The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1906-03-09
THE TORNADO
At MERIDIAN
THE CASUALTIES NOW PLACED
AT Cd DEAD, 40 INJURED.
THE MONEY LOSS, $3.50 600
Al Army of Men At work Clearing
the streets of W rcrLnGe-sun-
day Day OF Funerals In
the tiIG.

Meridian. Miss. March 5--Before an
army of determined men attacking
Merchants sturm-swept aud debris
stre%n streets, the vast amount Of
wrcckage is giving way slowly but
surely. The Sabbath following the dis
astrous storm Of Friday was a day Of
funerals. The merchants and residents
OF Meridian had never protected them
Selves with storm or cyclone insurance,
SO Insurance agents will have little OF
no auditing beyond the fire losses. A
million and quarter dollars is now
thought to be Il con ,eryatiye estimate
Of the damage wrought.
After leaving Meridian and entering
Macon, a suburban town, five miles dis
tnat, all traces of the storm seemed to
have disappeared Little IL any dam
0ge Is reported from the country. Adj
ditIons to the casualty list have been
made, estimates now standing "a dead
and IS injured, some fatally,
The storm performed its worst work
on Front street and in the Georgetown
anG Jewell Survey suburbs, On From;
street the principal wholesale houses
were located The Georgetown com
munity Is inhabited chiefly by cotton
factory employees. while the Fewell
surrey IS the residence district for EN-
ployes Of the railroad shops
scores nf Homes Wrecked.
Fifteen buildings on Front street are
wrecked The fertilizer factory, cleo
trc light plant and Gotten mills are In
ruins, while 500 residences in the path
OF the storm were either uuroofed or
totally destroyed.
fortunately. however, the tornado
did not pass over either the newer and
larger business portions Of the city, or
tha principal re ldenoe district. Gen
orally defined. the storm followed the
lines Of the Alabama & Vicksburg and
Mobile & Ohio railroads
Passing from southwest TO northeast.
after striking the Queen & Crescent
freight icput and utterly demolishinG
that structure. the cloud diverted It's
course somewhat and passed along
Front street It, outer edge also touch
ing Front street. where quite a number
of bulldogs were greatly damaged.
Hundreds Of families are either home
less or left without employment owing
TO the destr,ict OF of wholesale houses,
freight offices and manufacturing
plants. In fact. the poor people OF the
city are the greatest sufferers the list
OF dead aud injured containing the
names OF only few persons of prom
lnence
Numerous hnirbreadth escapes are re-
ported. and il is nothing short Of mir
acle that more lives were not lost, hen
the extent Of the storm and the destruc-
tiCn wrought s considered.
The work of clearing the debris from
the streets is necessarily slow. Nh
nsrou5 brick buildings. from two to
Ave stories in height we're dumped into
the street none OF the walls above the
first floor being left standing.
Many of the homeless families are
negroes, their little cabins being torn
and twisted to splinters, ard they are
tlllltE IudnllHl wv oAANfAH VI H'NhihtN
temporary shelter among their fellows.
Fortunately. the several fires that fol-
lowed the storm did not add greatly to
the destruction. They were extin-
guished through the prompt work OF
the fire department and Volunteer citi-
zens
Seven companies OF state militia are
still on guard and enforcing work by
negroes 100 being at work Sunday re-
moving the debris An order was Is
sued ordering the removal of the troops
or Tuesday. Work of relief was con
tiued all day and hundreds of mechan-
les will begin work OF rebuilding az
once Reports received from Macon,
Marion and Mcehan Junction, all OF
which were reported destroyed, stated
that there were no fatalities at those
places, Meehan Junction escaped ell