The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-04-25
BERGEN FOLK
 ARE IN NEED Town Laid Waste by
 the Storm. FOUR KNOWN TO BE DEAD Seeds of Heroism in Walker
 County. At Bergen. scores Are Injured sad Poor Persons are in Great Dis- tress--survfvors Tell of
 Calamity.
nv L. VI. rRTrpMAN.

Birmingham, April 24--(Special. "A terrible cyclone passed over Dora and Bergen. the latter being practically the outskirts of Dora. in Walker coun- tly, at a:4s o'clock Friday afternoon. and while it will be Saturday morning before the exact number of dead and wounded will be known. 1t is certain that four persons are already dead, and between nifty and sixty persons in- jured.
 The dead:
 Mrs. Moore. wife of Section Foreman on Frisco Road, with two little chil- dren: Mrs. culley. aged woman, died on train en route to Blrningham.
 The injured: Mrs. E. J. Hopiey. who has terrible wounds on the upper part of her body, in a Birmingham hospital; Alma c. Gresham, aged tS, hurt about head, cannot recover; Jim Adams, bow els torn out. will die.
 As. soon as the funnei-shaped cloud had passed up the Empire Valley, striking portion of Dora and de- stroyins Bergen almost completely. tss ss Iaak son. with hmndreds of ners6na. rushed to those stricken and offered every, assistance.
 Tie storm had done its work effec- lively as well as completely. Houses wore twisted like 90 much fodder and there are but three structures left standing.
 me people who were injured in the cyclone were heard moaning and Groan- ing on all sides and despite the heavy rain that was falling the people of- fering help were willing to stand all trials and tribulations. As quickly as possible the wounded were given at- tention but the doctors soon found that they had a bigger job on hand than at first supposed. Those who were found the worst injured were carefully pick ed lIp and made as comfortable as pos- sibie and placed aboard the Birming- ham train which arrived an hour or so after the cyclone struck the place.
 It was a heartreuding sight. The tfaln crew Shad it's hands fun getting trees of the tracks and left an hour and twenty minutes late.
 The cyclone took a northeasterly di- rection coming from the southwest. It had been raining all afternoon. There was a roaring noise heard and in a few minutes there was much distress on all sides. It was a most pitiful sight
 W. H Soper, General Manager of the West Pratt Coal Company. saw the cyclone pass over Begen and ran to the place and worked hard in the downpour of rain with the dead and injured.
 He came to Birmingham on the first train to see that every care was given to those who had been hurt. He gave instructions that all houses of the company should be placed at the dis posal of those in need and that noth- ing should be kept from those in dis tress.
 MT. soper. when seen in Birmingham. said:
 Tt is hard to describe. The cyclone was a terrible one. It came up sud- denly and passed through our place in hurry and did most effective work. One can not begin to tell of the horror that was created. It takes a strong heart to tell of the injured people seen on all sides shortly after the cyclope had passed over Bergen. Strong men and women and children were seen bleed ing. Many were unable to help them selves and they had to be given every assistance.
 There is no telling how many will die from the injuries received in the cyclone. The four dead now will be
 
 The list of injured will run between fifty and sixty at least. The full list can hardly be gotten up before Satur. day."
 Bergen Is twenty-six miles west of Birmingham on the Frisco Railroad. All communication with Empire, few miles from Bergen, is cut of and it was impossible to get any inform ation as to the damage done there, if any.
 Railroad Tracks Obstructed.
 C. Barnard. engineer of the Frisco passenger train. which stopped at Der gen for about an hour and came into Birmingham shortly before 6 o'clock. one hour and twenty minutes late, gives a graphic description of how he followed the cyclone for a distance of forty miles. He says that the first se- rious trouble was at Guin, where he was Tagged because of telegraph poles and wires being blown across the track. From that place on to Ber- gen he said he was following the path of the storm and that when Bergen was reached he found a devastated town. People were running In every direction and only about three houses remained standing.
 Box cars, something like fifteen, were scattered in every direction and tress and debris were piled across the tracks for hundreds of yards" said Mir. Barnard. The section house was about the only thing left in the vicinity of the depot, which was in spllnters. It was told that something like thirty houses had been demolished and no