The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-06-04
Latest Details Declare One
Hundred Dead.
TWENTY MORE MAY DIE
Eight Hundred People are Homeless as the
R suit Of the Tornado's Wild Work
al GainesyiIle---Property Loss Half
Million.
lBy the Associated Press.)

gun to 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 hundred,
considering the number OF dangerously
wounded whose chances for recovery can
not now be calculated. But through all
the gloom and desolation that surround
the town like pail of darkness there
radiates a beam of hope and encourage
ment-hope that the ueath list may not
be so numerous as reported; encourage
ment to those who are so bravely and de-
yotedly assisting in the work of relief.
The story of the storms work of desola-
ton has already been told. All that re-
mains is the compilation of an accurate 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 summary
of the effects OF the tornado in Gaines
vile and its envirops:
One hundred killed.
probably twenty viii die.
Eight hundred homeless, their residences
having been wiped out of existence.
Property loss of about half million
dollars, none OF which was covered by
storm insurance.
A concise and accurate statement OF the
casualties cannot be rendered for several
days, but the physicians in attendance be-
lieve that it will not go very far above
100. although % or 80 are desperately in
jured and may die within the next two or
three days.
The death list so far compiled includes
80 at the Pacolet Cotton Mills at New Hol-
land. all of whom were killed in the demo
lition of the company's cottages, and Sc
at the Gainesville Cotton Mills, near the
Southern Railway station, where the tor
nado first struck.
The list revised up to a late hour to-
night is as follows: Mrs. Alice Bobo,
aged 40; Mrs. B. F. O'Kelly. Sc; Mrs.
William Westmoreland Al: Mrs. Miriam
Willbanks, 40: Mrs. H. H. Nelson. IS;
Bonnie Hendricks. Il; Mrs. ]. c. Bryan,
AZ; Willie Bryan, 6; Lester Phillips, so;
Mrs. T. A. Coker, go; William Tatum, %;
Ola White. 10; Mrs. William Ledford, IS;
Willie Ledford, IS months; Albary Lloyd,
so; Mrs Thomas Truelove, IS: Mrs. M.
A. Pass, so; Sturgeon Pass, so; Spurgeon
Pass. Jr., u; John Wayne, ex-clerk of the
Superior Court of hall county, 81; Mrs.
H. L. Hicks, AZ; Mrs. Julia Nicely. So;
Baby York, 16 months; Pearl York,
years; Leon M'Gill /; Mrs. Mary Abel,
20; Mrs. Bell York, %; Maisy Westmore
land, Myrtice Westmoreland, s; Manda
Wyle, colored, As
Killed at the Gainesville Mills: Robert
Leven. II, head torn off; General Cum
ming, Mrs. Annie Garrett, John Wesley
Adams, IA; Mary Clarke, IS; Maude Cor
don, Is: BERTHE London, IA; Fannie Dun
can, u; Mary Lou Duncan, IL; c. K.
Movies. Bessie Skinner, Is; Ed Majors,
Lille Woodie, 13; Mrs j. NJ. Camp and
baby. Bob Morris, u; Claudio Shedd, II;
Grin Haynes, Il; Jack Murphy, Jake
Waddell, II: Lizzie Rich, Is; Grady Lee
IL Ethel Lyle, IL; Dorothy Sloan Minnie
Stowe, IA; Ed Maggie, Herman English,
80; Dorothy Sloan, IS; Lille Loggins. Is;
Lula Loggins, IA; Mrs. Nathan Jones,
Homer Ashe, q: Conner Ashe, 16; Min
ME Jackson, II; Morris Child, baby of
Harrington.
Missing-W. z. Bannister; eight per-
sons killed in the destruction of the Jones
and Yogan stores near the Southern depot
are not included in the above list. All of
them were men except Mrs. Jones, the
wife of the proprietor of the Jones general
store. Two of the men killed in the Logan
store were negroes.
ha Tor do was 70
From the factory where it first descended
upon the doomed city, the destruction
was appalling.
Along this entire course, for distance
of two miles there is not fence standing,
not a habitable house, most OF the latter
being reduced to strips like laths and
scarcely tree left.
At New Holland the storm did its worst.
Nothing but the barren red hills are left
to tell the story of the awful disaster.
For a distance Of three quarters of a
made on the hillsides and in the valley to
the left of the Pacolet Mills the ground
is obscured almost entirely by the frag-
ments of the $50 houses that were there
when the twisting tornado swept down.
Standing on the hilltop nearest the city
of Gainesville and looking northeast, a
strip of perfectly smooth swept territory
is presented to the eye of the observer
and the entire vista is paved with the
wreckage OF destroyed homes.
The entire pathway of the storm, ex-
tending two miles from the Gainesville
Mills around the outskirts of the city Il
the Paeolet Mills at New Holland, is a
mass of ruins. but the cottages in tn,
trail of the tornado between the south
ern station and New Holland, were thosf
of negroes. who were all fortunately alb
sent from the city yesterday in attend
ance upon a colored excursion.
Business is almost entirely suspended
throughout the city. the attention 0
everybody being given to the care of tn
wounded and suffering. There is no lacl
of medical attention. many surgeons be
ing present from Atlanta and other cities
There is great need, however. of clothing
antiseptics and other medical supplies.
The local military have been called on
for police duty. The city is very orderll