The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-03-19
TORNADOES DEAL
DEATH TO MANY
T errific Storms in the
South.
Special Dispatch to The Call.

MEMPHIS, Tenn, March ia Sc
ries of windstorms swept through por-
tons of Alabama, Mississippi and Ar
kansas to-day, doing an immense
amount of property damage and kill
ing number of people. The storms
covered a radius of several hundred
miles, destroying telegraph wires and
cutting off communication with a large
part of the affected country. Cleburne
County, Alabama, seems to have suf-
fered the most severely, the storm
there assuming the proportions of a
tornado. The reports of fatalities in
the county vary from six to twenty
and many persons are said TO have
been injured. At Sellers and Luverne,
Ala, much damage is reported, and at
Rob Roy, Ark, one man was killed and
several We're badly injured. Dumas,
Ark, was practically wiped out of ex-
istence and several other towns in the
vicinity suffered severely. One person
is reported killed at Hickory Flat,
Miss, and as the farmhouses in the vi
entity suffered heavily, 1t is not I'M
likely that many fatalities occurred
which have not yet been reached.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala, March 1S.-A
cyclone passed through the country
here to-day, creating great havoc be-
tween Haflin and EdwardsviIle. 1t is
known that seven members of the fam
lily of Mr.. Coffee, a farmer, are dead,
and ii is thought many others are in
jured, although on account CT the dam
age done by the storm to the telegraph
wires it is impossible to give details.
The house contained eleven persons
when II was struck by the storm. Tho
building was entirely demolished and
seven inmates were killed outright.
The path of the storm was about
twenty-five miles wide and the tornado
tore everything TO pieces that lay be
fore it, Telegraph wires and poles axe
down in every direction and trains are
delayed greatly on account of 1ebriS
piled on the track. 1t is thought that
great damage has been done in the
farming district, but it is not believed
the c!rclone struck any town
HICKORY FLAT, Miss, March 49,
A tornado struck this place to-day. The
school building and two churches were
demolished and twenty-five dwellings
blown down or unroofed. Several per-
sons received painful injuries. A fam
lily living west Of here lost its dwelling
and a young lady, name as yet I'M
known, was killed. Trees were torn up
by the roots or twisted off like reeds,
and all fencing in the path of the cy-
clone leveled to the ground. On some
farms near here hardly a building was
left standing. Doubtless other fatali-
ties viii be reported, but news from the
district swept is meager. The course
of the storm was from southwest to
northeast and its track was nearly a
half mile wide.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark, March ia
tornado passed through portions of JEFF
fersOn and Desha counties this after
noon. Telegraph wires were blown
down and the details are coming In
slowly. At Rob Roy five houses were
blown down and one man killed. The
town of Dumas, in Desha County, was
struck and considerable damage done.
Nearly all the houses in the town were
either blown down or damaged and
several persons were injured, but, so
far as can be learned, no lives were lost.
There are several small towns in the
section through which the storm passed
and as yet no news can be received
from any of them.
MONTGOMERY, Ala, March 49,
Cyclones passed over different portions
of the State to-day, but on account of
telegraph wires being down no particu-
lars can be learned. At Selma, the
spfre of the First Methodist Church
was blown down, crushing through the
roof and doing much damage. AT Sell
lers, a small station on the Plant sys-
TEN. south of Montgomery, The entire
town except three houses, was de-
stroyed. Lucerne suffered greatly, but
no details can be got.