Herbert Vernon Smith

He became a resident of Lexington in August, 1884. He was the youngest son of Edmund.

Lexington, March 25, 1913. This town was visited by a tornado this evening, the like of which has never had an equal here. The heavy blow brought with it death to Herbert V. Smith, proprietor of the Lexington Newspaper Store, and minor injuries to his daughter, Elizabeth R. Smith.

The section about Adams Street on which the Smith home is situated was the center of the storm and the damage there was heavy. A large barn was blown down being lifted from its foundations by the storm, and a windmill was carried several feet before it was dropped across a building. Several trees were uprooted, fences blown down and the glass blown from some of the windows in the house.

Mr. Smith and his daughter left the store at 6:40 and arrived at their home, which is about a mile and half from the center of the town, just about the time the storm broke. While Miss Smith was unhitching the horse from the buggy in which they road home, Mr. Smith went for a pail of watger. He drew the water from the pump and started towward the open barn door when the barn was lifted and thrown upon him, burying him beneath a mass of debris. Miss Smith was also struck by flying lumber and knocked down, but fortunately for her she was but a few inches under the ruins and got out. The horse was uninjured. Mr.Smith was 15 feet under the wreck, and although aid reached him in a very few minutes and the building was jacked up, he was dead when taken out.

Miss Smith, with rare presence of mind, ran to the house after she made several attempts to release her father, and summonded aid, telephoning to the neighbors, the police and physicianhs. Chief of Police Frands sent officers James Sullivan and Russell to the scene and had an alarm sounded on the firs alarm, thus calling in considerable help, but the neighbors had extricated the body. Drs. J.Odin Tilton and W. L. Barnes found Mr. Smith dead when they examined him.

The barn was practically three in one, about 50 feet by 30 feet in size with a large cupola. The entire structure was moved from its foundationn, twisted to one side, and demolished. A large windmill stood close by and this was lifted by the wind,carried about six feet and hurled across a hen house. Several fruit trees were torn up by the roots and the dining room windows were blown in and the room strewn with leaves and other debris. A fence in front of the house was torn up. From all appearances the Smith place was in the center of the storm and adjoining property was uninjured.

Herbert V.Smith was born in Brighton January 22, 1856, and lived there until he was 9 years old. His parents then moved to Cambridge, where he lived until he was 29 years old, when he came to Lexington and purchased his Adams Street farm in 1885 on which the family lived since. On January 1, 1900, he purchased the Lexington Newspaper Store and ran the place with great success. There was no better known man in the town than Mr. Smith, who enjoyed the esteem of every one. Quiet in manner, yet discerning, he was lenient in his judgment of others, kind hearted, obliging and generous, and his quiet humor tempered an adverse criticism. His honesty andintegrity was never deviating. The farm was eventually sold and the land was developed, so that today there are no traces of the tragedy caused by Lexington's only tornado.

He is survived by his wife, his daughter, Miss Elizabeth R. Smith, and two sons, Vernon Smith of Fitchburg and George E. Smith of this town. The suddenesss of the death and its character has cast a gloom over the entire community and the family are prostrated. The medical examiner, William H. Kelleher of Woburn viewed the body of Mr. and found the skull was fractured.