News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1922-08-23
Terrific Thunder Storms
Do Great Damage-Chautaxqua Tent
Blown Down at Hardwick and
Many Injured.

Do Great Damage-Chautaaqua Tent
Blown Down at Hardwick and
Many Injured.
At HardWick three persons were
seriously injured and several hun
dred residents and summer visitors
were thrown into panic when a
cloudburst caused large Chautauqua
entertainment tent to collapse, COM
pletely EMBEDDING the audience and
pinning it to the ground.
Pandemonium reigned when the
people toppled from their chairs by
the heavy canvas folds, scrambled
on their hands and knees through
the dirt and mud caused by the
doWnpour, to the open air.
The, most seriously injured were
MISS Blanche Dow who suffered a
broken leg; Daniel Crowley. injury
to the head, and Michael Sullivan,
cuts and bruises.
The tent collapsed almost without
warning. The lights in the tent and
the town went out, and men, women
ana children were forced to crawl
into the open air and safety through
| the doWnpour which was illuminated
by terrifying flashes of lightning.
The storm broke just as the first
act of the performance started The
weight of water on the canvas. with
the strain brought by the high wind,
which caused the center support of
the tent to break, is given As the
cause of the accident.
The storm did a lot of damage in
the vicinity of Hardwick. Five fires
in as many different directions were
seen by the st. j. & L. C. Ry. train
men that night. The barns on the
road to Caspian Lake, owned by Mr..
Lesour, with contents, including "a
COWS, were destroyed. Perley Thurs
ton, on the west hill, Hardwick, lost
his barn and contents. Newport was
hard hit by hail during the storm and
the engineer of the Air Line express
was, obliged to stop his train while
the storm was at its height, as he
could not see the track ahead. The
Stanley house in Newport was struck
and big hole torn through the roof,
but it did not take fire. At Tomo-
fobIa, L. O., there was a bad wash
out that caused trains to run over
the Canadian Pacific to Newport
from Sherbrooke. st. Johnsbury
escaped much of the force of the
storms, but the generator of the cleo
trio light plant was burned out and
over 600 telephones put out of COM
mission. East Concord was badly hit
and cyclone some 80 feet in width
ploWed through the town, unrOofing
barns, destroying one fine apple
orchard, scattering mail boxes and
seriously damaging crops. The big
barn on the Milo Perkins farm was
hit and moved from it's foundations. |
At Barnet the barn on the Elliot |
Smith farm was burned, including
hay and oats, but the stock was
saved.
While the storm was severe in this |
county we have heard of little serious
damage being done.
The weather has been cooler since. |
tritie too cool for comfort.
The maximum record at st. Johns |
bury, government report, for the four
hot days, was Sc high, 81 low, 90-58, |
9O-59 and 86-58. Saturday at 900 |
a. M, it was 70.
AT Milton the feed and grain store
of j. A. Ryan was totally DESTROYED
by fire started by lightning early in
the morning. The loss is estimated
at $4,000. The Central Vermont
freight house was threatened, but by
the heroic efforts of volunteer firemen
the structure was saved.
A bolt of lightning also came in
through a window Of a nearby house.
hitting an iron bed in which a young
girl was sleeping. The lightning
the length of the bed, burn
ing the edge of the bed clothes, but
did not harm the girl.