Evening star., 1927-11-18
RED CROSS PLACED m CHARGE
OF STORM AREA RELIEF WORK

| heads and bodies, while others had
| arms or legs which hung limp from
| fractured bones or sprains.
| The city's emergency vehicles swung
! into concerted action just as Presi-
| dent Coolidge started for Union Sta
| tion. on his way to Philadelphia. and
the White House cars, waving tradi.
| tional prestige. were forced several
| times to pun to the side to let rescue
cars, ambuIances and other emer-
gency vehicles zip past.
Government officials, as soon as
| they We're apprised of the disaster, Of
! fered 10 the city all available Federal
| agencies in the relief work.
| Secretary of War Dwight Davis
| ordered all troops in this vicinity to
stand ready to assist local authorities
in patrolling the wrecked zones, here
and in Alexandria. and the UniteC
| States Veterans Bureau offered lis
hospital facilities in caring for the
| injured.
Troops Are Available.
| At the same time. the Red Cross
| swung into action from both it's local
and national headquarters Expert
enced disaster officials were dispatched
| to the scenes and Red Cross ambu-
lances dashed across the city to the
section east of Capitol Hill.
The Secretary of War stated today
that all available troops in the Wash
| ington area will be held in readiness
for response to any call for their serv-
! ices. BY his direction. Brig. Gen.
| Thomas g. Donaldson. in command of
! local Regular troops. advised the Dis
| trict commissioners that the forces
under his command are available Tor
| the protection of property or other
| relief service. Similar word WAS sent
! Mayor Smoot of Alexandria Troops
are stationed at Fort Mycr and Fort
| Washington.
Owners of property destroyed or dam
aged by the tornado probably will have
| to stand the entire loss, it was said
| today by Thomas NJ. Baldwin,. jr..
superintendent of insurance of the
District. He expressed the opinion that
few, if any, of the property owners
whose houses were in the path of the
tWister carried any form of insurance
against wind.
Cruising taxicabs did a rushing
business. While it seemed half the
/ automobile population of Washington
was concentrated in the tree blocked
I
was plenty of work for the taxica b
operators. BY dinncftime it was lmost
impossible 10 reach a cab, as some
of the companies had ordered their
men To cruise through the wrecked
neiGhborhoods rather than wait for
telephone calls
tnr0ofs Row OF Homes.
Clipping several blocks in the path
Of destruction. the storm swept down
and picked out a row of 10 houses,
1891 to 1875. in the center of the block
on \ street northeast. ripping off their
roofs and crumbling in the walls of
the third floors.
! Although every house was occupied
a the time. no ore was injured.
| At 1865 Mrs. r. Miller and her
l-m'onth-old baby escaped injury when
the top floor of their house was
wrecked. They had just come~down-
| stairs a few moments before the
/ storm struck.
At the corner Of Fourteenth and \
streets northeast small drygoods
Store owned and operated by Mrs. Il
! +. SchieH. who lived with her children
| ON the TWO upper floors. was wrecked
| as though from an explosion.
1T happened 50 quickly" said Mrs
| Schley, that l hardly had time to
| know what it was all about.
| After the havoc, my greatest worry
| was for my two boys, Oscar, 10, and
| Leslie, IA. who were at school. After
seeing what the storm had done to
my house / did not know what might
have happened to them. but about
20 minutes later they both came run
| ming home to me. scarced but unhurt
when the storm hit my store I
was alone. There was no warning.
The wind just hit all of sudden. 1t
tore the roof off it blew furniture