The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1903-06-04
WORK Of WIND
RESULTS IN DEATH
Terrible Tornado Visits One
Section of Georgia.
IN TWO MINUTES
GREAT MANY DIE
Thirty Lives Lost at the Town Of
New Holland,
NUMBER OF COTTAGES
RAZED TO THE GROUND
Gainesville and the Territory @oE
tiguOus to it the Scene of One
of the Most Destructive
Storms Ever Known.

Gainesville. Ga, June s.-A tornado
Of terrific force struck Gainesvl:'-
Monday afternoon out of a clear sky.
causing a fearful loss of life in thi
city and in New holland and White
Sulphur. AS near as can be calculated
at this time, the results are eighty five
men, women and children dead ans
perhaps forty more fatally injured,
with property loss of something
like 100000. The death list is yet i'm
perfect. not all the bodies having been
recovered and identified. Many Of
them are mangled beyond recognition
the only means of Identification being
the records of the two cotton mills,
in which most of the victims work Cd
The death dealing storm appeared sud-
denly. a little before 1 o'clock, an /
within two minutes it had killed nearly
a hundred people. torn two stories
from the five STORY brick factory of the
Gainesville cotton mills, demolished al
most two hundred cottages, RACED sew
eral brick stores to the ground and
blown down innumerable outbuildings.
By what appears to be a miracle, the
tornado's fury was confined to the
outskirts of the city, the main business
and residence portion not being touch
ed. Torrents of rain accompanied the
wind. but within five minutes after its
first onslaught the sun was shining
upon scene of fearful desolation.
The list of the dead is confined MAIN
ly to the operatives of the Gainesville
cotton mills and the Pacolet cotton
mills. and two-thirds of them were
women and children.
Uneonfirmed reports from White
Sulphur. seven miles from Gainesville,
say that about twelve persons were
killed there. Their names are not as
yet obtainable, and hopes are expressed
that this report, is unfounded.
The tornado did it's appalling work
In such an incredibly short time that
it was difficult to obtain a coherent
description of it's character. 1t appears
to have swept. down from the south
west, striking the Gainesville mills
with a roar like the report of artillery.
After lifting two stories from this
ward, leaving a trail of destruction
along Summit street, which is inhab-
tied almost exclusively by negroes
Nearly hundred cottages of colored
people on this street were leveled to
the ground, but by fortunate circum-
stance the tenants were all absent, hav-
ing left the city to take part in ne
gro picnic.
The furious wind next descended on
the plant Of the Pacolet cotton mills
at New Holland, two miles from the
Southern station. This is one of the
largest cotton mills in the south, en-
ploying more than 500 hands. The
storm spared the Pacolet factory, but
entirely demolished 100 of it's cottages.
standing near by and tenanted by its
Here the fatalities were
greatest. upward of thirty-five per-
sons being buried in the ruins Of the
cottages. Bodies were blown hundreds
of yards, and many of them when
picked up bore no semblance to hu-
mainly. The trunk of one young boy
was found with the head decapitate9
as If the guillotine had been at work
The bodies of the dead in the two
cotton mills at Gainesville were fear
fully torn and mangled. The skulls q
many Of them were crushed and tn
limbs broken, while others were torn
and crushed about the abdomen. witt
the viscera visably protruding. TIL
local physicians who first gave aid +
the injured, say the sights were ho~-
ribye beyond description. The death
list was expected to be of much greater
by morning. as nearly thirty
are believed to be hurt beyond hope OF
recovery.