Franklin County, IL

The storm reached West Frankfort, a thriving city in Franklin County of more than twenty thousand people, at ten minutes past three. The northwest part of the city was completely demolished.  The great New Orient mine with more than a half million dollars worth of buildings was in the path of the storm, but strange as it was the equipment was not greatly damaged.  It so happened that the part of the city passed over was occupied by the homes of miners and other laboring people and the money loss was not so great as it was in Murphysboro, where public buildings and beautiful homes were destroyed.

The miners several hundred feet below the surface heard the passing of the storm, and noticed the suction in the mine--the air moving with considerable force toward the several shafts.

A Baptist and a Methodist church were destroyed, also two schoolhouses.  As many as three or four hundred dwellings were completely destroyed and scores more or less damaged.

An eye witness said the twenty or thirty minutes the people in the city were dazed.  They knew something awful had happened but they did not know that they could render any help.  Presently someone broke the spell by calling for help and then hundreds of men, women and even children rushed to the devastated part of the city.

The rescue of the injured and the dead was the first task.  Before darkness came on nearly a hundred and fifty dead had been found, and the injured filled the miners' hospital and temporary hospitals were opened in the Methodist, the Christian, and other churches.  The Masonic Hall, The Elks Home and other public places were opened.

A relief train arrived at West Frankfort from Chicago and other trains early the next morning.  Before noon on Thursday the 19th, the relief work was organized. There was a chief Executive Committee, with subordinate committees on hospitals and furnishing, food, clothing, traffic, et.  The efficiency of relief work was attributed to the presence in West Frankfort of a permanent unit of the Salvation Army.  This local unit was re-enforced by nurses, workers, and officers at once.  The Red Cross was early on the ground but for some reason it did not organize its work at once and it is reported by some people in the city that there was some misunderstanding between some of the units of relief which delayed the work somewhat.

From West Frankfort the storm next visited the town of Parrish, a small mining town of three or four hundred people, seven miles northwest of West Frankfort.  This mining village had but two houses left out of more than a hundred.  Many dead were taken from the wreckage.  [History of Illnois]

West Frankfort, IL

There are missing issues of the newspapers containing stories of the tornado of March 18th that took so many lives in southern Illinois, although on April 4th a condensed form was published.  By the time the newspaper is again available in April some had even blamed the tornado on the fighting that was occurring in Williamson County. The Red Cross was trying to help survivors in need of groceries and other items. Free typhoid shots were being given to West Frankfort citizens by the public health department. For some reason, the county was stricken with rabid dogs shortly after the tornado.  In May 1925 an article ran stating "Women and girls are asked to stay off the streets of Murphysboro by city and county officials due to men of all character swarming into the city since the tornado. These are men of characters such that they have no respect for women."  Over 1200 homes were destroyed in Murphysboro in the tornado and at least 142 lives were lost in West Frankfort.

The full fury of the storm broke over West Frankfort at 3:25 p.m.    Although hundreds of extra copies of the paper were published each day during the time of the storm, the supply proved inadequate to meet the enormous demand. Hence this edition.

Here is the story of the storm and its aftermath, re-written, in a condensed form to our readers who were unable to secure copies of the papers they desired.    One hundred and thirty-nine persons dead and three hundred injured was the toll in human life in the worst storm to ever visit this section of the state, which spent its wrath upon West Frankfort shortly after 3 o'clock, Wednesday afternoon, March 18th. Hundreds of injured were cared for in the hospital at West Frankfort and at emergency first aid shelters in all parts of the city. Doctors, nurses and ambulances rushed here during the afternoon and evening from surrounding cities and aided in caring for the injured and dying. Three hundred homes were lying in ruins and rescue workers searching among the debris for victims of the storm. Improvised beds were set up in the hospital on the floors in the corridors, and in the bathrooms. Churches, lodge rooms and school houses were converted into emergency hospitals and still there was not ample facilities to care for the injured.

The storm entered the city from the west at the Joiner School and swept a path about a mile wide, leaving death and destruction in its wake. Mine #1 at New Orient was damaged to the extent of several hundred thousand dollars.  As rescue workers rushed into the stricken areas a few moments after the storm had passed, men, women and children were rushing frantically among the wrecked homes, pleading for some word of their loved ones. Many mangled, bleeding fathers and mothers asked for knowledge of the fate of their children, as they lay, moaning among the wreckage. Children ran screaming about the streets, calling for father and mother. One woman was found in the midst of a ruined home, with her five month old baby clutched to her breast. Mother and babe had died together.

