1919 TORNADO: “In a twinkling, the monster had devoured its
welcoming committee, flexing its muscles, the awesome fury headed
for the southbound afternoon ‘Flyer’ hurtling toward Mount
Jewett.”

We conclude our 1980 report of four funnels striking Bradford in
1919.

“Turning it vented its spleen on the great warehouse of the
South Penn Oil Co., a rambling structure made of ballooned wood and
sheeted with heavy gauge steel. The great sky elephant beat its
trunk against the side of the structure almost like a flail. In two
awful swipes, the building was completely transformed into a
pitiful hulk of twisted, crushed metal.

“In less than two minutes, Clarion, High and Rochester streets
were to undergo a nightmare which not even 57 years can erase.

“Howling like a banshee, and with an awful maw fused to the
ground, the black giant crossed Tuna Creek, snatching a swinging
bridge from its supports in the process. The planks to the old
crossing were never found.

“Mrs. Sylvester Hart of 51 Clarion St. was sitting with her
small child in her arms. She was blown through the branches of an
apple tree by the fury of the winds, and her child’s badly mangled
body was found the following day. The vortex struck the residence
squarely amidships, tearing houses to atoms.

“Little Ludwick Hall, age 13 months, shot across the yards of
Clarion Street like a rubber ball, sustaining two serious
fractures; but he lived to tell of his ordeal.

“The southern end of the Fifth Ward now resembled a bombed-out
city.”

“On the way it was to crush the life from Mrs. Elizabeth Riddle
who lived alone along the old BB&K railway grade halfway up the
slopes. Mrs. Riddle was blown head-on into a tree trunk.

“The Ed O’Meara Dairy Barn was blown to shreds and an orchard
which had escaped damage by a visitation of another tornado just
two years prior, was erased from the earth.”

“Scores of cattle were blown through the barbed wire fence or
slammed into outbuildings or trees. Several had to be destroyed
after the storm. Five houses in Sawyer City were blown to rubble
with the debris being scattered the length of the valley.

“Three children were seriously injured, and perhaps a score or
more had superficial cuts, when the storm ripped a small cluster of
houses to bits along Kendall Creek.”