New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1920-05-04
Tornado Kills
"a, Injuries 100
Tn Oklahoma
Town of Pegs, in Cherokee
County, Virtually Wiped
Out; Only Three Build
;ngs Are Left Standing
Entire Families Peri s h
Eureka, Kan, Also Is Swept
by Hurricane; Six Report
ed Hurt. Two Mortally

yusXoGEE, Okla, May S.--Fifty-
..n. rsrsons were killed and approx
mstely 100 injured in tornado that
r;rtually destroyed Pegs, villagelof
about $50 inhabitants :. the northwest
.o-rer of Cherokee County, and swept
...r-bv territory about 9 o'clock last
n;cht The dead in Pegs are etimated
81 fifty. Four persons were killed
and seven injured in Rodgers and Craig
counties.
rorty-three bodies have been recov-
AVOID bv rescue workers at Pegs. More
orc believed to be in the wreckage.
only three buildings remained standing
in the village after the storm. Tenn
rorarv hospitals were organized amid
he wreckage. Those who can stand the
trin to Tahlequah are being taken to
hosnitals there. Because of the rough
ronntry and poor roads this is a diff
fcult task.
Aid Rushed from Tahlequah
Six physicians left Tahlequah imme-
diately after the storm. Later they
cent calls for more assistance, and
this morning 100 automobiles with
men and women relief workers went
to aid the injured.
Slothing was found fastened to trees
several miles from the path of the
storm. The tornado covered an area
three miles long and one mile wide,
apparently dropping down just in time
m hit the village and rising soon after
leaving it.
Whole families were killed when
their homes were destroyed. Nine
members of the Levens family were
killed. seven of the John Littleheld
family FIVE of the Wilkerson family
and eight persons of the name of
Frank. The only physician in the
town, DR.. ". r. Hill, also was killed.
The village of Pegs is in the foot
hills about sixty miles east of Tulsa.
The place is off the railroad Table
ouah, fifteen miles south, is the near
est railroad station.
School House Is Raced
One Of the freaks of the storm was
that small frame shack, uninhabited.
was left standing in the heart of the
town, while brick buildings housing
many persons around it were RACED.
The Pegs school house, concrete
building, was crushed.
When the rescuers arrived in Pegs
they found on;y heap of twisted, mud
spattered debris. A heavy rain and
hail accompanied the storm, and when
ne workers began collecting the bodies
from the ruins many were so plastered
with the mud they had to be washed
before thew could be identified.
The dead were collected in shelter rs
left by the tangled walls and roofs.
Twenty were piled in one nook while
searching parties ranged the immedi-
ate vicinity.
Virtually every store in Tahlequah,
the county sea Of Cherokee County,
was closed and several hundred peo-
pie went to Pegs to do rescue work
Searching parties today spread out
over the country north Of Chelsea to
ascertain the full extent of a tornado
that struck just before dusk last night.
Property damage, it was indicated,
would be heavy.
The storm passed near Chelsea, and
many persons there watched it twist
its way out of sight. Reports were
: current that the storm had struck other
nearby towns, but owing to wire condi-
tons they could not be verified.
Many narrow escapes were reported.
walter Sutherland and eight friends
were riding in wagon when they saw
the storm approaching. Sutherland
nltched his team to a telephone pole
and the party took refuge in a nearby
ditch. The storm passed overhead
without lnjuring any of them, but the
horses and wagon were carried away.
WICHITA, Kansas, May Silk per-
sons wereeniured, two perhaps fatally,
oy tornado that sWept throuph the