May 22, 1916 Jefferson County Tornado 

From The Birmingham News, May 22, 1916, pg. 1 & 9:

Mrs. Annie Zuber And Two Children Are Killed In Tornado At Spring Gap

Many Houses Are Demolished When Wind Storm Rages

Tornado Passes Over Spring Gap Early Monday Morning and Many Are Injured, Some Seriously,                                                     While Three Are Killed Almost Instantly.

Much Damage Is Done Upon Red Mountain

Mining Camp at Songo, Owned by Woodward Iron Company, Suffers Also, While Reports                                       of Destruction Come From Over Shades Mountain, Also.

                                                                            The Dead.

Mrs. Annie Zuber, wife of Neal Zuber.

             Frances Zuber, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Neal Zuber, aged 4 years.

             Wilburn Zuber, son of Mr. and Mrs. Zuber, 2 years old.

                            The Injured.

Neal Zuber, internally injured, may recover; Mrs. A.O. Stone, thigh fracture and internally hurt, may die; Nanie Stone, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A.O. Stone, skull injured and internally hurt, will recover; Nora May Stone; one-year-old baby of Mr. and Mrs. Stone, hurt about head, will recover.

                                                                       Property Damage.

Modest homes, 20 to 25 in number, at Spring Gap, Songo, Redding, Ishkooda, either totally demolished or badly damaged.

             A wind storm of cyclonic propensities passed over the mining camp of Spring Gap at No. 11 mines of the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company, a mile and a half to two miles up the mountain from Powderly between 12 and 1 o’clock Monday morning, killing Mrs. Annie Zuber, her little daughter, Frances, aged four years, and her little son, Wilburn, two years old, and injured several other people. Many houses were blown down, trees uprooted and panic caused for some little time.

             The terrific winds also struck the mining camp at Songo, of the Woodward Iron Company, in the same neighborhood, uprooted trees, tore off roofs, lifted houses off their foundations and did other damage. At Redding and in other mining camps around Ishkooda, south of Birmingham, between six and ten miles, many houses were damaged more or less.

             Reports which come to the city from off Red Mountain, Shades Mountain and in the valleys are to the effect that considerable damage was done in the way of blowing down fences, barns and houses. The winds were very severe around the Bluff Park Hotel, and for a while there were persistent reports that that structure had suffered.

             Great commotion prevailed at Spring Gap, Ishkooda No. 11, where the fatality occurred. The house occupied by Neal Zuber, and his family consisting of his wife, Mrs. Annie Zuber, and three children, Frances, aged 4; Wilburn, aged 2; and baby, six months old, was demolished, blown down as if but an egg shell.

             Mrs. Zuber was taken out, dead, after the excitement in the little mining camp had subsided, her two children were dead, too.

             Mr. Zuber was removed with the little baby to relatives’ home in Fossil, while the bodies of Mrs. Zuber and two children were taken to Bessemer to the undertaking firm of Huey & McConnell.

  Rain Precedes Wind.

The rain had been falling for some time before the windstorm came on. Black clouds had hovered in the vicinity for some time, but the residents of the mining camp felt secure in their modest homes. All of a sudden there was a loud roaring noise, as the wind in much force toppled over the big mountain from which ore is being taken and swooped down on the group of houses. Some of them toppled off the foundations while the home of the Zubers just crushed like an egg shell.

             People were heard screaming in all directions. House No. 8, occupied by Mr. and Mrs. M.C. Conway was wrecked badly, and after the wind subsided a little, the members of the family came rushing out, escaping without a scratch.

             Dr. Coleman, physician in the camp, got busy at once and quickly gave attention to those in need. The Zuber family was reached and every attention was given. Indications pointed to Mrs. Zuber being killed instantly.

             At the Stone residence Mrs. Stone was found in great pain. Willing hands were offered, and she was taken to a place of safety and given medical attention. It was found that she was injured seriously. The baby of Mrs. Stone was taken up by Mrs. Conway and other women in the camp, and shown every attention, while the nine-year-old daughter of Mrs. Stone was removed to the home of a neighbor, which was but damaged partially and there given every attention.

             Trees on all sides were uprooted.

             Negroes in the quarters at the Songo mines became panic stricken during the storm, and it is considered nothing less than a miracle that there were not several killed. Redding, Ishkooda proper. Smuthes and other places in the neighborhood reported feeling some effects of the storm. The mining appurtenances were not damaged a great deal, the roof of the engine room of either No. 11 or 12 being damaged.

             Representatives of The Birmingham News with Photographer Terreson were rushed to the storm stricken section in an Olds car, driven by T.A. Morrison, and soon were covering the place. The residents of Spring Gap, Ishkooda No. 11, had wagons out gathering their effects out of the demolished and damaged houses, and moving to the best places they could find. Out of the entire group of houses around the mines, there were less than half a dozen that did not show some effect of the storm.

             People in Powderly, a mile and a half to two miles away, felt part of the storm, and during the earlier hours of the morning it became known that there had been some fatalities on the mountain sides. Many people from all directions visited the scene of the storm’s worst havoc, and offered every assistance.

             “It was a harrowing time just before, during and after the terrible wind,” said Mrs. Conway, who stopped while carrying around the little baby of Mrs. Stone. The child’s face was almost covered with bruises, but the child was as quiet as it could be. “There was nothing to do but to await the consequences as our house rocked and swayed and threatened every second to collapse, and probably kill or maim us.

             “When the wind abated just a little, we left the place and ran out. Looking around, even in the darkness, there was havoc noticed. Screaming women and children and excited men were on all sides.

             “Mrs. Zuber was a fine woman. She was dead when the men got to the place and took off some of the fallen timber and shingles.”

             Others seen at the place Monday morning say that it is hard to describe the excitement that prevailed in the little mining camp and that while it is to be regretted there was loss of life, that greater fatality did not occur is a miracle.

                                                                   Officials on Scene.

Officials of the company were around Spring Gap during the early morning hours offering assistance and righting as far as possible the damage done to the property.

             Many reports were to be heard at Spring Gap as to damage elsewhere, but nothing definite except from Songo, where numerous houses were blown down, and off their foundations with no one hurt. Redding and Ishkooda proper were damaged, also, and in the vicinity of Bluff Park, and at Oxmoor there was damage to a considerable extent done.