The Altus Times. (Altus, Okla.), Vol. 4, No. 18, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 11, 1905 Page: 3 of 6
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AWFUL HURRICANE!
The Town of Snyder, Oor Sister City On the Best,
Practically Demolished by Frightful
Tornado on Wednesday Might!
EIGHTI-FDUR BODIES TAKEN PROM RD1NS
Over 250 Persons Wounded, Dying and Missing
-Entire North Part of Town Swept Away
-Relief Trains From Every Quarter.
CITY STRICKEN WITHOUT SIGN OF WARNING
Revolving Funnel-Shaped Cloud Swept From
Southwest to Northeast, Carrying Death
and Destruction in Its Path—Heart-
Sickening Scenes at the Morgue-
Geo. W. Bailey was a Victim.
Incomplete List of Dead.
C. L. Barnes.
Fred Crump.
Mls» Murphy.
Henry Orcutt.
Mrs. M. Moody.
Mrs. Buby Lee.
Chas. StuUvllle.
Mrs. M. A. Fost.
Miss Fessenden.
Mrs. Mary Bigg».
Mr. Van Ilusklrk.
II. H. Fessendon.
George W. Bailey.
James Mccart, a boy.
Three Cook children.
Mrs. K. P. Beckwetli.
Miss Florence Baker.
Mrs. Cal. Williamson.
Mrs. Fannie Bodwlck.
Mr. and Mrs. Attaway.
Miss Lulu M. .Edwards.
One unidentified llttlo girl.
The entire Weaver family.
Mr. Donovan (Frisco Fireman.)
Mrs. Mary Johnson and two sons.
The Hudson children, three or four.
Mr. and Mrs. Hudson, fatally injured.
Mr. and Mrs. George Davis and child.
Mr. and Mrs, G. C. Jones and children.
Miss Pearl Taylor, of Amarlllo, Texas.
C. W. Beum.au, a blind man, and son, Earl.
Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Baser and son, Russell.
Mr. and Mrs. 8. S. Fosssenden and four chll-
rcn
Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Coleman and three
children.
InspectorUOrt°D,80n0f ^ Tcrrltorlal CattJe | Brick busiuew
Miss Laura Bussell, a member of the Fessen-
den family.
Ernest Moss, and seven others on a ranch
. southwest of town.
I'rof. C. T. Hibbard, wife and two children,
and his father and mother.
J. P. Southerland, his mother, and three oth-
er occupants of same building.
Total, 84.
[Notk. It Is impossible at this time to givo
a list of the Injured and missinjr. Many of the
Injured will die, while It Is probable that dead
bodies will be unearthed from the ruln6 for
several days to come. The above Is the official
list of all the dead reported up to 9 o'clock on
Thursday morning.—Editor.]
Friday, 4 p. m—Fourmore bodies have been
recovered from the rulni.
Eighty four persous dead, over
200 badly injured, and a large
portion of the town in ruins,
are the frightful consequences of
the tornado which swept over the
town of Snyder, 83 miles east of
Altus, between 8 and 9 o'clock
Wednesday night. Straight
across the northern half of the
town, from southwest to north
east, swept the terrible hurricane
picking up massive buildings ai
if they had been chaff, and scat
tering them to ths four winds of
u. Men, women aud chil
dren were buried beneath the de
bris, and their lives ground out
by the awful fury of the winds
Some were struck by flying mis-
siles while trying to escape
while still others, caught up by
the whirling torrent of wind, rain
hail, were blown far distant from
their usual habitation, bruised
and battored and in some in-
stances, torn limb from limb.
Substantial woodou buildings
were crushed like eggshells.
houses were re-
duced to heaps 9f rubbish.
Handsome residences were swept
from their foundations aud not a
vestige remains. Heavy freight
cars, loaded with lumber, iron
etc.. were overturned, twisted,
demolished aud reduced to shape-
less masses of iron, wood and
steel, Ruin and desolation is on
every hand, and where but a few
hours ago was a happy, prosper-
ous community, sadness, death
aud gloom prevail.
It was about 8:80 o'clock
Wednesday night, and the peo-
ple of Snyder were preparing to
retire. Dark, angry clouds be-
gftu rolling up from (he sooth*
weit, but low paid any attention
to them. Suddeuly there oamo
an angry roar, a sound of raabiug
winds, aud the awful tornado
was upon the striokeu town. It
required but a few momenta to
completo ita terrible work, but in
that short apace of time over
half a huudred livos were oruahed
out, thousands of dollars iu prop
erty destroyed, aud the aavinga
of a lifetime, iu mauy instances
awept away. Tho rain foil iu
torrcuts, tho ligbtuing flashed
and the thunder roarad, Theu
all was atillueaa, save for the
oriea of the wouuded aud dying.
