Chicago, March 19—After the light of a full day had cast its searching rays into the debris left by Wednesday’s tornado and relieve work had been organized to gather the dead, health the hurts and aid the homeless, the toll of destruction to live and property tonight still remained the greatest ever recorded in similar catastrophes, with 848 reported killed and 2,909 injured in the five states affected.
While the casualty list had been reduced from first estimates in some instances, word came from hitherto unreported places to keep the total casualties almost as high as indicated in first messages from the devastated towns and hamlets. After a night of terror, dawn revealed that some small towns virtually had been obliterated wile whole blocks of larger places had been leveled and fire had added to the horror of winds.
Fire Controlled
The fires for the most part were kept from buildings that escaped the fury of the twister. Outside help arrived from many places during the day and by noon, relief was well-organized.
Where there had been happiness, prosperity and future, the tornado blasted all in a few cities. To others it showed fiendish eccentricity by leveling and blackening portions while sparing the rest.
Darkness still hampers rescuers tonight in a few towns, as lighting systems have not been repaired. Automobile light, candles and flashlights are substituting for power plants. Pullman cars have arrived to house refugees in one or two sectors; villages of tents are being used elsewhere.
Those in charge speak in millions when asked to estimate material losses. The brief dispatches read: $100,000 in southwestern Kentucky; $2 million in Princeton; $6 million in southern Illinois; $100,000 in Missouri.
The tornado took its toll over a territory of 300 miles in five hours and within the same period of time outside aid was covering that distance to carry help and comfort to survivors. The Red Cross rushed supplies from St. Louis. Chicago offered $500,000. The Illinois legislature appropriated a like amount, the Missouri legislature $25,000 and the southern Illinois American Legion $6,000. Other contributions are expected to reach $100,000.
Paris Obliterated
Paris, Ill., reports said, was virtually obliterated with a loss of life estimated at 30 (80?). A score of other towns, including Duquoin, Thompsonville, Logan, Dubuois, suffered severely. Most of the buildings destroyed were frame, as the affected area included many small towns.
One of the most pathetic stories came from Desota, where the school house was destroyed with heavy loss of life. The twister carried away the top story of the school and the lower walls crumbled, burying 250 children and teachers, few of whom escaped death or injury.
Witnesses to the catastrophe said the bodies of the child victims were piled on mattresses and blankets on the playground, with few to claim them, most of the adult population having been taken to hospitals.
The story was told of the principal of the school, who severely injured himself and with blood streaming from his wounds tried to give aid and comfort to the victims.
Fire completed destruction of the school house and it was probable that many of the bodies might (rest of sentence unreadable).
A school building also was destroyed in West Frankfort, but the loss of life has not been ascertained. The mining town of 12,000 suffered heavy loss of life and property with about one-third of its residential and business district demolished. It also saw the destruction of the Orient ??, second largest in the world.
Carbondale, which escaped damage, was the rallying point of ?? in the southern part of the state. Its armory and hospitals were filled with dead and injured, transported there from towns in the storm’s pathway.
From the front page of The Goldsboro News, Friday morning, March 20, 1925
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn93064755/1925-03-20/ed-1/seq-1/
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