Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1901-03-30
WRECKED BY TORNADO.
Mighty Wind Brings Death and
Desolation to Birmingham.
TWENTY-FIVE DEAD, MANY HURT

bOUn0rs &thttnA D&ntF0Ctttn
ever IL Touched the Earth.
Birmingham, Ala, March 26.-Short-
" before 10 o'clock yesterday forenoon
a fearful tornado swept over the south
ern section OF this city. travelling in an
easterIy direction. The number Of
killed is estimated at 20. Only five Of
them are white. The destruction OF
property is placed at $3.50. 900. Eighteen
bodies had been recovered from the
debris, and scores of injured have been
removed TO the hospitals.
Among the dead are: DR.. G. C. Chap
man, of the firm of Tally & Chapman,
who conduct q private infirmary in
this city: wife and infant son of Hon.
Robert III. Lowe, chairman of the Dem
ocratic state executive COMMITTEES; UNI
known carpenter, struck by flying tim
Der; j. Alexander, little daughter OF
b. b. Hudson, J. Myro, Carrie Hudson.
Maggie Blevins, Carrie Henry, Lizzie
Glenn and B. b. Hudson's cook. The
last six are colored.
Fatally injured: Mrs. b. II. Thomas,
Mrs. w. II. Thomas, Mrs. ID. ID. Nc
Laughlin. Mrs. j. Ferguson. Mrs. N.Y.
lum and Carrie Elma (~colored). OF the
ottlCt AJdAGo 0iA hatV 0ithth - AS
and one colored woman has an arm
and leg broken. One badly fractured
arm must be amputated.
The storm struck the city In the ex-
treme southwestern corner and plowed
it's way eastward, leaving a path 150
feet wide through the entire south
ern section, and continued It's course
on until its fury was spent In the
- -..-As-- $1,000 I---L~1 - swell
town six miles east OF the city.
The morning dawned cloudy and sui
try and grew more threatening as the
day advanced. Clouds began to gather
and shortly after 8 o'clock sharp light
ming flashed from the southwest. The
air became heavy and sitting. The
velocity of the wind suddenly began
to increase and soon the dreaded fun
nel-shaped cloud made its descent.
Hugging close to the earth it passed
through the city in leaps and bounds
with terrific force, and was away to the
east before people generally realized
what had happened.
The altitude of the cyclone was not
more than rs feet The negro shanties
and cottages In the lowlands in the
path of the storm were the principal
sufferers. The larger residences on the
higher ground suffered only slightly.
The large trees on the hillside of the
st. Vincent's hospital were torn up by
the roots, and large masses of stone
were twisted put of the ground and
broken and scattered all over the
~driveways of the entrance to the insti-
tuition.
From Eighth to Tenth street the
wind bounded like a rubber ball and
when it again descended it struck a
two-story house occupied by Joseph
Busenhelner and almost RACED 1T to
the ground. The 1~1-year-old daughter
OF John Krunzey, a rolling mill man,
was caught under the debris and Sc
verely injured. A house occupied by
Taylor Hinson, near by, was unroofed
and three small negro houses demol-
ished. Onward the wind sped in its
fury, demolishing trees and fences,
until it reached Eleventh street, where
a house occupied by John Hayes was
levelled to the ground. Swimming close
to the earth it swept through a small
pine grove, tearing the trees up by
the roots and hurting them through
the air like arrows.
1Cy Il "a tAto toAlh GiOu
swooped down on a negro settlement
and the frail cabins were crushed like
eggshells, not one being left in the
pathway of the storm. Carrie Elma, a
negro, was buried beneath the debris,
but most of the negroes escaped with
slight injuries. Eastward the storm
swept, cutting its way through an
other strip of woods, striking the Sec
ond Presbyterian church at the corner
of Avenue Fl and Fifteenth street, de-
m%olishing the structure. The pews
were piled on top Of the debris. A
small oak table, which was used on
the rostrum, was deposited on the top
most point of the w%reckage.
East Of the church, directly in the
~tornado's path, in another negro set
tlement, much havoc was wrought
among the frail shacks, seven of which
were swept away. A number of small
houses were levelled between Sixteenth
and Seventeenth streets.
In Alley II, between Seventeenth
and Eighteenth streets, a small house
occupied by negroes was completely
demolished and Greena Curry, a negro
woman, WIS caught beneath the timber
and susta' I'd serious injuries. Three
other hot were blown down heal by.
The storm then struck the more
thickly settled residence portion OF he
city and its work of destruction in
creased. Almost a clean sweep was
made of the district lying between
Eighteenth and Twentieth streets and
Avenues Fl and /, two blocks. Here
the scene is one of complete demolition.
The frame cottages were reduced to
fiattened piles of debris; every tree,
large or small, was either crushed
down or uprooted, and fallen telephone
poles and their tangle of wires made
a mass of destruction.
The row of small cottages gronting
east on Nineteenth street between
} Avenues II and / were fiattened out.
Not any OF the occupants had warn
ing and were unable to escape from
their homes before the storm wrenched
them. They made their escape from
the piles Of wreckage by their own eff
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