Every building north of the
railroad waa awept away, not a
▼eatige of human habitation re-
maining, savo splintered lumber
aoattered over the plaiu. The
Frisco round houae is a heap of
brick bate, the maaaive oottou
compress a pile of twiated acrap
iron, the freight cars in the Fris-
co yards heaps of kiudliug wood
and junk. South of the railroad
in the west part of town, the
samo condition prevails. The
path of the storm is plainly
marked, aud it looks as if aome
mighty torreut of wind aud
water had passed over it. Dead
horses, cattle, hogs and other
livestock are scattered around in
every conceivable shape. Ou the
mam business street every build-
ing bears visible evidence of the
oycloue's deadly work. Mauy of
them are totally demolished, aud
lie as they fell, their, material
hopelessly mixed with the atocks
of goods they housed. The fronts
are smashed aud stove iu, and
fragments of broken glass add
their quota to the confusing mass.
Stocks of goods, mixed iu inex-
tricable tangle, lie unguarded
and uncared for iu the middle of
the street. Occasionally a build-
ing is uninjured save for oue
wall, which is completely gone,
leaving no trace behind. Aud iu,
on, over and around this con
glomerate mass swarm the town's
population aud morbid curiosity-
mongers, looking, stariug, com-
menting. the owners seeking to
save what they can.
But the saddest sight of all is
further up town, out of the path
of devastation. Here an unoc-
upied store room has been con
verted into a temporary morgue,
and sickening, heartrending
scenes have been enacted every
hour. The dead, as rapidly as
brought in, were stripped, washed
wrapped iu muslin aud laid on
slabs for identification. This es-
tablished, a strip of paper piuued
to the covering bore their name.
Ou Thursday morning the place
was crowded with dead, so much
so that the childreu were placed
iu shelves, tier upon tier, aronud
the sides of the room. With
bowed heads aud anxious hearts
the long Hum of people paaaed
through the plaoe, the only aouud
which broke the huab of death
b*iug the cry of auguiab from
aome peraou who had found a
loved one among tbeailent white-
robed forma lying on the oount*
era.
Early Thursday morning the
relief traina, bearing phyaioiana,
nurses, auppliea aud many peo-
ple, bogau to arrive. They oamo
from Oklahoma, Lawton, Quanah
and Hobart, aud the work of auc-
our and reacue waa quickly organ
ixed. The Hilton hotel waa con-
verted into a vaat hoapital, aud
aurgeoua aud nuraea aoou bad the
work well iu haud.
It ia estimated that fully 10,000
peopla viaited the acene of the cy
cloue Thursday, mauy to render
assistnuce, aud mauy out of mor
bid curiosity. The property dam-
age is euormoua, aud will amount
into the hundieda of thouaauds.
Relief committeea are being or
gauiied iu all the aurrouuding
towna, the Altua Chamber of
Commerce holding a meeting for
that purpoae Thuraday night.
The Times goes to preaa too early
tbia week to give a more extended
account of the atorm, but will
take up the matter in detail
uext issue.
PR. McKANNA'S
LIQUOR CURE....
CYCLONE'S VICTIMS.
Can only be had at his Sanatarium, Oklahoma Clt!
I have no uranches nor agents giving my treatmeij
People may tell you they have something JUST i
GOOD but it takes time to demonstrate these thing.
Then, can you afford to be experimented on? I havj
been In this business if years; have established a cu
that Curbs. Don't be deceived. Write or call at tlj
home office.
PHONE 202.
DR. J. J. McKANNA,
OKLAHOMA CITY, 0.
LADIES!
Come and let us sell
you your Dress Goods
All the new things in
Summer Goods; a full
line of Mohairs for
Skirts. We keep pat-
terns in stock-the May
„ Manton.
ESS
GARRISON-DUNLAP-WALKER CO.
J. B. Balaton, Fred Balaton, Geo. W. Bai
ley, Mr. Hughes and Others Met
Death in the Storm.
