HOUSTON CHRONICLE - MAY 7, 1930

Frost Fights Way Out of Storm Chaos
by Clay Grobe, Staff Correspondent.

Frost, May 7 -- Bright sunshine today brought out in bold relief such a picture of death and ruin in the little town of Frost as has never been seen in this part of the state.

There was no room in the little cemetery for the dead.  The cemetery was covered with debris from the houses of the living.

In three minutes Tuesday afternoon a black swirling monster swept out of the southwest and completely demolished a town which has been 43 years in the building, took the lives of 23 and injured a hundred more.

As ambulances continued to fly back and forth between here and Corsicana, carrying the injured to hospitals, hundreds of sad-faced but stoic survivors burrowed into the ruins of their homes and business places searching for three more bodies.  All through the night they had worked with the assistance of national guardsmen from Corsicana and other volunteer workmen from neighboring towns and clips.

The streets are crowded with visitors from all parts of Central Texas, somewhat hampering rehabilitation, but guardsmen have the crowds in hand.  Several arrests of looters during the night were reported.

RESIDENCE IS MORGUE

The residence of L. A. Morgan, business man of Frost, served as a morgue.  The town's only undertaking establishment was destroyed and the owners Wednesday were dusting off the few remaining caskets.

Red Cross headquarters were set up in the home of Dr. H. H. Stevenson.

Ensign William Stevenson of the Salvation Army was on the job, too, serving coffee and sandwiches.

One of two relief trains from Corsicana had brought food and supplies.

The town is without water, lights, gas, or power.

OWN POWER PLANT

One enterprising resident during the night set up a small Delco system for lights in the street to aid relief work.

Among the bodies which lay in the Morgan home awaiting burial ws that of Druggest E. A. Patterson. It was charred beyond recognition from the flames of his own store, which caught fire shortly after the tornado struck.

John Fiew, Jr. 18-year-old farm boy, living near Frost, had sauntered into the drug store a few minutes before the wind struck to get a cold drink.  His charred body also was extinguished before doing extensive damage.

Practically every business house including two banks and a score or more substantial brick building were only disordered, heaps of brick, lumber and mortar Wednesday.

Fate's Irony took a hand in this as it always does in great catastrophes.  While citizens were bemoaning the loss of much foodstuff, ruined, one of the few establishments not completely wiped out was a cleaning and pressing shop, and no one had time to use it.

All churches, schools, cotton gins, oil mills, the weekly newspaper office were included in the list of demolished structures.

Sam Gerber, a dry goods merchant, described the approach of the storm:

"It looked like a long plume of  smoke approaching form the southwest.  It hung for a moment over a small lake, and then was on us with a burst of furry."

The clouds were seen approaching for about 15 minutes before the wind struck the town.  Many of the residents had come to the business section and gathered in the street.

PRINT SHOP RAZED

Miss Kate Simms, editor of the Frost Enterprise, was one of those in Gerber's store when the storm hit.  She had fled from her print shop only a few minutes before.  The shop was razed to the ground.

"I got into Gerber's store a few minutes before the roof of the store caved in.  We all managed to dodge the falling debris, and none of us was injured." she said.  Miss Simms went to work to attempt rehabilitation of her establishment.  She is doubtful, she said, if she would attempt to continue publication of her weekly newspaper though.

"I watched the storm after it passed through Frost," one survivor said, "and saw pieces of sheet iron flying around in the air to the northeast as thick as buzzards."

HOUSE CARRIED 300 YARDS

T. F. Bonnett, also a dry goods merchant, estimated his loss at $50,000 and told of a home next door to his house being picked up and carried 300 yards through the air and then set down, slightly damaged.  Jack Slay, his wife and child were in the house at the time and escaped injury.

Gilead Bogan, delivery truck driver, who was killed, left his delivery vehicle in front of the Y. H. Greer grocery store and fled into the building.  This morning the truck still stood in front of the store.

Ive Sanders, mayor, Wednesday said that there had been no time to think of reconstruction. "I doubt if the town will ever be rebuilt to the extent is was before the storm."

Frost lies in a little valley in rolling countryside surrounded by rich farming lands.

One farmer reported that his barn was blown away leaving his horse and cows unmolested, eating their feed.

