Wichita, Kan. May 10 – Thomas Smithson, a farmer living near Pratt, a town west of here, was killed in the late gale by the falling of his house, which was blown down. Two members of his family were seriously injured, but not fatally. Several houses in Pratt were injured by the storm. At Cheney, ten miles west, two delivery barns belonging to John Randal and James Ellis were blown down, and one horse killed and property injured. A barn on the Jewett farm, four miles south of Cheney, 60 x 30 feet, two stories high, was blown down, and some fine horses injured. At Valley Center, eight miles north, several buildings were slightly injured, while the building in which was the bank was robbed of its roof. In this city there were slight injuries to smaller houses. The smokestack at the gas works was overthrown. No one was injured. The Dodge City Times, Dodge City, Kansas. May 16, 1889. Page 1. © Transcribed by Darren McMannis for the Kansas Council of Genealogical Societies, Inc.