At Caldwell, Mine #18, the storm swept a path a half mile in width, leveling all the homes and everything in its course, level with the ground. At the south of the mine, where the storm seemed to have reached its height, more than a score of houses were completely demolished.

From the fields north of the Orient mine, blackened figures of miners, engaged in probing the wreckage of the houses could be seen. A miner, still in his pit clothes, carried a pitiful, bloody little bundle which he held limp in his arms. It was five year old Leroy ROBERTS, who had been taken from the wreckage of his father's home, more dead than alive. He had no shoes, and his little stocking feet seemed horribly still. There was no movement that could be discerned, but the man who carried him said that he was not dead. In the house lay Mr. and Mrs. ROBERTS, both terribly injured. The air was full of cries and screams, of those who were homeless, helpless and grief stricken, This reporter left the scene with the screams ringing in his ears. They are ringing there yet. One mother was lying in bed in a house, her breast torn open and a tiny infant crawling around her cold body, attempting to nurse. On a porch lay a woman, her head split wide open, her scalp laid back and hanging from the porch floor. Another woman was found with a stick driven through her head. Other had arms and legs twisted completely off. And so it went.

A store and dwelling belonging to Ike KARNES of Caldwell were completely destroyed, killing KARNES' wife; Mrs. Charles CAMPBELL, a daughter of KARNES; and two children of Roscie KARNES, son of the elder KARNES, were killed and Charles CAMPBELL, a son-in-law, was seriously injured.

The surface plant, engine room, boiler room and tipple of Mine #18 was completely destroyed. Railroad cars on the storage tracks near the mine and the miner's cars were hurled from the tracks and blown about as mere scraps of paper in a stiff breeze.

There was an unusual stillness about West Frankfort the night following the storm, a silence that was symbolic of death that had so suddenly and surely visited so many homes here. It was a silence that was broken only by the clanging of an ambulance or the screaming of a siren as the huge van-like cars darted about the city streets with their freight of dead and dying. It was human freight that they bore, pieces of bleeding or of cold inanimate clay that only a few hours before had been joyous laughing humans, living and loving, concerned with the thousand and one petty details that go to make up life.

But now they were of no consequence at all. Almost in the twinkling of an eye, it had all been changed. A black ugly-looking cloud, the herald of approaching death, a terrific wind that threw hailstones about, the crash of falling walls, screams, and then blackness, and for many, Eternity. And scarcely an hour later the warm sunshine streamed down as if in mockery on the wreckage of the victims.

West Frankfort, IL

DEATH LIST IN FRANKLIN COUNTY INCREASES TODAY

Twenty-Seven Injured Persons Are Still in Benton Hospitals, Nearly Forty of the Dead in West Frankfort Were Small Children. The list of known dead in Franklin County was increased today with the death here of Frank GALLOWAY of Parrish, five members of whose family had previously died.  Twenty-seven persons were still in hospitals here today.

Chats with injured people brought to Benton from the Parrish storm area reveal stories of horror and pathos, some of them telling of miraculous escapes from the storm's wrath and bearing out all but unbelievable facts.

The family of Everett PARKS residing a half-mile from Parrish is authority for one of these stories. Mrs. PARKS is receiving treatment in the Christian Church relief hospital here, and on the cot with her is her six months old babe, Imogene. The mother has a slight fracture in her skull and the baby's face is cut and bruised.

Little Margaret, five years old, and her brother, D.C., aged four, are at the home of Benton people where they are being looked after and their minor injuries treated. The father yesterday afternoon was able to leave the relief station.

Little Margaret, who is a guest at the home of the writer, earnestly tells of the things she saw. "The sky was dark, and the wind commenced blowing, oh so hard," she says. "We were scared and before we knew it we were blown away and our home was ruined. When I woke up Mother was holding me tight in her arms and we were way out in the field. A great big plank was on me and my dress was gone. A nail or something had torn my underwear. Daddy picked us up and we all went to Parrish and then they brought us over here on the train."