C. O. Brown, a butcher, took refuge in his refrigerator remaining in there until the wind's fury had abated.

HOUSTON CHRONICLE - MAY 7, 1930

Death Toll in Texas Cyclones Estimated At 65; Hundreds Are Injured, Many May Die

Storms Bounce Over Large Part of Central and Southern Section

The death toll of cyclones that bounced over the greater part of Central and South Texas late Tuesday was placed at 65 today.

The number of injured could not be totaled, but will number hundreds.

Many of those who were injured can not live, doctors said.  Many face death from lockjaw.  Splinters wrenched from shattered buildings pierced many of them, and it is feared tetanus will set in.

Red Cross and other relief units rallied their forces and plunged into the work of rehabilitation.

Salvation Army and church workers stood beside camp stoves through the night and Wednesday serving tired workers with hot coffee and sandwiches.

The known death list by towns was:

At Ennis: Baby daughter of Art Wagner, Bob Flanagan and Joseph Stroud.

At Frost: Leroy Fiew, 17; Mrs Lee 65; John Fiew, 17; R. L. Bell, 50, and his child; Mrs. League Wooley, 35, and a child 12; W. H. Bowman, 70; Gid Bogan, 35; Tom Bogan; John Fly, 50; Mrs. W. H. Bowman, 60; Prentice Fiew, 21; "Grandma" Berryman, 82; Mary Currie, negress, 50, and her son, Jones, 35; child of Jesse Satchel, negro; four unidentified negroes.  Three Mexicans were reported killed northeast of here.

At San Antonio; J. C. Kleespies of 1018 W. Seventeenth, Houston.

At Bynum: Mr. and Mrs. E. F. Isbell and son, Brandon; Mrs. Emma Hoff; three negroes.

The death list at Bronson in Sabine County, was raised to two Wednesday, when Mrs. D. J. Strickland died at 4 a.m. Her husband was killed instantly.

The wind struck Sabine County in four places, causing heavy property damage.  Northeast of Hemphill, the county seat, a large tract of timber was destroyed.

Near Waco: Two persons.

The death list in the Runge-Nordheim section as compiled by E. D. Parnell, secretary of the Runge Chamber of Commerce follows:

Runge: Ferdinand Mollost, 72; Mrs. Pauline Mellost, 68; Mrs. Francisco Villareal, Miss Cruz Villareal, Miss Celestina Villareal, Domingo Villareal, Mrs. Maria Herrera, 20; Lucia Salas Garcia, 40; Pancho Garcia, Santos Garcia, Juan Garcia, Manuella Garcia, Augustine Garcia, Caldus Garcia, Mrs. Manuela Gomez Salas, Silvero Salas.

***

AT NORDHEIM.

Nordheim: Gavino Trevino, 77; Setriova Molina, 70; Guadaluep Garza, Francisco Garza, 53; Ruperto Garza, 13; Serapio Garcia, Lorenzo Garcia, Martin Garcia, Mrs. Emile Huck, Mrs. Otto Fuhrken. 32.

In addition to the 26 killed in that area, 31 were injured.  Dr. D. Y. Willbern of Runge said Wednesday noon that seven or eight of the 14 injured at Runge would probably die during the next 24 to 36 hours.

Those injured are particularly susceptible to lockjaw, he explained, as they have been impaled with splinters.

Striking yesterday afternoon, the tornado took the greatest toll of life at Frost, in East Central Texas, and at Runge, in South Central Texas.

The force of the storm was felt in practically all sections of the state.  Navarro, Hill, McLennan and Ellis Counties in Central Texas and Karnes in the southern part of the state, bore the brunt of the storm.

National guardsmen, firemen and volunteers were working early today in the debris at Frost, where it was feared the death list would mount higher.  Nearly every building in the town was demolished.

Descending on Frost from a southwesterly direction, the tornado passed over a residentual section, sailed over a school house and then razed practically every one of about thirty business houses.  Telegraph, telephone, and electric wires were torn down by the wind, which was accompanied by a driving rain, accentuating the terror of the survivors.

