The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1897-03-26
THE VICTIMS OF A Cyclone.
Georgia Children Perished in
a Sehoolhouse.
MANY WERE FATALLY INJURED

MANY WERE FATALLY INJURED
The Disaster Occurred at Arlington
The Storm at Other Places
Floods From the Gulf to Canada.
New Orleans, March 24.-The Times
Democrat Eufala, Ala, special says:
This city was swept by cyclone this
morning, in which death and disaster
played dreadful part. Hourly the
record becomes more appalling.
For several days there has been sum-
mer mildness all through Southwest
Georgia and Southwest Alabama, and
hoochie river. Yesterday, the ther-
mometer went to 80, and the air was
as oppressive as ever it felt during the
June solstice. With the coming of
night, the skies were beclouded and
rain began to fall about midnight. To-
ward morning the leaden skies and in
creasing wind told of storm, which
soon came along with terrific and
wrenching force. When the storm
struck, shutters, roofs, etc., gave way,
and for two hours there was terror and
desolation, when the cyclone passed off
to the northwest, coursing along the
Chattahoochie valley.
The reports that soon came in told of
the terrible devastation. The town of
Blakley, in Georgia, was almost lifted
out of existence, and people seeking
refuge indoors We're as badly knocked
around by cracking and falling timbers
as were those ON the outside, who were
unable to dodge fence rails and flying
missiles.
The most shocking story of all, how
ever, was that which came from Arling-
ton, Early county, Ga. It was about
O'Clock when the pupils of the Arling-
ton academy began to assemble, and
there were about fifty present when
Professor Covington, noticing the
storm, called them in for shelter. On
and on came the storm, with roaring
sound, increasing until it lifted two
cabins across the way into midair,
crushing them into splinters.
The sight of this SO affrighted the
children that they clung piteously to
Professor Walker and Professor Coving-
ton, who vainly tried to quiet them.
A cracking noise was heard, and the
shutters and swinging doors were
wrenched from their hinges. Then
came a twisting and careening, and
the north partition gave way, falling
with deadly effect upon the group of
children who were clinging to the pro-
fessors. The doors and windows gone,
the storm shrieked through the rocking
building, and the little ones, thrown
on the floor, were crushed under flying
and falling debris. The cries of the
wounded and the groans of the dying
are described as heartrending.
The people of the town, regardless of
the wreckage of their homes, ran to the
school, where they knew their children
were, only, to find many dead and
wounded and pinioned beneath the
debris. Professor Walker had his arms
and legs broken, and cannot live.
Eight were found dead, and great
many received serious injuries, among
them Prof. Covington, who will die.
The scenes around the building were
most pitiful. The rain began to pour
in torrents as soon as the wind passed
off, and hundreds of people were
drenched to the skin while clearing the
wreck.
Some remarkable escapes were relat-
ed. One little girl, almost suffocated,
was lying under three of her compan-
ions, whose bodies had formed buffer,
which saved heSSrom the severity of
the blows Of the falling debris.
Along the banks Of the river up from
Appalachicola there is but one story of
death and destruction. The storm
came from the Gulf of Mexico, and, en-
tering the Appalachicola valley, ira
versed its continent streams to their
source.
From Henry county, Ala, around
Abbeyville there comes stories of death
and wreck, but no names have been re-
ceived.
A family of five were reported killed
near Geneva.
A second disaster, that Of floods, is
now upon the county. The rivers and
creeks are swelling, and on both sides
of the Chattahoochie, south of this
place, the fields are overfowed, destroy
ing all the winters work, carrying
away outhouses and cabins and floating
off stock.
Late tonight news comes of the
drowning of family of eight persons
ON the Alabama side of the river, in
Henry county. Richard Manson, with
his wife and six children, lived in a
cabin on the river bank, at the crossing
of the Central railroad from Columbia.
The water rushed in, surrounding the
cabin, and all were lost.