The little girl's father says that he and his family were carried a quarter of a mile from their home.   "I did not remember anything after the storm struck until I found myself holding a fence post a quarter of a mile from the house," PARKS said. "I happened to glance over my shoulder and saw my little boy in the air, only a few feet above the ground and coming directly toward me. I reached and was barely able to grasp him by the leg. I pulled him down to me and held him until the storm had passed. Then I picked up my other two babies and led my wife to Parrish a ½ miles away. We were picked up at Parrish and brought to Benton."

Mary MELVIN, 17, is on a cot near Mrs. PARKS. Her mother and five brothers and sisters were with her in the home near Parrish when the storm struck.  When asked what the family did to escape the storm, Miss MELVIN said, "We didn't do anything. We had no idea it was a s bad as it turned out to be. When the wind started to blow so hard, we tried to hold the windows and doors to keep them from being blown down. While we were at this the house was lifted up and carried away and we were dropped several hundred feet away from where our house stood. I came to myself and got up, but I don't remember anything from then on until I seemed to wake up sitting on the porch of a neighbor's home."

Miss MELVIN suffered a broken collar bone and several injuries of a minor nature. Her father, Jim MELVIN, was away from home, and the only member of the family to escape injury.

Dr. W.J. PARTINGTON, a physician and surgeon of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was driving through the country near Thompsonville, on his way to Paducka, Ky., when the storm struck. He arrived in Thompsonville just as the first relief train backed into that city from Parrish and asked for doctors and relief workers.

Dr. PARTINGTON rushed to a Thompsonville drug store and commandeered all the surgical dressings and supplies available and boarded the train. Reaching Parrish he organized the first relief squad and started work of sending the injured ones to Benton.   "We loaded fifteen people on the first train," he said, "and while they were being brought to Benton I helped pick up thirty other injured and dead. I gave first aid to the injured and did what I could for them until they could be brought to Benton."

He has been in constant attendance on his adopted patients since they have been in the Christian Church relief hospital here.

The family of Ed KARNES, living between West Frankfort and Plumfield, had gone through a cyclone that destroyed their home in 1912. When they saw Wednesday's storm coming, they realized what it meant and ran into a storm cellar. Mr. KARNES, peering though a window, saw the timbers flying through the air. He had sent a farm hand to the school a mile away after their little son, but when he saw the fierceness of the storm, he told Mrs. KARNES that he could not bear to stay there, knowing that his boy was probably in great danger. He made a dash for the cellar door but was held back by his wife. With her arms tight around her husbands neck she held him back until the storm had passed.

After the storm they started to search for their son and found him along the road bathing the face of the farm hand who had been sent for him, and had been caught beneath his automobile when the wind blew it over and pinned him to the ground. The boy had been in the White School House, which was destroyed by the storm, but had escaped with only a few minor scratches.

One of the most striking features of the tornado here was the large proportion of women and children killed. More than 1500 coal miners were at work beneath the surface in the devastated area and thus escaped injury or death.

Nearly forty of the dead in West Frankfort were small children. One of the most heart-touching scenes was the long –(paper torn) morgue of little bodies from whom life had been snuffed out almost in the twinkling of an eye.

Five children in the families of three KARNES brothers here were listed among the dead as well as two adults. In the Parrish neighborhood, Frank GALLOWAY lost his wife, a son, a daughter, a son-in-law, and a grandson. GALLOWAY himself received a broken leg and other injuries and was brought to Benton, where he lived until Saturday morning. His folks were buried at Thompsonville yesterday.

West Frankfort and other storm stricken communities in Franklin County today went about the grim task of burying the bulk of their dead. Of the 163 known dead in the county, virtually all had been identified and funeral arrangements had been made.

West Frankfort, IL

MINE MEN TELL EXPERIENCES

Wind Plays Freakish Pranks in Vicinity of Mine #18

Charles SINKS and John KNIGHT, weighmen at the Industrial Coal Company Mine #18, were on the tipple, eighty feet above the ground when the tornado struck. In an instant the wind had bent the tipple to the ground. KNIGHT was able to walk away and suffered only minor injuries. SINKS had both legs broken.

More than 500 miners at #18 were 600 feet below the surface when the storm broke. Power was cut off from the cages and the men were forced to climb tiresomely to the surface while they conjectured as to what had happened.