While Altus miraculously es^
caped loss of life or property iu
the terrible storm of Weduesday
night, the surronudiug country
waa less fortunate, aud our peo-
ple have beeu pluuged iu deepest
gloom by the tragic death of sev
eral well known and beloved per-
sonages. Geo. W. Bailey, one of
Snyder's most promising young
busiuess men, a partner of Claude
Miller iu a geueral merchandise
business at that place, and who
grew to youug maubood iu this
city, was oue of the victims of
the oycloue's awful wrath. He
waa at home with his wife when
the storm struck, aud a heavy
scautliug waa driven entirely
through his body. His wife also
sustained serious injuriea aud is
now iu a critical condition, but it
ia believed she will lecover.
At their home uiue milea south
of Altus, J. B. Ralston, a well
known farmer, and his son Fred,
were instautly killed aud their
home demolished aud swept away.
Miss Jesse, Mr. Ralston'a second
daughter, waa pinned under the
debris of the house aud danger-
ously injured, but was still alive
wheu this was written. Miss
Ralston remained fastened among
the wreckage of her home« in
sight of the bodies of her father
and brother, suffering intensely,
for several hours until rescued by
neighbors and taken to the home
of Mr. Sledge near by, where she
is uow being attended. Miss
Cora, the eldest daughter, who
was in Oklahoma City at the
time of the storm, arrived iu Al-
tus Thursday afternoon, aud was
accompanied by sympathizing
friends to the bedside of her
stricken sister. The burial of
Mr. Ralston aud Fred took place
that eveuiug.
The remains of Geo. W. Bailey
were brought to Altus ou Thurs-
day afternoon's train, and con-
veyed to the home of his parents,
escorted by a cordon of Kuights
of Pythias. The funeral services
were held at the Altus cemetery
Friday mornitg at 11 o'clock,
Rev. E. L. Massey officiating, and
Altua Lodge, No. 89, Knights of
Pythias, conducting the ritualis-
tic ceremouiea,
Great damage to property, with
some loss of life, is reported from
the south part of the county. The
storm is said to have first struck
the county at Carmel, where some
damage is reported. Eight miles
southwest of Olustee Richard
Hughes was killed, while his wife
| sustained a broken collar hone.
The home of Ned Colville, south of
Olustee, was blown away, but the
family escaped. There are uncon-1
| tirmed rumors of other deaths. At j
[COMLM ID 0M SIXT PAOlJ j
- "New Era" Paint!
NOW SELLING AT COST.
"Lone Star" Stock Food
ALSO AT EXACT COST
50c Package, now 30c
25c Package, now 15c
--at the--
OWL DRUG STORE
C. M. 5EWELL, PROPREITOR.
ARE TO OUR
& v
WE CAN AFFORD TO A
1 ENCOURAGE
THEM*
A
Through THE\
. TEXAS y
PAN-HAMLE.
' M/LES IN V/smNG
/COOL COLORADO"1
« LEWIS 8tCLARK EXPOSITION.
IT5 SERVICE SPEAKS FORITSElF.ik
7 x\.yi
A New Grocery Firm
3'WW vi
WILSON & TEAFF
The Fair Grocery,
L. D. Teaff, of Bell county, Texas, has purchased a
half interest in the Fair Grocery of J. W. Wilson, and
will be associated with this concern in the future. He
will be glad to meet the people of Altus, will take
pleasure in waiting on them, and selling them the best
groceries for the least money.
New Goods Arriving! Dainties and Novelties! Fancy
goods to tickle the palate! New, late, up-to-date stuff
in every line! Come and price our goods. We can
please you, and we want to serve you.
••••••• ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ ♦♦♦♦
B. P. S.
Is The Best Paint Sold
Buy your paint by years and square yards and not by
gallons.
WE HAVE THE STOCK.
Wm. Cameron & Company, Incorporated.
The Lumber People.
J. A. HEXRY,
I'mident.
KS3SI
C. C. HIGHTOWER,) v. „ ,
J. R. McMAHAX, i ^ ice Pre'idenu.
J. S. WOOD,
C Miller
first national Bank,
OF ALTUS, OKLA.
CAs^uS/oc.KprDuf . *3.000
One of the oldest and strongest banks in Greer '
County, Oklahoma.
»«, . 0Ur Motto:—Safety, Courtesy and Liberality.
^ f 7. °nK he latest imProved hosier screw door safes
Jpfv h xi g Pu ' and fire Proof vau,t» located in our
new building, northeast corner square, Altus, Oklahoma
"The Times" for Job Work]
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Shepard, Susie W. & Shepard, Horace W. The Altus Times. (Altus, Okla.), Vol. 4, No. 18, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 11, 1905, newspaper, May 11, 1905; Altus, Oklahoma Territory. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc403509/m1/3/: accessed April 17, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.