The Mobridge news. [volume] (Mobridge, Walworth Co., S.D.) 190?-1917, 1913-08-08

In a hurried canvass made when the
city reused itself from half an hour Of
helplessness in the grasp of the ele.
ments.
Temperature Was 100.
Out Of a blazing sky, under which the
city was sweltering with the temper
ature at the 100 point, came the storm
roaring from the north, driving a mass
Of clouds that cast a mantle of dark
ness over the town.
The gale, reaching a velocity of near
ly 20 miles an hour, swept the streets
clear, unroofed houses, tore detached
small structures from their founda-
tions, wrecked one office building,
overturned wagons and carriages in
the streets and swept Washington's
hundred parks, tearing huge branches
from the trees. and even uprooting
sturdy old elms, the landmarks OF a
century.
W~ashington's wellkept streets, with
their wealth OF trees, were Uttered
with broken foliage, roofs, debris and
dead birds, as if a playful giant had
carelessly swished his club up and
down the city.
Temperature Drops to 60.
AS the wind wreaked it's havoc the
rain came and in five minutes the tenn
perature had dropped fro the hun
dred mark to between 60 and 20. Then
the rain turned to hail and hailstones
battered on roofs and crashed through
skylights and windows.
For half an hour the city covered.
paralized, under the beating of the
storm, every activity suspended. Troll
ley lines, telephone lines and street
traffic were halted and the government
departments suspended operations.
The wind wrecked a three-s story
brick office building occupied by the
Is. 5. Saul company, real estate deal
ers, and Is persons were carried down
in the crash. w. E. Hilton, vice
president of the real estate ompan
Thomas b. Fealy, Go years old, a clerk
and an unidentified man who entered
the building trying to rescue those
caught in the wreck. were taken from
the wreck, dead. Half a dozen more
were treated for slight injuries.
White House Lawns Devastated.
The neatly kept lawns of the White
House were devastated. Three huge
elm trees, uprooted by the wind,
were thrown across the lawn and up
to the very portico of the building.
blocking the drives.
President Wilson was seated in the
executive offices when the wind crash
ed through several windows in the
nouse porch.
Secretary Tumulty hurried the
president and Representative Korbly
Of Indiana, with whom he was con-
ferrlng, to a sheltered interior room,
away from the searching lightning
flashes.
The capitol. set high above the
city. caught the brunt Of the wind,
hail and lightning. The senate was
In session when the hail swept down
with a deafening roar. beating on the
glass roof of the chamber. The tu-
multi made further business impos-
sible, and hurrying to the vice presi-
dents desk, Senator Kern, %megaphon-
ed with his hands a motion to re-
cess. The motion was put. and al
though the senators could hear moth
Ing, the senate quit work for Is min
utes in confusion.
Painters Caught on Capitol Dome.
When the storm broke, 35 painters
were at work on the dome Of the
capitol, swarming over the curving
surface or swinging high on shaky
%scaffolding.
At the bureau of printing and en-
craving, where hundreds Of women
are employed, the wind. sweeping
through a huge window, sent a storm
Of broken glass hurting through the
big press rooms. Eight or 10 women
we're cut by falling glass and one
printer, John Rhodes, received severe
scalp wounds.
While the excitement was at it's
height, the wind caught a bundle of
1000 one dollar bills, half finished,
and swept 1t through the broken win
dow. The bundle was ripped to pieces
and the bills scattered far and wide.
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