The True Story of Our National Calamity of Flood, Fire and Tornado Part 27

Among the freak tragedies of the tornado none is more remarkable than that at the Idlewild pool hall, Twenty-fourth and Lake Streets.

Twenty-five negroes were killed. The story is told by the single survivor, John Brown, who was dug from the wreckage twelve hours after the demolition of the building.

"Eight men were playing pool at one table," Brown says. "The rest of us were standing about watching. Without a moment's warning a terrific roar swept down through the room. The roof suddenly was lifted from above.

The pool table shot straight upward, many feet into the air.

"All of us still were unhurt."

Insane with fear, but wondering, the negroes rushed beneath the open roof and gazed upward. Then the heavy pool table and pieces of the roof shot down. All were caught. Brown was dug from the wreckage twelve hours later, uninjured.

HOUSE SPLIT ASUNDER

Huddled with his family in the bas.e.m.e.nt of his home at 3229 c.u.ming Street, Prof. E. W. Hunt saw the house split asunder. When he recovered consciousness beneath the wreckage he discovered that a last summer straw hat was c.o.c.ked on the back of his head. It had been hanging in a bedroom closet three stories above before the tornado struck the house.

The body of a girl about four was dropped into the arms of a pedestrian, Charles Allen, at Forty-fifth and Center Streets. Efforts to identify the child failed.

In a field half a mile from their home were found the bodies of Mrs.

Mary Rathkey and her two grown sons, Frank and James. All three were dead but no bruises were found. The wind had cut their clothing completely away.

Mrs. F. Bryant, ninety-two, lived with her son, Dr. D. C. Bryant, at 3006 Sherman Avenue. She was in bed on the third floor of the house when the tornado struck. The three floors beneath her were s.h.i.+fted out and her bed fell to the bas.e.m.e.nt. Except for the shock she was uninjured.

Dr. Bryant and his wife were dropped to the bas.e.m.e.nt from the ground floor. They, too, miraculously escaped injury.

VIVID TALES OF THE STORM

Perhaps the most vivid single description of the tornado's havoc was given by John Porter:

"I stood on the rear porch of my home when the great cloud of the storm began its race across the city," he said. "Before it rushed the traditional 'ball of fire,' which was in reality a yellow cloud, spherical in shape.

"My wife was visiting at the moment in the home of her father. I saw the house caught in the vortex of the cloud. It rose straight up into the air, its walls shattered and broken, but holding partially together. I am sure that I could not have moved an eyelash, if my life had depended upon the exertion.

"From the risen house I saw a myriad of black specks falling to the earth. Then I watched that home soar upward. It hurtled five blocks through the murky twilight, sustained at a height of one hundred and fifty feet.

"The Sacred Heart Convent was the target at which it was hurled. It struck the fifth story. The convent was demolished. The home of my father-in-law became splinters.

"Then I recovered my senses partially, and ran to the site of the structure. G.o.d himself must have directed that storm, for my wife, her father and her mother had been dropped behind, only bruised."

CHAPTER XVIII

STRUGGLES OF STRICKEN OMAHA

A BLIZZARD-LIKE STORM--COUNTING THE COST--"THE GREATEST CONCEIVABLE BLOW"--SEARCHING FOR THE DEAD--A DAY OF FUNERALS--MORE CASES OF DESt.i.tUTION--PLANS FOR REBUILDING.

As if the storm of Easter Sunday were not enough calamity, a blizzard-like storm descended upon the city of Omaha on Tuesday, adding to the grief and horror. The storm, which began shortly after midnight, and continued with gathering force, seriously hampered the work of rescue. More than three inches of snow covered the debris in the section of the city struck by the cyclone. It rendered uninhabitable the houses of many who had prepared to retain temporary homes in partly demolished structures.

Women tugging at heavy beams, hoping against hope to find dear ones beneath the wreckage, men gruffly cheering their sorrowful mates, sniveling children wrapped about with shawls and blankets were the scenes which the sunrise this morning disclosed to the federal soldiers as they patrolled the afflicted district.

Later, city officials gathered within the lines drawn around the district by the soldiers and distributed clothing and other necessities among the sufferers who had been rendered homeless by the tornado.

COUNTING THE COST

For the first time the people began to count the cost in lives and dollars. When a resume was made it was apparently more appalling than those who had studied the result were willing to admit.

One hundred and fifty-four lives were snuffed out within the city proper. Nearly five hundred were injured and eight of these died in local hospitals during the day.

All Omaha rallied to the a.s.sistance of the desolate victims of the tornado. Hundreds of citizens responded promptly by offering their homes and money to aid in caring for the stricken.

The City Commissioners appropriated $75,000 for relief work, and citizens at once subscribed to an equal amount. Governor Morehead sent a special message to the Legislature asking for an appropriation to care for the homeless throughout the state.

"THE GREATEST CONCEIVABLE BLOW"

After making an inspection of the devastated district, the Governor said:

"This is my conception of h.e.l.l. It is horrible, and it has presented a most complex situation. The loss of life and damage to property is the greatest conceivable blow, not only to Omaha, but to the entire state of Nebraska. I will call upon the state of Nebraska to render every a.s.sistance and I am sure the state will respond.

"My horror and grief are beyond my powers of expression."

SEARCHING FOR THE DEAD

Groups of men, aided and encouraged by women and children, labored incessantly all day Tuesday among the ruins of homes and other buildings. Only portions of the ruins of some buildings within which persons were known to have been killed were removed. As quickly as bodies were found they were taken to temporary morgues. Relatives claimed most of the bodies, but some remained unidentified. Funerals and burials were held from all churches and homes. Cemeteries were thronged with grieving friends and relatives.

MILITARY LAW

Military law was strictly enforced throughout the storm area. Upon the soldiers rested the responsibility for looting and fires. The city Health Department made every effort to place the district in a sanitary condition as rapidly as possible. Garbage wagons and trash carts were the only vehicles admitted within the patrolled section. The water supply fortunately remained unimpaired.

A DAY OF FUNERALS

Another period of unseasonable cold followed Tuesday's snowstorm and increased the already long list of sufferers from the storm.

Paying last rites occupied the time of thousands of persons on Wednesday. Fifty-two funerals silently wending their way to cemeteries brought home with greater force to the people of Omaha the full realization of the extent of Sunday's tornado. All day long, as fast as hea.r.s.es could deposit the bodies at graves, a continual death procession was kept up.

Many of the bodies recovered from Sunday's storm were cared for at undertaking establishments, and a great number of the funerals were held from those places. Whenever possible friends of stricken families took care of bodies and had them prepared for burial. In many instances churches were demolished in the districts covered by the storm and others were so badly wrecked as to prevent their being used for burial services.

LITTLE CEREMONY

There was little ceremony. As quickly as one funeral was over another began. Undertakers co-operated in arranging burials. In several instances where entire families were killed or where more than one member of a family awaited burial one funeral service was held. The funerals were a constant procession.

One of the most pitiful of the funerals was that of Mrs. Mary Rathkey and two small children. Surviving Mrs. Rathkey is the husband and father, who is nearly demented over the disaster. Mrs. Rathkey and her children were killed in their home.