Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-04-25
TOWNSBLOWN away:
HUNDREDS ARE DEAD
Havoc Marks Trail of Southern
Cyclone.
MOSTLY NEGROES KILLED
Identified White Dead Number
Forty-Six.
DESTRUCTION WAS SUDDEN
Trains Ladened With Injured Are
Now Crawling Out Of the
Storm District.
ientifed White Dead Number
Forty-Six.
DESTRUCTION WAS SUDDEN

A wind of cyclonic proportions
swept over portions of Louisiana,
Mississippi and Alabama late yes
terday, leaving a trail of dead and
injured. This morning the num-
Der of killed is estimated at close
to $40, and the number of injured
at over 1000, with many portions
of the afflicted districts to be
heard from. Most of the dead are
negroes. Perhaps fifty white per-
sons were caught in falling build
ings and either fatally injured or
SO seriously disabled as to require
medical attention.
NEW ORLEANS, April 2a-The dead,
more than two hundred: the injured, at
least five hundred-these were the grim
f4Gtnewhich came to light in the early
h04ks today when q little Of the wreck
age q yesterdays tornado In Louisiana,
Mississippi and Alabama had been cleared
away. The tornadoes lasted altogether
about twelve hours, striking one town
after the other from before daylight Fri
day until mid-afternoon.
Many hours after they struck, trains
bearing nearly 200 injured came crawling
cautiously out of the tornado district, leav-
Ing behind them one town, Purvis, Miss. ut
terly demolished. five others practically
blown away. and fifteen little villages in
more or less acute stages Of ruin. With
the wounded came the details Of one Of
the worst wind disasters In the history
Of the gulf states.
Stricken Towns.
First Of all. It became known that ne
groes comprised most Of the dead: that
the picturesque darky cabins. noted for
their nimsy happy-go-lucky construction,
had been converted by the wind into
wholesale death traps. It was in the fall
Of these cabins, which went down almost
without warning, that most Of the negro
deaths occurred. These always over
crowded cabins also furnished most of
the badly injured. The identified dead
early today numbered ~. In addition. 1t
was reported that four whites had been
killed at McCallum, Miss, which would
bring the white death list up 70 "a The
number Of negroes killed was between
40 and 115.
The towns which suffered the worst. in
addition to Purvis. were Amite. La: Nc
Callum. McLaurin and Winchester, Miss,
and AlDertville, Ala.
The following fifteen towns, were more
or less damaged: Richmond and La
nourie. La: Wingate. New Augusta. CO.
lumbus. Walls. Braxton. Belle Grove
Melton. Lorman. Pine Ridge. Quitman's $
Landing. Fairchild's Creek and Wahalak
In Mississippi and Bergen. Ala Most Of
these places are merely a collection of a
few stores and dwellings. 30 that the
property losses will not reach very large
figures. No estimates of property damage
have yet been made with the exception Of
Amite. La. and Purvis. Miss. the two
worst sufferers. where the damage, which
will never be estimated In the aggregate
was done to timber lands, to plantations
and to railroad property scattered through
belt about 500 miles long.
Death in the Air.
The destruction Of Purvis, Miss, occur
red at about ten minutes after o'clock
Friday afternoon. or about 200 dwellings
only seven were left standing.
The courthouse. the only other building
in town to Withstand the wind. was i'm
mediately 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 tim
bers. These timbers dealt death to many
persons who sought safety in the open
air. while. the falling Of walls was a still
greater peril to those who remained in
doors.
One child Is said to have been kneeling
in prayer. her uncle bending over her In
an attempt to shield her. but despite his
care q timber which did not touch him
killed the little girl. Scarcely one brick
Of the schoolhouse was left on the other.
School had been dismissed only a mo-
ment before the tornado struck.
Dead by the Roadside.
In field near the town a farmer who
was plowing saw the storm approac hing
and managed to get the members Of his
family out of doors and behind stumps
before the wind struck The house was
blown away, but none Of the farmer
family was injured. One of the children
killed il said to have been lifted high in
the air. and while still well above the
ground to have been struck by a heavy
dying timber. which caused its death.
A man who drove into Purvis last night
reported that he saw the bodies OF four
persons. which he took to be those OF
negroes, lying beside the road.
Passenger Trains Lost.
MOBILE. Ala. April 25.-The south
bound passenger train on the Mobile and
Ohio railroad, due In this city at 7:30
o'clock last night. has been lost on the
line somewhere between .Citronelle, thirty
five miles above this city. and Meridian,
Miss. and up to an early hour today
had not been heard from. The tornado
tore down all wires. and the railroad
company is without telegraphic commu-
nication with any part OF the system be-
yond Citronelle. The tornado IL believed
to have thrown heavy trees across the
track In Its path into Alabama. and the
fact that all wires are down has prevented
warning being given to the passenger
train. Fears are expressed here that the
train may have crashed into some OF
these heavy distractions and another
catastrophe added to the work Of the elo-
ments.
At the Office of the Mobile and Ohio
railroad II was announced that nothing