The True Story of Our National Calamity of Flood, Fire and Tornado Part 30

A tornado that pa.s.sed over Clarksville, Arkansas, on Tuesday, killed Miss Ida Brazell and blew down many houses. At Rumeley five were killed and several injured. Couriers immediately sought aid, carrying news of great suffering in the mountains.

Their tales were heart-moving. Lack of insurance, lack of funds and lack of knowledge of what to do when overtaken by calamity made the situation in small towns and in out-of-the-way places more pathetic than that of the unhappy homeless in some of the large cities affected by the tornado or the flood. To the latter relief was immediately sent--from neighboring places, from the whole country. The others, suffering no less, did not always even succeed in being heard.

CHAPTER XXIII

THE TORNADO IN INDIANA

THE BRUNT OF THE STORM--MANY BURIED UNDER WRECKAGE--SLEEPERS HURLED FROM BEDS--FREAKS OF THE STORM--INJURED CARRIED TO HOSPITALS--ACUTE SUFFERING--RESCUE WORK--NATIONAL GUARD ON DUTY--TOWN OF PERTH LAID WASTE.

The record of disaster by tornado was greater in Terre Haute than in any other place except Omaha. For two weeks before Easter a dense atmosphere hung over the city, which occasional heavy rainfalls did not clear. Then suddenly on Sunday night, about ten o'clock, the lightning flashed and loud peals of thunder followed.

The tornado seemed to spring out of the southwestern part of the city as if it came from the swollen waters of the Wabash River. It first smashed into Gardentown, a suburb of the city, where a great many working people live, and every building in its path crumpled down before it. The lightning sped over building after building, setting many of them on fire. Parts of the Root Gla.s.s Company's plant were flattened. The end of the foundry room of the Gartland Factory, a solid brick wall eight inches thick, was caved in. Brick and stone structures suffered alike.

MANY BURIED UNDER WRECKAGE

In the streets were tangled ma.s.ses of twisted electric wires spluttering out warnings of death for those who, careless of the first alarm, had rushed in to rescue those who had been buried under roofs and walls.

Policemen, firemen and a host of volunteers struggled through the debris, sidestepping the live wires that had been torn from their fastenings.

The heavy downpour of rain extinguished many fires, and the city of Terre Haute was thereby saved from destruction by fire. The large Greenwood public school was shattered and torn. The tornado, like a huge auger, bored into the roof and tore the s.h.i.+ngles and rafters away and every window was hurled from its casing. This building was later converted into a hospital and morgue.

SLEEPERS HURLED FROM BEDS

In many instances death came to those who were asleep in their beds when their homes collapsed about them. In other cases the bodies were picked up as if by giant hands and hurled either to death or to terrible injury. Some were thrown more than a hundred feet.

Above the roar of the wind and the rattle of the rain could be heard the screams of frantic women and children. The scenes were pitiful. Men and women were looking for loved ones, and when a torn and mangled form was taken from the debris, a woman's shriek would tell the story of a lost one found.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Copyright by George Grantham Bain.

Hundreds of buildings were demolished by the tornado at Terre Haute, Indiana, and many lives were lost]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Photograph by Brown Bros.

Scenes such as this could be duplicated hundreds of times to ill.u.s.trate the demoniacal power of the tornado that laid waste the cities and towns through which it pa.s.sed]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE REAPER]

Charles Chadwick, a six-year-old boy, owed his escape to the fact that he left home, in the absence of his parents, to go to a moving-picture show. He was found walking along South Fifth Street after the storm, but his home could not be found as it had been blown away.

Seven houses owned by Fred Housman, including the one he lived in, on the Lockport road, were swept away completely. Five wrecked autos were found on that road.

Between Hulman and Voorhees Streets, in South Eighth, there was complete devastation. Twenty-five houses were leveled to the ground in this stretch.

On the Lockport road, south of Idaho, at least sixteen houses were destroyed, but there were no fatalities and few were injured in this immediate neighborhood.

