The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-04-27
DEATH, RUIN
AND MISERY
IN THE Wind
Latest Accounts of TornadoeS
Which Devastated Four
States.
NUMBER OF VICTIMS
ESTIMATED AT $50
FoRTY-siX TOWNS IN WHOLE OR
PARTIALLY WRECKED-LIST
OF INJURED NEAR 1,2oo.

New Orleans. April 26.-The totals
of death, misery and ruin caused i'm
four southern states by Fridays tor
nadoes came TO hand today in approx
inately correct form. Briefly stated,
they are:
Killed, about $50; injured painfully
or seriously. 100; homeless. several
thousand.
Town reporting serious wreckage,
forty-siX; habitations and business
houses practically complete ruins in
!. these towns, about $500
The above figures do not include the
Treckage on plantations and farms,
scores of which were struck and dam
aged.
Most of the Victims Negroes.
The number of dead may never be
known accurately, for the reason that
about 300 of them were negroes, and |
they were buried I'm many cOmmuni-
ties without careful records being
made OF their numbers While some
of the first reports giving apparently
reliable death lists have since proved
unreliable, nevertheless remote places
which were late In reporting their dead
have served to hold the total death
list around $50. The manner in which
this death list has grown for two days,
I'm spite of continued subtractions
from early reports. has been a melan-
choly index of the interstate scope of
.rhe disaster.
y BY following the wreckage of towns
the general direction of the tornadoes
can be traced closely. Apparently the
storm struck i'm three separate cur
rents, each describing the arc Of a cir
Gle and travelling toward the north
east.
First Storm Struck Louisiana.
The first Of these struck through
northern Louisiana, Mississippi and
Tennessee before daylight Friday
morning. The second appeared farther
south about o'clock in Louisiana and
Mississippi This apparently was the
portion of the storm which had swept
through Alabama and Georgia on Fri
day night and Saturday morning. The
third portion of the storm appeared
~during Friday afternoon further south
than either OF its predecessors. This
was the storm which demolished Amite,
La, and Purvls, Miss. the town in
which the wreckage was worst.
Twisted Into SpIinters.
tWhy the fatalities were so large is
Apparent today from glance at the
photographs which have arrived here
from many portions of the tornado
belt They all tell the same story.
Whole blocks of what We're formerly
little residences and cabins lie spread
over the ground in separate boards.
If a huge lumber pile had been scat
tered over these areas the number of
boards unattached TO anything else
could scarcely have been greater. I'm
der this mass of wreckage many hum
dreds OF persons were buried, not one
in hundred escaping without some
injury. 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 the below
projections which must have saved
scores from death.
Remarkable Experiences.
Along with the accounts of suffering
have come many recitals of remark
able experiences. of which this is
typical:
At Amite, La. when the tornado APP
pesred there were seven persons at the
dinner table at Hamilton Warmers
home, including three children. one of
the diners. Claude Bennett, saw the
whiy1ing cloud in time 20 shout warn
ing and Tushsd out doors. but the 9TH
ers remained in the room. The wind
in a second tore off two doors on OPP
posite SIDES of the room, and an as
tonishing procession of live and mani
mate objects began to pass into the
room through these doorways. First
came a calf running before the wind.
The animal jumped over the dining ia
Bile and went out the opposite door.
Afterwards came a horse. The three
children sought refuge under the table.
and no one was injured.
Relief Measures.
Today has been one OF relief meas
ures throughout the wrecked district.
The ruined towns have been visited
by thousands of spectators, many of
. whom went with a few dollars in their
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