Heppner gazette. [volume] (Heppner, Morrow County, Or.) 1892-1912, 1908-04-30
SOUTH SWEPT
BY T0RNAD0ES
FPS Known Dead and At Least SEQ
Wounded.
Five Separate Twisters Tear Across
Louisiana, Ais b,ma and Miss,s-
s'ppI-k'IIed Are Mostly Negroes,
Whose Fhmsy Cabins Went Down
Like Gard Houses.

Atlanta, Ga, April 25.-Reports
up to a. m. indicate that 225 per-
sons were killed and at least 1000
were injured in storms of great vio-
llence which passed over sections of
Louisiana. Mississippi and Alabama
yesterday. Several towns were al
most totally swept away and the
property damage will run into large
figures.
Nearly 20 towns were struck by
the 'twisters,' Of which there seem
to have been at least five.
Most Of those killed were negroes,
whose cabins were swept away like
SO much paper,
Natchez, Miss. reports that of Ga
persons killed In that section only
two were whites.
Latest reports from Amite. small
town in Southeastern Louisiana, say
the town was almost entirely de-
stroyed and the estimates place the
number killed at between Q and so.
while at least 10 were injured.
At McLain, Miss, eight are re-
ported to have been killed; at vi
dalia, La, one white woman and six
negroes are dead; at pullman Land
ing, eleven negroes were killed.
The latest report at hand comes
from Purvis Landing, Miss, where
rs whites and SO negroes were VIC
tins OF the storm, and reports of one
to five deaths came from many
towns scattered over the storm-swept
area. Details at present are meager.
New Orleans and Mobile were cut
off from wire communication with
! the outside world for several hours
today and telegraph companies re-
port wires down in all directions.
Tonight the storm is sweeping
through Georgia, but beyond torren-
tial rains, accomplished by high
winds and brilliant electrical displays
no serious damage or loss of life
has been reported in the state.
Reports also say that the storm
struck Albertville, La, late this aft
ernoon, doing much destruction to
life and property. An unconfirmed
report from this section gives the
death list as from 80 to 35, with
scores Of persons injured. A train
was sent from Birmingham tonight
carrying physicians and a squad OF
state militiamen to the district.
Richmond and Lamourie, La.
were struck by the storm and nearly
a fifth of their population injured.
Winchester, Miss, small town,
is reported wiped out, though only
two persons are known to have been
killed
Mobile reports nine dead at Hat
tiesburg, Miss, but this has not been
confirmed.
The tornado that first appeared in
(nnpnrdia Parish tn
have been the most serious, both in
respect to number of victims and ex-
tent of territory covered. Although
it covered rural district and struck
no large town, the known results of
it's work were "a dead and at least
100 injured, with the prospect that
the list will be considerably swelled
by morning.
More than so of the dead are ne
groes, whose log cabins proved par
ticularly fatal to the occupants, be-
ing easily torn to pieces, while the
weight of timber crushed the in
mates to death.
What appear to have been two
different tornadoes struck in Western
Alabama, one claiming six victims at
Bergan & Thomas sawmill.
New Orleans, .Apr1l 25. z a. M
At this hour belated reports have
swollen the total number OF deaths
by the tornadoes in Mississippi Lou
isiana and Alabama to 1926. Missis-
sippi suffered most, but poor COM
kept the full extent Of
the disaster from becoming known.
The death list was suddenly swollen
by nearly 100 additional victims in
PuryiS and Mel ,aurin Miss towns
not heard from up to midnight.
The first reports indicated that
four-fifths of the victims were ne
hut tho IL ntn- shaII,nd