The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1915-05-07

Wind. rain and hail. so violent tina
II might almost be called tornado
swept through Mankato from the ives
Yesterday afternoon and evening
The precipitation was extreme. Th'
official Euarc at Sibley park shows
that from five o'clock In the after
noon To three o'clock this morning
the moisture that fell amounted Il
2i5 inches. This is very heavy in.
decd for so short q time.
The storm was exceedingly violent
to- the west uf the city. Much OF It's
force was spent before reaching Man
katu. Yet even here the wind was
very powerful. One striking evidence
nf this Is the fact that barn at the
home of Andrew Mood. las North
Second street was picked up from
It's foundation. and moved five feet
II was twu-story structure. IA by
Re- feet The only living being inside
NJ the time was a COW. Happily bos-
~ was not hurt. but badly frightened
Today Mr.. Mood managed tn get tho
barn back where II belonged. There
WIS no serious damage.
Broke on the Current.
Southwest Of MankatO. between
Lake Crystal and Rapidan dam. the
force of the wind was so heavy that
; God sized trees were blown down.
Here one larg" tree fell on the trans
mission cable of the Consumers
Power company. breaking II down.
This was near the Piper farm. This
and other trouble az like nature Caus
Cd the whole current TO be shut OF
ft.fn ltn fsii f.f
'i"hi and current for purposes. The
street cars. Of course. were brought
iu halt. The interference with the
supply of electricity. officials Of the
company say. lasted for only six
minutes. but Of course the time SEEM
cd long To people who were waiting
One good reason for shutting of
the current was the fact that bolts
uf lightning struck the company's
wires in the vicinity of Lake Crystal.
Some damage was done but nothing
very serious.
Between Mankato and New Ulm.
aud through that region. there was
40 small amount OF trouble with the
telephone wires on account of the
wind and hail.
From West to East.
Tn" storm seems 10 have moved
from west Ia east. largely along the
liuc Of the Chicago and Northwestern.
This morning the local offices OF that
company had storm reports as far
west as New Tim and as far east as
Owatonna.
Probably the most serious feature
Of the affair was the damage done to
r.. L.. Al H.
hood of Mankato. Roads were very
wet this morning. and the usual
chances TO meet and interview farm
Crs coming Ia the city were not at
hand. but from the havoc that vas
wrought in and about Mankato. Il is
easy TO believe that much damage
was done in the country.
Havoc was played with apple and
plum blossoms. Henry Heidwinkel
had fine orchard at Main and Hinck-
ley streets. Here the blossoms were
completely stripped of. II Is not
likely that there will be any apples
Or plums from his trees this year
People through this part Of the state
had been expecting some fine crops
or plums and apples this year. for
blossoms.
Damage TO Vegetables.
Serious damage was done also TO
EIuallcr vegetables. such as beans.
peas. lettuce and the like Much Of
this will have To- be planted over
again. As 10 potatoes. they were up
about two inches and the sprouts
were beaten 10 pieces. hut the plants
were not killed. II will amount TO a
sct back OF a week or so. The same
thing may bc said about corn. spring
wheat. oats and barley.
Winter wheat and barley probably
suffered seriously. for these crops
were far up. and the hail in all like
libood caused loss that will be Sc
verely felt by many farmers. Many
people complain also that their straw
berry plants were ruined. though
others say that theirs escaped. not
being far enough advanced 10 suffer
badly.
In the city the down pour Of rain
was so rapid that the sewers could
not carry IL of fast enough. Many
were the basement that were flooded
by the water backing up In the sew :
"rs. This would have happened at
the Saulpaugh hotel. but the vent
pipe was shut of In time TO prevent
this
Two heroes AZ the city engineers
force stayed out during much OF the
worst of the storm and did what they
could To keep the storm sewer open
inIs from being blocked. These two
were Mic Kranz and a companion.
They prevented masses Of leaves.
sticks and other debris from inter-
Icring with the proper flow of the
water. They were protected by rain
coats, they had on ordinary hats.
Fall Of a Wall
One sensational effect OF the storm
was the fall of portion of the front
wall Of the new building that Is be-
ing erected for retail farm machin-
cry store on North Front street. just
south OF the International Harvester
company's building. The brick mas
onry was fresh. and the heavy rain
caused part OF the wall. about 10 by
is feet. to collapse and fall into a
shapeless mass of debris To the street
level. about ten feet lower Happily
none Of the workingmen nor anybody
else was on the spot at the time
During the storm there was cave
in OF the top of the storm sewer at
The foot of Plum street, by the North
western railroad tracks. There were
several bad earth slides. These were
ON Rock. Fourth and Main streets
City Engineer Blomuuist saws this