MOTHER AND CHILD SWEPT AWAY

Mrs. Flora Wood was hurled seven feet from her home, her small baby clasped in her arms. They were cared for at the Third United Brethren Church.

The day-old baby of Mrs. Leonard Sloan was found in one corner of the bedroom of their home, while the mother lay in another corner. The entire top of the house had been blown away.

William Rogers, Superintendent of the United Brethren Sunday-school, was buried beneath the walls of his home. He died while being carried to the school house.

A large stone boarding house conducted by Mrs. Catherine Louden was wrecked and the aged woman and her son, Ralph Louden, were badly injured.

Many houses were wrecked between Third and Fifth Streets in Voorhees Street.

FREIGHT CAR USED AS HOSPITAL

A freight car was pressed into service as a temporary medical quarter, when the fire wagons with the police and fire departments arrived on the scene. The live wires and burning debris made it impossible for the ambulances to get within two blocks of the scene, and the bodies had to be carried to safety by the rescuers.

Six fires broke out in different parts of the devastated district, while the rescue work was being carried on. The strong winds still blowing fanned the flames and drove the rescuers from their work.

FAMILY BURIED UNDER HOUSE

Fred King, a gla.s.s blower at 2146 Dilman Street, was found with his wife and baby covered by the heavy timbers of their home that had collapsed when the storm struck it. King had been hurled from his bed a distance of ten feet. Two heavy timbers had almost crushed the life out of him.

His wife was terribly injured. A few feet away the baby was picked up dead. The mother in her death struggles probably tried to save the baby by throwing it away from her.

Near the Greenwood school several more were killed and many were injured. Mrs. E. J. Edwards, wife of a druggist, was knocked down by a heavy timber that broke her leg and pinned her to the ground. When she was found the woman was screaming for her child, and later the little fellow, eight years old, was picked up dead and carried to the Greenwood school building.

Remarkable escapes were made in the twenty-four hundred block on South Third Street, some of the residents of the square being seriously injured. Mr. and Mrs. George Carmichael escaped from their home as it was blown away by the wind.

Many families were separated in the excitement and for two hours after the storm had pa.s.sed anxious husbands, mothers and children were searching the debris for absent members of their families. Many could not find the wrecked remains of their homes, so hopelessly tangled was the wreckage in the streets and on the sidewalks, and in several cases it was difficult even to find the place where the home had stood.

INJURED CARRIED TO HOSPITALS

Ambulances and moving vans were used to carry the injured to hospitals and as these were soon filled stables and homes were converted into temporary hospitals. More than two hundred persons were placed under the care of doctors, but many were only slightly hurt and in some cases women were found to be suffering merely from fright. These were soon dismissed to make room for those actually suffering.

The scenes at the hospitals were pitiful. The agony of the sufferers was increased by the uncertainty as to the fate and condition of their families and friends.

Little children, lying in bandages about the hospital, cried out in pain and fright. One little fellow with a big gash over his eye cried out for his mother as he was being taken to the operating room. His father sat near him and tried to lend what comfort was possible. A little girl in one of the large rooms of the hospital played and laughed on her bed while three anxious physicians worked with her sister, who had sustained a compound fracture of the leg and a dislocated shoulder.

VICTIMS' FRIENDS CROWD TO FIND THEM

Friends and relatives of people living in the storm devastated region soon crowded the halls of the hospitals, anxiously inquiring if those dear to them were among the victims. Many learned of the whereabouts of relatives or friends in the rooms of the hospital and crowded in to see them when this was possible, expressing joy that they had escaped from death beneath the falling walls and timbers of their homes. One man, when lifted on the operating table, was found to be dead.

RESCUE WORK

The rescue work was carried on rapidly, and Monday night all the homeless were cared for by charitable inst.i.tutions and citizens, while the more seriously injured were carried to places where they could receive medical attention. In many cases private homes were turned into temporary hospitals.