Jack BURBOGE was in the washhouse at #18 when it blew down. He was covered with brick and mortar which required half an hour to dig him out, but he was not seriously injured. Ten persons in a boarding house near the mine escaped with scratches although the 15 room building was flattened to the ground.  The engineer at Orient Mine #2 crawled under the engine and held on or probably would have been killed when the surrounding buildings collapsed.

George MEYER, a boss at the same mine, was at work while his wife and two children were in their home nearby. The roof was lifted off and all the furniture sucked up but the family escaped with minor injuries.

Many escaped injury by seeking shelter in basements. Among these was Sam KNOWLEN (NOLEN?), township supervisor, who with his wife and twelve children, reached the basement just before their home collapsed.

LIST OF DEAD AT WEST FRANKFORT

(Comparison of reported dead on 21 March 1925 issue of Benton Evening News, and reported dead in the 3 April 1925 issue of the West Frankfort Daily American)

Published 21 March 1925    Benton Evening News, Benton, IL	Published 4 April 1925 Daily American, West Frankfort, IL
AYDEBTT, Sarah, W. 5th St.	Mrs. Sarah AIDLOTT (AYDELOTT)
	Margaret ARNO
BANES, Earl, 3	Earl BARNES
	Bertha May BARNES
	Mr. and Mrs. BAXANIC **
BAYS, Harvey	Raymond BAYS
BEAN, J.H.	J.H. BEAN
	Mrs. Virgie BELL
BIGGS, Fred	Fred BIGGS
BIGGS, Mrs. Fred	Mrs. BIGGS
BIGGS, Marguerite	Marguerite BIGGS
BLACK, John, 64	John BLACK
	George BOGANIE
	Dushanka BOZEWICH
BROWN, son of Jesse, 1
BROWN, Francis, 29
	Billie Jean BROWN
	Frances, alias "Jessie" BROWN
BROWN, Jesse	Jesse BROWN
BROWN, Jesse (child)	Jissut BROWN
	Wayne BROWN
BROWN, Zukarkia
BURBANKS,Euphama,  wife of Fred.	Mrs. Fred BURBANK
BURNS, E.E., Fall City	Chloe Emmett BURNS **
BURTON, Mrs. Ola	Ola BURTON
BURTON, baby	Infant of Ola BURTON
Mrs. Joe BUTLER	Mrs. Joe BUTLER
	BUDTKA baby
CAMPBELL, Charles, 18	Charles CAMPBELL
CAMPBELL, Mrs. Charles *	Mrs. Charles CAMPBELL
	(Daughter of Ike KARNES)
	Jeannette CAMPBELL
	Joe CAMPBELL
	Ruth CAMPBELL
	Virgil CAMPBELL
	L.J. CARLTON
CHURCH child	CHURCH child
CLARK, Mrs. E.G.	Mrs. E.G. CLARK
CONTER, Wesley Joiner	CONNER, child **
	Asa CRAMER **
CUDY, Elizabeth, 60
	Jeff DAVIS
	Mrs. Jeff DAVIS
DEATON, Charles	Charles DENTON
DIXON, Flora	Mrs. Flora DIXON
DONER, Frank	Frank DONNOR
	Mrs. Minnie DONNOR
	G.W. DOWNING
DROBISH, John
	Mary ESTES
FISHER, Mrs. Charles	Mrs. Charles FISHER
FOOTNEY, Helen, Belleville, Il.
FORD, Mr. George
FORD, Mrs. George
FORD, Miss Lorriane	Miss Loren FORD
	John FORD
	Mrs. Nora FORD
GILBERT, Walter	Walter GILBERT
	Marion GORDON
	Wesley GUNTER Jr.
	Mrs. Maggie HAMMONDS
HANCOCK, Mr.
HANCOCK, Andrew	Andrew HANCOCK
HAND, Laudean, 209 S. Douglas	Loudean HAND
HAND, Mrs. Joe, 209 S. Douglas	Mrs. Nell HAND
