Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-04-28
SEVERAL HUNDRED KILLED.
Tornadoes In Southwest Causes Great
Loss of Life and Property.

LOSS OF Lie anu
There was terrible loss of life and
property during last Friday as the re-
suit of a series Of tornadoes that swept
across the states of Texas, Oklahoma,
Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee,
Alabama and Georgia. All of the
states mentioned were more or less
severely hit, and in some Of them were
left large patches of death and desola-
ton. A reasonably comprehensive
summary of the loss is to be found in
the following compiled by the ASso-
ciated Press from reports received dur
ing Friday, Saturday and Sunday and
sent out from New Orleans Sunday
night.
Killed, about $50.
Injured, painfully or seriously, l.
200.
Homeless, several thousand.
Towns reporting serious wreck
age, 46.
Habitations and business 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 dead
will never be known accurately for the
reason lndI dDOul OUU VI NSAS
negroes and they were buried in many
communities without careful records
being made of their numbers. While
some of the first reports giving ap-
parently reliable death lists have proved
exaggerated, nevertheless remote places
which are late in reporting their dead
have served to hold the death list uni
formly around $50. The manner in
which this death list has grown for
two days, in spite Of continual sub
fractions from early reports, has been
melancholy index of the Interstate
scope of the disaster.
Course of the Storm.
By following the wreckage of
towns, the general direction of the
tornadoes can be traced closely. APP
separate currents, each describing
the arc of a circle and travelling to-
ward the northeast.
The first of these struck through
northern Louisiana, Mississippi, and
into Tennessee before daylight Fri
day. The second appeared further
south about breakfast time in CEN
tral Louisiana and Mississippi This
apparently was the portion of the
storm which swept on through Ala
bama and Georgia on Friday night
portion of the storm appeared during
Friday afternoon, further south than
either of it's predecessors. This was
the storm which demolished Amite,
La, and PurViS, Miss, the two towns
in which the wreckage was worst
Why the fatalities were so unusu-
ally large is apparent today from
glance at the mass of photographs
which has arrived here from many
IL ha1 HInH-
all tell the same story. Whole blocks
of what were formerly little residen-
ceS and cabins lie spread over the
ground i'm separate boards. If huge
lumber pile had been scattered over
these areas, the number of individual
boards. unattached to anything could
scarcely have been greater. Many OF
these plankS show very few breaks
where they were separated from the
other construction. Under this mass
of wreckage many hundred persons
were found, few escaping without in
jury. The houses which were thus
scattered about were mostly negro
habitatiOns. The homes of the whites
held together better, and the photo
graphs show many of them with half
the top of the upper half of the struc-
ture ripped off. but leaving below pro-
lection which must have saved scores
from death.
A Remarkable Experience.
Along with the accounts of suffer-
ing have come many recitalS of re-
markable experiences of which the
following is typical:
At Amite. La, when the tornado
appeared there were seven persons
at the dinner table of Mr.. Hamilton
Warmers home. including three chill
dren. One of the diners, Claude Ben
nett, saw the whrling cloud in time
to shout a warning ard rush out
doors. but the others remained in the
dining room. The wind in a second
tore off two doors on opposite sides
of the room. and an astonishing pro-
of live and inaDin a pbiprtS