he noticed the funnel-shaped
cloud. He called his wife and four children, and they all sought refuge
in a cyclone cellar. Five minutes later their house went sailing away.

CURIOUS TRAGEDIES

Edward Mote, his wife and three children were sitting in their home
chatting when the tornado suddenly carried them and their home to Paio
Creek, one hundred yards away, and dropped them into the water. Mrs.
Mote was drowned.

Postmaster D. L. Ham, his daughter, Mrs. Kimball, and his grandchildren
were standing in the doorway of their home when the wind struck. Mrs.
Kimball and her two-year-old daughter Frances stepped outside the door,
which slammed shut. Their bodies were found among the debris. H. E. Said
and wife, bride and bridegroom of a month, were in the Ham house. Warned
of approaching death by Mr. Ham, they sought solace in each other's
arms. Thus they were found dead. Mr. Ham was slightly injured.

HOUSES TUMBLING ABOUT

There was a big threshing machine standing near one of the houses, and
when the cloud struck it shot straight up into the air and was carried
about forty rods. Houses were rolling and tumbling along the ground. A
box car was carried along by the terrific air current for a quarter of a
mile. When it split open six or seven men, who turned out to be part of
a repair gang, dropped out. Some lay very still, while others feebly
crawled about.

A dozen other towns in the section of Nebraska surrounding Omaha were
hard hit and many farming communities were destroyed.

CHAPTER XXI

THE TORNADO IN IOWA AND ILLINOIS

MONSTER TORNADO SWEEPS ACROSS RIVER--DESTRUCTION IN IOWA--THE
STORM-CLOUD OVER ILLINOIS--GALE AND FIRE IN CHICAGO.

The monster tornado that wrought such havoc in Omaha leaped across the
Missouri River and swished its wicked tail through Council Bluffs. Then
it sped northeasterly, wrecking several villages before it finally
disappeared.

DESTRUCTION IN IOWA

Reports from Mills County stated that it caused loss of life in every
town in the county reached by telephone. Many deaths occurred at
Glenwood and at Council Bluffs. Scattering towns all through the
district reported one to two deaths.

Eastern Council Bluffs suffered heavily, the storm breaking in the
valley just east of the town proper and following the lines of the
Milwaukee, Rock Island and Great Western railroads for a distance of a
mile.

The storm, which was accompanied by hail, rain, sleet, lightning