HICKS, C.I.	C.I. HICKS
HICKS, Mrs. C.L.	Mrs. C.I. HICKS
HICKS, Ruth, child
	Harry HILL
Jacob HOLLAND
Elizabeth HOWARD
Gertrude HUNTER
Anna Lou JOHNSON, Plumfield
KARNES, Oscar, 4
KARNES, Roscoe, 6
KARNES, Roscoe, 2 (see above?)
KARNES, Larraine, 5	Lorene KARNES
KARNES, Lorriane (see above?)
	daughter of Tim KARNES
KARNES, Ordell	Ordel KARNES
KARNES, Randall	Randall KARNES
KARNES, Mrs. Tim	Mrs. Tim KARNES
KARNES, Mrs. Anna	Anna KARNES
	Vivian KARNES
	Kenneth KARNES
KELLEY, Mrs. Nann	Nan KELLEY
	Justine KECHROIR
LEBACH, Stanley
LESTER, Mary
LEWIS, Elmer*	Elmer LEWIS
	Mrs. Stanley LOLOVIK
	Mrs. Franzisk MANCHURA
	J.A. MASON
McCOWAN, James	James McGOWAN
	Frank McLELLAN
	Mrs. Frances McKOTO
Child of Morgan MUNDAY	Cantrel Udel MUNDAY
	Morgan MUNDAY
NEIBEL, Bessie	Bessie NEIBEL
NEIBEL, Hattie	Hattie NEIBEL
NORRIS, William	William NORRIS
	---- NOVOTNEY
	Mrs. John OAKS
OGDON, Ida	Ida OGDON
OGDON, Walter Leroy, child	Walter Leroy OGDON
OGDON, Malcom
	Nola OLLER
ORESLEY, Kenneth
	Anna OSTROSKI
	---- OSTROSKI
	Ella OWSLEY **
	R. OWSLEY
PANOVICH, Amelia,  (Mrs. Metz) of Belleville, Ill.	Mrs. Amelia PONOVICH
PANOVICH, Steve
PATTILLO-child of Luther PETTILLO
	Wilma PATTILLO
	Joe Joe PLESKOVICH
	Steve PLESCOVICH
	Homer POWELL
	Mrs. Violet POWELL, Vienna
PRITCHETT, Frank, 25 **	Frank PRITCHETT
	Marshall RAMSEY, Jr.
	Frank RAZER (not certain)
	Infant of C.P. REED
RENNLEY, Gladys	T.C. RITINGS
	Infant of T.C. RITINGS
	Mrs. Cora ROBERTS *
	Josie/Joeie? ROBERTS *
	Leroy ROBERTS *
ROMLEY, Geraldine	Geraldine REMLEY
	Mrs. Marshall F. REMLEY
RUSSELL, G.L.	G.I. RUSSELL
	David Spencer SANDERS ** he did not die until May see obit
SANDERS, Jane, 56	Mrs. Jane SANDERS **
SCOTT, Dollie
	Stella SCOTT
	Anthony SHEMANSKY
SHOPENSKY, Mrs.	Mrs. Maggie SHOPINSKY
	M.E. SILKWOOD
SMITH, Mrs. Walter	Mrs. Walter SMITH
	Andy SOLCATCH
Fred SOWERBY	Fred SOWERBY
	Elijah STAGNER
	Fred STAGNER Jr.
	Tommy STAGNER
	Clarence SULLIVAN
SULLIVAN,  dau of J.A. SULLIVAN, 1 1/2
	Ben SUMMERS
	Lula SUMMERS
	Mrs. Fred TAYLOR
	Geraldine TAYLOR
	Harold Leigh THOMAS
	Girl at TITSWORTH home.
WAMPLER, Bonnie, child of C.R. WAMPLER. 611 S. Logan St.	Bonnie WAMPLER
WAMPLER, Dorie,  wife of C.R. WAMPLER	Mrs. Ralph WAMPLER
WATSON, Joe	Joe WATSON
WATSON, Pearl, child	Pearl WATSON
WATSON, Pearl (same as above?)
	Nora Edith WHITTINGTON
WILLIAMS, Elbert, Ohio Valley
WILLIAMS,  Mrs. James	Mrs. James WILLIAMS
	Tekla ZISKONSKI
	Brown ZUKOSKIA
Man, 36, unidentified	Unidentified man
Lady, 39, unidentified	Unidentified woman
Man, 38, unidentified	Unidentified man
Lady, 55, unidentified	Unknown woman
Boy, 16, unidentified
Man, 34,        "
Woman, 35    "
Woman, 38    "
Man, 47,        "
Man, 35         "
Woman, 60,   "
Man, 32          "
Lady, 35         "
Lady, 65         "
One small unidentified child