The Minneapolis Star from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page 8

MONDAY. JUNE 19. 1939 The Minneapolis Star. A GIRL Eyewitness Tells of Storm A BOY Eyewitness Tells of Storm Dorothy Schultz, who lives at 3114 Stevens avenue, was with the Splady family on the fishing trip that Douglas Splady describes on the Other side of this page. The Star asked her to write a girl's version of what she saw.

The story is printed as she wrote it. By DOROTHY SCHULTZ About 1 o'clock we left for Anoka to fish. In an adjoining column yon will find a picture of the tornado taken by the youth uho wrote the following story. When Doughis, who lives at 3017 Stevens avenue, brought to The Star, he was asked to write of his experiences, kotowing story exactly as he wrote it: By DOUGLAS SPLADY We left shortly after noon to fishing When we got to the river, it started to rain and we decided to leave. We drove away from Anoka and then turned on a road and headed for town.

funnel his picturt is hit go on a trip but it started to rain so wc started for home. We were just a little bit away from Anoka when my dad and I saw the funny shaped cloud coming toward us. My mother asked me to take some pictures of it but it was coming so fast that we turned around in the road and headed back. The speed limit was only 30 but that didn't stop my dad. After we drove about five miles we stopped to take the pictures but it was still coming fast.

I saw a barn get picked up and dumped upside down and everything was flying all over. I took as many pictures as time would allow. Then we had to speed again to get out of its way. It was raining hard then to get rhelter in the stores. Little did they all think and the people were trying that a tornado was heading meir way.

We started for home and IT WAS HEADING OUR At first we didn't believe we noticed the long, dark funnel then. It seemed to be making a pathway right through the town to where we were driving. We drove about 60 miles an hour to get away we were out of the way of took some pictures of the funnel. rirst the clouds would get real narrow and then they would get big again. All of a sudden the clouds went away up in the air and disappeared in the northeast.

We rode bark through town to This is Douglas Splady's picture of the tornado that struck Anoka and adjacent towns Hurled Through She Lived to Tell She Was and the Air About Bernie Swanson Tells Some Interesting Sidelights of the Tornado By BERNARD SWANSON Of The Star'i Sporti Staff (One of the first to reach the scene) The twister that sheared a path of death and destruction through Anoka and nearby towns was remembered i today as a thing of terror Russell of 1916 Jackson street N.E. Miss Russel was driving Mrs. J. F. Russell, and her same address.

"At first we joked about with the tail on the end," she explained, "ihen when we caught the full significance of the funnel-shaped cloud, we were panic-stricken. "We had been driving A about three blocks from Main street when the tornado see the damage. But the roads were blocked so bad we couldn't get through. We parked and I went In the drug store and I bought some more films, As I walked by the hospital the people could not get in because it was so crowded. The people were lying all over the floor and they were going to bring some of them to Minneapolis hospitals.

There were some kids playing around the armory Just before the storm hit and their parents were frantically hunting for them. As we went by one house, a lady came out with a Mixmasler and wanted to know who it belonged to. It was not broken but she found it in her house, Around by the allpy there was a 2 by 4 driven through the front of a new Dodge car. The school bus whs tipped over and it fell on a lamp post. As the tornado crossed the river, the people who saw II, say the waves were almost to the top of the pier.

At the drug store I went back and bought another roll of films. THE PEOPLE WERE LYING ON THE DRUG STORE FLOOR AND THE MAN THAT WORKED AT THE STORE WAS GIVING AWAY FIRST AID KITS. When I went back to find my dad I saw an officer's car with three persons In the trunk badly Injured. As soon as they saw the storm coming, they shut off all electricity in the city. There were wires down on Just about every street in the town.

One lady went out after the storm and was picking up stuff that blew out of her house and putting it in a clothes haket. There was one house that got cut In two, Along by the ball park the trees were laid down just like matches right In a row. One house was all full of broken glass but not a window was broken. Also the man that lived next door had his Packard parked out In front and It got picked up and set In an adjacent driveway. Also a 19.19 Chev.

was in a garage and the garage got picked up and set upside down. Down about a block a lady's pocketbook blew out of the window and when she found it everything was in it but the money and that was found later in a flower bed by the side of the house. Everybody was scared that some of their friends were hurt and police were doing their best to help locate them. we started" home I saw a car that was wedged between three limbs of a big tree. The roof and the front of the car were completely smashed.

