The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-03-04
GOVERNOR vARDAMAN ARRIVES
E,ewtslature Appropriates s5soee for the
 work of Relief.

Y,ewtslafure Appropriates s5saoS for the
 work of Relief.
 Meridian, Miss, March S.-~Fhe clty of Meridian was about the most pltllui looking sight any member or tne .- MS sisainpi I.extslaturo ever looked upon when a special train arrived from Jack- son fate this afternoon, bearing forty senators and Representatives, GOV eruor vardaman. the Attorney-Generai, . palIYoad Commissioner and a speciai cnrrespondent of the Associated Press'
 word had reached Governor Varda- man during the morning that neip oI a muscular kind was needed m tnls place. and he immediately requesteu ana received from the Legislature an a arv,ronriation vi of $s,000 to be used In casa. of an emergency. At the Rankin County Farm, thirty-seven convicts' sarreant and guards were placed on hoard and they are now, with the mem hers of the Legislature, at work among
 me funnel-shaped cloud appeared on Ina Horizon cast of the city yesteFuty afternoon about e:s0 o'clock. qua witn Isrhtninr like r1pidity dtscsnaea ,,rses, the town. The first building Of ss,v cousequence In It's path was the Msridfar fertilizer factory, an immense s,Isnt which was totally wrecked, the stronxest tin1bers being split to sllv- ers From there, an almost easterIy diraetion was taken by the storm. ana Tewers Survey. in which more than A thousand white people reside. Was next struck Here houses were un- roofed and many were blown conlp pr1.'I ,s ,yav comnany was next wrecked, the facilities for lighting the town were Sautroved and darkness reigneu throurhout the streets and buildings ,1hich the storm had marked Tor de- struction. Within less time than words san tell. the entire south side or FToh street and the east and west sloes V, Tyyenty-second Avenue from HalIrnau a.' Street was mass of rum cohiIa . grafton started and the sights plsSeL. 4ha cd through the lurid nasheS Oi ti0 flames was indsscribable
 The only damage done to the im- roensa shops of the New Orleans ara Northeastern Railroad. which were ol- rnctIv in the path Of the storm, "as the unroofing of the round nouse' which was hurled about 100 rect olst- ant. The freight depot ana many -s smaller buildings were destroyeu' lne racor6a papers and everything con- tained in the building are lost, the first floor being blown away from under the second. The upper floor was crowded with clerks, but fortunately no one U,ae on the first floor. None of them were more than slightly hurt
 A row of brick buildings along Twenty-sixth Avenue, from the freight depot to Firth street was wholly de- nolished The two story brick ouild- ing of Theodore Surge was unroofed | and the Greenwald junk house and many smaller buildings from that cor ner to Fifth street were damaged. the | front being, in many places, blown through the buildings. The store occupied by Lyons and Company was swept from its founda- ton and hurled across 25th Avenue and | End street.
 Every building in the South side to | the end of the Mobile and Ohio tracks. a distance of ten blocks, was leveled | to the ground. The street along the Alabama and Vicksburg Railroad tracks | in front of the passenger depot Is one mass of debris. and there Is not a building standing except the unroofed and muehly demolished plant of the Armour Packing Company. The roofs are torn of all the warehouses. Tom Lyle'S wholesale and retail establish ment. Bush's blaming mill and ware house, the Meyer-Melville Hardware Company, which was a five story brick building. the IT. Thornton Transfer stable Cameron's Restaurant and the l T AAF To A. anu Ill tue duJd~ cent smaller establishments were dem olished
 Only brick, mortar and shattered wood and twisted iron mark this once busy mart of trade. The old passen- ger depot is not damaged to any great extent The west end of the Star Compress plant further down the rail road, however, was twisted into kind ling wood. It is impossible al l this hour to estimate the loss of life and 1t is almost sure that the com plete list will never be known.
 The eastern part of the city from Front street suffered only the los' of broken windows. the blowing of of few chimneys and uprooting oi 1 many trees. In this section no livel were lost. but terror reigned in tho darkness and no one knew In what condition they would find their neNi door neighbor.
 Many Are alarms during the niRht
 rendered conditions more alarming
 and a night of fright was spent by th'
 occupants of thousands of homes 1T
 the city. Many exaggerated reports
 have been sent out about the storm
 the loss and damage of property. m
 Associated Press, after talking freely
 however. with many prominent citizens
 finds that the amount of property de
 stroyed and damaged will not amour
 to more than $1.300.0OO- Ihe ueatl
 list, so far as known tonight remains ] at nineteen.