Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1909-02-11
SWEPT By sVORHlE's
A sERIEe OF SMALL ToRNAnoEe
CAUSES MUCH DAMAGE IN
THE SOUTH.
OEATHLIST NEARLY SCORE
Thousands Of Dollars Worth Of Prop
erty Destroyed And Telephone
And Telegraph Lines Put
Out Of Service.

nearly score Of people, losses Of hun
dreds OF thousands of dollars In prop
erty and the gripping Of many tele'
graph wires resulted between noon
and dusk Friday from a series Of
small cyclones and tornadoes which
swept Dixie" from the Tennessee
line to the Texas Panhandle. The
storms were accompanied in most
cases by hail, darkness and terrific
lightning flashes and sheets Of rain.
Most of the towns where the losses
Of life occurred are isolated SO that
news from them has been coming in
but slowly. Known deaths thus far.
however, are:
Stuttgart, Ark.-Mrs. Garfield and q
child or VIII Story, while Mrs. Story
Is reported fatally injured.
Sulphur Springs. Tex.-Mrs. G.
Caldwell. D
From Rolling Fork, Sharkey county.
Miss, Just before the telephone wires
into jackson were snapped, the word
came that four had been killed, while
Booth, Miss, reported to Birmingham
that six had met death there. From
other towns, such as Ennis and Waxa.
hAchie, Tex, and Boscoe, La, many
dwellings were said to have been de.
molished by the wind. Arkansas and
upper Louisiana rice fields were In.
jured to the extent Of many thousands
Of dollars, while the larger cities had
rains and darkness illuminated by
lightning bolts that made the atmos-
phere culver.
About dusk Chattanooga was lost
on the wire running south from Louis
vile via Nashville and has to be
picked up from Memphis. The local
operators heard the faint words:
Terrific storm here-black as night
hail falling" and then the saunders
ceased to record. Knoxville was lost
similarly shortly after that but later
both towns were looped In when con-
ditions there ceased In violence.
In Louisville the entire day was
dark and rainy, but there was no init.
nation of cyclone or Of heavy wind.
Birmingham, Ala, Feb. 6.-Mayor
George H. Brier Of Cullman, Ala,
wires that seven persons are known
to have been killed in that county
Friday afternoon by tornado which
passed over this section Of the state,
but that wire communication is i'm
possible with the stricken locality. At
Kayose, mining camp west Of Blrming-
ham, on the Southern railway Friday,
Ave houses were blown down, but only
one man was. injured, a Mr.. Logan.
The property loss in the territory
north Of Birmingham appears to have
been very large. Telephone communi.
cation to the north was impossible
Friday night.
Montgomery, Ala, Feb. 6.-The
heavy wind Friday afternoon struck
the Wire road at point nine miles
from Montgomery, smashing houses
and causing the death of three ne
gro tenants and the injury Of more
than dozen others. After the first
message to Montgomery, telephone
communication with that section was
broken and no further details could
be learned.
Fort Smith, Ark, Feb. 6.-Eastern
Oklahoma was swept by severe
storm late Thursday, causing consid-
cradle property losses. At Weleetka,
Ok, train of FIVE passenger cars
standing on q sidetrack Of the Fort
Smith and Western railroad was over.
turned by a tornado. No deaths have
yet been reported.