The Topeka state journal., 1919-04-10
Iowa Today Center of Wave
Intensity Is Increased.
In Nebraska Rail and Wires
Suffer Greatly in Blizzard.
WORST KANSAS APRIL BLOW
S6 Are Killed in Oklahoma and
Texas by Cyclones.
Several Hundred Others Injured
Property Damage Heavy.

| Washington. April 10.-The south
western disturbance which in passing
| thru Texas and Oklahoma Tuesday
night and Wednesday morning caused
heavy loss of life and property dam
age was central today over Iowa with
increased intensity, according to re-
ports to the weather bureau.
Wires in Bad Shape.
Lincoln, Neb.. April 10.-Wire COM
munication was still badly crippled in
Nebraska today and train service was
hampered as a result of yesterdays
snow and sleet storm. Telegraph and
telephone poles in many sections of
the state were down, having been lev
eIed by high winds after the wires
had been covered with snow. sleet and
rain which froze soon after it fell
| The Lincoln Telephone and Telegraph
| company which operates over a large
part of the state, reported that about
$500 of its poles were down and that
damage to its lines would reach $780,
| 900.
Officials of 'the Chicago. Burling-
ton & Quincy railroad reported that
two branch line passenger trains one
between Hastings and Kearney and
| the other near st. Paul, were stalled in
snowdrifts last night Snow plows
were sent to dig them out. Trains on
| the main line of the Burlington from
| Billings, Mont, to st. Louis, and from
Denver to Omaha were running but
were behind schedule time.
! Worst April Blizzard.
Atchison. Kan, April 10.-The
worst April blizzard in the history of
northwestern Kansas is raging west
/ of Downs. according to Central Branch
railroad men. A passenger train and
a snow plow are stuck in a drift eight
| feet deep and half mile long near
! Downs. Between Atchison and Downs
! traffic has not been interrupted. A
! light snow fell here this morning, fol-
; lowed by rain.
Nearly 100 Dead.
| Dallas, Tex, April 10.-Eighty- six
persons dead. more than 200 in
jured, with property loss estimated at
several millions Of dollars in buildings
and goods destroyed, was the toll
taken in Wednesday mornings storms
that swept thru northern Texas and
southern Oklahoma, after lists had
/ been carefully checked at noon today.
Heavy Wind and Rain.
Damage to crops probably will run
into millions, as the principal products
/ raised in Texas were at the stage most
easily affected by heavy wind and rain.
The counties most seriously affected
in Texas were Grayson. Fannin, Hunt.
Wood, Van Zandt, Wichita, Collin,
Camp and Titus. In Oklahoma,
Bryan. Cotton and Pontotoc counties
reported greatest damage.
The oil fields of Wichita county and
of southern Oklahoma alone suffered
hundreds of thousands of dollars dam
age in wrecked oil rigs and machinery.
Rescue All Night.
Rescue and relief work continued
all last night. Fifty tents were bor-
rowed from the w. o. w. lodge, ir
convention in Dallas. and rushed tC
Leonard Tex where five are known
dead and fifteen injured. The RED
Cross also has started relief work il
many of the devastated areas.
According to dispatches from al
parts of the storm stricken districts
today, thousands are homeless. Ii
many districts physicians were reported
unable to care for all the injured, hos
pital facilities are lacking and medica
supplies are badly needed. Churches
. city buildings and schoolhouses have
been fitted out as temporary hospitals
The three storms seem to have
covered a wide area, stretching from
north central Texas into Arkansas. A
Texarkana, Texas. a negro was biowI
several hundred yards. The body wa!
found lodged in a tree. Near Walters
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