for quite some time.

“Owners of buildings that were unroofed have been frantic since the disaster, because of the fact that their stocks are liable to be damaged should it rain,” the July 19 edition said. “Many of them have secured large wagon canvass and placed them over where their roofs have been blown off.”

Reference:

Tornado devastated downtown Henderson in 1914 by Frank Boyett