Evening star., 1942-10-30
TornadokiIIs27,
Injuries 200 in !
Arkansas Town !:
Fire-Swept Wreekoge5
Combed for Bodies;
rs Trapped in Depot / /
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press. n
BERRYVILLE, Ark, Oct. 30..e
At least 81 persons were killed
and more than 200 injured, many
critically, when a tornado leveIeda
more than. half of this Ozark
Mountain town late last night.
Several of the injured were SO.
badly hurt that physicians advised,
against transporting to hospitals. -
The identified dead were:
Mrs. Mrytle Dwyer, IS.
Mrs. Charles Wright, about 63.
Infant Sellick, IA months. -
Mrs. Hildred Wilton, %, and in..
FAINT. II
Edgar Ledbetter, 55. -
Ellis De Weese, about IS.
Gwendolyn McWethy, 16. =
Pat Rivet, go.
Mrs. Pearl Scott and mother.
Mrs. Ida Kenetzer, q.
Mrs. Belle Maxwell, 80.
Alfred Sellick, 40. ~
- Davis, Is, son OF Bugle Davis.
- Wyrick, boy. -
Fires broke out Immediately after
the tornado, forcing the survivors to-
drop their rescue operations for q,
time to prevent spread of the flames
through the splintered wreckage. =.
rs Trapped in Rail Depot. 70
approximately Is persons werei
trapped and injured in the collapse
OF the Missouri & Arkansas Rail-
road station. Most of them were
waiting to board northbound train.s
Without hospital facilities, the
stricken town of 1,485 population
mad only three physicians to care for,
the scores of injured.
The only drug store was demol.
lshed and most of the drugs ana
medlcal supplies were DESTROYED.
making it impossible for the three
doctors to do more than give first
ald until supplies arrived from near,
oy towns. Doctors and nurses were
sent from Harrison and Eureka
Springs and several loads of injured,
were taken to hospitals In other
communities.
passenger bus came through the,
stricken town 80 minutes after the
disaster. Its passengers alighted or
STOOD up to make room for some of,
the worst injured who were taken,
to the Harrison Hospital. ~,
Town Left Helpless. -s,
The tornado left the town help
less. -
The power plant was DESTROYED.
forcing rescue workers to use torch
light, f1ashlight, lanterns, candles or
even matches. H.
The telephone system remained In
operation through use of an emer-.
gency battery system. ~
An eight-man medical detach.,
ment from Camp Robinson was,
ordered to Berryville, with medical
supplies. An appeal for assistance
was sent to the Red Cross at Little
Rock. ~,
The City Hall and Courthouse ,
two OF the few buildings remaining
intact In the business district, were
converted into emergency hospitals,
but IN the early hours there waA.
,, little the workers could do for thei
sufferers.
Rea Nelson, undertaken, said al
bodies had been brought to the fus
neral parlor in the early morning
hours, and he expected there were
many more dead buried tn the,
] ruins. :.
They just can't get in there unttr
dayoreak. We don't have any idea
now many may be missing" he said.,
Some Escapes Amazing. "
Some of the escapes were amazing
Mr.. and Mrs. Mark Tanning were
unlnjured when the tornado
wrecked their bedroom, but the.
feather bed on which they were
sleeping and the comfort which
they had over them vanished. ~ ~
Berryville, one of the oldest com.
munities in the Ozark region. is az,
important wholesale and jobbinr
center, servicing the northwest por-
ton OF Arkansas and adjacent areas
in Missouri.
Ihe prosperous wholesale houses
and canneries, the life source fos.
the community, were virtually All
destroyed.
Among these were the Whitmyer
Grocery, the Berryville Wholesals,
Grocery and the North Arkansak
canning Warehouse. The large
combination grade and high schooI
also was destroyed.
D.. ~ y.