The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1897-03-23
The Town of Blakely Almost Lifted
Out of Existence.
A School House at Arlington, Georgia,
Wrecked, Killing Eight Children
Outright, and So Badly Injuring a
Number of Others That Many Will
Not Recover.


special says: This city was swept by
cyclone this morning in which death
and disaster played a dreadful part.
Hourly the record becomes more ap-
palling.
For several days there has been
summer mildness all through South
west Georgia and Southeast Alabama
and the country tributary to the Chat
tahoochee River Yesterday the Their
mometer went up to 50 degree, and the
air was as oppressive as ever it felt
during the June solstice. With the
coming of night the skies We're be-
clouded, and rain began to fall about
midnight Toward morning the leaden
skies and increasing wind told of a
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 Chattahoochee val
leys.
The reports soon coming in told of
the terrible devastation. The town of
Blakeley, in Georgia, was almost
lifted out Of existence, and people
seeking refuge indoors We're so badly
knocked around by cracking and fall
ing timbers as were those on the out
side, who were unable to dodge fence
rails and flying missiles.
The most shocking story of all. how
ever, was that which came from Ar
lington Early County, Georgia. 1t was
o31 =, lie, IF RI
Arlington Academy began to assemble,
and there were about fifty persons
present, when Professor Covington,
noticing the coming 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 Mida County, crushing them
into splinters. The sight of this so af-
frighted the children that they chung
piteously to Professor Walker and
Professor Covington, 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 a group Of chill
dren who were clinging to the profess
sors. The doors and windows gone,
the storm shrieked through the rock
ing building, and the little ones.
thrown to the floor We're crushed I'M
der finging and falling debris The
cries of the injured and the groans of
the dying are described as heartrend-
ing
The people of the town, regardless of
the Wreckage of their own homes, ran
to the school, where they knew their
children were, only to find many
dead, others injured and pinioned be-
meath the debris. Professor Walker
had his arms and legs broken
and cannot live through the night.
Among the dead are: Ollie Parramore,
Claude Roberts, Alice Putnam, Albert
Butler, Willie McMurray, Kenneth
Boynton, Maude Johnson, Mary well
Ions.
The injured are: Ernest Wellons,
leg broken; Dudley Kilbrew, both legs
broken; Prof Covington, internal in
juries, will die: Allen Carter, leg brok-
en-; Esther Carter, internal injuries, will
die; Ben McMurray, head crushed, viii
hurt internally; Robert Childers. Shout
der dislocated; Simon Sanders, hurt in
ternally, will die; George Riley, arm
broken, hurt internally; Clara Thighen,
arms broken, hurt internally will die.
The scenes around the building were
most pitiful. The rain began to pour
in torrents as soon the wind passed off,
and hundreds Of people We're drenched
to the skin While clearing away 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 4 buff
fer which saved her from 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 entering the Appalachicola Valley
traversed it's continent streams to their
sources. Appalachicola is formed by
the conjunction of the Chattahoochee
and the Flint, the first of which, up to
West point, forms the State boundary
line between Georgia and Alabama
and the second d1VerSeS nOrtheaSterly
into the heart of Georgia. 1t was in
the tongue of the territory within their
circumference that the strength of the
storm was spent, and most of it is not
accessible to Geographic communica-
ton, and details are hard to obtain.
From Henry County, Alabama,
around Abbeyville, there comes sto-
ries of death and wreck, but no names
have been received. 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 Chattahoochee south of this
place the fields are overlooked, destroy
ing all the winters work, carrying
away outhouses and cabins and floating
off stock.
Late tonight news comes in of the
drowning of a 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 cross