Evening star., 1928-06-17
TWiSter Lays Waste to Area
Three Miles Wide and
Thirty Long.
BUSINESS BUILDINGS
ARE ALL DEMOLISHED
Most of Homes Blown to Pieces.
Wires Down, Roads Blocked
With Debris.
BY the Associated press

By the Associated Press.
ALTUS, Okla, June 16.-The explo-
sive force of a tornado, which swept
from Blair to beyond Headrick, north
and east of this place, tonight, wrecked
both towns, lay waste farm land in o
path 3 miles wide and 30 long, through
three counties, and caused at least four
deaths. The known dead, all In the
town Of Blair. are:
Elmer Castle, 35, grocer.
Mrs. George A. Rogers, milliner.
Hugh Smith, II.
L. c. Cam.
More Than 100 Hurt.
More than 100 residents Of Blair. a
town OF 300 inhabitants, were injured
Every business building in the town was
demolished and most Of the residences
were blown to pieces. Not a structure
IN the town escaped damage. Castle
and Mrs. Rogers were killed in their
places Of business.
Casualties, If any, In the town of
Headrick and in the farm houses lev
e.ed by the tornado, were not known
iate tonight, so great was the confu-
SION into which the county had been
thrown.
al lines Of communication were de-
stroyeo Dy the storm and roads, barri-
caoed with debris. were impossible.
Inc tornado was attended by a
dense sandstorm. which made difscuit
the piecing together Of accounts Of
what happe.led. Most Of those In a
position TO witness the fury of the de-
structiVe funnel cloud we're blinded by
tne SAND. Rain accompanied the dis
turDance which lasted about 10 min
utes, out the sand was the outstanding
Phenomena aside from the character
istlc effects Of the ''twister."
Relief Workers Sent.
Freakish tricks of the storm were
oeing reported tonight as a small army
OF newspaper men worked their way
through the stricken area. gathering
InIormatlon. In the meantime, relief
agencies here had sent out field work-
ers and were preparing to care for the
homeless. who viii number many hum
dredS. '-N'-
Tom Bellows. Blair real estate deal
er, was standing In the door of a cafe
Wnen the tornado twisted into the
town. He said he heard q Girl scream.
After the storm he discovered thar
every part Of the building, except the
doorway in which he was standing.
had been demolished and swept away.
lie was unhurt
A man named Massie at Blair was In
his automobile when the blast struck.
While MaSsie was In the car II was
turned over three times and deposited
IN ditch He also escaped injury.
List Of Badly Hurt.
The seriously injured at Blair in
clude Oran Gates, Egnmet Milburn. 3.
v. Smith. father Of the dead boy: Buryi
Coston, Ernest Boyd, Mr.. and Mn.
j +. Roland, Mr.. and Mrs. A. M. Ahous-
sic and three children. Lonnie Latham.
T. F. Castles. son Of the grocer killed
IN MS store; Rev. j. H. Brock, Christ
ian minister.
The storm, which took a southwes.erlv
direction. struck Headrick, Okla, where
II unroofed the hotel, and did consid-
cradle damage to residences. Several
persons were reported injured at Head
rick. but 1t was believed that no lives
we're lost, The storm next was reported
TO have struck miles west of Snyds-..
Okla. where others were reported IN
mred. and to have hit a construction
camp on the north fork of the Red
River. where a new bridge Is being built.