June 6, 1916 Jefferson County Tornado
June 6, 1916 Jefferson County Tornado
From The Birmingham News, June 7, 1916, pg. 1:
Miss Salter Is Injured Dangerously In Storm
Four Houses Are Destroyed, Also, in Neighborhood of Taylor’s Ferry.
Miss Grace Salter, aged 15, was brought to Birmingham Wednesday morning and taken to the Hillman Hospital for treatment, suffering from serious injuries received Tuesday morning about 11 o’clock, when a cyclone struck a settlement between Taylor’s Ferry, on the Warrior River, and cut out a path about an eighth of a mile in width, up to Short Creek, about 26 ½ miles southwest of the city.
In addition to the serious injuring of Miss Salter and the inflicting of minor injuries on several others, four homes of well-known residents of that section of the county were destroyed, many barns were blown away, fences torn down, trees uprooted, and crops either badly damaged or entirely destroyed.
The storm did not last a very long while, but was terrific while it was on. The homes of E.B. Vines, Geter Salter and Hiram Vines were among those destroyed, while the Liberty Baptist Church went down before the winds.
The home of Hiram Vines was blown down while his wife and three children were in the place, and they were left on the floor with slight injuries.
Miss Salter has a broken leg, her right arm is hurt badly, one finger was cut off, and she is hurt internally. It was a terrible experience for her, and if she recovers, for which there is hope, she will ever remember it.
The storm unroofed many other homes, and during the afternoon Tuesday, the work began on repairs. It is going on again Wednesday and will continue for several days as there are many buildings to be patched up and otherwise repaired.