Daily Kennebec journal., 1910-07-26
HEAVY DAMAGE
From Terrific Electrical
Storm on Monday
Mrs. J. G. Morrilrs Buildings
Burned loss Over $4,000.
Trees Shattered, Glass Smashed
And Heavy Loss to Crops.

Another terrific electrical storm
| passed over this city about o'clock
| Monday afternoon and although short
| III duration, caused a great amount of
damage to this city and vicinity. The
storm came up so suddenly that but
| few We're prepared The heavy rain,
with hail damaged the vegetation,
| while the lightning did thousands of
dollars worts of damage. Reports came
| in from all sections that limbs falling
from trees carried with them wires,
cutting off communication for many
hours with different points.
About the heaviest loser in this vi
cinlty was Mrs. j. c. Morrill,, who lost
her complete set of farm buildings sit
uated at the junction of Maple court
and Western avenue, about one mile
from the city. The lightning struck
| the hay barn about 2 O'Clock and be-
| fore assistance could arrive, the barn
was mass of flames. Mrs. Morrin,
seeing the approaching storm, closed
al 1.-The barn and stable doors and re-
turned to the house. AS the terrific
peal of thunder came, she remarked
| to her cousin Jesnah Morrill,, that she
| feared that it had struck. A woman
living short-distance away noticed
smoke coming sfrom the end of Mrs
MorrilPs barn and hurried to her
| home, Mrs Morrill, and Josiah Morrill,
haStened after wafer and ladder, but
| but before these could be secured the
| hay had ignited and the barn was a
| mass of flames.
Men who We're working in the fields
| for miles around hastened to the vi
cinity, but were poWerlesS to aid A
| few of the bedroom fixtures were re-
moved from the house, but that was
all. The intense heat drove all the
willing workers to a place of safety,
while the flames worked their way
| through the small carriage house to
| the main house. The flames could be
seen in the city and people with teams
and automobiles went to that spot
| For two hours the buildings burned
| and the Is tons of hay, which was
stored in the barn last week. made ex-
t5cellent fuel. The fire was a spectacular
| one. the building being situated on
! the hill. SO that the blaze could be
seen for miles around.
Surrounding the house is large Or
chard, many of the trees being spoiled
DN tIlt lHltISt neat. "A SIlOTl QlSlduct
| from the house is a large barn, owned
| by Mr.. Page. but the wind was in the
I other direction and did not catch. 1t
would have been useless to notify the
| fire department in this city as there
| is no water supply in that vicinity
/ and the firemen could not have reached
| the place in time to save any more
| than the neighbors did. However,
many of the firemen went out on their
own accord.
The buildings We're burned fat, car
| rying with them loss of over $4,000.
| Mrs. Morrill, had about $1,000 insur
| ance on the buildings but no insur
| ance on the furniture or hay
In this city, while there were no
| fires, the damage was great. Wires
| all over the city were down and the
electricians worked we'll into the night
| to straighten out the tansle. Many
narrow escapes We're had from fall
| ing limbs and trees. The car lines
Were tied up on account of wires be-
| ing down and tracks blockaded The
streets We're badly washed and sever
al newly made walks We're spoiled.
A large tree on College avenue in
| front of the S. X. Smith estate. was
| struck by lightning and was burning
rapidly when the linemen reached that
place. Several wires passing about the
| tree had fallen to the ground On the
| Colby. campus several large limbs were
blown down and directly across on the
Maine Central lawn, another large
piece of timber struck. Several per-
sons had narrow escapes near the low
| er crossing. on College avenue, when a
| limb from one of the large trees fell
| to the ground onto the car track. This
was true on Center street and Elm
street On both named streets high
| tension wires We're blown TO the
ground aid had to be handled careful
ly. A large limb fell directly across
| the sidewalk in front of the Hanscom
property on College avenue near Cen
| ter street.
Like the last storm the rain was ac-
| companied by large hail stones; which
| did quite an amount of damage to the
windows. From all portions of the
CITY reports came that more or less
| glass was demolished. A large pane
in the door of the clerk to the over
seers of the poor was broken by the
wind slamming the door.
Ram fell IN torrents anu the cdtcii
basins throughout the central portion
| of the city became clogged and over
flowed the sidewalks. In several places
| the water ran into store Easements.
| on Front street large transformer
on pole near the City building was
| burned out. This caused a god dis
| plav of fireworks and many believed
that the city building had been struck.
The motive power Of several establish
ments in that section was cut out.
In Winslow the damage was equal
ly as heavy. A large barn owned by
! the IIollngsworth & Whitney Co,
| near Benton avenue, was blown over
The barn contained quantity of hay
Trees in that section were damaged
and the vegetation also suffered.