Evening star., 1952-03-24
Tornado Region
Starts Work Of
Sa|vaging Ruins
Entire Families
Buried; Losses Put
In Tens of Millions
BY the Asseeiated Press


BY the Associated Press
LITTLE ROCK, Ark, Mar. "a
The living worked grimly, at bury
Ing and rebuilding today in
six tornado-torn, hood-affiicted
Southern States in which 235 died
and 1,100 were hurt.
In small, partly wrecked
churches throughout the region
yesterday dazed people clustered
Tor funeral services-sometimes
for whole families.
The normal Sabbath quiet of
small towns was broken often by
the raucous chugging of bull
dozers laboring at the debris, the
rattle of trucks and the clumping
OF boards being piled.
Survivors Of the disastrous week
end picked at what was left of
their homes searching for some
thing salvageable, often under the
gaze of hundreds of sightseers
who jammed the stricken areas.
Deaths by States.
AT last count. and it was at best
incomplete and oftentimes mac
curate, the death toll stood att
Arkansas, 131; Tennessee, "a; Mis-
slsSlppi. IL; Kentucky, 8; Mis-
souri,. 16, and Alabama, 5.
Arkansas alone reported I'll In.
jured and 1882 families, thou
sands homeless, affected by theI
terrible winds.
In Easements of churches.
schools and armories, Salvation
Army and Red Cross workers
struggled manfully to feed. house
and clothe those left desolate.
An accurate estimate of dam
age was impossible but it was ex-
pected to reach into the tens of
millions of dollars.
In hospitals doctors and nurses.
eyes red-rimmed from lack of |
sleep, worked to near exhaustion
to aid the injured. Hospital Ca
pacity was strained to the break
ing point.
Truman Asked For Aid.
Arkansas Gov. Sid McMath ap-
pealed directly to President Tru-
man for funds to help the State
Tehabilitate itself.
He also thanked the President
for his quick action in ordering
Federal agencies to make quick
check of the damage in all the
stricken areas to ascertain the
need.
Near Lexington. Tenn, yester-
day a family of six was buried.
The bodies of Mr.. and Mrs.
Genie Duke, their daughter, SON.
in-law and two grandchildren were
found in neat circle in a field.
At Cotton Plant. Ark. the six
children of Antonio Galan, Mex
ican farm worker, were buried.
The day before all six members
Of the Albert Ingle family were
buried.
At Dierks funeral services were
held for six persons-all related,
yesterday. And so it went.
Mothers Body Sought.
In Adolphus, astride the Ten
overwhelmingly State lines, a
family burial awaited the recov-
cry of mothers body.
Mrs. Josie May O'Neal died with
five of her children and nephew
when ker home was swept away
by flood waters from a stream
overburdened by the rains which
swirled on the tornado's per-
inter.
There was an ironic story from
Hartselle. Ala, where one of the
critically injured was little Brenda
Kay Zones, 5. AS the storm ap-
preached her grandmother picked
up Brenda and fed to a neigh
boris house.
The neighbor's house was de-
stroyed. The one from which they
fed was untouched.
Judsonia Ark, probably was the
hardest hit. The business district
was all gone. Perhaps IS per
cent of all the buildings in the
town of 1900 were damaged. |
Looters Steal Cash.
Here Mrs. E. C. Meacham, wife
Of a store owner. told Of looters |
robbing the cash register while |
she and her husband worked at |
rescue and first aid.
She told of how her husband
and Mrs. Mary Ola johnson
sought safety in a vault while
the store crumbled overhead.
1t was the most disastrous week |
end of tornado terror since March
18, 1925, when $50 people died in
Illinois, Missouri and Indiana.
The storms ripped into Arkan-
sas Friday afternoon and cut a
deadly swath from the southwest
corner to the northeast tip.
Other storms formed in Mis-
sissippi and skipped into West
Tennessee the same day, reaching /
Q 300-mile-per-hour velocity
Other storms boiled up in Ken
tucky and Tennessee. Then in
North Alabama Saturday a twister
kicked up at Hartselle to add to |
the toll Of dead and injured.