The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-03-05
STORIES OF EyE-wTTNEssEs.
Tell of the storm which Wrought Hay. oc in Meridian

Tell of the storm Which Wrought Hav-
 Oc in Meridian.
 Mobile, March 4.--(SpeciaL )--One of the eye-witnesses of the destructive storm which swept over mile 0f ire busy city of Meridian, Miss. was T R. Judge. a welI-known conductor oP the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. who reached this city late last night. Mir. Judge said 1t was done and all over sn quickly no one could realize what had happened. T was in nv caboos } with my brakeman" he said. For some time the lightning had heen plav- inR continuously. in fact 1t looked one long drawn out flash extending across the heavens as far as the eye could see
 "My caboose suddenly began to reel and rock. reminding me of a ship m storm. The rear door was open and the brakeman tried to close it. The north end door was also open and It was due. am sure. to his failure to close the rear door that I am able to talk of what I afterwards with nessed There was a rushing. roaring sound and 1t appeared as if an earthquake had struck Meridian. glanced out the window end saw something pass ing It was over in a few minutes but appeared to have lasted only few we~nndS
 Immediately after the tornado had committed it's deadly and destructive work, I left the caboose. It was then tho water heRap falling. It was not a rain. It was flood. The place was dark-so dark that you could not see. knew something had happened--what it was could not imagine. Soon came the discovery. There was rushing here and there of railroad men with Inntarng RophrAS were made and the work of rescuinE victims from the mile of wrecked buildings began. The Tights were inadecuate and railroad | engines were run on tracks as near the | scene as possible and the electricity turned on thereby giving much hetter light to the searchers for the dead ana
 wounded.
 ..soon c-ies of fire were raised and l sienaI whistles and bells were heard. | The rain. heavy as it was. did not ap- | near to have any effect on the flames
 The largest fire was far away up the | Mobile and Ohio track. about half mile in the thickIv settled negro dis- | trict known as Rucktown. Here. J am
 satisfied, many negroes were crHmated | in the ruins of the'r homes The ram cNased as suddenly as it began, and 1 the stars came out"
 Mir. Judge then related some of the | instances he noticed during the night
 while going about among the search | CTS Passenger coaches bad been top | pied over; huge brick buildings were | swept to the around and scattered like | leaves: wreeks of buildings were piled
 one on another and men rushed here
 and there as if crazed. MT. Judge de- | clared he never could have anticipated | such scenes as he witnessed. In the early hours of yesterdav morning a
 man. whose name he did not learn, was 1 seen crawling fro1n beneath huge 1 nile of wreckaGe. brick and timber
 The man said he had been beneath the ruins all night. Asked why he had | not called for heln. the man said he
 had called until his strength left him | Later he decided to try and work hts
 way to freedom. Bruised and suffering
 he labored until suecesS met his ef- forts.
 He met waiter who had served him
 many times in Elmeires restaurant
 and asked him how 1t happened he es-
 caped from the building. The waiter