Washington telegraph., 1909-03-12
A. roIa by Eye Witness.


In talking IN a reporter he said:
81 was in Brinkley and stopping
at the Brinkley House. had just
eaten supper and, in company with
]. c. Ayers, had just walked out on
Tho street A severe rain came up
and we stepped into a pool hall for
shelter. The rain had continued for
about five minutes, l judge, when the
cyclone swooped down on the city.
The force of the storm was spent in
two or three minutes, in fact before
anyone realized what was happening.
We heard the crash of the falling
buildings and rushed out on the street.
"The sight that met our view can
not be described. Practically the en-
tire town was in ruins. Every one
was excited and seemed to not real
ize what had happened We went to
the hotel and found that in ruins.
"a travelling man, friend of ours,
was found with several bad scalp
wounds which were bleeding profuse-
ly. We took him up and started to
hunt doctor. While we were walk
ing up the street we met small boy,
judge about eight years old. | ask
ed him to direct us to Doctors office,
as he knew the town and we were
strangers. The lad looked up in our
face with tears in his eyes and said:
Mister, my little ffve-year-od sister
is buried under that building; then it
was for the first time | realized the
extent of the damage done.
People All Seemed crazed.
For short time after the storm
had passed. the people all seemed
crazed and did not know what to do,
but this was only for a short time,
for soon the work of rescue began. A
temporary morgue was arranged and
the dead as fast as rescued were taken
to this place, while the injured were
taken to the building in which DR..
Donnelly had his office, which was
converted into hospital The only
store in the city left standing was
that of the Branda Dry Goods Com
pany. This the proprietor threw open
and gave mattresses and any other
goods that might be of relief to the
injured.
while both hotels. were DESTROYED,
no one was killed in either of them.
In the Brinkley House, where we were
stopping, there we're 30 guests. The
Bank of Brinkley was also partially
destroyed.
Saw Bodies of Eight Dead.
Il saw eight dead persons whose
bodies had been recovered and taken
to the temporary morgue, but from
the appearance Oh the. city l cannot
rcniize inow such = siSlh could pass
over the city without having killed
almost every one.
There is one thing | do want to
say. and that is, after the first shock.
no one could have gone more heroic
ally to the work of rescue than did
the people of Brinkley;; white and
black, rich and poor, were working
side by side, doing all in their power
to relieve the suffering of the injured
and to rescue those who were pinion-
ed under the demolished buildings"
Damage at Other Places.
The storm which wrought such ter
rible havoc at Brinkley apparently en-
tered the state near the southwest
corner and plunged toward the north
east, carrying death and destruction
in its wake. Up to this hour eleven
have been reported dead and forty
six injured outside of Brinkley. OF
the injured it is expected that several
will not recover. The death list in its
entirety will probably never be
known, nor will the property loss ever
be accurately computed, but this is
extremely heavy as shown from the
fact that not less than 25 towns were
damaged. 1t is certain that the farm.
ing districts, which are inaccessible
have suffered Also
Storms Work at Glance.
At Chidester, Ouachita County-Of
the A. T. CASTOR family of seven.
three are fatally hurt and the other
four seriously. Fifteen people suffer-
ed broken limbs Fifteen dwellings
were destroyed and two churches and
a school house.
AT Malvern-Methodis church de-
stroyed, loss $4,000 Steeple of Bap.
tist church blown off and church un-
rooted.
At Wyandotte-House blown down.
Near Benton five miles northwest)
Church and school house and TWEEN
ty houses destroyed. Mrs. Margaret
Elrod, aged rs years, killed. Miss
Fannie Elrod, Miss Mary Elrod and
Mrs. j. w. Kruse injured.
At England-Three killed, one white
man named NJ. Bohannon, a white wo