CYCLONE KILLS OVER 1,000
ANNAPOLIS WIPED OUT
3,000 TORNADO VICTIMS
Published by THE STAR NEWS-REGISTER, Bonne Terre, St. Francois County, Missouri,
March 20, 1925.

School children comprised the majority of the victims, particularly at DeSoto and Murphysboro. Solid blocks were torn down by the twister at the latter place. At the former only three of 250 occupants of a school escaped uninjured. St. Francois County was out of the wake of the cyclone and aside from the utter darkness that prevailed about 1:15 p.m., followed by heavy showers, its citizens were not aware of the destruction by wind in its immediate vicinity. Broken wire connections make it impossible to gather complete data on the damage from the tornado.

Annapolis, 111 miles south of St. Louis, on the Missouri Pacific Railroad was devasted by the tornado which struck with terrific intensity shortly after 1 p.m. Wednesday.

Two people were killed and fifty injured, some probably fatally. The dead are: Orse Kelly, 35, and Merle Stewart, 21. Both were killed by flying timber. Three of the injured were taken to a St. Louis hospital on Missouri Pacific train No. 4.

Doctors from Poplar Bluff, Mo., and many other points came to Annapolis to treat the injured. Every building was wrecked or damaged. Many of them were blown away.

Six hundred persons were homeless last night. The Missouri Pacific Railroad was endeavoring to secure Pullman cars for them. Appeals have been sent out to the American Red Cross.

The most seriously injured were: Welta White, George Maberry and Sylvia Berry, 7 years, and Mrs. Orse Kelly.

Brick buildings crumbled as if they were ashes. The town was leveled over the hillside, and people are caring for and trying to save some of their personal effects. Several buildings were destroyed by fire.

A baby boy, 2 years old, was blown several hundred yards by strong gale and was seriously injured.

The Annapolis Lead Co. mines were wrecked. The damage to the mines alone is estimated at $200,000. The entire loss at Annapolis is estimated at more than $800,000.

This is the second time in a year that the town has been badly damaged by a cyclone. Two years the entire business section was burned.

Relief for the stricken town was sent by the St. Louis Red Cross on a special Missouri Pacific train at 6:30 o'clock. The train carried a dozen relief workers, food and supplies for the homeless. It was organized soon after calls for aid began to reach the railroad offices from station agents and others in the storm area.

A bulletin reaching the Missouri Pacific offices from O. C. Chapman, division superintendent at Poplar Bluff, said that several people had been killed at Annapolis, that all except one or two buildings had been destroyed and that relief was necessary. It added that O. J. Hill, the station pumper, had been badly injured, but that the agent had escaped from the wreckage of the station.

A description of the tornado was dramatic. Shortly after 1 o'clock were noticed two great black clouds gathering in the east and in the west. At 1:20 a huge black shape descended over the hilltop west of town and smote it before the terrified inhabitants had time to find shelter.

Of the 300 or 400 buildings in the town, only three were left standing. A brick schoolhouse on the outer edge of the town was out of the tornado's center of force and remained standing. A garage also escaped.

Strangest of all, a house in the center of the town, completely surrounded by ruined homes, had been left standing. In it was a sick woman, Mrs. Collins, and members of her family and friends. It was practically untouched.

In a few minutes, however, it was menaced by flames from a restaurant next door. Escaping destruction by the tornado, the house was devoured by the fire.

PANIC GRIPS CITIZENS

Many people were hit by flying debris, falling trees and buildings. Among the children and women of the town panic reigned. Efforts to succor them began as soon as the dazed people had recovered from their surprise.

The property of the Annapolis Lead Company, the largest industrial enterprise of the town, was damaged.

The Mercantile Company, the largest commercial company in Annapolis, was wiped out.

Stewart, the man reported killed, was standing in the main street and was crushed by debris.

Fifteen minutes after the storm, the sun shown forth through heavy clouds. A big downpour of rain accompanied the tornado, but ceased when it had passed on. Farmhouses in the vicinity of Annapolis also fell under the blow of the tornado, but earlier reports from the vicinity made no mention of loss of life.

CAPE GIRARDEAU HARD HIT

Several persons were reported dead, dozens more were known to be injured and property damage estimated at several thousand dollars was caused by a tornado which swept Cape Girardeau.

It's path was about 300 feet wide, and the driving wind razed farmhouses and devasted a half dozen towns in the north end of Cape Girardeau County, twenty-five miles north of here.

The storm struck at approximately 3 o'clock. Doctors were hurried to the storm center and the Red Cross was asked to assist.

The known dead include Mrs. Mary Kempfe, a widow, killed when the two-story house in which she lived was demolished. She was the only victim identified.

Six children were seriously hurt, one probably fatally, when the tornado overturned a schoolhouse and carried it nearly a quarter of a mile. Gertrude Steuve, 8 years, is dying, physicians said, from injuries received when the building collapsed.

Ten persons were reported dead at Biehle, a small village near by. Dozens of others in the immediate vicinity are said to be in a critical condition. Telephone communication was cut off and reports were vague in detail.

DeSOTO HAS LARGE LOSS

The number killed at DeSoto, Ill., in Wednesday's tornado was estimated between 150 and 400, most of the victims being children caught under the crumbling debris of a two-story school building of the town. The population of the town is estimated at 600.

At a late hour Wednesday, 88 bodies were reported to have been taken from the wreckage of the school, and it is said that only 3 of the 250 pupils had escaped.

More than 100 grown persons are reported to have been injured, most of them being taken to Du Quoin Hospital, and others to Carbondale.

Five buildings, including the railroad station, were left standing, the others being twisted and blown into a mass of destruction.

Rescue work was greatly hampered by the absence of light, and with old-fashioned lanterns, parents were seen searching the ruins for their little ones.

The greatest loss of lives was caused in the school building. The top story in which were situated the high school class rooms, was blown away and the walls of the lower story collapsed burying beneath them the 250 pupils of the school.

Here and there flames burst from the wreckage, also hampering rescue work to a great extent.

So fierce was the storm that planks and timbers torn loose from buildings were carried as far as Du Quoin, sixteen miles distant. Great confusion followed the catastrophe and the lack of organized work was attributed to panic.

Published by THE STAR NEWS-REGISTER, Bonne Terre, St. Francois Co. MO, March 20, 1925.