A search for residual magnetism was made along the damage path of a strong tornado that passed through a residential section of Hazlehurst, Mississippi, on January 23, 1969. Over 3000 gauss-meter readings were taken on nailheads in 24 frame buildings at various points on both sides of the damage path, but no evidence of residual magnetism attributable to the tornado was found. A statistical analysis of the data from seven of the buildings showed that an upper bound on possible axial dc electric current in the tornado was 3900 amperes at touchdown and 6100 amperes during its most intense phase. Residual magnetism measurements also indicated that transient electric currents of about 135 and 300 amperes had occurred in ground wires connected to the electric-meter boxes on two buildings. This finding suggests that residual-magnetism measurements on nails may be useful for detecting possible magnetic fields from ball lightning and other sporadic electrical phenomena, since no prior instrumentation is required.