Remembering the Bourbon County tornado of 1916

Submitted photo Photographed four days after the April 19, 1916 tornadoes that tore through Bourbon County is the George C. and Mary E. Mason two-story home west of Fort Scott on Maple Road. On the photo is written, "G.C. Mason Home-Two large barns were completely destroyed by the cyclone-4/19-16. 4-23-16."

Exactly 100 years ago today an F-4 tornado ripped through Bourbon County, destroying many homes and properties, leaving behind four injured and three dead.

According to a Tribune story written April 20, 1916, the infant son of Mr. and Mrs. Thompson Hodson, who lived near the Bethel School, was killed in the tornado. Jack Balls was struck by lightening and also killed. He lived in the Poplar Grove neighborhood, the article says.

According to the National Weather Service website, www.weather.gov, the tornado is one of two F-4 tornadoes Bourbon County has experienced in over 100 years.

The second F-4 tornado occurred during a May 4, 2003 tornado outbreak that was "one of the worst that southwest Missouri and southeast Kansas has had since the late 1800s," the site says.

An F-4 tornado has wind speeds of 207 mph to 260 mph and has the ability to level "well-constructed walls," the NWS site says.

Included in the destruction was the two-story family home of George C. and Mary E. Mason and their children, west of Fort Scott on Maple Road.

Also hit by the tornado was the Bethel Community Church and the current home of Arlo Eden, both located then and now off of U.S. Highway 54, about 6 miles west of Fort Scott. The church was destroyed and rebuilt the same year with an almost identical new building. The Eden home, on the other hand, was only knocked over by the tornado. Damage wasn't severe, so it was returned to an upright position and continued to be lived in.

The Masons' youngest son, John Middleton Mason, known as, "Mid," had a first-hand experience of the F4 tornado and recounted the events in a story he wrote in September 1976. At the request of several family members, Mid Mason put on paper some of his knowledge about his parents' life together.

Living in the Mason's home now is Doris Williams. Her husband, Jack Williams, who passed away in 2005, was Mid Mason's great nephew, Steve Williams said Friday. Steve Williams is Jack Williams' son, and, thus, Mid Mason's great-great-nephew.

Below is Mid Mason's recounting of the F4 tornado that hit Bourbon County and their home that spring day.

"Before leaving Crawford County, (George and Mary Mason) had accumulated over a half section of land, consisting of two farms, all underlaid by coal. In about 1911 or 1912, he leased one of the farms for coal and, after drilling and proving it was underlaid with coal, the buyer, on the morning of the last day of the lease, brought him a check for forty-thousand dollars.