Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1927-04-28
NEWS REVIEW OF
CURRENT EVENTS
Floods and Tornadoes Work
Havoc in Middle West
Atrocity in Mexico.
BY EDWARD w. PIcKARD

A/lND and water wrought havoc
w throughout the Middle West DUR
ing the week Scores of lives were
lost, many thousands of persons were
driven from their homes, and immense
damage, as yet impossible to esti-
mate, was done to property. All down
the lower Mississippi valley the river
leyees were giving way and the wa
tiers, increased by heavy rains and
driven by high winds, were rushing
through towns and submerging farm
lands Refugees by the hundreds were
gathered, often unsheltered, on higher
ground awaiting succor and in some
of their camps, notable along the st.
Francis river in Arkansas, measles,
whooping cough and mumps broke
out
In southwestern Kansas the rivers
were fed by cloudbursts and rose to
record heights, inundating vast areas
and isolating many towns. The Neo-
sha, Verdigris and Cottonwood rivers
were out Of their banks In the re-
gfon surrounding Kansas City the high
waters of the Missouri and Kansas
rivers caused extended floods.
Monday and Tuesday a series of
tor nadoes swept across north Texas,
Oh lahoma, Missouri, parts of Kansas
ard through central Illinois. About
fifty lives were lost in these storms,
twenty-five of the fatalities heing In
Illinois, and hundreds were injured.
Property losses in towns and ON farms
were severe
Relief for the flood and storm suf-
ferers was swiftly started by the Red
Cross and by state and municipal gov
ernments. The War department sup
piled tents and the soldiers and med
ical officers of the National Guard in
the states affected gave efficient aid.
M EXICAN bandits broke all records
1Vl for atrocity in that country when
they attacked a passenger train near
La Barca in the state of Jalisco. The
cars were filed with people return
ing from the Holy week holidays at
Lake Chapala and guard of fifty
soldiers was aboard. The bandits,
numbering about 500, derailed the
train, killed all the soldiers with gun
fire, slaughtered many of the passen-
gers and then locked the cars, sat
urated them with gasoline and set
them afire. The scene that followed
was horrible beyond description.
Scores of persons, mostly women and
children, were burned to death and
many of those who broke out of the
cars were shot down or dubbed mer-
cilessly, 1t was believed that more
than 100 were killed, in addition to
the military guard. Only the passen-
gers who were in two steel Pullman
cars escaped death or injury. Among
the victims was Donna Refugio Obre-
gon de Ponce de Leon, eldest daugh-
ter of General Obregon, former presi-
dent of Mexico. 1t was believed the
bandits were under the command of a
chieftain named Jesus Barajas
President Gales issued statement
charging that the massacre was per-
petrared by rebel bandits under the
leadership of Catholic priests and that
the latter received Instructions from
the episcopate" He said the military
escort put UP three-hour resistance
against the attacking band, which was
headed personally by the priests
Vega, Pedraza, and Angulo, the law
yer Loza, who was member of the
League for Defense of Religious Lib
erty, and bandit known as lei Ca
force" (Number 14).
M ODERATES Of the Chinese Ma
AvA tionalist party formally estab-
lished their capital in Marking. with
Gen. Chang Kai-shek in control, and
the split between them and the com
munists at Hankow seemed definite.
The moderates impeached the Han
kow group. and the latter in turn de-
posed Chang as commander In chief
and ordered his arrest and punish
ment; Marshal Feng Yu-hsiang, for