Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1905-05-13
FULLY ONE HUNDRED PERSONS
KILLED AND TWICE THAT
NUMBER INJURED.
HAVOC WROUGHT MOST COMPLETE
BUSINESS PORTION WHOLLY DE-
STROYED, BUT A FEW RES
lDENCES ESCAPE.

Guthrie, Okla, May 12.-Snyder, a
thriving town of 1000 situated in the
heart of the rich Kiowa farming coun-
Try which was thrown open to white
settlement in 1901. was practically
wiped out of existence by a tornado
that struck that place at II: 40 p. m.
No clear estimate of the casualties
is obtainable owing to the confusion
in the stricken town. A conservative
estimate places the dead at between
seventy-five and one hundred persons
and the seriously injured at $50. 1t
is believed that large number OF the
injured will die.
In a number of cases entire families
were killed and in almost every fam
lily in town some member was injured.
Every house in the town except six
is said to have been either badly
wrecked or demolished, many of them
being blown away entirely. The havoc
wrought is most complete. The busi-
ness portion is reported entirely de-
stroyed.
The tornado struck Snyder from the
southwest, travelling north until within
about 100 yards from the tracks of the
Oklahoma City and Western railway.
There it took northeasterly course
through the business portion of the
town. North Of the track not build
ing was left standing.
Evidence of Terrible Havoc.
The first relief train, sent from Ho-
bart, thirty-two miles north of Snyder,
reached the stricken town just before
daylight The rescuers found the
streets almost obliterated by piles of
evidence of the terrible havoc of the
storm was apparent. The dead and
dying lay about the streets, in yards
and mixed up with the Wreckage, while
those who had escaped ran hither and
thither in excited attempts to bring
order out of the terrible chaos and to
render what meager aid they might.
Every building left standing at Sny-
der was converted into either a hos
pital or morgue. Sixty-seven bodies
had been laid out in rows in the prin-
cipal morgues up to noon and others
were being brought in constantly.
Seven members of the Fessender
family were killed.
w. H. Hibbard, superintendent of
schools, and his wife, together with
two children and the parents of Hib-
bard, were killed, only one member of
the family, a boy, escaping.
Three young children in the Crook
family were killed; one, baby, was
snatched from it's mothers arms, and
it's brains smashed out against a brick
wall.
Over One Hundred Dead.
A special from Hobart places the
dead at Snyder at over 100 persons,
seventy-tive of whom we're killed out
right. Not building in the town es-
capped damage and seven-eighths OF the
business buildings are a total loss.
The injured number into the hundreds.
The storm was of the regular tWister
variety and swooped down upon Sny-
der without warning. 1t came up from
the southwest. 1t cut swath half
mile wide, demolishing everything in
its path for a distance of ten miles
southwest and three miles northeast
of Snyder.
The same tornado struck Quinlan,
in Woodward county, on the Santa Fe
railway, destroying several houses, and
at that point at least three persons.
Mrs. 0. w. Cox and her two sons, are
known to have been killed.
A message from J. s. Hennessey,
agent of the st. Louis and San Fran
cisco railway at Chickasha, says that a
message was received from the oper-
ator at Snyder at 1890 a. M. saying
that there were seventy-five dead bod
les and 352 injured; that the entire
business portion of the town had been
destroyed, but that the residence por-
ton was not badly damaged.
YOUNG MAN ELEcTRocuTED.
Attempts to Readjust Arc Light and
Is Killed.
ST. Paul, May l2.-Albert G.. VOL
terstorff, aged twenty-seven, was cleo 4
trocuted at Seventh street and Bates
avenue at | a. m.
Wolterstorff was returning home
from a social at the Calumet club in
company with two other young men.
He observed that an arc light on the