VOLUME 20, NUMBER 74
SEWARD, ALASKA, THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 1925.
PRICE TEN CENTS
TORNADO HITS MIDDLE-WEST
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FIFTEEN HUNDRED KILLED, WITH THOUSANDS INJURED
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CHICAGO, III., March 19. (A P Flash). *Over fifteen hundred persons are reported killed with thousands
injured when a tornado swept over part of Missouri, southern Illinos and Indiana, destroying two or three towns and
doing great property damage throughout the entire section. At West Frankfort, a little Illinois mining town it is es
r timated that four hundred are dead, with many bodies still in the wreckage. Frankfort suffered its heaviest loss at
the time when the Joiner public school was destroyed, in which were two hundred children, the majority of whom were
instantly killed. Frankfort is a small town about three thousand population.
At Murphysboro, the wind was so violent that the bodies of stricken Parishers were carried over a mile. Hund
reds are dead in this city, the greatest loss occurring when the little school house was blown down over the heads of 245
$ pupils.
At the little mining village of De Sota, III., the most pathetic reports came from, when only three of the 250 pupils
in the destroyed schoolhouse escaped uninjured. The total dead in this thriving coal mining town is listed at 957 and
with the appalling figure of 2,674 injured.
Thousands Injured and Homeless
In a later report the dead are estimated at from five
hundred to one thousand persons with the injured at from
twenty-five hundred to three thousand; homeless eight to
ten thousand.
Tornado Strikes in Middle of Afternoon
It was mid-aftemoon yesterday, when the tornado
struck, the worst possible hour. Children were packed
in the schools, workers in stores and shops. The tornado
spread over five of the midwestern states doing great
damage. Many of the victims are still hidden in the ruin
caused by the blast, and many deaths are still unreported.
Where the tornado did the most damage, it lasted
under five minutes, floating heavily constructed school
and businss buildings with worse results than in the light
er dwellings where babies were the principal sufferers.
Many Dead Still \n Wreckage
Fires are still raging or smouldering, while millions
of dollars worth of wreckage delayed the accounting of
* the deaths. The hardest hit places were the small cities
of Southern Illinois, West Frankfort, Murphysboro, and
Carbondale, nearly all of the destruction being centered in
the soft coal fields. Next to Illinois, Indiana and Mis
souri suffered the worst with fatal echoes of the twister
/ pouring in from Tennessee and Kentucky.
The Red Cross, militia, army aviators, railroads and
m all resources have been called into action and many special
trains from two of the nation’s largest cities, Chicago and
St. Louis are concentrated on Southern Illinois.
FIRES RAGING IN TWO CITIES
CHICAGO, March 19.—The Illinois Central Railroad
advises that fires are burning in Murphysboro and De
Sota today.
BROADCAST ASKING FOR RELIEF
CHICAGO, March 19.—Radio appeals for relief were
broadcast in an all night program from W. L. S., asking
for ten thousand dollars for a fund to be used in the relief
^of storm victims. Early this morning eight thousand dol
j lars were pledged by telephone, and telegraph while one
pledge was telegraphed from Cheyenne.
< i RED CROSS SENT TO FIELD
WASHINGTON, D. C., March 19.-The American
I Red Cross put facilities in operation in an effort to re
lieve the sufferers of yesterday's storm in the middlewest.
The Red Cross report shov e'1 that doctors and nurses are
j c 5 hurrying to the scenes of havoc from many points.
CHANGES BE MADE
IN TERRITORIAL
PRIMARY LAWS
PREFERENCE VOTE FOR GOVERN
OR AND COMMITTEEMAN
BE ABOLISHED
(Special to The Gateway)
JUNEAU, Alaska, Mar. 19.—Repeal;
of the Territorial law providing for a
preference vote for Governor of the ;
Territory of Alaska, is aimed at in |
House Bill 21, introduced by Repre- j
sentative Watson of Fairbanks. As:
the law stands it is ineffective and is
regarded generally as a joke in legis
tive belief. An effort will also be1
made to repeal the statutory require-1
ment for popular election of a National
Committeeman for each party, as a j
means of preventing a recurrence of I
the situation arising out of the refu- (
sal of the Republican National Com- j
mittee to seat John Frame, who was j
elected during the 1924 primary. f
The deficiency appropriation bill, j
carrying more than $12,000 for wolf,
and eagle bounties, passed the Sen- j
ate today. This is the first measure
of the season to emerge from the leg
islative mill as a completed law and
go to the Governor for his signature.
