Palatka daily news. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1919-1994, 1921-02-11
LOSS OF~L|FE IN
GEORGIA TORNADO
NOW FIXED At 26
TWO OF DEAD WHITE, AND RE-
MAINDER COLORED- FOR
TY INJURED
STORM AREA WAS
SWEPT AS FLOUR
Bodies Piled Up in Mounds in One
Place-Carload of Bodies Ship
ped Without Coffins
Special to the News

Oconee, Ga, Feb. 11-Twenty-si
lives were lost and more than forty
persons were seriously injured when
cyclone struck here late yesterday,
according to estimates made early to-
day by rescue workers. Scores re-
ceived minor injuries. Property
damage is estimated into the thous-
were said to be negroes. Many of
ands. Only two of those killed were
whitse, and majority of the injured
the injured are expected to die. Be-
tween sixty and seventy-five houses
were wrecked and approximately $50
persons made homeless.
In the little settlement of Gardner,
near here, more than forty houses
were reported wrecked.
A stretch of land extending from
Oconee to Toomsboro, nearly five
miles long and about a half mile
wide, was as barren as a prairie to-
day. Not tree or building was left
in the path of the tweister.
of the dead has been
slow. Not more than fifteen had
been identified today.
OvertaXed and short of coffins, res
cue workers sent a carload of dead
bodies to Tennille to be prepared for
burial. On the same train were a
number of injured, who will be taken
to hospitals at Tennile and Sanders
vile.
Freight Train to Rescue.
Ten minutes after the tornado wip-
ed out the Gardner settlement a Cen
tral of Georgia local freight train,
running from Savannah to Macon, ar
rived on the scene. w. o. King, of
Wedley, conductor in charge, viewed
the bodies scattered about the ground.
The conductor ordered his locomo-
tive detached from the train and with
his crew hastened to Tennille, eleven
miles away, for aid. Coaches were
commandeered from the Wrightsville
and Tennille railroad and four doc
tors and forty-six persons were OBJ
tanned in the relief party. The train
returned to Oconee as speedily as
possible.
Pathetic Scenes
Doctors found one negro boy with
a board driven into his forehead. They
removed the board and gave tempor-
ary aid. The youth was alive tonight
and it is believed that he will live.
The body of three year old negro
infant was found at the roots of
tree, the top of which had been twist
ed off. The child's head had been
crushed in, having been carried head
foremost from its home against the
tree. The negro's body was cut in
two.
A negro man and his wife were
found dead more than a hundred
yards from their home, lying ide by
side in the road
The bodies of several small negroes
were found in trees, out of the path
of the tornado, being suspended on
the limbs by thheir clothing.
The bodies of grown negroes were
thrown into the field in a semi-cir-
Gle and in the center of the group
was a goat, who stood like a statue.
too frightened to move for hours af-
ter the storm.
Six oak trees along the railroad at
Gardner were snapped off at differ
ent heights. On top of one of these
stumps, twenty feet from the ground,
was a pillow from the bed of one of
the wrecked homes.
Fury Breaks in Darkness
According to residents of the COM
munity the clouds lowered just as
the employees of the lumber plant
left their work for dinner. The at
mosphere became extremely hot and
because of the darkness in many
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