The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1913-07-04

= over as if they were made Of :
+ paper. I
+ :
+ Wind did some damage in :
+ Cambria town. !
I. !. j. :. = !. + j. j. + I. ! I. + I
Damage to the extent of nearly
$4,000 was incurred by the tornado
in Belgrade township Wednesday
night. A number of barns were seri
ously damaged and two were blown
to pieces in the hurricane. A com
plete set of farm buildings belong
ing to James c. Beatty about eight
miles north of Mankato are almost q
mass of ruins, and about two miles
farther north an immense barn on
the farm of Jacob La Fontain was
entirely demolished. Neighbors in
this vicinity suffered more or less
heavily, but these two were the
heaviest losers. Perhaps in money
Mr.. La Fontain's barn is the greater
loss, but the damage to Mr.. Beatty's
buildings will cause a great dea
more hardship.
Related Thrilling Story.
Mr.. Beatty tells a thrilling story
of the disaster. 1--WE, heard the
wind blowing a gale about 1:1t
Thursday morning" said he, land
my wife arose to put down the
south window of our bedroom AS
she went to the window the wind
seemed to rise instantly to a shrek
ing howl, and as she lowered the
sash, the window panes blew in hei
face. The next instant all was con
fusion. We could hear nothing, OIL
realize nothing but that the air was
filled with a bowling, rushing, swirl
ing mass of boards aid pieces of the
buildings about the house. The
house was pelted with sticks, boards
and branches, ind in a few seconds
there was not pane of glass left
The house itself was raised a few
inches off it's foundation, and VIZ
thought that the end had come, bu
it settled back, little off the place
where it had been before. The
wind ragged this way for about ter
minutes, l should judge, but i
seemed that it would never cease
l went downstairs before the cy
clone had passed, and tried to e
outside, but l could not get steI
away from the door in the teeth O
the gale. A large branch of a tire,
blew through the pantry window
knocking all the dishes off tn,
shelves.
Lamps Were Blown, Out.
"The lamps were all blown out
and we were left in total darkness
l had intended to go to the summe
kitchen which stood a few feet from
the door, and get a lantern, blu
when finally l. was able to stant
against the wind, the summer kit
chen was not in. sight, and l hav,
been able to recognize. only a few
of the pieces yet. A board from
the barn was driven into the sid,
of the house about six or eigh
inches. ] looked for the corn cril
and the chicken house, but they to,
had disappeared, and haven't fount
them so far. The chickens wer
nearly all blown away, and a grea
many of them, were killed, but, SOM
of them have returned home. TIL,
seventy-foot windmill was twiste,
mass of steel. / walked toward TIN
barn lot, about thirty yards from TIN
house, and just over the fence, be
tween, the water tank. and the fenc
| found my little mule colt, dead. |
had been blown clear across tn
twelve foot water tank, and strucl
the head by a pole from the lo
barn. Several of my horses and cal
tie had been Loose in this lot, wit
the log barn as shelter in whicl
they could go out of the rain. On
of my finest mares was also throw
down between the water tank an
the fence, but she was not killed
1t took me some time to cut tn
wires and get her removed, for sh
was lying on her back and could nc
stir. When finally she was extrica
ed. | found that she was not ser
ously hurt.
Horses Under the Debris.
When had gotten her to. he
feet. the sky in the east began t
get red, and in a few moments
was daylight. ! then turned my a
tention to the horses and cattle i
the log barn. The walls of the bar
were left, but had caved in wit
the roof in the middle. and unde
it all was the horses, the cattle an
three pigs. / had to chop away til
debris to get them out, and not on
of them was injured Next I turne
my attention to the new barn.
was still standing but had bee
moved about. five feet off the found
ton. did, not think that any
the horses in it were in danger, b,