After we got out of the traffic jam we counted five ambulances full of doctors and nurses but it was raining so hard that nobody was driving fast at all. I was soaked to the skin and the heater of the car felt good. On the way back we talked about the paper tomorrow and how full of pictures It would be. Then we came here (to The Star). struck.

My brother and I in then we saw the storm. WAY. that it was a tornado, but from it and then we saw that it. We stopped and Douglas them scattered all over the town and on farms. We also saw a house and stuck right in the side of it was a letter most likely blown from some other place in town.

A boy picked up a picture that was in the street and it wasn't even scratched. The wires were all down and the power had been turned off. BOYS WERE GOING FROM DOOR TO DOOR ASKING IF ANYONE HAD BEEN HURT OR WAS DEAD. Then later we got in the car and drove around to see if we could see anything else. We saw a house that had been completely turned around and pushed around.

It had pushed the grass all up. When we were trying to get away from the storm we had gone past a carnival and had said that that was a dangerous place to be. When we drove past later, the whole thing had been wrecked. Where the children had been on the merry-go-round before the storm struck, the merry-go-round was laying on the ground. The ferris wheel was lying down and the only thing that wasn't wrecked was a house trailer and it had been right there next to the merry-go-round and the trailer didn't have a scratch on it.

Many of the people around us were crying, so I imagine that they had lost their belongings In the storm. I guess that a storm like that made people think and realize how terrible a thing like that can be. THE DOGS AND CATS WERE RUNNING AROUND SEEMING TO SENSE THAT SOMETHING WAS WRONG, TOO. A little girl was crying and look ing at a tree that had fallen on their house. One thing I will always remember about this cy clone is the roar of the wind and the way the funnel looked with all kinds of paper and bricks and other things flying in it.

At first all I could think of was the many animals that must have been killed and injured the storm. As we drove on, we saw people frantically pulling up pieces of wood and looking for things that naa been lost in ths storm. Everyone seemed to be lost and they all looked so scared and frightened. I'll just bet that the people In Anoka won't sleep for a long time tninking about this storm. I'll never forget this storm and the roar and the things flying all around, as long as I live.

They even said that some of the people who had been right in the thick of it, would be deaf for quite a few days from the roar of It. never forget this thing. Steps From a Window to Safety A. J. Manley and his wife, who lived over Knodt's grocery at Seventh avenue and North street were watching the storm from a window.

When the tornado swooped down and tore the roof from the two-story structure, Mr. Manley said: "Let's get out of here." "I can't move, I'm pinned by the radio," Mrs. Manley told him. He pulled the radio away from her and the two stepped out the window onto the ground. The entire second floor had been swept to the ground.

Neither suffered a scratch. In the flash of an eve. I was whisked into the air and blown a half block to the senses enough to realize the mm "Mother remained in the Bricks and paper were all being carried up in the fun nel and the roar was terrific. It hardly seemed pos sible that we were actually seeing this tornado. Once it seemed to break up in the sky, but then it got together and came on.

We could hardly believe that we were right there seeing it all When we were sure that It had passed, we started to drive into town to see just what damage had been done. WHEN WE SAW THE HOUSES AND TREES AND EVERYTHING UPROOTED, IT SEEMED LIKE A NIGHTMARE. We drove up a street and stopped by a house that was com pletely demolished. There were about three trees y- ing over the back of it, and the people were digging around in the debris looking for their belongings. An old man was pulling up the wood and looking for things I sup pose that had belonged to him.

We talked to a woman who had been in her house, and she said that she didn't know what it was that was coming until it struck. She was so scared and shaking. Dogs were running around looking for things. We drove up farther and stopped by a house and It was wrecked, too. We went down and looked at the armory, where the drill hall was completely demolished.

Cars has been parked next to it DOROTHY SCHULTZ She's 17, wishes she had camera were covered with bricks and wood, and the steel rafters of the armory were hanging right over them. WE WENT BACK TO THE CAR AND LOOKED AT THE HOUSE BY IT. THE LADY WHO LIVED THERE CAME OUT AND START ED LOOKING FOR HER PORCH, WHICH HAD BEEN BLOWN! RIGHT OFF. She was looking for her porch swing and she found part of It In the next yard. Next she came out and started bringing In all their clothes which had been blown out In the yard and in the street.

