Jackson County IL Archives News.....100 DEAD ACCOUNTED FOR AT DESOTO, ILL; TOWN IS VIRTUALLY WIPED OUT March 19, 1925
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Mary Riseling riseling@insightbb.com July 13, 2006, 5:51 pm

St. Louis Post Dispatch March 19, 1925

By Samuel O'Neal, Staff Correspondent

    Relief workers today said they had accounted for 100 dead here as a result
of the cyclone which virtually wiped out this community of 700 population
yesterday.  The storm struck DeSoto shortly after passing through Murphysboro.

    Only a dozen buildings in the town are left standing today, while Red Cross
workers and troops from Scott Field are working to relieve the survivors and
searching for bodies of the victims in the demolished buildings, many of which
were destroyed by fire.    

    The public school, a brick structure of three rooms, was demolished while
three teachers and 18 or 20 pupils were inside.  None escaped.  This morning, 18
bodies had been taken from this building and the search of the ruin was not over.

    Frank REDD and his wife were trapped in their general store when it
collapsed and was destroyed by fire.  Two charred bodies were taken from the
building today.

    Definite figures on the dead and injured here are not available because of
the rush to give relief.  Last night more than a 100 injured were taken to
neighboring towns.  Fifteen bodies were sent to DuQuoin, 26 dead to Carbondale
and at least 12 more to Herrin.

    The bodies of a young mother, a Mrs. BROTHARD, and her small twin children
were found lying in a field near DeSoto, after the storm had cleared.  Their
skulls were crushed.

    A young man driving home over a road near DeSoto was struck by a falling
tree and suffered a fracture of the arm.  He made his way home to find his
mother and brother dead in their demolished home.   

    The injured were loaded into automobiles and were rushed to neighboring
towns.  A stream of automobiles was moving to DuQuoin, 14 miles north, from an
early hour last night until after midnight.  In the Browning Hospital at DuQuoin
about 100 injuries were under treatment today, with all physicians of that city
pressed into service.  Most of the seriously injured had suffered fractures of
the skull when they were hit by flying timbers.

    A Mrs. HARRISON, at DuQuoin hospital, related that her daughter, lying in
bed with a two weeks old baby, was miraculous saved when her home collapsed, by
timbers which fell across the bed, protecting it.


Additional Comments:
Widely considered the most devastating and powerful tornado in American history,
the Great Tri-State Tornado ripped through Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana on
March 18, 1925. In its 219-mile-long wake it left four completely destroyed
towns, six severely damaged ones, 15,000 destroyed homes, and 2,000 injured.
Most significantly, 695 people were killed, a record for a single tornado.
 
 
Transcribed by Mary Riseling from grandfather C. E. RISELING's collection of old
newspapers.

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/jackson/newspapers/100deada87nnw.txt

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