Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-04-01
Report of Damage and 10
Deaths at StovaII Is De-
nied-LaGrange and West
Point Arise to Occasion


of Lagrange and West Point to
Mayor James L. Key, of Atlanta, the
death list of those cities in the tor
nado Sunday now stand at % for
LAGRANGE, with 80 persons in the
various hospitals; and for West
Point, with 20 severely injured.
Added to the single death in Ma
con and another at Miner, this puts
Georgia's death toll from the storm
at 80.
An early report by the Associated
Press from Columbus, quoting
sources considered reliable but
not Nconclusively confirmed, added
Is deaths to the list Tuesday morn
ing by the statement that the lit
tie town of Stovall in Meriwether
couny had been terribly scourged by
the tornado, losing almost one-third
of it's population.
Report Denied
This report, at first credited was
later denied conclusively by the Of
ficials of the Atlanta, Birmingham
and Atlantic railway in Atlanta. on
whose line the town is situated, II
miles east of LAGRANGE.
Legare Davis of the Red Cross
headquarters in Atlanta just back
from West Point and LAGRANGE, at
once took up the Stovall report, and
G. B. Matthews, of the A. B. & A.
officers denied it to Mr.. Davis and
The Journal, after a telephone con-
verSation with the company'S agent
at Stovall.
Stricken Towns Rally
"Our agent reported that the tor
nado missed Stovall entirely" said
Mr.. Matthews. mo one was killed
Or injured"
LAGRANGE and West Point were
reported Tuesday to be coping gal
lantly with the disaster. Both towns
have declined with thanks all offers
of outside financial aid, accepting
only the Red Cross medical and
nursing assistance with the wounded,
and the tents, cots and other army
supplies sent from Camp Gordon.
West Point, terribly punished in
the business section, rallied gamely
and proposed not onl yto look after
it's own sufferers, but also offered
aid to LAGRANGE, it's stricken neigh
Dor.
Meeting Called
LAGRANGE, however, was making
it's own fight most bravely.
Meeting Monday afternoon at the
Troup county courthouse, Mayor S.
D. Dunson and the leading business
men Of the town and county decided
to decline with profound thanks Of
fers of aid from Atlanta and Macon
and other cities and towns, accept
ing only the work Of the Red Cross
expedition from Atlanta, whose doc
tors and nurses had been working
all day long, operating on and car
ing for the injured. The Red Cross
party established an emergency hos
pitaI in a warehouse, where the WIS.,
iting physicians worked on the pa
TENTS and the nurses, aided by La
Grange volunteers, made them as
comfortable as possible.
Government tents were set up in
three districts at LaGrange-the
county fair grounds, the Unity mills
district, and the Hamilton road dis
trict; about 100 in all, furnished with
cots and bedding, and ample to shell
ter those who We're rendered home
less by the wrecking of $50 dwell
ings, and who were not being cared
for by relatives or friends.
No Outside Aid Wanted
Mayor James l.. Key of Atlanta
announced Tuesday morning that a
message from Mayor S. H. Dunson,
of LaGrange, just received, placed
the number of dead in LAGRANGE at
twenty-five, with eighty injured per-
sons in the various hospitals.
Mayor Dunson thanks Atlanta for
offers of financial aid" said Mayor
Key, but explains that LAGRANGE
will be able to carry that part of
the burden itself A : Getting is to
be held Tuesday afternoon, he said,
at hitch it was planned to raise
SIS, 900 to care for the sufferers in
the disaster This was deemed ade-
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