The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1913-07-11
Beats Ii Store Fronts
Pelted Corn and Grain
From Thursdays Daily.

From Thursdays Daily. sTf s
Fred w. Lindsey, Jr., arrived in
Mankato from Jackson last evening
and brought with him a story OF. the
hail storm which occurred in Jack
son Tuesday afternoon and which
eclipses anything of the kind that
has happened in southern Minnesota
for years. Mr.. Lindsey says it is
estimated that, the damage done by
the storm is over a million dollars.
1t has been thirty-fourt !, years since
a hail storm as damaging as this
one has swept over Jackson county,
and the oldest settlers in Jackson
can just remember it. The storm
seemed to have its start in the vi
cinity of Window and Heron Lake
and it followed the course of the
Des Moines river in a belt about
fourteen miles wide. 1t extended
about two miles south of Jackson,
and then it seemed to split and
turned in the direction of Alpha. Mr.
Lindsey thinks that when the course
of the storm was turned it came
straight to Vernon Center township,
Garden City and Rapidan, and thinks
that the two storms were Identical
"The hail commenced to fall about
four o'clock in the afternoon" said
Mr. Lindsey" and before the storm
broke The sun was shining brightly
and the thermometer showed that it
was 101 degrees in the shade. In a
few moments the sky was black as
ink, and the hail was coming down
in almost solid drift of ice. BY
seven o'clock in the evening, the
temperature was 70 degrees.
Ice in the Streets.
"Wednesday morning the ice was
still in the streets and could be
scraped up in shovelfuls. The hail
did not last more than fifteen min
utes and when it was over Old Sol
came out again to gaze upon the dew
/ astation wrought by the hail. There
/ was not a house in town that did
not have broken windows. Some wind
and a great deal of rain accompani-
, ed the storm. Every window glass
in the city has been sold out, and
orders have been wired in for plate
glass. Not a store front in town
| but what suffered. The roof of Pet
er Hansen's grocery store was liter
ally caved in by the constant beating
of the hail stones. The stones were
so large that while they were in
/, the air they clicked together and
the racket was like the Instruments
/ in a telegraph office. My father,
! F. W. Lindsey Sr., put up a big
brick building last year, to be used
/ as an implement house, and it can.
not be repaired for less than $1,000.
Cattle and poultry We're killed in the
field, and the chickens were simply
. beaten to death in the storm. John
A. Johnson who lives four miles from
! Jackson lost seven head of cattle.
Trains Were Stalled.
1.-TWO trains on the Milwaukee road
were stalled between Jackson and
Lakefield. Wires were down and il
/ was deemed unsafe to operate the
/ trains under the circumstances. The
! crops, barley, wheat, corn and oats
i were simply drivenu into the earth
and hail stones were embedded in
the earth several inches
Window shades were torn inte
shreds and after store fronts were
pelted out of shape the rain dam
aged stocks to some extent Many
people were forced to put up storm
windows The Jackson hardware
dealers kept the wires hot yesterday
! ordering plate glass. Farmers gen
orally did not carry any hail insur
! ance on their crops"
| One of the Worst.
The Fairmont Sentinel speaks OF
4 the storm as follows:
DIR. Maitland of Jackson came
down in his auto this forenoon and
gave some of the particulars of the
destructive hailstorm that visited
that part of the county on Tuesday
Or. Maitland declares it to be
one OF the worst hailstorms that ever
visited the state. On a rough esti
mate he said, L should say there
was five thousand dollars worth OF
/ glass broken in Jackson Practical
ly every light facing the direction
from which the storm came was
shattered. Gus Albertus, while try
ing to- barricade broken window
! was hit on top of the head by. a
hailstone as big as goose egg and
knocked down, almost senseless, to
the floor. Hail was piled in banks
on the streets two feet high.
The crops? Why, you simply
can't see sign of vegetation above
the ground. They are pounded into
the ground beyond hope of recovery
1t is picture of desolation, sad to
behold
| Wires All Down.
| THE telephone and telegraph wires
are all down but as near as we can
learn, the hailstorm cut swath
about seventeen miles wide, extend
ing from Pipestone east to two OF
three miles west of the Martin coun-
ty line. No doubt the damage will
pass the $1,0OO,O00 mark several
lengths.
Manager Roepke of the telephone
company engaged an auto and start
ed on rush trip to Jackson at noon
today. Reports will probably not be
complete for several days.
Attorney Nicholas of Jackson
county writes Judoa Ouinn TO-DAY &C