0
Reporter Finds
Human Tragedies,
Freaks of Luck
(Warren S. Topp Jr.. in the
capaeit; of special correspon
dent for the United Press, left
his home at Sikeston. Mo., and
went into the Tornado-torn
areas of . Missouri's bootheeL
These are his obserrations.)
Caruthersville, Mo.- (U.R) A
tornado-hewn path of devasta
tion a mile and a nan wiae
stretched through the cotton
rnnntrv in Missouri's bootheel
Saturday night, from Cooter to
Cottonwood Point.
Automobiles carrying rescue
workers, survivors, and just
Tiain mrinus drove through
hubcap-deep mud left by a six-
inch ram as tne nunt ior pos
sible additional casualties weni
on.
IS Dead
At least 15 persons died in
Pemiscot county, Mo., and one at
Milligan Ridge, Ark., as a result
of the storm that swept this
border area from Blytheville,
Ark., to Cottonwood Point, Mo
Property damage was estimated
at more than $1,000,000.
Injured totaled 47 at the
Pemiscot Memorial hospital in
Hayti, Mo., and a hospital at
Blyetheville.
Along an eight-mile stretch
from Cooter east to Cottonwood
Point, there wasn't a house left
undamaged by last nignts tor
nado. In the township of Cooter
alone, 30 houses were destroyed
and many others damaged.
Stories of personal tragedy
and freak luck began to come in
as the first rush of caring for
the injured and counting the
dead neared an end.
One of the dead was a 13
year-old girl, Virginia Mason,
who was seriously ill of pneu
monia when the tornado car
ried her home away. She lay in
the rain for more than twojiours
before her father found her, un
hurt. But she died in the Hayti
hospital of exposure.
Truck in Tree
A big truck was left in a tree.
An automobile with three per
sons riding in it was lifted off
the road and put down in a field
a mile away.
Its passengers were only shak
en up.
Coy Lewis, a farmer living
outside Steele, Mo., told how the
tornado moved his house off its
foundation and leveled the
homes of his neighbors.
Lewis said that as the storm
approached he and his wife
were making preparations to
take their three children out
side to a truck, but the wind hit
before they could get out of the
house. It blew out the windows,
shattering everything in the
house. The house, itself was
blown about 25 feet in one di
rection, Lewis said, then blown
back 10 or 15 feet in the other
direction.
He said he guessed it was
lucky the family didn't make it
to the truck he saw it turned
completely around and moved
about 25 feet.
(See Story on Page One)
SERVICE DISCONTINUED
Harrisburg, 111. (U.R) Police
announced that no longer will
they switch coins from auto
windshields to parking meters
for motorists. They gave two
reasons "skidrow" characters
were getting to the coins first
and some of the motorists
skipped making the initial meter
payment when they parked.
Tornado Victims Receive
Little Advance Warning
Oklahoma City (U.R) Tor
nado victims received little or
no advance warning of the Fri
day devastation although an Air
Force storm warning expert said
Saturday his staff had predicted
"a ' major part of the tornado
activity." '
Lt. Col. E. J. Fawbush, chief
of the Tinker Air Force Base
Severe Storm Warning center
here, said his 14-man crew is
sued confidential warnings to
military bases in the ravaged
area several . hours before civil
ians had any word. of. possible
disaster.
Prohibited By Law
"We are prohibited by law
from releasing our forecasts to
the public," Fawbush said.
"Civilians must rely on the
forecasts of the U. S. Weather
bureau of the . Department of
Commerce."
Success of the Tinker storm
warning center, which Monday
begins its fifth year of operation,
was a factor in the U. S. Weather
bureau's decision five days ago
to start issuing tornado forecasts
of its own.
The National Weather bureau
in Washington issued a special
forecast at 1:15 p.m. EST Friday,
calling for "a few isolated" tor
nados in southern Arkansas,
northern Louisiana, extreme
southeastern Oklahoma and the
north half of eastern Texas.
