Lower coast gazette., 1909-03-20
DEATH LIST
INCREASES
Work of Terrible Cyclone
at Brinkley, Ark.
Mayor Appeals for Aid-Stoves,
Building Material, Food and
Bedding Badly Needed.

Brinkley, Ark.-Brinklcy is wiped ont
The proud and prosperous little cit!
OF 1000 people is a tangled mass OF
wreckage. Not a building in the bust
ness section of the city has been left
intact, not a residence but that has suf
Tered in a fearful cyclone which swept
the place Monday night, leaving death
and desolation in its wake.
More than fifty people are known to
have persisted in the storm.
Damage Enormous.
The property damage is enormous
Conservative business men estimate the
damage at more than $1,000, 900. More
than 1000 houses were wrecked, or par.
italy wrecked, by the great wind. Every
business house is in ruins, every church,
save one, is destroyed, and there is
hardly Il home that has not at least suf.
fered the loss of roof or wing.
First Work One of Mercy.
The first work was one of mercy.
Mayor Harry Jackson took command
of the relief committee, DR.. +. ID. Nc.
Knight was assigned to the position OF
chairman OF the doctors committee. Be-
fore it was hardly day, relief commit
tees were coming from all directions.
Each brought physicians and nurses,
armed with medicines and supplies.
eager to help in the work.
In the few houses still standing it is
well nigh impossible to start a fire, be-
cause chimneys were among the first
things to 60 and the situation is terrible
in the extreme.
The Catholic Church and the Green
lee building, the latter minus a roof in
parts and otherwise damaged, have been
converted into hospitals, and here the
doctors are working with the injured.
Many of the citizens are badly hurt, but
determined to help those worse off than
themselves, have refused to 60 to the
temporary hospital.
Most Of the dead Were caught in the
wrecked buildings, and crushed almost
beyond recognition. The family of Isaac
Reed was almost completely wiped out.
Reed, his wife, and their two sons, Rus
sell, aged is, and Raymond, aged -,
were instantly killed. Miss Murlie Reed,
a daughter, alone escaped death, but she
is seriously injured.
Did Cyclone Stunts.
Straight across the city from the
southeast to the northwest swept the
warning elements, leaving death and de.
struction in their wake. The tornado
jumped, turned, writhed and twisted like
a thing endowed with life, judging from
the wreckage which marks its flight.
1t left no path, as is usual with cy-
clones. but spread itself out oyer a wide
area and embraced the re town
within its deadly GRASP.
1t first struck the residence portion of
the city. Cottages, two-story frame and
brick dwellings crumbled beneath the
mighty rush of the winds. Trees were
~uprooted and carried hurting through
the air for hundreds of feet, crashing
through fimsy wooden walls as if they
had been 50 much cardboard. Telephone
poles We're snapped short off at the
ground and tossed about the streets
like pipe stems.
1t struck the business section with
ever-increasing violence. Solid brick and
concrete s%torehouses fell crashing to the
ground before its fury. Heavy awnings,
doors and even the front walls of many
stores, tin roofs and flying debris of all
kinds filed the air, while the elements
ragged and The rain fell in torrents.
Pe0ple Panlc-StrlcKen.
Men. women and children ran scream
ing and terror-stricken into the streets.
The city was in total darkness. The
Brinkley Light and Power Company was
one of the first plants struck by the
storm. 1t was demolished and its wires,
along with the telephone and telegraph
wires, spread over the ground in a yer-
liable network of steel, iron and copper
meshes.
Husbands sought for wives and wives
sought for children. Brothers cried
aloud to mothers and sisters, and as the
full fury of the wind died away to q
steady and ominous roar, their screams,
combined with those of the injured, rang
out piercingly in the almost Stygian
darkness. Strong men paused, shud-
dered and knew not what to do or where
to GO. Women sank down in the streets,
which had become veritable torrents,
gathering their children to them, and
offered up their prayers for the deliv-
rance of their lives.
The reaction came in another moment.
Lanterns and torches were secured.