Representative Elliott of Nome in- j
troduced a memorial in the House re-!
questing the Alaska Road Commission
to construct an auto road from Kaltag
to Unalakleet. The reconnaissance
made last summer by the commission
established the tentative cost of con-1
struction at several hundred thousand
dollars.
BREAKERS BURN
AT PALM BEACH
PALM BEACH, Fla., Mar. 19.—Fire
caused by the use of an electrical con
trivance by a woman guest of the ho- *
tel totally destroyers The Breakers, '
one of Palm Beach’s famous stylish *
hotels. The loss is estimated at four
million dollars. A number of crip- .
pled women in the hotel were res
cued by firemen.
Martial law was declared by Gov
ernor Martin following the seizure by
police of two motor trucks and several
automobiles filled with goods stolen <
during the fire. Eight negroes and i
one white man were arrested with a
hotel goods in their possession. \ j
THOUSAND DEAD NEAR CARBONDALE
CARBONDALE, Illinois, March 19.—Reports
pouring in to the Red Cross here indicate that
over one thousand are dead and three thousand
hurt within a twenty-three mile radius of Car
bondale. Private cars have been converted into
ambulances to rush the injured to nearby hospit
als, which are overflowing.
NATIONAL GUARD ORDERED OUT
CAIRO, March 19.—A unit of national guard has
been ordered to West Frankfort for patrol duty.
TORNADO WORST IN HISTORY COUNTRY
CHICAGO, Mar. 19.—Reports totalled this afternoon
gave the number of dead from the tornado at 1708, with a
maximum of 1940. The injured total 2072, which makes
it the worst tornado ever known in the history of the coun
try. Previous records show that in 1884 600 were killed
m Southern States; 600 in 1896 in St. Louis: and 500 dead
in 1908 in Southern states.
WITNESS TELLg OF CATASTROPHE
CHICAGO, Mar. 19.—Two towns in the wake of the
tornado were literally erased, but one dwelling and the
schoolhouse remaining in the village of Parrish, Illinois;
four dwellings were left in Griffin, Indiana, a village of
750 inhabitants, and they were badly damaged. One hun
dred city blocks were flattened in Murphysboro, Illinois.
The legislature pushed a measure through the assem
bly today appropriating $25,000 for relief. Governor Len
Small, of Illinois, went with his staff to the devastated dis
trict, and is assisting in relief work.
A brakeman on the Illinois Central, who witnessed
the tragedy at De Soto, described it as “a crash of thun
der preceded by two blinding flashes of lightning, after
which nothing was left of the town.”
Eight hundred men down in a mine at West Frank
fort, felt the concussion and flocked to the lifts, but found
the cages would not work. The tornado had passed be
fore they reached the surface.
In this locality rescue workers noticed a baby's shoe
sticking from the debris at the miners' home. They grasp
ed it and pulled little Becy Reed, unhurt, from the wreck
age. The child was not even scratched.
HOYT CASE GOES
TO JURY TODAY
JUNEAU, Alaska, Mar. 19.—The
ase of Romeo Hoyt, charged with
obbing the postoffice at Fairbanks,
rhere the jury disagreed, goes to the
ury today after a trial lasting ten
clays. Hoyt was brought here on a
change of venue.
DAWES TO FIGHT ONE
MAN FILIBUSTERING
WASHINGTON, D. C., March 19.—
Dawes will carry to the country in ad
d asses his fight against the one-man
filibuster which he started with his
inaugural address.