Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1920-04-21
Property Loss Running Into
Many Millions Caused by
Storm Which Sweeps Por-
tions of the South.
VIRTUALLY ENTIRE
TOWN IS DESTROYED
Twister Cuts Narrow Path,
Carrying Destruction to a
Dozen Communications
muniCation Difficult

birmingham, Ala, April LU.-A
death list which tonight stood at
more than 140, and a property loss
of many millions of dollars was the
toll exacted by a tornado which to-
day swept score of towns, villages
and isolated farms in eastern Missis-
sippi, northwestern Alabama and the
southern counties of Tennessee.
Communication with many Of the
stricken districts was difficult, but
fragmentary reports agreed that the
tornado obliterated nearly every
thing that lay in its path. In at least
one case-that of Rose Hill, Miss.,-
virtually the entire town is believed
to have been destroyed and in sew
eral instances every member of a
family were reported to have been
killed.
Sweeps Narrow Path.
Striking first in Lauderdale coun-
ty, Miss, about 10 o'clock this
morning, the storm sweptsa narrow
path across the state, carrying de-
struction to a dozen or more COM
munities.
About the same time death and
damage from the same or similar
disturbance was reported from
counties in the northwestern corner
of Alabama, the extreme force of
the wind being expended before the
Tennessee line was REACHED, in Will
hanson and Maury counties.
Meridian, Miss. the heart of a
rich farming district, suffered heavi-
est, according to reports with a
known death list of 2l The village
of Glen, Alcorn county, numbered
its dead at TO- Aberdeen, 10; Ingo-
mar, 6; Egypt, S; Baker, S, and Bay
Spring, 7.
A lumber camp near Philadelphia,
Neshoba county, lost IL workers
killed and 80 injured, several prob
ably fatally.
In Alabama, the rural districts
around Sheffield, Gurley, Little Cove
and Wavo, felt the full force of the
storm, and with some sections still
cut off, a seore of bodies have been
recovered. '
Wrecks Many Homes.
Across the Tennessee line, 100
miles from Meridian, near where
it originated, the storm still had
force sufficient to wreck homes and
farm buildings and to cut a swath
through the forests and fields. Only
three deaths are known to have oc-
CURED in the state, however.
The wide territory covered by the
tornado led to a belief tonight that
there was more than one atmosphere
disturbance. Reports today describe
the local destruction as having been
confined to a path measuring from
100 to 500 yards wide, within which
the cyclonic wind, when at its
height, left nothing but the most
solid structures standing.
Strikes School House.
Starkville, Miss, April 20.-Sev-
eral persons are reported to have
been killed in tornado which struck
Belli school house, seven miles north
of here.
.l. Family Wiped Out.
Sheffield, Ala, April 20-A tor
nado swept this section of Alabama
today, killing farmer, his wife and
two children in Colbert county. One
man is reported to have been killed
in Franklin county.
Death Toll Grows.
Little Rock, Ark, April 20.-The
death toll of the tornado in north
western Arkansas Sunday night
reached 26 this afternoon, accord
ing to reports reaching here. Twelve
of this number have been confirmed.
Wire service to the storm-stricken
communities was still demoralized