The Butler weekly times., 1897-07-01
1ooeka and Vicinity Visited bv
the Most Destructive Down.
oour Of Hai|stones in the
History Of Kansas
ernaEs OF PEOPLE BADLY INJURED,
SOME OF THEM FATALLY.
r.r skdight and Most Of the Windows in
lawn Smashed Of Cars Broken
Storm Creates a Panic.
o.uleE TO PROPERTY AND CROPS
IMPOSSIBLE TO ESTIMATE.

IMPOSSIBLE TO ESTIMATE.
Topeka, Kan, June 24.-As the
,..nlt OF the most terrific downpour
i hail Kansas has ever known scores
4 people in Topeka and vicinity
vsrs injured this evening. some OF
ham fatally; every sky-light and
most Of the windows in the city are
kokep, and homes flooded; crops of
n kinds have suffered heavily, and
oIher property damaged, the extent
4 which it is difficult at this hour to
approximate.
Owing to the fact that the storm
.rknded over most OF Shawnee Co,
| |ais impossible at this hour to give
nything like a complete list OF the
| ajursd or an accurate estimate OF
| ths damage done.
HAIL 01ONLo NLAOhAN" a OS~'~
The storm began at G:30 this ever
a. and lasted fifteen minutes. Black
omiuous clouds in the northwest
prspared the people for heavy rain
md possibly destructive blow, but
ths canuouaie of immense hail
stones was unexpected as it was de
gtruciive. Every stone that fell was
u large as goose egg, and many
we're much larger, and measured II
inches in circumference and weigh
ID from II to 16 ounces The hail
Homes rebounded from the asphalt
pavement to a height of twenty feet
Such downpour created the wild
sat conste, ,nation imaginable. Panic
,tickeu people rushed pell NELL fo'
shelter; frightened birds that fiev
from their nests fell in great mum
hsrs; dogs struck by the hailstene
vsre killed outright; horses knocked
down rose only to break away re
eHdlees of the strength OF thel
hatenings, and run in one gres
tsmpede withou! regard to thel
narse, falling in heaps in the stree
making away as best thev coul'
scelerating their speed every tin
hsy were hit. Above all was tt
pund of broken glass as skylight
how windows and street lamps wei
mashed as though riddled by graz
md canister, creating din that WI
appalling.
tits impossible to estimate tt
extent of the damage to propert
No growing crops could stand u
der the dreadful down-pour. Meth
could any glass, and in many cas-
tho hail stones went through Il
ths roofs, tearing and breaking al
puncturing both shingles and tt
The hail must have passed throuI
several strata of rain clouds, as tn
boxed exactly like an onion in fe
nation.
Nearly every piece OF property
Topeka suffered. The storm play
especial havoc with west front W
dows. Washburn college repo
Yearly 100 windows riddled. I
windows in the Capitol buildi
ware badly damaged,especially th'
iscirg Bethany college.
ROOFS OF STREET CARS KNOCKED IN
The street car company suffel
severely, the roofs on many cars
} ng pounded into smithreens. I
lail stone measuring fourteen
me-half inches in circumferer
ssnt through street car roof {
aoundsd on the floor like a rub
Q ~. The passengers in the c
aaWled under the side seats
rctection. All the cars were st
: IA on account of "down" wires
nvel was suspended on many Ii
- two hours.
The immense glass roof over
rating department OF the S'
\ hospital was ground into Ii
kh as we'll as many skylights
y building. The Hall Lithogrs
= company suffered a loss OF
q The hail smashed large
glass roof, which, when shatte