The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1908-04-29
HUNDREDS WERE KILLED.
FRIDAYS STORM LEFT DEATH
AND RUIN IN ITS WAKE.

Fully Four Hundred Persons KILL
cd. Twelve Hundred Seriously In.
jured and Thousands Left Home.
less.
New Orleans. April 26.-The totals
OF deaths. misery and ruin caused in
four Southern States by Fridays tor
nado came to hand In approximately
9orrect form. Briefly stated they are:
Killed. about $50; injured. painfully
or serfosuly. 1900; homeless. several
thousands; towns reporting serious
wreokage. +s; habitations ami busi-
ness houses practically complete ruins
IN these towns. about $500.
\ The above figures do not include the
wrecSage on plantations and farms.
scores of which were struck and dam
aged. The number Of dead will never
be known accurately for the reason
that about 500 Of them were negroes
and they were buried in many COM
munities without careful record belng
made of their number. While some
OF the first reports klvins apparently
reliable death lists have since proved
untrue. nevertheless remote places
which were late ip reporting their
dead have served to hold the death
HIST uniformly around $50.
The manner in which the death list
has grown for two days in spite OF
6pntinnaf subtractions from early re-
ports has been a melancholy index of
the Interstate scope Of the disaster.
BY following the wreckage Of towns.
the general direction Of the tornadoes
can be traced closely. Apparently the
storm struck in three separate cur
rents. each describing the arc OF a
circle 'and travelling toward the
northeast.
The hrst Of these struck through
northern Louisiana, Mississippi and
INTO Tennessee before daylight Friday
morning. The second appeared fur
thsr south about breakfast time in
central Louisiana and Mississjppi.
Tits apparently was the portion OF
the siorm which swept through Ala
bAms and Georgia. on Friday night
and Saturday morning. The third
Iorticn Of the storm appeared dur.
Ing Friday afternoon. further south
|fr9m either OF its predecessors. This
w9s The storm which sss,nolished
Amite. La. and Purviss. Miss, the
two towns in which the wreckass was
worst. }fk6
Why the fatalities were 20 unusu-
aiiy large II apparent today from .
glance at the mass Of photographs
witch have arrived hero nom many
porticns OF the tornado belt. they all
tell the same story. whole blocks Of
what were formerly little residences
and cabins lie spread over the ground
In separate boards. II large ium-
Der pile had, been scattered over these
areas the number of, boards unat.
taohsd TO anything could scarcely
have been srsatsr. Many OF Theses
planks show very few breaks whore
they were separated from the other
corstruction. Under this mass Of
wreckags many hundred persons wsrc
buried. not one in ! hundred escap.
ing without some injury. The houses
which were thus scattered about wsrc
moAtly negro habitations. The homes
Of the whites held together better
and the photographs show many Of
them with the top OF the upper half
Of the structure ripped on, but lsav-
Ing below protection which must have
saved scores from death.
Along with the accounts of suffer.
ipg have come many recitals OF re-
markable experiences OF which the
following Is typicai:
AT Amite. La. when the tornado
appeared there were seven persons at
the dinner table Of Mr.. Hamilton War
ner's home. including three children.
One Of the diners. Claude Bennett,
saw the whirling cloud in time to
shout q warning and rush out doors.
but the others remained in the
dining room. The wind In a second
tore OF two doors on opposite sides
OF the room and an astonishing pro-
cession Of live and inanimate objects
4 began to pass through the roor,
through these doors. First came o
calf running before the wind The
animal jumped over the dining table
and went out the opposite door from
which II entered. Afterward came
morse which. after one or two prances
j about {nllawad fhrounl, &ha 1,<I& Aa