Peter and Paul's
church 10:50 P.M.
Seneca, Kansas, May 17, 1896
Rev. Innocent
Wolff, O.S.B.
St. Benedict's Abbey, Atchison, Kansas
Dear
Rev. Father Abbot,
If the wires are
up you will have heard from us before you get this. Seneca was
treated to a genuine live cyclone and it was a very live one too.
Five lives were lost as far as I can learn at this time,
one being Frank Assenmacher. He had been to holy communion this
morning with the young men. There must have been two separate
clouds which divided to judge from the destruction, for the
damage seemed to lie along two well defined directions. It
started, as Mrs. Charles Busse told me about ten minutes
ago, about 100 yards west of his new house, west of town near
Jacob Jacobs, and then it swept eastward, did considerable damage
at the poor farm, swept on towards town, swept the whole of
the fair grounds as clean as a threshing floor-crushed the grand
army hall, court-house, public school, church, etc. and out of
town in a northeastern direction towards Bern. It took in also
Mr. Lucky Christ Schmitt, north of town and did considerable
damage. Particulars are slow coming in. The northwest section of
town was also severely shaken up. Selbachs block with shop and
dwelling were swept away, and more in that section. Also, the
Klapp's house was damaged-to what extent I did not yet learn.
Mrs. Klapp was home alone and Mr. Klapp came into our kitchen just
when the cyclone began to roar. He came down to where we
were-namely into the cellar, into the southwest corner close to
the wall. I was expecting every moment just then that the
building would be swept away.
I had watched the
weather from the time devotions were over and the barometer began
to tumble rather fast, though steadily, till about 5:30 P.M.,
when things began to look so interesting I forgot the barometer.
I then took my position in front of the door and kept my eye on
the west and south. Wind, rain, and hail began coming in from the
southeast-quite lively, hail big as walnuts. Some saw them as
big as croquet balls-not so many of this size though. All the
while an ominous looking cloud was lowering up a few points south
of west. The upper part of it was a massive whirl more or less in
concentric circular layers, like in inverted cone in shape. Its
base, rather its lower part or apex, I could not see-it was hidden
by a, what I should call an outer and advanced ring of loose rapid
moving clouds, moving to all appearances from north to south, but
actually rotating about the apex of the inverted cloud-cone. The
vortex was not advancing fast, for I observed it at least 10 to 15
minutes I should judge before I looked for safer
quarters. I was in hopes it would, shift to the right or left of
my line of sight, but all in vain, it kept growing bigger
it seemed, as it was advancing directly towards the house.
I was just told
supper was reedy when I stepped into the house and told Lena and
Kate Kramer to turn down the lights and the fires and
go upstairs quickly for blankets and quilts and hurry down
into the cellar close to the wall of the southwest corner. We
were not long in carrying out orders, when down in the cellar we
started the Litany and had about finished when the ominous roar of
the cyclone broke on my ear. I then stopped prayers and got ready
for the finale. I told the girls to cover themselves well with the
blankets, etc. to put as much batting as possible between
themselves and the falling bricks, etc, and hug the wall close.
Then I told them to make an act of contrition and I gave them
absolution in cumuli (*/1). Then we waited
for the finale, each occupied with his own thoughts and prayers.
I could hear the girls weeping.
(*/1) - General Absolution
How long the roar
kept up I could act say positively, but should judge 5 to 8
minutes. Shortly after the roaring began, Mr. Klapp came in, as
said above. When he came to the cellar door I called him down. A
few minutes after the roaring became less loud. Then I ventured
out from my corner as I felt the worst was over, not for a moment
suspecting what the worst was. I was still in hopes that it was
not a cyclone but when I stepped out of the back door a glance
told me all.
I walked out of
the front door not daring to look at the church but let all eyes
run in the direction the cloud had come. Just one look
satisfied-all I could see of the court house from the front porch
was gone. The public school northwest part of the roof was
gone. Then I turned around to look at the church. Such a
sight-what I had always looked upon as the biggest eyesore west
of the Mississippi River, the steeple of the church, was clean
gone, the biggest part of it falling northeast, clean of the
roof-carrying the bell with it and burying it under a shapeless
mass of shivered and splintered timber. One part of the tower,
the west face of the square below the spire, had fallen to the
west side of the church and squashed the pump. The trellis I had
built this spring between the house and the church was partly
wrecked at the church end. The rear chimneys of the church
had toppled over and in falling had crashed through the
sacristy, making that a complete wreck. Most of the windows on
the west side were more or less damaged. The inside of the church
gave hardly a clue to the ruined appearance of the outside. The
floor and sanctuary carpet was liberally covered with plaster
and broken glass, and two or three holes appeared in the ceiling,
and near the tower daylight could be seen through the roof. Parts
of the steeple crushed through the roof and through the ceiling,
how much tomorrow morning must show. About 10 o'clock this
evening the sisters cleared up the sanctuary, for I intend to say
Mass in the morning. The altars, etc. look all right and the
flowers are just as fresh and fragrant after the cyclone as
before. They suggested the Te Deua to meas. I entered to look at
things, and found everything O.k. The sanctuary lamp alone was
out. And about the parish house-well, it seems the cyclone went
out of its ways to miss it-just turned around the comer of the
house to take in the church. Strange things happen but the
strangeness in this instance borders on the miraculous, as those
must know who the location. Let them draw a line from the
court-house, public school, and the church spire, and they will
see how nicely it rounded the southeast corner of the house by
just a good running jump and missed it by that much.
The west chimney
alone lies prostrate on the roof, else no damage was done that I
could see before dark. The sisters are all right. I have not
leaked at the amount of damage there-have them quartered for the
night in the parish house. Everybody has open house in Seneca
tonight and everybody is welcome everywhere. We have packed all
the vestments, etc., etc., out of the cases in the ruined sacristy
and have then piled up in the parish house. The committee will be
here bright and early and we will at once devise ways and means to
repair the damages. I have only given an outline of the damage
done. I walked up to the telegraph office, as soon as the storm
was past, to wire you but the wires were all down. I left the
message at the office with instructions to send it as soon as the
line is open. But everywhere the storm has left its traces, the
electric light plant is down and all the telephone poles I saw are
broken short-off; trees are broken and uprooted in every
street-sheds and out-housed are strewn broad cast. The sisters
chickens, poor things, had to be hunted, what was still alive of
them, over several blocks of property and they were a scurvy
sight it truly more dead than alive.
Meyer's stable had
the whole front blown out and another building opposite the
stable, the State lank, had a plate glass window, 1/2 inch thick,
slivered into 1000s of pieces, etc., etc., etc. The damage
to life and limb, of course is the saddest feature of it
all. Still everybody seems to take in a good part. The only
defected man I saw was Mr. Charles Busse of this parish who after
having lost about $2,000 in bad crops and disease among his stock,
was just on the point of moving into his new house, the first one
struck by the cyclone. The completeness of the wreck will appear
from the statement that there is not $5 worth of timber left of
the new $1,000 house-the wood work splintered too small for
restorable kindling, and besides the whole foundation, the stones
in the cellar 9 feet deep, every last one of them torn from its
bedding and is strewn about in a confused mess.
Are there any
insurance papers to cover the loss to the church? Please let me
know, and oblige
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Yours sincerely,
etc.,
P. Boniface, O.S. |