The Tupelo journal. (Tupelo, Miss.) 1876-1924, 1909-03-19
DEATH LIST
INCREASES
Work of Terrible Cyclone
at Brinkley, Ark.
Mayor Appeals for Aid-Stoves,
Building Material, Food and
Bedding Badly Needed.

Brinkley, Ark-Brinkley is wiped out.
The proud and prosperous little city
of 1000 people is tangled mass OF
wreckage. Not building in the bust
ness section of the city has been left
intact, not residence but that has suf-
fered in 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 81 100000. More
than 1000 houses were wrecked, or par
TALLY wrecked, by the great wind. Every
business house is in ruins, every church,
save one, is destroyed, and there is
hardly home that has not at least SUI
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, DIR. E. 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 go and the situation is terrible
in the extreme.
The Catholic Church and the Green
lee building, the latter minus 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 90 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 16, and Raymond, aged II,
were instantly killed. Miss Murlie Reed,
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
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 over wide
area and embraced the entire 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 so much cardboard. Telephone
poles were snapped short off at the
ground and tossed about the streets
like pipe stems.
1t struck the business section with
ever-ncreasing violence. Solid brick and
concrete storehouses 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 filled the air, while the elements
ragged and the rain fell in torrents.
People Panic-Stricken.
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 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 a
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 90. Women sank down in the streets,
which had become veritable torrents,
gathering their children to them, and
offered up their prayers for the deliv-
erance of their lives.
The reaction came in another moment.
Lanterns and torches were secured.
Searching parties were organized, and
at 1870 o'clock myriad of Pickering,
faring, fitful lights danced about over
the scene of unspeakable desolation and
ruin which unfolded itself to the eye
for brief moments as the brilliant and
vivid flashes of lightning pierced the
sombre heavens.
The rain was pouring in torrents,
flashing the face and hands with sting
ing force.
Daylight Exposed the Horror.
Not until long after daylight had
come to add horror to the desolate pic
ture of woe and ruin, showing in start
ling relief the terrible havoc wrought
by the tornado, was the body Of Charles
Frenz, the fifth victim of the business