WE WALKED AROUND. WE SAW A BEDSPREAD THAT HAD BEEN BLOWN RIGHT UP IN THE LIMBS OF A TREE AND A FUR COAT LYING IN THE STREET. We saw a house where the roof of the bedroom had been carried away, where we didn't know, and the bedclothes had been blown away and the dresser drawers were hanging out. We wondered where the bricks of the armory had been blown and we saw 10 YEARS AGO Ten yean ago, on April 8, 1929, a tornado struck in the same district about 5:80 p.m. That one missed Anoka, however, and was centered in Brooklyn Center, Osseo and north of New Brighton.

found a tree had been uprooted directly behind us but fortunately just missed our car in falling. "Likewise, a plank had missed our car and had been driven right through a car next to ours, and was still jutting out the roof. It 1. V- 'H-. 1 feet to a half mile As soon as news of the disaster was relayed by radio, all roads leading to Ossno and Anoka were choked by cars of curiosity sinkers Finally, all Anoka-bound traffic was stopped at Osseo and re-roulcd.

VETERANS OF FOREIGN WARS WERE PICKNICKING WHEN THE TORNADO HIT AND JOINED IN THE RESCUE AND POLICING WORK A carnival, with Its ferris wheel and other entertainment features, was a shambles as it felt the full force of the storm Albert Schommer was the hero at his father's farm home Seeing the approaching storm, Mr. Schommer rushed to the second floor of the Mike Schommer home, grabbed his three children and rushed them to the basement Although the windows were broken and the walls cracked, no one was injured. Included were his 73-year-old father, 88-year-old mother and his wife The Schommer home was among the first struck by the tornado. "i A KATHRYN RUSSELL Only casualty was the heel of her shoe OOUfiLAS SPLADY lie's 15, likes to write ANOKA GUARDS CALLED FROM CAMP TO DUTY Hundreds Answer Aid Summons Broadcast by WCCO Anoka's own National Guard unit, Battery of the 125th Field artillery, was recalled from Camp Ripley to participate in restoring order to their home town. Rushed to the stricken town In (rucks the boys bivouacked In the ball park along with about 100 members of the 151st Field artillery units.

Answering the call for aid which was sent out by radio station WCCO whooe transmitter Is located a mile from Anoka, came members of the Red Cross, naval reserve units, police from Minneapolis, St. Taul, and scores of deputy sheriffs from surrounding counties. Inspector Frank Bleed and Capt. Frank Forby of the Minneapolis police force headed 10 patrolmen who were sent to aid, restore order and patrol the town. PHONE, POWER CREWS RUSHED Uprooting of a large tree severed the underground telephone cable to Minneapolis and disrupted the transcontinental toll service to ths Pacific coast.

Telephone and electric crews, rushed to the scene from the Twin Cities, were busy all night stringing emergency telephone and elec tric lines. Eight portable auxiliary electric generators were set up to give much needed light by the Northern States Power and D. W. Onan Si Sons, Minneapolis. They supplied light to the emer gency hospital set up In the audi torium of the high school, at tht armory, city hall, Masonic temple, Red Cross headquarters, a drug store which kept open all night as emergency supply headquarters.

STORM LEVELS FIFTY HOMES An estimated 50 homes were de mollshed or damaged badly, many belond repair, by the tornado. Th following is a partial list of build, ing reported damaged or demol. ished: Herbert lral. Walter lrael. Oeorg R.u.r Harrv Haven.

A. J. Manley. Bob Honuby, Walter Milton Reynolds, Harold Ferklngstad, Jo Bellord, Harry An. denon, Clara Howell.

Milton Powell, Huzel Powell, Harry Bauen, Emma Leverence, Tom Eden, Floyd Welli, Henegren, Lee Hall, William Nordstrom. Lenter McOaffery. Henry Aye, Harvey Harrington, Charles Ehlln. noy rerron, ueurge veiui, mm. v.int rwr rtlann.

Albln Llndman. Dutch Castle, Mrs. Harriet Oreen, Wilcox, Epps, Starrette. Oeorre McCauley, Payette, Mra. Flora Olddlnjs.

Mr. Delm, Cutter Oarage, Kovar, Carl Tartox, Helnemann, National Guard Armory, Bettach, Masonic Hall, Goodrich, Evangelical Lutheran Mission church, St. Stephen's Catholic church, H. W. Lee.

