THANK YOU ----- Original Message ----- From: Library Lady <librarybook@hotmail.com> To: <ARCLEVEL-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, May 20, 2000 9:02 AM Subject: [ARCLEVEL] Tornado story > 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 > > > ============================== > Free Web space. ANY amount. 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