The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1903-06-05
THE GAINESVILLE TORNADO.
The Death Roll May go
a Half Million Dollars.

Gainesville, Ga, June 1.-THE six
thousand inhabitants OF his city have
just begun &c realize the extent Of the
appalling disaster of yesterday. 1t now
seems that the death list will not be
much short of 100, perhaps somewhat
over a hundred, considering the number
Of dangerously wounded whose chances
for recovery cannot pow be calculated.
But through all the gloom and desola-
ton that surround the town like a pail
of darkness there radiates a beam of
hope and encOuragement-hOpe that the
death list may not be SO numerous as
reported; encouragement to those who
are so bravely and devotedly assisting
in the work of relief.
The story of the storms work OF des-
olation has already been told. All that
remains is the compilation Of an accu-
rate list of the dead and the chronicling
of the burial of the victims. Figuring
from all available sources, and giving
credenCe to those reports which are
believed to be Trustworthy. the following
is a summary of the effects of the tor
nadO in Gainesville and its environs:
One hundred killed, n hundred and
fifty injured, of whom probably twenty
will die; eight hundred homeless, their
residences having been wiped out Of eX-
i%stence; property loss Of about half a
million dollars, none of which was COW
cred by storm insurance.
A concise and ~ccura statement of
the casualties cannot be rendered for
several days but the physicians in at
tendance believe that it will not go very
far above 100, although p or 80 are
desperately injured and may die within
the next two or three days.
The death list so far compiled in
cludes 81 at the Pacolet cotton mills at
New Holland, all of whom were killed
in the demolition of the company's cot
tages, and thirty six at the Gainesville
cotton mills near the Southern railway
station where the tornado first struck.
The entire pathway of the storm, eX-
tending two miles from the Gainesville
mills around the outskirts of the city
to the PacOlet mills at New Holland is
a mass Of ruins but the cottages in the
track of the tornado between the South
ern station and New Holland were
those OF negroes who were all Fortunate
ly absent from the city yesterday in
attendance upon a colorej excursion.
Business is almost entirely suspended
throughout the city. the attention of
everybody being given to the care of
the wounded and suffering. There is
no lack OF medical attention, many sur
geons being present from Atlanta. and
other cities. There is great need, how
ever. of clothing, antiSepIics and other
medical supplies.
The local militia have been called out
for police duty. The city is very or
DERBY and quiet and only a few in
tance OF pillaging lave been reported.
The work of the tornado was COM
pletc. From the factory where it first
descended upon the doomed city to the
hills beyond New Holland where it rose
into the upper air. the destruction was
appalling. Along this entire course for
a distance of two miles thre is not a
fence standing, not a habitable house.
most of the latter being reduced TO
strips like laths. and scarcely a tree
left.
At New Holland. the storm did its
worstH Nothing but The barren red
hills are left there TO tell the story of
the awful disaster.
For a distance of three quarters OF a
mile on the hillSides and in the valley
10 the left of the Pacolet mills the
ground IS obscured almost entirely by
the fragments of the $50 houses that
were there when the twisting tornado
down.
Standing on the hill top nearest the
city of Gainesville Il looking north
east. a strip Of perfectly smooth swept
territory is presented 10 the eye OF the
observer and the entire vista is paved
with the wreckage Of destroyed homes.