Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1909-06-08
TEXAS AND OKLAHOMA
SWEPT Gi I0RNADOEs
Village of Zephyr, Texas, Is Struck
in Night by a Terrific
Windstorm.
FLOODS ADD TO THE PERIL.
Series of Twisters in Oklahoma
Leave Two Towns Heaps
of Ruins.

| "A tornado OF great fury struck the
little village of Zephyr, in the eastern
portion of Brown County, Texas, at 1
o'clock Sunday morning and left
! path of death and destruction seldom
paralleled. The death list has reached
total OF thirty-two, and the number
of seriously and fatally wounded will
reach fifty.
The storm formed half mile south
west of Zephyr and swept down upon
| the village, cutting a path directly
through the residence and business
district. Nearly fifty houses were de-
molished. Lightning struck lumber
| yard and started a conflagration which
destroyed one business block. No eff
fort was made to fight the fire, as the
| care of the dead and wounded victims
demanded all attention. A section
hand rode hand car to Brentwood
and spread the alarm. In two hours
| the Santa Fe Railroad was speeding
a special train to the scene of the
| storm with nine surgeons and a score
| of Brentwood citizens. Hundreds of
| persons directly in the storms path
saved themselves by taking refuge in
storm cellars. More than a dozen bod
les were horribly mutilated County
| Clerk Thad Cabler and wife and two
children, who had gone to Zephyr to
spend the night, were killed. The big
stone school building and two church
es were swept from the face of the
earth
Destruction in oklahoma.
Fifteen and perhaps more persons
were killed Saturday night in series
| of tornadoes that devastated the Okla
homa towns of Key West and Depew
| Forty or more are injured. At least
ten were killed in Key West Five
are dead at Depew The tornado swept
over wide stretch of farming coun-
| try. Following the wind came del
uge of rain. Floods then added their
| terrors to the situation. The wreck
age of Key West soon was overwhelm-
ed by the rising waters. Practically
nothing was left of the town of 200
inhabitants. Rescuers FASTENED to the
| place, but could not cross Salt Creek
which had become a raging torrent
A few inhabitants of Key West cross
ed the streat before the rise made it
impossible.
Depew was destroyed by a double
twister that was formed from that
striking Key West and travelled in a
northeasterly direction and another
coming from the east. The tornado
wiped out Depew, then pushed north
| east, spending its force presumably a
| few miles forther on. Small lorna
does followed in rapid succession in
an atmosphere that was very humid
They rose high into the air, circled
about and dipped. AS many as five
were observed during the display The
little tornadoes had spent their force
when the big one came at o'clock
Preceding and following it were ter
rife rain and hail storms. The streets
of Stroud and Sapulpa were veritable
rivers.
| Seven Die i'm North Dakota.
| Seven persons are known to be dead,
many are dying and over a score are
seriously injured as result of tor
nado which swept over northwestern
North Dakota. The storm was espe-
cially severe at Langdon, where the
residence section of the city was prac-
1 tically wiped out, four people killed
and twenty injured. The tornado de-
molished all of the buildings of the
jamestown Fair Association, the loss
being $4,000, and several other large
buildings.