Seven tornado fatalities occur
red in southern Arkansas, but
other areas mentioned in this
forecast escaped fatal storms.
Forecast Amended
Fawbush said the civilian
forecast followed closely a fore
cast his staff made at 10:59 a.m.
Red Cross Director
Sent to Tornado Area
San Francisco U.R) Rich
ard F. Gordon, director of Red
Cross disaster services for the
Pacific area, Saturday was as
signed the job of directing reha
bilitation work among the home
less and needy as a result of
tornadoes in the south and
southwest.
Gordon departed for Red
Cross midwest headquarters at
St. Louis, Mo., via TWA plane
last night.
S.heldon Williams, assistant
Pacific coast director and a vet
eran of 25 major disasters for
the Red Cross, accompanied
Gordon. Another 65 Red Cross
specialists from other parts of
the nation were to join Gordon
at St. Louis.
Hawaii Alerted Against
Possible Tidal Waves
Honolulu (U.R) Small vil
lages on the south oast of the
island of Hawaii were alerted
Saturday for a possible tidal
wave after Dr. Gordon A. Mc
Donald of the Hawaii Volcano
Observatory reported a series of
submarine, earthquakes off
shore. '
However, coast geodetic sur
vey seismologists i n Honlulu
said the quakes were not large
enough to cause "any alarm
about tidals." They said the
quakes were much smaller than
those of the west coast of Hawaii
last August which caused unap
preciable waves.
McDonald said there had been
more than a thousand under
water shocks since Sunday and
they were continuing. None was
felt ashore.
amended at 5:30 p.m. Friday
before the worst of the storm
hit. ,
"We revised our forecast to
include a major part of. the
tornado activity which actually
occurred within a few hours,"
Fawbush said.
The civilian forecast, how
ever, was not revised until 11
p.m. from Washington after
the tornados had raked through
northeastern Arkansas and into
Tennessee, Mississippi and Mis
souri. (See Story Page One)
Survivors Tell
Terrors of Storm
In Arkansas Town
By GEORGE MILLER
U. P. ' Staff Correspondent
Searcy, Ark. (U.R) Survi
vors told Saturday of the terror
of seeing a house roll toward
them, of dread at seeing a home
gone with loved ones missing,
ending. Mrs. Julia York's happy
ending. Mrs. Julia York's ended
tragically. -
I met them both on my trip
through the little town of Jud
sonia where the tornado struck
hardest in northeast Arkanasas.
"I first noticed the storm
when I went to sit in a chair
by the window, in our living
room about 5:13 p.m. yesterday,"
Mrs. York said. "I looked out
the window and the sky seemed
to be right on top of the house.
House Shaking
"I looked out the window and
across the street seemed to be
shaking and then it jumped off
its foundations and began to
turn over," Mrs. York said.
" looked out the window and
saw that house rolling across
the street toward us," added her
daughter, Mrs. Cora Lee Barr.
"I shoved mother to the floor
and screamed for my husband
to come to us. Then the house
wag gone and mother and I were
lying in the front lawn."
Pinned Under House
Mrs. York said she "must have
fainted," because she next heard
her daughter screaming that her
husband Luther "was pinned un
der the house and she couldn't
get him out. "
A young sailor rode with me
to Judsonia to search for his
wife and six-year-old daughter
who were reported missing there.
He was just back from Korea
but there was so much confusion
I didn't ask his name.
When we reached Judsonia we
had to climb through fallen trees
and over live electric wires
through a driving rain to reach
the spot where his house should
have been.
Nothing But Stove
There was nothing but a cook
stove. The floor and walls were
all gone.
"Oh, my God, I should have
stayed in Korea," the sailor
moaned. .
We turned away. About 200
yards from us a light shone
through the window of an aban
doned church. We walked to the
door and a fellow stuck his head
out, the sailor knew him.
'Have you seen my wife and
girl?" he asked.
"Here they are," the man said.
The woman and child rushed
out. The reunion was joyous. For
awhile they were all speechless.
Finally the wife said:
"Oh, your clothes are all gone
now!"
