Hunt Co., TX - History: They Remember 1927 ***************************************************** This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb by: Sarah Swindell USGenWeb Archives. Copyright. All rights reserved http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ***************************************************** They Remember 1927 The well-remembered tornado, which swept across North Texas, Arkansas, and Missouri on May 9, 1927, was probably the worst tornado ever to destroy life and property in this part of the country. Many elderly Hunt County area residents have vivid memories of the early morning tornado , which was born at Garland and ripped a 200-300-yard-wide swath through that city and through Nevada, west of Floyd, north of Kellogg, west of Wolfe City, and northeastward. Eleven were killed in Garland and nineteen in Nevada when the twister hit town at around 2:00 AM that Monday morning amid torrential rain and brilliant lightning. More than thirty-two were killed in Texas. The storm hit El Dorado, Arkansas, and within ten minutes killed twenty- eight. It was most fierce at Popular Bluff, Missouri, where one-hundred perished and two-hundred fifty were injured. The total death count reported by Wednesday that week was two-hundred thirty-three, and there were more than 1,000 injuries and an estimated four million dollars in damage (1927 values). At Hoxie, Arkansas, a passenger train was blown off the tracks. It was hours before the rest of the area knew what had happened at Nevada, because of telephone line damage and the heavy rain, which hampered travel. By Tuesday afternoon, aid was pouring into the mostly leveled town, largely form a special train from Greenville. The grim lesson taught by the storm was that those who were in storm cellars survived when the tornado hit. Most others died. The residences of Charlie Cole and Tom Whetsell 1 1/4 miles west of Floyd were demolished. Everyone there was in storm shelters and were saved. The Will Puckett farmstead was destroyed. Jim Ed Ramsey, his wife, and eight children saved themselves by being in their shelter when their farm was blown away. The house of H. E. Holloway lost three rooms. He and others barely had enough time to run away from the house and out of the storm's path. They survived. A mile and a half north of White Rock, Claud Lowry's house was demolished and he was injured. The tornado passed over the Webb Hill ridge close by the cemetery and church, which was badly damaged. Former US Ambassador Fletcher Warren, who was reared on a farm just west of Wolfe City, was a young man at the time and remembers he, his parents, and other family members going to their storm cellar as the wind became violent. They stayed underground all night. When they emerged the next morning, absolutely nothing was left of their farmstead except a few animals standing about, still shivering. At the farm home of George Stidham, southwest of Wolfe City, he, his wife, and two young daughters went into its shelter twice, neighbors and relatives recalled. Apparently they were tired of staying up all night and the third time the wind arose they either slept on unaware or decided not to go. They were all killed. The tornado destroyed the home of "Uncle" Billy Harrell and Tommy Harrell near the Stidham's farm. The tornado missed Wolfe City, but hit farms and homes northward, and destroyed the barn of Edgar Taylor. The John Bost family had lost its house to a storm a year before and lost its new one two miles north of Wolfe City. Between Wolfe City and Gober, on the Adam Felty farm, Bill and Jo Eddins sat up all night in their clothes, listening to the storm. They had gone into their shelter at least once and Jo was worried about her incubator box with chicks' eggs ready to hatch. "Let's go," Bill said as the wind began to howl. He held onto Jo and they ran outside where the wind tore away Jo's raincoat and all she had on except her underclothes. They crouched on the storm cellar stairs beneath the door because their cellar had water in it. When they emerged, the house had been knocked crooked on its blocks. Inside the incubating eggs were unharmed and the only thing broken was the handle of one coffee cup in the cupboard. (Undated clipping, Greenville Herald Banner, by Steven Knowles, Herald Banner Staff, courtesy of Frances Taylor DeWitt) (Footnote: Frances' mother, Dora Green Taylor, lived in the White Rock area and spoke often and vividly of that night and the days afterwards as the community tackled and rebuild what the winds had taken down. She spoke of trips to the cemetery {apparently the Stidham family}.)