Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-04-12
Three Group Funerals Planned for
Tornado Victims.

Tornado Victims.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark, April IA
Three group funerals Of victims OF
the tornado which Wednesday swept
sections Of North Arkansas, taking toll
of life which stood at so today. were
to be held this afternoon at Guion
and Swifton, two villages which bore
the brvnt of the storm.
Two small rural cemeteries near swift
ton each are to receive the bodies OF
II victims. while at Guion six OF those
who lost their lives in the storm which
RACED the town are to be buried.
Meanwhile, the work of rehabilitation
was going forward under direction OF
Red cross workers, and Maj. c. r. Bar
ham and Capt Lee v. Casey Of the
adiutant generals staff dispatched to
the area to take charge of relief eff
forts instituted by Gov. Parnel.
Guion Survivors Tell Of Horror.
The FIRST witness accounts of the
storm which demolished Guion were
furnished early today by residents there.
Not one building was left Of more than
$50.
Throuehout Yesterday those who
were not injured searched among the
ruins of their homes Little will be
salvased from the wreckage, observers
said. 80 complete was the damage,
wrought. What was not destroyed or
damaged by the wind was water soaked
from O torrential rain.
one Of the victims related from his
cot In q temporary hospital at BatesVlile
the approach Of the tornado. :,
He said 1t appeared from the west
down the White River As 1t approach
ed it sucked up the water into whfrl-
ing spout and the lower portion Of the
village was drenched.
One viewing the wreckage after the
storm passed could not understand how
even at cat could have escaped" one
victim related. THE death list would
have been much larger had citizens not
taken refuge in storm cellars. Many
hurried to tunnels in sandstone quar-
ries and escaped"
Tornado Splits.
After leaving Guion one branch Of
the tornado swept through to Mount
Pleasant, wrecking farmhouses as 1t
went.
Persons at Brockwell and Melbourne
reported small tornadoes, but little dam
age resulted. 49, ,.s-y-
areas Of the State, particularly in Full
ton and Izard Counties, just north OF
the storm area. :.
Business was suspended at Bates
vile, as residents left their work to
place themselves at the disposal Of re-
lief committees organized through the
Red Cross. Students Of Arkansas Col
lege gave over their dormitory for use
aS q temporary hospital.
workers cleared the highway be-
tween BateSville and Guion shortly be-
fore noon, and the exodus of the in
jured from q 1,200-foot tunnel leading
to . mine was started. About so in
in the tunnel when every other shelter
had been blown down by the wind.
About as Of those injured at Guion
had taken shelter In the Missouri Paci-
ne Railroad station, which was blown
down upon them. The debris caught
FIRE, and It was with dificulty the in
jured were removed by the few sur
Vvors.
No estimates were available Of the
tremendous property damage left in the
pa&h Of the tornadoeS, which virtually
obatterated all traces of few small
fr4hing communities and wrecked
b. pings generally over wide and sepa-
ral6 areas.
am Sneed, near Swifton. were hard
hi by the storm, the death list there
believed by Red Cross and other re-
liek workers to be complete, standing
atSM.
Other places badly hit were near
dorado in Greene County. section
near Parkin, Wynne and Guion.
Flyer Tells Of Damage.
Lieut.. Joe T. Shumate, adjutant of the
1S4th Observation Squadron, Arkansas
National Guard Aero Unit, said app
parently there were twin tornadoes. the
offspring Of q greater one. He said the
storm originated several miles west Of
Guion.
One path was barely observable
almost due east from Guion, he said,
and the other was in a northeasterly
direction. The former apparently
travelled in the direction Of Swifton and
dorado, the other striking Just east Of
BateSville at Morefield, and further east
at Parkin.
They hardly would be called paths"
Lieut.. Shumate explained. 1T was
dificult to follow the lines and APP
parently the thickly wooded country was
little hurt by the winds. 1t was only
when came upon openings in the
woods that the destruction was apparent.
Il few about 20 miles west Of Guion
and then started back east along the
White River. There Is large bend in
the river, which runs through narrow
canyon. This bend afforded the storm
easy access to Guion, which was on q
blur.
ION either side Of the area near
Swifton which was hit, there was little
evidence a storm had visited that
vicinity. It was only by viewing the
wrecked farm houses and barns in that
vicinity that I was able to follow the
path Of the storm" he said. There
were is or 20 dwellings blown down in
that area"
Death List Revised.
With all dead and injured believed
recovered, relief workers turned TO the
task Of caring for the injured, povid-
Ing shelter and food for the homeless.
A revised list OF known dead follows:
Swifton Area-Cleo Nicholson, rs;
Mrs. Cleo Nicholson. %; Mrs. A. J.
Rowlett, So; John 10y, IS; Mrs. John
Low. 40; Charles Defries, As; Grace De-
fries. 6: Ruth Defries, /; Jack Defries
q: Thurlow Hudgens. 26; Mrs. Russell
Long, 80; Miss Vina Long, IL; Mrs. Ed.
Riley, 40; Buster Riley, 4: Ruth Riley,
8: Mrs. Esther Riley, mother-in-law Of
Mrs Ed Riley; T. C. Billiard, So; Mrs.
r. G. Billiard. "a; Miss Leona Billiard,
1e: Paul Butler. Mrs. Paul Butler, Zela
Butler, O.; Howard Watts, IL; Joe Bull
lard, IL.
Cuion area--Miss Thelna Pierce, Is;
Thana Triton, 2; Claude Campbell, Mrs.
Ruse Atchison, Miss williams, Mrs.
Atchison's sister; Mrs. w. N. Carey and
Mrs. J. p. Pierce.
dorado area-Henry Lowthorp, AZ;
Thomas Adams, As; Mrs. Ollie Low
tlinrp. IS: Martin Tyner, Is: J. w. Ty-
ner, II; Eileen Lowthorp, the last three
the children of Mrs. Lowthorp.
PArkin, Wynne area. L. Lucas,
Mrs, j. L.. Lucas and their two infant
children, Avery Mitchell, eight colored
persons unidentified.