The Topeka state journal., 1906-06-23

per. The Air Dome theater was slight
" damaged; the stage and dressing
rooms were wrecked and the seats
piled up in a cong1omerated mass,
though It will be repaired in time for
this evenings performance A sky
light was blown from the roof of the
New York Mercantile building on East
Sixth avenue and the water poured in
and damaged the contents to the ex-
tent Of good many dollars.
Sapho" was being given at the tent
theater on East Sixth avenue when
the storm broke. All interest in the
play was Immediately lost and panic
seized the thousand patrons who were
IN the big tent Women and children
cried and shrieked while men from the
audience went about among them as
suring them Of the safety Of the tent.
number OF the tent poles snapped
and as men struggled to hold the tent
from going down, the confusion in
creased One woman was slightly in
jured by being struck by one Of the
broken tent poles as it fell, and another
tainted and fell from a high seat, sus-
tanning slight injuries. Some of those
in the audience rushed out into the
raj min an attempt to reach a place Of
greater safety and we're drenched. The
tent was not blown down and the
damage amounted to very little.
While the damage about the city has
been considerable It Is more than Offset
by the beneht that the moisture viii
be to the lawns and vegetation in gem
eral- Among the assets of the effect
of the storm might be considered the
death of thousands Of English spar
rows which were blown from their
roosdng places in trees and drowned.
The storm was local and is described
as an overgrown thunder shower by
the weather bureau and from the
amount Of water which fell was more
of a rain storm than a shower
Sewers Caved In.
The Sixth ward sewer is badly caved
in as the result of the heavy rains of
last evening Through Tennesseetown
the sewer has caved in six feet and
more in places. North from there the
sewer did not cave in to such an ex-
tent.
Hanley & Richie. the sewer contrac-
tors, who constructed the Sixth ward
sewer were notified and will put on
gang of workTnen as soon as possible
to I'LL IN the fallen in excavation.
James Ramsey, street commissioner,
sent out full force of teams this morn
ing, dividing them up in squads and
sending them out to clean the streets
of brush and limbs of trees which were
Wfenched loose by the storm. Il haven't
heard Of anything from any of the
sewers over the city with the excep-
ton of the Sixth ward" said Ramsey
this morning. THE sewers had all
they could do to take of the big flood
Of water but we have no reports they
they failed in doing so. haven't heard
very much from over the city in the
way OF complaints though a number of
the paved streets are covered up in
places with mud washed on.
We are trying to get rid of the limbs
which were blown off Of the trees and
doing more Of that kind of work than
! anything else"
E. A. CLANCY. city plumbing inspec-
tor, said. The paved streets have not
suffered much. the side streets were
more damaged. I spent several hours
( shape, Limbs We're blown from almost
every tree in the yard. al coal shed
right back of me was blown out into
the alley by the wind and tipped way
South Topeka escaped the storm
without much damage either by the
wind or the rain. Everything is all
right down here this morning" said
Councilman Sinner 1.-THE Shunga-
nunga creek didn't got up noticeabIy
and the change of channel of the creek
hasn't been damaged any. A few trees
were blown over but that's all.
Il viii have to spend about S25 in
fixing up the damage done to me by
the storm" said jesse Shaw, of the
waterworks department. "A big wal
nut tree was blown over and toppled
against an outbuilding, turning that
over. I had five fine peach trees load
ed with fruit blown down. There was
not very much damage done where
live in East Topeka Fences were
about all / haven't heard of any cell
lars being full of water and Biddle
creek acted all right"
1.-THE Shunga anunga raised about two
feet" said Frank Newland. The
damage to this part Of town was con-
fned to the damage done to trees and
a few Outbuildings The rain didn't
do any damage TO speak Of"
The gas company sent out about
forty men belonging to the construc-
N
sunken excavations where gas mains
have been laid.
Barn Struck by lightning.
The lightning last night struck the
twO-story barn Of Mrs. L. L. Nelson
at 1901 Redden avenue. two blocks
west Of Washburn college, in the
midst Of the storm and it was burned
completely The alarm was turned
in at 1886 and equipment from Nos
and 3 stations made the long run
out to the place. The barn is located
out of the fire hydrant service, how
ever, and it was difficult to make any
sort of a fight. The house adjacent
to the barn was saved, however.
though it was badly scorched. The
loss on the barn and contents will be
about $3.50 The barn contained only
some feed. The insurance carried did
not exceed s1OO.
Many Wires Down.
The storm last night played consid-
cradle havoc with the Rock Island
telegraph wires from Topeka west and
up to noon today the company had a
wire working only as far as McFar-
land. No damage to the roadbed on
any of the lines has been reported as
yet and there probably IS none for the
trains are pulling in about on schedule
time regardless of the fact that the
wires are not working.
At the Santa Fe Offices it was stated
that the storm had not damaged anV
of the property Of the road in any way.
All of the wires are working. In fact
the only report on the storm received
at the offices was from c. 7. Mcclellan.
superintendent of the eastern division
He reported that the storm was gen
orally heavy all along the eastern di-
vision from Emporia to Kansas City,
but that it had done little if any dam
age to the road