The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1925-03-27
ruins. The dry grass on some Of the
nuns ,..ac N of,,nIl,r ..,,,rontod

fort and guards fired several shots in
the darkness at providers in the ruins
but none were wounded or captured
West Frankfort is without water
except that hauled in.
Thirteen persons are said to have
burned to death when they fed TO the
basement of Murphysboro restau-
rant. A woman and her small twins
were found side by side, dead, in a
| field near De Soto.
There the disaster fell largely on
persons of limited means. some out
of work because of the shut down of
coal fields. Many women and children
and a score OF babies appeared on the
death lists Entire families were wiped
out. One man, searching through a
morgue for his wife and three chill
dren, found the bodies of his babes
side by side In one room, his wife in
another.
Identify Dead by Jewelry.
Many of the bodies were mangled,
SCARED or burned, some beyond recog-
milton. Identification in many in
stances had to be made by rings or
other personal belongings.
The government, Red Cross, state
troops, private institutions and indiyid-
uals combined in the huge task Of car
Ing for the injured, giving shelter and
hunting bodies.
In Murphysboro. where 147 bodies
have been recovered, 5000 persons, or
two-thirds of the population, were
homeless. One hundred city blocks
were demolished there and the power
plant wrecked. Seventeen students
were killed in the destruction of school
buildings.
Woman Blown into Treetop.
Forty-fve bodies had been recovered
at De Soto, which virtually was oblit-
Grated. More than a dozen other Illi-
nois towns reported from one to forty
Deaths At De Soto woman with a
baby in her arms was blown to the
top of a tree, where she chung until
the storm passed, and then descended
virtually without injury.
Soldiers are everywhere on duty In
the area of suffering and citizens have
organized themselves and are digging
in the ruins of their homes. Some who
probe the wreckage are seeking to
retrieve a little part of what were
once their belongings.
Witnesses said the towns in the
storms path were wrecked in a few
minutes. One described the deadly
visitor as greenish black funnel,
slanting at an angle of 40 degrees. A
deluge of hail followed in its path.
While the storm started in Missouri
shortly after one o'clock, 1t did not
reach Illinois until around three o.
clock, and it was nearly dusk before
1t took its last savage blow in Indiana.
West Frankfort In Ruins
Working under lights from automo-
biles and from bonfires built from
wrecked framework Of houses, hun
dreds Of rescuers were searching for
bodies of victims of the tornado which
swept West Frankfort, Ill.
Public buildings, lodge halls, and
churches were converted into tenn
nOSpItdto anu ilOA uCo. AA6hly
five bodies already have been recov-
cred. The injured number 500, many
of whom will die.
The town is picture Of ruin. Scores
streets are strewn with wreckage.
Tangled wires and splintered trees lit
ter the streets. Naked walls from
which the rest Of the structure has
been torn stand out as grim silhou-
cites.
And all of this thrown into fantas-
tic contortions by the flames from a
dozen fires which sprung up here and
there among the ruins. Fire depart
ments from surrounding towns aided
the local department in checking the
flames.
Fire Follows Fire
AS they put down one blaze another
sprang up in another section. And
through it all the fremen were con-
stantly called on to leave their work
and help in rescue.
The picture after the storm was one
of pathetic suffering. Dead and in
jured were strewn about the streets,
and among them ran frantic men and
women, or crying children, some al
most unclothed, seeking their loved
ones.
Relief Work In Indiana.
In Indiana relief measures also were
going forward rapidly under the di-
rection of Gov. Ed. Jackson. OF five
towns struck In that state, Griffin, a
Posey county village, suffered most.
With AZ bodies recovered, it was be-
lieved that the death list might
mount to LIE Griffin virtually was
wiped out, and systematic work at
rescue was held up for time because
few were left uninjured in the village.
Military lines have been drawn about
the entire area.
At Princeton. which counted 20
dead, the 100000 shops of the South
ern railway were destroyed, throw
ing 400 persons out of work. Most of
the homes destroyed were those of
workingmen.
1t was announced from Washington
that national headquarters of the Red
Cross, with its chief, President Cool
idge, taking the initiative. had set in
motion its entire machinery of mercy
to the injured and homeless.
Sees Children Die in School.
Centralia, Ill-A Dramatic eye-wit-
ness story of the death of score or
more OF children in the school at De
Soto and Of the virtual destruction of
the town was told here by Max Burton.
Burton is telegraph operator for the
Illinois Central at Tamaroa, few