The Tupelo journal., 1906-03-09
MISSISSIPPI MATTERS
WIND AND FIRE
DEvASTATE MERIDIAN
Great Loss of Life and Much Dam
age to Property.


Meridian, Missioner forty people
were killed and double that number were
injured in the tornado which swept over
this city shortly after 6 o'clock last
night. 1t is impossible to get a correct
list OF the dead, as many of the bodies
which were buried in the debris were to-
tally consumed in the fire which broke
out Immediately after the tornado.
The list of dead and injured is as fol-
lows: +. McGinnis, Mobile and Ohio con-
ductor; Mrs. +. H. Singleton and grand
daughter, Miss Maggie Slaughter, w. II.
Walton, manager Fordham Transfer Co.;
Police Officer j. r. Parry, John Smith,
Southern railway engineer, Selma
Claude Williams, manager Meyer-Neville
Hardware Company; five unknown white
men found in residences in one of the
suburbs; twenty bodies of negroes found
in Buchanan's tenements; two bodies
discovered in the ruins of the Meridian
Fertilizer Company.
A large section of the city, including
all the principal business houses, has
been completely wiped out, and to add
to the horror, fire broke out Immediately
after the storm, and it required the
united efforts of all the people of Meri-
dian, coupled with the military, to stop
the spread of the flames, and many peo-
pie are homeless tonight. Reports are
coming in from the surrounding towns,
showing that several nave been almost
completely wiped out, and the loss of
life in them is believed to be heavy.
Both Meehan Junction and Marion,
each about twenty-five miles from here,
have been destroyed. Meehan Junction
is burning, and it is possible to see the
flames all the way into Meridian.
The cyclone which struck this town
last night is the worst ever known in
Mississippi, and from present indications
the death list will be close to 100. The
cyclone struck the town almost without
warning. 1T had been raining hard all
day, and the air had been very sultry.
1t seemed to clear up about 6 o'clock, and
people were on their way home from
work when the storm burst over the city
in all its fury, accompanied by thunder,
lightning and rain. The cyclone struck
the city with terrific force. Coming
from the southwest, it moved in a
no~rthcasterly direction. Everything in
its path was swept away as clean as if
the ground had been swept with a
broom.
The first building to be RACED to the
ground was the immense fertilizer fac
tory of the Meridian Fertilizer Company,
In q moment there was hardly one
brick left on top of the other. A num-
Der of negroes who were in the building
were buried in the debris. and were dug
out a few hours later. Had the storm
come a half hour earlier, at least fifty
men would nave been in the building.
The storm then moved through the
business section of the town. 1t skipped
over the Queen and Crescent shops, which
were in its path, and entered Buell's sur
vey, one of the fashionable suburbs of
the city. Here twenty houses were un-
rooted and many injured by falling de-
bris. The cyclone then took an e~asterly
course, striking the electric light plant
and damaging it badly.
Instantly every light in the city went
out and two street cars came to a stand
still. From there on the storm closely
followed the railroad tracks of the Queen