The Tecumseh Chieftain
September 22, 1906:
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Lightning Kills Three Threshermen and Wind Blows Down SchoolHouse
Killing
Two Children and Injuring Others.
This section was visited by a severe storm Last Friday afternoon, which left death, misery, and desolation in its path. At the farm of Henry Walters, just over the line in Pawnee County, five miles southwest of Elk Creek, Mr. Walters, O.A. Geil, August Seeman[n] [Charles August Seemann,] and Roy Carmine were engaged in threshing when the storm came up. To seek refuge from the rain, the men crawled under the separator. Lightning struck the machine and killed Messrs. Geil, Seeman[n] and Carmine and terribly shocked Mr. Walters. The machine was uninjured. When Mr. Walters regained consciousness after the shock, he found one of his companions dead and the other two in the throes of death. They soon expired. Mrs. Walters desired to go to them to administer any possible aid, but he found himself temporarily paralyzed and could do nothing.
The new of the terrible affair soon reached Elk Creek and Tecumseh and the undertakers went out to take charge ot the bodies and convey them to the respective homes of the men. Mrs. Geil was aged about forty years and leaves a widow and five children. Mrs. Seemann was aged perhaps thirty-five years [born 1871 in Johnson County, Nebraska] and leaves a widow[Alice Croley] and three children [Frederick b. ca 1899; Jesse, b. ca 1901; and William, b. ca 1904] Mr. Carmine was the seventeen-year old son of Mrs. And Mrs. Henry Carmine, well known in this community, and was single. The funeral of Mrs. Carmine was held last Sunday morning at the Long Branch Baptist church, the sermon being by the pastor, Rev. Wilmetta Marks, and burial was made in the cemetery near by. The obsequies over the remains of Mr. Geil were held at the M.E. church in Elk Creek Sunday afternoon, Rev. Miss Marks officiating, and burial was made in the Mt. Zion cemetery, east of that town. Short services were held over the remains of Mr. Seeman at this home, near the scene of the accident, Sunday afternoon and a cortege was formed which proceeded to the Tecumseh Cemetery, where the interment was made under the auspices of the Modern Woodman Lodge of Steinauer, of which deceased had been a member.
At about the time of the unfortunate affair above chronicled a tornado, which originated near the county line almost directly south of Vesta, proceeded north in a snake-like path of a distance of ten miles, terminating a mile or so south of the town named. The scope included in the wind's wake varied, from 100 to 200 yards, and small buildings, trees, telephone poles, corn, etc., were laid low with the tornado's passing. At the Lone Tree Schoolhouse, which was seven miles southwest of Vesta, Miss Sarah Ferguson of Lincoln as teacher, and some twenty or more scholars had an experience which they hope will never be repeated. The schoolhouse was completely demolished by the wind, the largest single piece to be left being the floor. The desks and seats were blown to pieces, and school equipment was blown all over the near fields. As soon as the teacher could recover herself, she rallied some of the older and likewise fortunate children to her assistance and they began to extricate the bodies of those under the debris. They found that little Leo Koehler, the seven-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. George Koehler had been killed instantly, and Master Walter Robinson, the thirteen-year-old son of Mrs. And Mrs. Alex Robinson, was so seriously injured he expired a few hours after the accident. As many as seven or eight other children were more or less injured, one or two quite seriously.
Sheriff H.T. Miner, who was driving over the country in one of the Standard Oil Company's heavy iron wagons and who drove up to a row of trees not far from the ill-fated schoolhouse to escape the storm recites his experiences. The trees were blown over onto himself and horses and he expected his outfit to be blown away any minute. Trees with trunks as large as a man's body were uprooted and twisted into splinters. The funeral of the Robinson boy was held at the U.B. Church, southwest of Vesta, Saturday afternoon, and the burial made in the Vesta Cemetery at Burchard, Sunday afternoon. The remains of the Kohler [sic] boy were interred in the Catholic Cemetery at Burchard, Sunday afternoon.
The outcome of the storm threw a pall over the entire community as many hearts were made sad. At Elk Creek, when the news of the killing of the three men by lightning became known, the little town was at once all excitement. Sunday was a day of great sorrow in the county, for the funeral s of four of the five victims were held that day.
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