(See Story Page One)
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Wind-Whipped Fire Ravages Half
Of Alaska Coastal Fishing Town
Wrangell. Alaska jOJ.R) Fire
from an exploding hardware
store furnace destroyed approx
imately one-half of this Alaska
coastal fishing town Saturday
and caused damage estimated at
$1,000,000. One person was in
jured slightly.
The blaze, whipped by 30-mile-per-hour
winds, raced north and
south over a four-block area and
leveled 21 waterfront buildings.
About 100 persons, including 40
from the own's only hotel, fled
for their lives.
About 400 men, representing
every able-bodied man in town,
turned out to fight the fire,
which was reported virtually
under control.
Lew M. Williams Jr., co-editor
of the Wrangell Sentinel news
paper, said the. damage would
reach $1,000,000. He said "better
than half" of the , town was
leveled.
The Coast Guard ordered the
cutters White Holly from Peters
burg and Sweet Briar from
Ketchikan to proceed full steam
to Wrangell to help fight the
fire. However, with the tide out
early Saturday, it was impossible
for ships to approach close
enough to play water on the
blazing town, Williams said.
"What made the fire so hard to
fight," Williams said, "was the
fact the burning buildings are on
docks and the wind blew the
flames underneath. The firemen
couldn't get at the flames."
Destroyed were the three-story
Wrangell hotel, a cold storage
plant; the electrical supply firm
where the fire started; the town!
only barber shop, theater and
bakery; one of three grocery
stores, a lodge hall, a bar, two
liquor stores, the Elks hall and
bowling alleys and one of three
women's apparel shops. A 10-unit
apartment house and transfer
garage also were leveled.
EN ROUTE TO JAPAN, Caesar's Crown, 8-year-old mare, proudly
nuzzles her 18-day old colt at San Francisco wharf before boarding
ship. They are among 16 valuable horses, including colt sire. Vino
Puro, outstanding Argentine stallion, bought by S. Shirai, owner
of Japanese Racing Form, from Oakmead Farm. (In'trvationai)
Searchers Find Two
Cougar Hounds Dead
TJarrinfftnn Wash (U.P)
Searchers gave up hope Satur-I
day for the last of three cooar
hounds which were stranded for
15 days atop a rocky ledge on
Whitehorse mountain.
A 10-man rescue party which
had been seeking the animals fin
ished their search Friday night
when one of the dogs was found
frozen to death on the ledge, a
second was found dead at the
foot of the cliff and the third was
missing.
Stay All Night
Seven of the mountaineers
stayed on the mountain all night
because it was too risky to come
down after dark.,
Cleo Riddels, owner of the
dogs, found, the broken body of
Old Tom, the dog that flushed 26
cougars this winter, 4000 feet
up the snow-packed mountain
and at the bottom of the 500 foot
ledge.
A band of mountaineers from
the University of Washington
found the fecond canine. Laddie,
curled up and frozen stiff on the
ledge.
Vertical Cliff
The climbers had to inch their'
way several hundred feet across
the almost vertical face of the
cliff to reach the animal. '
The third dog. Queenie, was
nowhere to be seen and Riddels
feared he followed Old Tom's
lead and hurled himself off the
cliff.
Riddels, his eyes moist with
grief, gently picked up Old Tom,
removed the animal's brass
studded collar and said, "the kids
will be broken up about this but
I'm glad for their sake we found
him."
15 Days Ago
Riddels' dogs became ma
rooned on the isolated ledge 15
days ago and attempts to rescue
them this week failed.
Besides having no food for 15
days, the anguished dogs were
harassed by infuriated bald
eagles that dived and swooped at
them on their lofty perch.
LOST EASILY FOUND
Ligonier, Ind. (U.R) A state
police trooper, William Booth,
visualized an embarrassing stol
en police car broadcast when he '
couldn't ' find the patrol car he
had parked behind the police;
post. Then he found it on a near-!
by pistol range. He had failed to
set the brake. i
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