Here is the article on the Tornado. Enjoy. May 12, 1927 TORNADO TAKES NINE LIVES WHEN IT HITS TOLEDO AND RANDALL WITH HEAVY LOSSES Score Injured in Path of County’s Worst Storm Which Struck Monday Four Whites and Five Negroes Die From Injuries Received in Wind That Swept Across County; Many Homes, School House and Store are Leveled. Toledo and Randall bore the brunt of the most disastrous tornado ever to strike Cleveland county, Monday afternoon about three o’clock. Nine persons were killed while more than 20 received serious or painful wounds, when the devastating force swept its way across the county touching spots, razing homes, barns and timber in its path of 100 yards wide at Toledo to a quarter mile wide at Randall. Property damage in Cleveland county will range between $75,000 and $100,000, it is estimated. At the historic little village of Toledo, three miles south of Rison, the old homesteads of R.J. May, Duncan May and Mrs. Joe Lindsey were completely demolished together with the new school house, and the new home of H.G. Barnett was torn from its foundation and badly damaged. The destructive results of the twister were not visible again until it struck the farm of M.J. Gray, one mile west of Randall, killing Mr. Gray’s aged mother and leveled his residence and store-house. Near the Gray place it destroyed the home of D.H. Holloway, Negro, killing him and three others of his household. In the same community a tenant house on the farm of Noah Peek was blown away and four Negro children injured. The large log house of B.F. Ratliff, near Randall, was blown from around the family who escaped with only minor injuries and scratches. Not far from the Gray place the frame house occupied by Oscar Veasey was demolished and his 15-year-old stepson, Jack White, was instantly killed. The farm house occupied by Oscar Veasey and family was demolished and Herbert Veasey, his 15-year-old stepson was instantly killed. * No other members of the Veasey family were seriously injured. The Veasey place is also near the Gray farm. At Randall the store building of O’Neill and Spires was destroyed as were the homes of J.T. Barnes and Walter Price, while the residence of Mr. Spires suffered badly. A tenant house on the place was badly damaged. A small son of Mr. and Mrs. Price was injured and the Barnes family received minor cuts and bruises. All the large and beautiful oak shade trees at the Randall store were uprooted. The home of Jim Rodgers, northeast of Randall, was completely destroyed. The large log house of B.F. Ratliff near Randall was blown from around the family who escaped with minor injuries. Most of the details surrounding the storm at Randall were furnished the Herald Tuesday by Miss Estelle Brown. Eleven in May Home Eleven people were in the Duncan May home at the time of its destruction where Mrs. Ben Foster, Roy S. Lovejoy and Effie Mitchell, Negro woman, were fatally injured. The remaining eight were all injured, but no more fatalities are expected, according to attending physicians. Mrs. Foster, who was a sister of Mr. May, lived near Stuttgart and had arrived Sunday for a short visit with her brother and family. Mr. and Mrs. R.J. May and their young son were at their home which was the first to be struck at Toledo. Mrs. May and the boy were not hurt and Mr. May only received slight scratches. The house was splintered and no part of it left standing. The escape of Mrs. Jo Lindsey, age 76, who was the only member of the Lindsey family at home is considered miraculous. She was sewing in the family living room but emerged from the wreckage after the storm passed unhurt. Only two homes at Toledo were not damaged, those being the old Methodist parsonage, occupied by Orvill Granderson and family, and the one occupied by Lee Rogers and family and Judge E.F. Foster, former county judge of the county. Physicians Rush Here The five physicians of Rison were busy caring for the victims of nature’s most deadly agent until past midnight. They were assisted by Drs. T.E. Rhine of Thornton and S.C. Johnson of Kingsland, who rushed to the scene as soon as news of the disaster reached them. Tell of Storm Graphic and harrowing details of the storm were related Tuesday morning by Isaac Coleman, young man employed on the Duncan May place and who was in the house at the time it was struck, J.B. Lindsey and Mrs. H.G. Barnett. According to young Coleman, the roaring of the approaching wind could be heard for possibly a minute before it came into view. He said that the noise grew teriffic and sounded like a continuous rumble of thunder. Mrs. Foster, Mrs. May and three small children, he stated, were in a room in a part of the house which he saw torn from his view as Lovejoy started to run toward the back porch where Effie Mitchell, Negro woman, was washing and who was killed outright. This was the last he knew until he found himself partly covered with debris and the entire house scattered. His first thought was that all the others were dying as the screams and moans were terrible. As he extricated himself and gained his fee, he saw Mrs. May attempting to stand. J.B. Lindsey, who, with his family, reside with his mother, Mrs. JO Lindsey, stated that he had gone into his barn near the home and was trying to fasten the doors to keep out what he thought was an approaching rain. When he saw the barn roof torn from over his head, he ran out and was thrown upon the ground near his son Swanson, and both escaped uninjured. J.W. Curry of Rye who had taken refuge in the Lindsey barn from the rain, remained in the structure and was also unhurt. Mr. Lindsey said that when he ran from the building he looked up and the sky was black with debris which was being hurled in all directions. Mrs. Barnett watched the death dealing current from her front door and saw the destruction of her neighbors’ homes. When the Barnett house was blown from its foundations, she was thrown about the room while the furniture was piled in disorder and much o fit ruined. Their baby was asleep in its little cradle and was not harmed when the heavy bureau fell across the cradle. Concern for the injured has prevented a close check of the damage done to standing timber in the county, but it is known that much good timber was destroyed. This article was published in the May 12th, 1927 issue of the Cleveland County Herald. * This is not a typo, I copied it word for word. The list of communities I have so far will follow. Belinda Winston Assistant Cleveland County Librarian Cleveland County Website coordinator http://www.rootsweb.com/~arclevel/index.html ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com