The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1913-06-19
STORM PLAYS HAVOC IN COUNTY
Barns Are Burned to North of City and
Trees Are Blown Down Along City
Streets Electric Ry Traffic is Bad
~ Interfered With by the Storm.

The Holy Name Catholic Church at
Wilmot in the western part of the
county was completed destroyed by
fire just before midnight Sunday night
entailing loss of $4,000 partially
covered by insurance. The church
which was one of the best known of
the places of worship in the western
part Of the county, was struck by
lightning during the big storm of Sun
day night. 1t was frame building
and the flames spread so rapidly to
every part of it that although the peo-
pie of Wilmot made heroic efforts to
save it it burned to the ground Near
ly all of the fixtures of the church
were destroyed with the building. Most
of the people of Wilmot were asleep
when the fire broke out and by the
time the men of the village could be
aroused the fire was beyond control.
The church was practically a new
church and it was erected seven years
ago at a cost of close to $4,000 The
furnishings of it were worth $4,000
more. Services had been held at the
church only few hours before the
fire. 1t is expected that within ten
days plans will have been completed
for the rebuilding Of the church. The
congregation is made up largely of
farmers residing in the towns of Salem
and Brighton and they will see to it
that the new church is built at once.
1t is probable that more modern
church will be erected to take the
place of the burned building.
The storm Of wind and lightning and
rain was common all over the county
and reports Of damages are coming in
rapidly. Trees were blown down,
struck by lightning and uprooted all
over the county and the wind and
electric storm played havoc with wire
service both in the city and county.
Many telephone, telegraph and electric
light wires were torn down by the
wind Out in the town of Somers one
Of the big barns on the Piper farm
was struck by lightning and destroyed
and other buildings north of the Ra-
cine county line were seen burning by
people who came from Racine On the
electric cars. No detailed reports Of
these fires have been received in the
city on account of the lack of tele-
phone service.
In the city the storm was unusually
heavy. On Elizabeth street several
big trees were blown down across the
street, a big tree at the corner of
South and Chicago streets went down
during the storm and there was wire
trouble all over the city. One of the
trolley wires of the electric railway
company was down and this caused
long delay in traffic. Passengers on
the interurban roads had lot of hard
luck stories to tell. The Chicago and
Milwaukee Electric car billed to ar
rive here at 1852 did not reach the
city until midnight, passengers being
aboard the car for nearly four hours
on the trip from Milwaukee. The cleo
trio storm badly interfered with the
operation of all the cars. So far as
can be learned there was no loss Of
life from the storm in the state, but
the storm was general all over Wiscon-
sin. The heavy rain which accom-
panied the electric storm was decided
ly welcome to the people on farms in
the county and it put the land into
shape for working.