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The Harrison Press, Thursday, March 1, 1956. A heavy rainstorm accom panied by a “baby tornado” lashed this area at approxi mately 5:30 Saturday morning, resulting indirectly in one death and thousands of dollars in property damage. Electricity was knocked out at 5:45 and in most of downtown Harrison wasn’t restored until 11:40 a.m. Robert Mercer, 21, of Peach Grove, was reportedly electro cuted when he accidently stepped on a live wire, at about 7:00 a.m. while apparently investigating the fallen wires at the entrance of the Willey Ruxstall Gravel Co. pit on East Miami River Road, New Baltimore, where he was a shovel operator. With an ominous roar the tornado struck and rolled up the house and barn roofs on the farm located on Campbell Road, belonging to the S.L. Burks, and threw it to the four winds, and broke the windows at the house. It struck the barn on the Frank Roudebush farm, unroofed it and the rest of the structure collapsed. The twister then unleashed its fury on ‘‘Emma's Place’’, struck across to the Maple Leaf Restaurant and smashed into the Trailer Court and the home of Mr. and Mrs. Leo A. Wich. Hardest hit was ‘‘Emma's Place’’ a new concrete block building on Kilby Road belong ing to Elmer Heyde, which is a total loss. Here, the roof was torn almost intact from its moorings and was tossed u high on the electric wires. Mrs. Hilda Bullen, who was on duty at the Restaurant was washing dishes at the sink when the hail hit the windows, then the roof went flying off and concrete blocks and glass fell around her. She was unhurt. Two customers, a lady at the counter and a man at a table sat drinking coffee when the lady said “her coffee cup was snatched out of her hand circled around several times and went flying out the window.’’ The man at the table was wedged against the wall by the juke box, the table where he was sitting was twisted and one leg fell off. The window curtains went along with the wind. _ At the Maple-Leaf Drive-In Restaurant a large plate-glass window was broken and bits of glass thrown against the stools at the counter, ripped up the leather seats. ‘The home of Mr. and Mrs. Leo A. Wich, across from ‘‘Emma’s Place’’ was damaged, part of the roof was torn off, rafters and wiring damaged, walls in the second floor West room were cracked, 7 windows were broken and a shed in the rear was flattened. A house trailer on their property was rolled over several times and thrown by the wind against another one and was completely destroyed. Luckily the owners of this trailer were not at home. Another house trailer was thrown. 25 feet from its moorings._ This twister also overturned eight house trailers in Maple Leaf Trailer Court. With all this damage, no one was seriously injured, although occupants of the Trailers were dazed, startled and thrown around in their homes. The Harrison Life Squad and Firemen, who were trained by the American Red Cross in Life Saving techniques, were on the scene, minutes after the Tornado struck and sent aid wherever they could, and the Red Cross, too were on the job, arranging for housing, where needed, under the direction of Shawn above is part of the destruction of the Baby Tornado which smashed into Kilby Road early Saturday. The roof hanging on the electric wires, landed there almost intact by the high winds and came from ‘‘Emma’s Place’’ hardest hit by the storm. Several overturned house trailers are pictured to the right.
Newspaper Details
The Harrison Press
Harrison, Ohio, US
Wed, Sep 24, 1975
Page 26
Full Page
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Anonymous
USA 05 Feb 2026
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