Tornado of 1929
Thanks to the Cabarrus County Library Newsletter
for this story.
Saturday, March 23, 1929
Several hurt as Tornado strikes County
On the previous day, Friday March 22, a tornado
had struck Cabarrus County, first touching down in Township 1,
then heading northeast through Townships 11, 8, and 7. The storm brought
torrential rains, marble sized hailstones
and great streaks of lightening. The area around Cold Springs Methodist
Church suffered the most property damage.
The church property sustained extensive damage with windows being broken, a
hole torn in the roof and trees uprooted
from the property.
A number of injuries were reported. The family of T A Honeycutt,
who occupied a two-story frame dwelling on the
farm of Paul Stallings, had three of it's members injured when the tornado
twisted their house to the ground. One
member suffered bruises on the head and shoulders, while Mr Honeycutt's wife
suffered injuries to her legs when she
was trapped beneath the rubble of the house. The cabin belonging to Patsy
Shankles was destroyed; she was picked
up and thrown several yards. Fortunately, however,
the injuries sustained by citizens of the county were not considered
life threatening.
The livestock of the county were also affected. On the farm
of R A Barringer, cows and mules were trapped under timber
in a demolished barn. Neighbors came to Mr Barringer's aid and helped
to free the trapped livestock. One cow had
to be put down after suffering a broken leg. On the farm of J F Bost,
chickens in a coop were blown away. The coop
was later found eight hundred feet from it's original resting place.
This storm was dubbed the worst storm in the county's history with estimated damages of between $75,000-$100,000.