The Glasgow courier. [volume] (Glasgow, Mont.) 1913-current, 1920-07-02
NAN KILLED DURING
ELECTRICAL STORM
st. Paul Lineman E~lectrOcuted While
Repairing Broken Wires.-Tele-
phone Service Disrupted.


two others were injured and telephone
service was disrupted by the most Sc
we're electrical storm of the season
which struck the Twin Cities a few
minutes before II p. m. Wednesday.
Although the storm lasted less than
half an hour jagged flashes kept the
sky illuminated almost necessarily.
White Bear was left in almost to-
tai darkness when a bolt of lightning
struck a cable carrying the current
from the power house. From all owe
the northern and central sections Of
the state came word of a violent cleo
trical storm and heavy rain, but no
serious damage was reported.
Harry Cuts, 30 years old, 297 Au-
rora avenue, "trouble man" for the st.
Paul Gas Light company, was killed
almost instantly shortly after II p. m.
in an alley neal Sixth street and Main
avenue where, with Martin Ruth, 1918
Reaney street, he had gone to repair
wires torn down by the storm.
Whether Cuts met his death by cleo
trocution from a wire he was holding
in his hand or whether a bolt struck
him could not be determined by Cor
oner Ingerson, who is investigating his
death.
The fact that the greatest force Of
the storm had passed when Cults
death occurred strengthened the be-
lief that his death was caused by a
live wire.
Two automobiles crashed at Seventh
and Douglas streets at 11:15 p. M,
when the drivers Of the two cars, M.
Gellmann and Edward Plus, Jr., were
blinded by flashes of lightning. The
automobile driven by Plus was over
turned and Plus and a companion, Joe
Rabette, were injured slightly.
That the storm at it's height re-
sembled a small twister was indicated
in the report from st. Paul telephone
offices that a big tree was u%prooted
at Seventh and Ramsey streets, car
rying a heavy telephone cable with
it as it fell.
Scores of tenants in the neighbor-
hood were aroused almost to panic
when lightning struck the real Of the
Maryland hotel, Grant street and Vine
Place, Minneapolis. The bolt lodged
in a nest of electric wires and caused
a sharp flash of light which lied to
the belief that a fire had been kindled.
The fire department was called out
but when firemen arrived they found
little damage had been done.
Another bunch of wires were slight
ly damaged when lightning struck a
pole in front of 112 Fourth avenue
north.
Although binding flashes and
heavy claps of thunder attended the
rainfall and suggested that wide
spread damage was being done, check
of the havoc after the storm showed
that little loss had resulted.
Easements of a number of homes
were flooded and in several instances
requests were made for fire depart
ment apparatus to pump out base
ments. While MILFORD Hansley of
Robinsdale was seated in his automo-
bile in front of the West hotel, wind
ripped off the top of the car and
lodged it against a sign fifty feet
away. = 7-
Telegraph and telephone service
were crippled during the storm, but
these were restored to normal in most
places after the weather had grown
tranquil.
Reports from points outside the
Twin Cities indicated that a heavy
rainfall, accompanied by severe light
ming, fell in virtually all parts of the
state and in Wisconsin. The storm
was especially severe at Duluth, where
some buildings were reported damag-
ed.
From Eau Claire, Wis, it was-re-
ported that a cloudburst washed out
five miles of track of the Omaha road
near Mondovi.
The chief toll of the storm from all
sections, reports show, was the dam
aging of telephone and telegraph
wires.