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Show ' . nri ire Tn 1 1 i lui ibilb ip i 11 LfH iFvrlllAIW hi Xnllli III KLLIlI. I-lAllio-iuolinu IU STORM SWEPT DISTRICTS . ' 1 A heavv windstorm attaining the velocity of a tornado in some sections and" accompanied by rain, hail mid lightning, swept ovor western Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma today, killing fifteen person, per-son, practically destroying two towns, injuring almost a hundrod persons, wrecking scores of buildings and putting almost every telegraph tele-graph and telephone wire out of commission. The tornado levied its groatest toll of dead at Big Heart, Okla., where eight persons were killed, ten injured and almost every building build-ing in the town wrecked. Whiting, Kansas, was practically wiped off the map, sixty buildings being blown down, thirty people hurt and Mr. David Stone killed. At Powhattan, Kansas, a woman and a child were killed. A hleh school building was wrecked at Eskridge, Kansas a number o home damaged" and from fifteen to twenty persons injured in-jured At Hiawatha, Kansas, a high school house was blown down, an eight-year-old boy named PeJton, killed and several buildings struck by lightning. ' Several persons are known to havc been hurt ut Netawaka, Kansas. A child was kdled at Manville, Kansas. The Kansas end of the tornado sUirted near Whiting and swept in a southeasterly direction for distance of more than fifty miles. It is thought lhat many more people were killed and injured than have been reported at this time Telephone and telegraph crews are working, now that the .storm has abated, to got their wires in shape. It is a big task, as zbo storm, left only one telephone in operation between Topeka and Kansas City and all telegraph wires between Kansas Gitv and Oklahoma arc lost. In Kansas City the storm did httlo damage. A few horses were killed by lightning and some buildings struck- The rain lasted about an hour and was heavy. Hail accompanied the storm. Two more deaths were reported from near Hiawatha late tonight. to-night. Geraldinc Meisenlieimer, ten years old, and a small child of Otis Mollott are the victims. The Meisenhcimer girl sought refuge with three companions in a county school house and the building was wrecked soon afterward. The dead girl's companions were injured It is not known how the Mcllott child met its death. TOPEKA, Kansas, April 12. A tornado tor-nado traveling in a southeasterly direction di-rection destroyed the town of Whiting, 25 miles north of Topeka, late this afternoon. Sixty houses were blown down and thirty persons Injured. Meager Mea-ger reports received horo by long distance dis-tance telephone tonight indicate that the towns of Powhattan. Netawaka and Eskridge were struck by the samn storm. Wires are down and repoi. particularly meager. ' Eskrldge la 25 miles south of Topeka. To-peka. The storm struck there shortly short-ly before 4 o'clock. The school building build-ing was blown down and twenty students stu-dents Injured. A woman and a child were killed at Powhattan. Mrs. David Stone, wife of a farmer living near Whiting, was swept from the steps of her home into a neighbor's neigh-bor's yard, half a. mile away. She was picked up dead. An Interrupted telephone messago from Netawaka says several persous were iujurod there. Only one telephone tele-phone wire is working between here and Kansas City. George M Scott, an Atchison, Topeka To-peka &. Santa Fe enginoer, who was in Eakrldgo at the time of the storm, says at least 15 houses were blown down. After he. left Eskridgo, he says, he ' could see the tornado sweeping across the country for teu miles, overturning houses, barns and sheds In its path. He heard of no one being killed In Eskrldge. Benjamin Rerch, a fireman on Scott's engine, was blown out of the cab window and hurled across the street. The only Injury he sustained was a slight cut on his head. While Mrs. Ray Qarnuni of Powhattan Pow-hattan was sitting In her house, the storm swept the greator part of the building from over her head. She was but slightly hurt. A telephone messago from Hiawatha says a school houa- -A-as destroyed there and an 8-year-old boy named Peltou killed. Two barns were struck by lightning and destroyed. |