Hastings, Claude Odell, Dick Daniels, Ed Hammer, H. Longfellow, Roy Carlson, Emil Turnqutst, Ronald Babcock. and horror by Miss Kathryn into Anoka with her mother, brother, Leo, both of the the peculiar cloud formation down Third avenue and were panic jumped out of the car. corner. Then I regained my best thing was to he down.

car. When we returned we none of us ever will forget without a scratch! tients bivouacked on cots back stage, In addition to three other local hospitals Nine nurses were rushed from General hospital A radio plea over WCCO for doctors resulted in a mass movement toward the stricken area, over 100 physicians responding. Dr. L. K.

Buzzelle was playing ping pong in the basement of his father's church on James avenue His father heard the ra dio plea for doctors, and Dr. Bin zelle was on his way in double quick time. Dr. Harry W. Kline was taking a shower in the basement of his home in Anoka Before he could even get up stairs the twister had struck and was on its way.

The tornado tore a path est! mated at two blocks wide that con tinued on a line from Champlin and across the river through Anoka as though a giant snowplow were at work. GIANT TREES AROUND WHICH A TALL MAN COULDN'T GET TWO LONG ARMS WERE UPROOTED AS THOUGH THEY WERE SEED LINGS. It didn't take the military forces long to swing Into action. Doctors at the emergency hospital reported one man had closed all windows but one in his home As he sought to close that, he was whisked through the win dow like a feather. Legionnaires and Veterans of Foreign Wars joined Minneapolis, St.

Paul, Anoka, Champlia and Co lumbia Heights police In keeping the traffic moving. A flagstaff In front of the Ar "That was an experience and everyone came out of it The tornado was the sec ond that R. C. Reichmann, living near Anoka, ever saw And he hopes he never sees another. Still pale and plainly suffering from shock, Mr.

Reichmann gave a vivid description of the tornado. "Iy wife and I were stand, ing near the Armory when we observed that telltale funnel and tall twisting toward Anoka from the southwest," he ex. plained. "I had seen one before and we ducked for cover in a nearby building. I don't even know what building it was now.

As we ducked for cover, the tornado roared toward us like a racing train. "The full impact seemed to hit in the Armory center, spending its fury, then lifting and continuing on its way to more destruction." "And how long do you think it took?" he was asked. "Just that fast," he responded, and snapped his fingers by way of description. "That's my second experience with a tornado, and I never want to have another. The first one was tame compared to this one." A PIECE OF SHEET METAL FROM THE ARMORY ROOF WAS CARRIED FOUR BLOCKS The frame Lutheran church a block from the Armory was leveled as thought hit by shellfire A filling station on one cor ner wasn't touched, but the building kitty-corner was crushed like an egg shell This freak choice of sides of the street was evident near the railway station, too Whereas the station was untouch ed, buildings on the other side were wrecked The new high school being com pleted was brought Into service as an emergency hospital, and pa mory was twisted beyond recognition or use.

Detective Ed Ryan of the Minneapolis East side police station saw not only the ap proaching stOim but Mr. Zimmerman of Champlin tossed to his death Estimates of the distance Mr. Zimmerman was carried varied from several hundred FAMILY SEES FUNNEL FORM Blue Haze Over Anoka First Indication of Storm A Minneapolis family was in good position yesterday to see the Anoka storm strike, without being affected by it. Miss Margaret Dittes, 449 Jefferson street N.E., her brother, mother, sister and brother-in-law, were at Crooked Lake attending a picnic. They saw a blue haze over Anoka, she said, then the fun.

nel forming, widening at the top and narrowing at the bottom. "Then the bottom widened and we could see things rising and falling inside the funnel as It moved. We were fascinated by It. We realized how dangerous It was, but it was going away from us. Shortly afterward we saw a smaller funnel take form, but it didn't appear to have the force of the first one." Puzzled Mr.

and Mrs. James Waters were outside their house when the storm struck. "I didn't think the storm would amount to much," Mr. Waters said. "Then I saw two funnel shaped clouds and heard a roar like an express train.

"Next thing I saw lots of debris flying through the air and I was a little puzzled. The clouds had lifted high into the air and then descended to the northeast." It wasn't until the storm had passed that he realized what had happened..