Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1908-04-30
HUNDREDS KILLED;
THOUSANDS HURT
AWFUL DESTRUCTION OF TOR.
NADO IN THE SOUTH.
FEW WHITES AMONG VICTIMS
Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama
.antations Raced by Furious
Twisters.

New Orleans, La, April 26.-The
dead, more than 500.
The injured, at least 1000.
These were the grim facts which
came to light in the early hours yes
terday when little of the wreckage
of Fridays tornado in Louisiana,
Mississippi and Alabama had been
cleared away. The tornadoes lasted
altogether about twelve hours, strik-
ing promiscuously one town after the
other from before daylight on Fri
day until mid afternoon. Many hours
after they struck, trains bearing
nearly 200 injured came crawling
cautiously out Of the tornado dis
tricts, leaving behind them one town,
Purvis, Miss, utterly demolished, five
others practically blown away and
fifteen villages in more or less acute
stages of ruin. With these wounded
came the details of one of the worst
wind disasters in the history of the
gulf states.
First of all it became known that
negroes comprised most of the dead,
that the picturesque darby cabins,
noted for their flimsy, happy-go-
lucky construction, had been con-
verted by the wind into Wholesale
death traps. 1t was in the fall or
these cabins which went down al
most without warning that most OF
the negro death occurred. These al
ways over crowded cabins also fur
nished most of the badly wounded
The identified white dead early yes
terday numbered forty-two. In addl-
ton it was reported that four whites
had been killed at McCullum, Miss,
which would bring the white death
list up to forty-six.
The towns which suffered the worst
damage in addition to Purvis were
Amite, La, McCallum, McLaurin and
Winchester Miss, and Albertville,
Ala. The following towns were more
or less damaged:
Richland and LaMourie, La, Win
gate, New Augusta, Columbus, Walls,
Braxton, Belle Grove, Melton, Lor-
man, Pine Ridge, Quitman's Landing,
Fa.rchh Is Creek, and Wahalak, in
Mississippi, and Bergen, Ala.
New Orleans, La, April 27.-The
total of death, misery and ruin
caused in four southern states by
Fridays tornadoes came yesterday on
approximately correct form. Briefly
stated they are:
Killed, about $50; injured, painfully
or severe, 1900; homeless, several
thousand; towns reporting serious
wreckage, 46; habitations and bust
ness houses practically complete
ruins in these towns, about $500.
The above figures do not include
the wreckage on plantations and
farms, scores of which were struck
and damaged.
The number of deaths may never
be known accurately for the reason
that about 800 of them were negroes
and they were buried in many com
munities without careful records be.
ing made of their numbers. While
oOjlc VI the ulSL ISpOILS giving dp
parently reliable death lists have
since proved unreliable, nevertheless,
remote places which were late in re-
porting their dead have served to
hold the total death list uniformly
around $50.
The destruction of Purvis, Miss.
occurred at about ten minutes after
2 o'clock Friday afternoon, and was
all over in few minutes. OF about
200 dwelling houses only seven were
left standing. The court house, the
only other building in town to with
stand the wind, was emmediately
packed with dead and injured and
served as the only available hospital
within many miles. c. w. Cromwell
| of Jackson, Miss, in attempting to
describe the storm, said that all he
| could realize was that the air was
| full Of flying timbers. These timbers
| dealt death to many persons who
sought safety in the open air, while
| the falling of walls was still greater
peril to those who remained indoors.