The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1914-05-15
TORNADO DOES IMMENSE DAM
AGE TO FARM PROPERTY.
Storm Sweeps Through the Heart of
the Tobacco Section of Dane County.


this section of the west Monday morn
ing, bearing all the characteristics of
tornado, left in its wake path from
s to 10 miles wide strewn with shatter-
ed buildings, trees torn and twisted,
windmills and silos blown down, tele-
phone lines broken and a general de-
struction everywhere. The aggregate
damage to farm property in the towns
of Oregon, Dunkirk. Pleasant Springs,
Christiana and Albion north of us is
doubtless the greatest ever experienced
from the elements in these townships.
Sunday was hot and sultry with the
highest temperature of the season, just
the kind of weather to breed vicious
storms, but a heavy rain fell during
most of the night and Monday the tenn
perature dropped to near the freezing
point and still raining, when about 9
O'Clock lowering clouds appeared in the
west following darkness that foretold
an unusual atmospheric disturbance,
and then the hurricane broke that
lasted less than a half hour but the
storm in it's fury wrought destruction
on every hand. The most singular
phenomenon is that disastrous storm
of this character should develop in the
midst of cold. drizzling rain, but it
might have swung around to US from
afar as a result of the heat of the pre-
vious day.
To describe the damage sustained on
the hundreds of farms in the track of
the storm would fill columns of this
paper. Scarcely any farm has escaped
loss of some nature and on many prop
erty valued at several thousand dollars
has been destroyed. Possibly Is per
cent of the farmers carried tornado in
surance which will partially compen-
safe them for their losses, but the chief
concern now is where to get the help
to restore their damaged buildings. 1t
is a busy season for carpenters who
have already contracts ahead for the
seasons work so the difficulty will be
to get competent men to rebuild, unless
they are imported from outside the
storm belt.
The wonder is in the destruction of
so many farm buildings that the loss
of life and injuries were not greater.
The only instances reported in this
vicinity requiring the attention of a
physician were the case of Fred Hotf-
man, an employe on the Geo. Sherwood
farm in Albion, who was caught in the
wreck of the barn and his knee dis
located and the ligaments badly torn.
DR.. Cleary was also called to attend to
the injuries of a stranger travelling
through the country and had sought
refuge from the storm in the tobacco
shed on the Augustine farm near Haner-
Vile The falling timbers pinned him
among the machinery stored in the
shed but his injuries were only bruises.
Among the heavy losses sustained by
town of Albion farmers is that of
Henry Anderson, who has only his
house left from five or six thousand
dollars worth of buildings, all of recent
date. D. L. Babcock thinks 81 ZOO will
not make good the damages to his silo
and barns, all of which were more or
less moved and broken. On the Geo.
Sherwood farm large round barn 80
feet across was demolished as we'll as
his tobacco sheds and most of the other
outbuildings. Lars 0. Lein Sr. lost all
his farm buildings except his house.
On the Freeman Atwood place where
20 acres of tobacco are grown six large
sheds are down. In one of them 900
sheep were quartered, IL of which were
killed. At Martin Mason's a fine new
barn and tobacco sheds were smashed.
On the old Samuel Clark farm owned
by James Craig the buildings are most
ly ground to pieces and portion of
the shed thrown through the roof Of
the dwelling. Lars Lein Jr. on the old
Henry Marsden place lost large new
tobacco shed and many Of the fine
shade trees on the lawn. Nearly every
farm north toward Rockdale lost their
tobacco sheds and other improvements.
In the vicinity of Utica and west
through Pleasant Springs nearly every
farm suffered more or less from the
storm and the same can be said of
Wheeler Prairie and the country inter-
vening. On the main road between
Edgerton and Stoughton Sc tobacco
sheds were counted that had been
wrecked by the storm.
Fortunately the storm missed most
of the cities and villages in its sweep
of 80 to 40 miles where it was most
severe. At Stoughton scores of trees
were snapped off and uprooted, numer-
Gus chimneys were wrecked and the
L. CHI eli L. %ho hicrb