New-York tribune., 1921-02-11
Tornado Kills
81; Wipes Out
Georgia Town
School House Containing 81
Pupils Is Smashed Into
Fragments, but None of
the Children Is Injured
Goat Scared, but Unhurt
Animal Stands Like Statue
i'm q Circle of Bodies of
Dead Littering the Field

OCONEE, Ga, Feb. 10.--A tornado
that struck the Gardner settlement,
one mile from here, just after noon TO-
cay brought death to two white per-
sons and nearly thirty negroes. and
serious injury to five white persons
and more than a score Of negroes.
! A stretch of land extending almost
to Toomsboro, nearly FIVE miles long
end about half mile wide, is as bar
rem as prairie tonight. not build
ing or tree being left standing
Among the dead is Benjamin Orr,
fourteen years old, who was decapi-
tated. The other white person who
met death was the three-year- old
daughter of E. L. Minor, manager of
Shepherds commissary, at the plant of
the Cleveland Oconee Lumber Com
rany.
Eighty-two children and three teach
ers were in q school building on the
edge of the Gardner settlement when
the tornado struck. The building was
twisted to pieces and the fragments
scattered for miles. Children were
picked up by the wind and carried for
some distance, but it was announced
tonight that only one was seriously
bruised.
Forty Houses Demolished
Approximately forty houses were
blown down in the Gardner settlement.
The Shepherd Brothers commissary
at the big lumber plant was reduced to
kindling wood, Orr and four negroes
meeting death there. Ten feet away
from the commissary the general Of
flee of the Cleveland Oconee Lumber
Company was untouched.
The fifteen-acre plant of the lumber
company was not seriously damaged,
although millions of feet of lumber
were scattered. The tornado spent its
! force locally Immediately beyond the
! plant of the lumber company, in the
| settlement of forty houses and four
stores. Most of those residing there
were negroes.
These negro houses and stores faced
! the tracks of the Central of Georgia
| Railroad. In the rear of the houses
women and children were carried to
their deaths from their seats at dinner
! tables.
Ten minutes after the tornado had
wiped out the Gardner settlement a
Central of Georgia local freight train
running from Savannah to Macon, ar
rived. The conductor Immediately
! OTQeTed the locomotive deCached from
the train and with the crew hastened
to Tennille, eleven miles away, for aid
Doctors found one negro boy with a
| board driven into his forehead. 1t is
believed he will live. The body of a
three-year-old negro infant was found
at the roots Of 81 tree, the top of which
had been twisted off. The child's head
had been crushed.
A negro man and his wife were found
more than a hundred yards from thei,
home, lying side by side in the road
both dead.
The bodies of several small negroes
were found in trees, out of the path OF
the tornado, suspended on the limbs BY
their clothing.
The bodies of grown negroes were
thrown into the field in a semicrcle
:. and in the center Of the group was
goat, which stood like statue, toe
frightened to move for hours after the
storm had passed.
When the tornado broke the atmos
phere became extremely hot and be
cause of the darkness in many homes
lamps had been lighted.
A string of box cars was blown from
the rails. Chickens that escaped deatl
in the path of the storm were in man,
instances plucked of their feathers
Many animals were killed. Many O.
the injured are being cared for il
nearby towns and word was received
: from Atlanta that nurses with food ant