Show adventurers CLUB HEADLINES FROM THE L LIVES IVES OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELF Fl 1 tragedy closes lie hy by FLOYD GIBBONS famous Il headline eadline hunter H HELLO ELLO EVERYBODY you know they say troubles never come singly and I 1 know doggone well that Is true in at least one case itts its the case of amy castaldi Castal dl of chicago when fate began piling up grief on amys shoulders she piled it up high it was a friday morning the second day of july 1033 when things began to go wrong amys eight yea ro son out playing with some other kids burned the pupil ot of his right eye ile iio was in constant pain and for two days daya and nights after that amy never left his beside bemid 0 until a far worse calamity forced her to and right on the heels 01 of that accident come the nowa news that an uncle had died in louisville ky amy go to the funeral not with her boy in constant agony so on saturday night her husband went without her leaving her to t take a ke c care a r 0 of her herson bon and her two young daughters fierce galo gale struck her house night had corn come a on amy had put her two little girls to bed and they had gone to sleep she was back at her sons bedside weary and worn tor for another long nights vi vigil tho the hours rolled on the wind ha had d begun to rise at 2 in the morning it was blowing a young gale the castaldie Cast aldis house was completely exposed to that wind on three sides on the other it was waa protected by a factory but the galo gale blowing from that direction the wind rose steadily it whistled and howled in the telephone wires outside the whistle rose to a shriek and still it kept on rising then suddenly the lights went out in the street A burst bunt of hailstones rattled against the house and at almost the same time a window crashed in the front of 0 the dwelling the house was shaking shaking violently it was about all amys amy I 1 a frazzled nerves could stand she lot let out a scream the scream woke amy grabbed her children and ran for tho the back door up her two little girls and they came running from their beds the little boy was already awake he poor klo kid slept for two nights fled with her three children another window broke with a clatter glass falling to tho the floor th the 6 kids huddled around amy clutching at her dress one by one the windows crashed there was waa a louder crash a shriek of rending wood and a huge piece of sheet metal camo came TEARING RIGHT THROUGH THE SIDE OF THE HOUSE rhe hie wind had stopped howling now instead it tore by with a loud steady hissing roar the house was deluged with water that came through the broken windows now rocks and pieces of lumber came hurtling in and amy could hear more flying debris battering against the ride elde of the house with a force that was all but tearing it to pieces 1 I was about to faint with fright 11 amy says 1 I grabbed my children and ran for the back door I 1 took hold of tho the knob and tried to open it it budge the movement of the house under the force of the storm had warped it tightly shut my aly children were screaming and their cries gave we me strength I 1 tugged at the door with renewed vigor and finally anally opened it but when the door opened amy paused and looked out on a scene that looked almost as uninviting as did the inside of her home before her was nothing but the blackest of darkness and the terrible hissing roar of the wind thunder boomed and a streak of lightning rent the sky As aa the hash flash illuminated the heavens she could see that the air was full of flying debris more rocks and pieces of sheet metal boards bricks and everything imaginable just escaped a live wire says she my head was reeling I 1 almost fainted again A piece of sheet metal landed near us barely missing our heads as it fell from above for a minute I 1 wondered 11 the world were coming to an end and I 1 began to pray then with what little strength I 1 had left I 1 gathered my children close and made for the gate of our back yard the wind tore at her almost sweeping her off her feet clinging to all three of her children she led them across the yard when she cams came to where the grite gate should have been she found it gone and the rest of the fence along with it across the street was the factory tho the nearest solid bull building ding and she headed for that wo we walked and stumbled fell and picked ourselves up again she says 1 I thought that trip would never come to an end but finally we reached the factory we learned later that we had walked over aeve a live wire that had been blown down and we can only thank god that none of us stepped on it but once we were inside the building the night watchman came to our rescue when amy went back to her house the next morning she found every window broken the furniture was water soaked and broken by flying debris and the whole doggone placed looked well like a cyclone had struck it which was the truth but I 1 care about that says amy for my children were safe the next day the papers carried stories about the freak tornado and told about the damage it did but no newspaper will ever be able to describe the way I 1 felt during those awful moments while it was occurring copyright service Sev lc 0 |