Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1913-04-04

Omaha, Neb.-For the first time since
the disastrous tornado of Easter Sum
day the people of Omaha began to count
the cost in lives and dollars. When q
resume was made it was apparently
more appalling than those who had
studied the result were willing to admit.
Not less than 20 olives were snuffed
out within the vicinity of the city proper
and not less than so persons in sur
rounding towns lost their lives. Nearly
500 were injured, and eight of these
died in local hospitals during the day.
The restitution was augmented when
nearly three inches of snow fell, making
uninhabitable the houses of many who
had prepared to retain temporary homes
in partly destroyed structures. So far
as money might relieve, conditions were
perfect. Tenders of sums aggregating a
million dollars were in the hands of the
city commissioners when the day ended.
The offers came from nearly every SEQ
ton of the country n were made un-
conditionally.
The greatest work was that of organ
izing a systematic relief bureau, with
seven branch stations in the territory
covered by the tornado. These stretched
over a strip seven miles long, and those
incharge handed out material assistance
to all comers who showed they were in
need of aid.
More than $50 900 has been subscribed
to a relief fund-$25, 900 by the city
commissioners and an equal amount by
citizens.
Snow Blizzard.
The injured at hospitals are receiving
the best possible attention. Physicians
of Omaha and Council Bluffs have volun-
teered their services and trained nurses
have willingly followed the example of
the physicians. Those patients who have
shown improvement will be moved from
temporary hospitals to places provided
by city officials. Most of the injured
are homeless, the storm having destroyed
their abodes.
Many of the patients, whose condition
is considered more or less critical, have
not been told of the complete loss which
the tornado made of their property.
The snow, which, according to reports,
is falling blizzard-like from Colorado to
Central Iowa, has seriously interfered
with the slender thread of telegraphic
communication established from Omaha.
Practically no information has been OBJ
tainable from the devastated sections OF
Nebraska and Iowa. The fact that such
intense suffering is being caused here by
the present storm, in spite of heroic ef-
forts made by the city to provide for
and protect all who have been made de-
pendent on it, caused Gov. Moorehead to
fear that the conditions within the state
are in deplorable shape. He stated that
he would hasten action before the state
legislature to secure sufficient funds for
the Immediate care of storm victims.
Sixteen additional bodies were taken
from a negro pool hall, making the total
thus far recovered from that place 81.
The building, after being wrecked by the
tornado, caught fire from an overturned
stove and burned.
The condition of the bodies indicated
that a panic reignco in the building when
it was struck. The bodies were piled
in groups, where the men had huddled
together when the structure collapsed.
Killed in Theater.
A block from the hall was the Diamond
Moving Picture Theater, which was
wrecked. Sixteen bodies already have
been removed from that structure when
the workmen began a further search.
Adding to the suffering which followed
the tornado, which demolished section
of this city Easter Sunday, a aeavy snow
began to fan, and by morning two inches
Of it covered the ground, hampering the
work of rescue and reconstruction.
Bodies of dead or injured still lie in
the debris and wreckage, and the search
by federal soldiers and anxious relatives
of possible victims continued through the
storm. Some residents of the district
declare in their belief that at least 100
bodies are buried in the ruins Of houses
and brick buildigns Of amusement places
places which are known to be filled with
pleaspre-seekers on Easter Sunday.
City officials, however, do not estimate
that the unrescued is SO large a number,
admitting, nevertheless, that many per-
sons yet are to be accounted for.
Throughout the night federal soldiers
the afflicted section of the city
with utmost diligence, denying admit
even to city police and county Off
cials.
Scores of business men, delayed in that
of Omaha until after dark, were
denied the right to pass through the
wrecked portion of the city to thes