The Washington times., 1929-04-12
81 KNOWN DEAD
IN ARKANSAS
TORNADO

U
G.N.sl.-The Red Gross and yari-
Gus local agencies today were
speeding relief work among the M
jured and homeless victims Of the
twin tornadoes which late Wednes-
day night swept through northeast
eFn Arkansas, snufflng out 50 lives
and leaving untold suffering and
property damage in their wake.
The death-deaIing twisters cut q
gigantic semi-cfrcie through five
I1ortheastern and north central coun.
ties. They originated near the
Arlansas-M Missouri line and headed
In sotithwesterly direction. One
of the first places struck was GuiOn.
n Izard county, where every build
ing IN the village was demolished
ont 81 the population Of 400, three
were killed and So Injured.
Search For Missing
Relief crews and rescue parties
are stilI searching IN the debris Of
IeyeIed communities for the bodies
az victims reported as 'missing.r
with the known death list standing
at 81 il Is believed this number
may be increased before all resi-
dents Of the stricken area are &C.
counted for.
After sweeping through lizard
county, the storm struck Parkin,
iii Cross county, where IA more
were killed and scores injured.
From Parkin county the storm
circled back north and Ieveled Swif-
ton. in, Jackson county. IL was
here the cruel tWisters seemed TO
merge and concentrate their fury
as they swept through the three
counties OF Jackson. Laurence and
Green where the greatest loss Of
life occurred.
Families wiped Out
whole families were wiped out
In the little hamiets that dotted
this hiIiy section of the State
Swifton, Alicia, Lardo and Sneed
were practically blown from the
face OF the earth. Farm homes In
the path Of the tWisters were like.
wise demolished.
One house In Jackson county.
sheltering q family OF i've, was
lifted high in the air. carried q
considerable distance and dropped
in q creek bed. Two children were
killed and the three others IN the
family seriously injured.
In the main. the torn followed
the course Of a State highway,
lefeling farm houses and villages
on either side Of the road.
Through one section, one Of the
funneEshaped twisters followed
railroad. Al passenger engineer told
Of outrunning the storm when 4
approached from the rear Of his
train on the St Louis and Iron
Mountain railroad.
Outspeeds Twister
II followed his train for severa.
miles, the engineer said, but by
attaining speed Of 20 milea an
hour, he was able to keep out oi
the monsters way. The twiste
finally gave up the race and
changed It's course.
The explanation for the tornado
following the highway and the rail
road is probably found in the facl
that the air was superheated on
the rOadbeds, according to meteoro-
logists. for tornadoes are formed By
light, heated air shooting upwards
while cold, heavy air sweeps down
ward 10 the earth.
Injured were brought to hospitals
here and at Batesville and New
/ P0ILs SOkle VI luc tlduACA NkO seOA
expected to recover.
scores Of persons received m r'or
injuries that were not taken into
account in tabulating the casualties.
A deIuge Of rain followed in the
wake OF the tornado and floods
prevented rescuers penetra ting
thickly populated communities for
several hours after the storm.
81 Deaths Listed
The dead in the stricken com.
munities follow:
AIT Sneed Ruth RiIeya Buster
Riley, Mrs. Ester Riley, Mrs.. Rus
sell Long. Cleo Nicholson, Mrs.
cleo Nicholson, Al. y. RouIett
John 10y, Charles Defries, Grace
Defries. Miss Vincent Long, Thur
low Hudgehs, Howard Watts, Tom.
mie Watts. unidentified boy and
girl
At Alicia Paul Butler. Mrs. But
Ter, daughter Of Buffers, Mrs. Eva
Riley. daughter Of Mrs. Riley, son
of Mrs. Riley. Mr.. and Mrs. z. G.
Bullard and two children, Mr.. and
Mrs. j, II. Smith and three children,
Mrs. Ed Riley. one unidentified
body.
AK Parkin Six sons and daush-
ters of Claud Graham. negroes;
Pete Green. negro; =. II. walker,
negro; RI Brown, negro; two uni.
Identified negro bodies.
At Laredo M. Fl. Iowthart, Mrs.
w. Fl. LOwthart. three Lowthart
children. Tom Adams
+ At GIion Mrs. j. r. Pierce,
CIaud Campbell, Miss Thana TfitOn.
At Wynne Ar and Mrs. ]. =.