Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1924-07-16
EYE WITNESS
or TORNADO
Sister of Lancasterian Tells
Graphic Story of Storm.

Mrs. B. ]. Hughes of Lorain, Ohio,
writes her brother, Hugo Krebs, of
Lancaster, a graphic account of the
recent cyclone. Mrs. Hughes and fam
lily live in Lorain. She says:
You asked whether we were all to-
gether when the storm broke. We were
in three different places. Thank God!
the children were at home instead OF
at the State Theater That is where
so many lives were lost.
| [ was Just one block from the store
when the storm broke. One of the girls
| from the store was with me. We rush
ed into a frame building to escape.
wish you could see it now. 1t was
five minutes of five. We were headed
for the Odd Fellows Hall for our
supper Thank God the storm broke
| before we got there for it was demol-
| ished. We surely were fortunate.
Day Turns to Night
| Miss Kinzel and 1 had just gotten
! into the store building and closed the
| door when it got as black as night.
The wind was awful We couldn't
have been standing there more than
! five seconds when the big plate glass
WluUOWS W6uC oil " plCSCo, anu CAiN
awnings were ripped off. We ran to
the back of the store, and then the
side windows caved in. The store
rocked and then went back again.
Wrecked Town i'm Ten Minutes
! There was a terrible noise but just
what was happening we did not
know. We saw autos being carried
through the air with no one in them,
timbers flying everywhere. How we
every escaped injury in that frame
| building l do not know. 1t has the
entire upstairs wall ripped off. Miss
Kinzel and l chung to each other and
| prayed God to spare us and our
loved ones. The rain came down in
torrents The storm itself lasted no
| longer than ten minutes and then L
ran out of that store for home three
blocks away, for l pictured our home
in ruins and my little girls all alone
They told me l was crazy for go
ing out and tried to hold me back,
but I don't believe ten horses could
have held me. 1 ran in the middle of
the street I had just gone a block
when a big tree carrying all the wires
crashed within ten feet of where I
was standing. I could not cross any
where because I did not know whether
the current had been turned off.
CrawIS to Reach Children
I ran to the middle of the other
block and found a place to cross.
just made it across the street and two
men grabbed me and pulled be into
a grocery store Their windows were
out and the potatoes, lettuce, and
other vegetables scattered over the
sidewalk They said, "My God, woman,
what are you doing out in this
Storm" I begged them to let me go,
as I had only two more blocks to go
and had to see if my babies were all
right. So they said, well, if you have
to go, go by way of 8th Street" Such
time as 1 had crawling over trees
and water everywhere. But l noticed
the nearer 1 got to home the less
damage had been done to the homes
and that gave me courage to go on.
Babes Were Safe
When I got home l found that our
house was all right except that the
front porch had been torn away. The
neighborS saw me and told me the
children were over there safe. Oh,
what a relief to see my babies all
right. [ guess I must have been a
sight for they ran for some wine and
made me drink it. I shook like leaf
and wet! You never saw anything
so wet in your life. There was a big
puddle of water on the floor where l
| sat.
After bit they took me home to
change my clothes. L could hardly
get them off, was so weak and I'M
strung. A few minutes later hubby
came home. He knew / had left the
store full of hysterical customers and
had to quiet them.
Our store had all the windows brok-
en- and holes broken into the roof
through which the water poured. They
covered everything with oiIcloth, in
that way saving much of the mer-
chandise. Our loss will not exceed
81 900. Mr. Sans, the president of the
company, wired B. G. $500 for relief
work. 1 am sending you paper which
will give you some idea of the de-
struction wrought.
We were without lights. 1 never
went to bed. B. G.. went back down
town again for there was so much he
could do to help. He didn't come home
again that night AS soon as it was
daylight 1 hurried down to the store
B. G. and I were standing at the front
of the store at about Z o'clock q had
| been down town since 4:30) my hair
so wet I had not been able to comb
it. A fellow came along and before
we knew it he had taken our pictures.
! We asked him who he was and he
/ said, "Pathe, Cleveland So if you
see Pathe News of the tornado you
will see our store and B. G. and me.
I hardly think you will recognize me
with my hair so wet and not combed
since the day before.
Town Under Martial Law
| This is Thursday, I believe I was
unable to finish this yesterday. Broad
way is beginning to look half way