The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-04-26
Neighbors Rush to Help the Stricken. GENEROUS HANDS
 AND WILLING HEARTS Every Family in the Town Has
 Suffered. Two Military cempsnies Are rroteet- ing the Ruins and Committees Are organiSed to Bring order out of the Re
 narksbIe Chaos.
 
BIZ Q. .. PARrRrDan.


 Gadsden, April 25-(SpeciaL) )--Like a long scar on bright smil- ing natures face. . horrid wound on the cheek of . fair town. the terrible ravage of the storm on AIbertville still quiyers. living thing. that lies across the city, a mere line of de- struction of life and the things that make life possible.
 And, though the people Of Albert vile had from the first responded with ouickening loyalty to an emergency that even in a less sequestered place would have had great cities put to 1t 10 provide for the care of it's sufferers. 1t was only yesterday that the actual system of relief was adopted
 During all the terrible hours of the night season In which wind ragged and rain fell with such brutal force that only the strongest might endure it, the men of AIbertvfIle worked and the women and children of Alhertvflle en- dured 1t as best they might.
 But such was the violence of the elements that despite al efforts only what might be called first aid could ba rendered. So it was that when day dawned Saturday morning beneath the ruins of business houses thaE had held the wealth of a community and homes that had sheltered the precious lives of a noble citizenship. there lay both the corpses of those who had perished and the bleeding bodies of those who maimed and helpless, lay crushed be- meath the weight of fallen buildings
 Neighbcrs Rush to Ala.
 And with the stricken men and wo- men of Albertville worked their neigh hors. With the first notifications / of the disaster. Gadsden. Attalla and Boaz sent their best of physicians and nurses, their strongest aid with seal pei and bistery, with pellet and potion. with the loving and eonsoling caresses that perhaps mean even more.
 Albertville was brave. but it was not mora loyal than the neighbors that came within its gates to give of their all.
 fer in the grasp of the authorities be- cause 0f the organizations that were consumHnated with the first approach of opportunity. The Relief Commit tees that have been appointed and set to work have taken matters in hand and are dispensing to a stricken peo- plA all the comforts and relief that may possibly be given.
 The committee, hurriedly assembled at a mass meeting of citizens Saturday morning. t once adopted systematic working pian that has proved most ef- fective. It's members knew from the frst that their work was arduous. It was not the work of verbal consola- tion. it was labor. of real uplifting II comprised not the mere offering of affectionate work or kindly handclasp; if was necessary that corpses must be removed, wreckage carried away, prop erty saved if it might be, after such an assault of the elements; the town was to be cleaned and disease forbid den through the employment of the best agencies most readily to hand
 The Work of Relief.
 W. W. Curry was made chairman of the committee of the wagon corps for 4he removal of wreckage; for the re- lief of the suffering wounded, J. B, Yohdv W. T. Hanes and w. E. Strip lin was named. There were committees 4o superintendent the burial of the dead and to provide homes for those whose shelters had been carried away
 Among the men in this work were W. P. goodwin, John L. Ray. w. C. Hughes and J., R. Kellett. Mir. Kel- iett, it may be mentioned, had the tm- portant matter of removing dead stock a feature that the intelligence of the committee comprehended from tie first as one of the utmost magnitude.
 At the headquarters of the relief committee Hogan JackSon anu w. AN' Bradford were in command and their eficiency to command and determine quickly proved them masters Of the problem that confronted their city. They had under their supervision the general work of the committee and the distribution of the moneys and the oth- er material things that were sent as ouickly as possible into Albertville.
 To their aid came cities like Gads- den and Guntersville. which responded spontaneously with donations of money ana men and from the first there were woncen who without hope of recom- oanea tendered the comfort of their nrasenca and their hands to ease the najns of these who had suffered. From pnknown benefactors, in Albertville and other places. came generous con tributions. naonle of Albertville had to solve. within the twinkling of an eye their nrettv little village. the home of in- dustry and commerce. had become, as i+ were, a battlefield. The dead lay here and there; the wounded. when +hev were able to move at all. wan dered hopelessly about with maimed Itr,bs and bruised bodies. The mat. Ger became finally a search, for the cornses that lay beneath the ruins of huIldinRs are scattered by the winds into the fields and for those who. es- laa4h ahlA fo