CHILDREN SAVED

Sensing unusual danger when the swishing of the tornado sounded over the droning of school children at their recitations.  Superintendent Harrison of the Frost schools ordered the children to march to the basement.  Hardly had the pupils reached the lower floor when the storm struck, tearing off the school roof and scattering it over the countryside.

Of three churches in the town, one remained - the Presbyterian.  The Baptist and Methodist churches were destroyed.

Employees and customers in the two Frost banks saved themselves when they ran into an open vault and closed the door.  Both buildings were wrecked.

Of Frost's population of 600 half were homeless, streets were blocked with debris torn from wooden and brick buildings.  Automobiles were tossed about like toys.  One street was almost blocked with automobiles that had been in a dealer's window.

Most of the white dead at Frost were taken to Hillsboro and Corsicana as fast as ambulances could reach them over black land roads.  One wrecked building was cleared, and bodies of negroes, wrapped in sheets, were laid in rows to await burial.

Throughout the night the Corsicana Salvation Army and women from that city served coffee and sandwiches to rescue workers.

The twister struck a rich farming country, midway between Nordheim and Range, and cut a path only 150 yards wide, but 10 miles long.  At the edge of Goliad County it lifted and passed out into the Gulf of Mexico.

The death-dealing wind apparently started at Spur and the Abilene district of West Texas, skipping to the Frost area, then landing more than 200 miles south, near San Antonio.  Another dip near Runge and the tornado went out to sea.

Heavy, low-hanging clouds darkened many cities in the state.  A sandstorm and a snowstorm were reported in West Texas.  Several inches of rain fell in Central Texas and the wind did much damage, no estimate of which could be obtained.

WIRES DOWN

Communications were disrupted and reports from Kenedy and Frost were slow coming in.  Telephone and telegraph lines were being restored as quickly as possible, but conditions remained under normal.

The wind at Bronson, in Sabine County, apparently was not connected with the principal tornado, which, after striking in Southwest Texas, lifted and went out over the Gulf of Mexico.

Nordheim, near Runge, was the first of the communities struck by the wind to re-establish communications with the outside world, and reported the toll in that vicinity.

West of Kenedy, in Karnes County, George Tips escaped death by getting off the horse he was riding and clinging to the ground.  The horse was killed.

Between Falls City and Karnes City, in Karnes County, a severe hailstorm destroyed the crops, coincident with the tornado.

In the various districts where the storm hit the hospitals and many private homes were filled, as local Red Cross authorities ministered to the injured.

The Houston chapter of the Red Cross had not been called upon for aid.  W. A. Paddock, chairman, was out of the city Wednesday morning, but the chapter's office in the Marine Bank Building reported no calls for assistance.

The tornado, as it swept toward the coast, went through a rich farming area between Nordheim and Runge, cutting a path 150 yards wide and 10 miles long.  It then left the ground for a short distance.

L. H. Daingerfield, chief of the weather bureau here, said Wednesday that the tornados of Tuesday afternoon were occasioned by the low pressure area over Abilene Tuesday morning.

The wind at Abilene was the strongest since 1892, according to records there, and at Fort Worth approached the 1905 record.  In Houston the wind reached a velocity of 38 miles, southeast, at 1:45 p.m.

OTHER AREAS.

In areas other than those in which deaths were caused, the wind destroyed property, principally at Brownwood, in Brown County, and at Tidwell, north of Greenville, in Hunt County.

As the various relief agencies in the stricken areas continued their work Wednesday, stories of heroism were uncovered.

The violence of the storm at Frost was such that six freight cars were hurled from the tracks.  The jail was the only public building not demolished.

Residents of Frost said that the town was hit by two tornadoes about 15 minutes apart.  Incoming relief workers said the first sight they saw on entering the town was a debris-strewn cemetery, with sheet iron, lumber and papers scattered among the tombstones.

League Wooley, seeing the cloud approach, went to the schoolhouse for his child.  He returned home just as the storm struck, killing his wife and child.

One man escaped death by clutching a tree.  The top of it was torn off the trunk by the wind.

Frost residents reported that the wind-laden cloud "bounced along" and appeared to be in two sections.  Fence posts were jerked from their holes.

The infant child of Jesse Satchel, negro, was snatched up by the wind and early Wednesday had not been found.

The bodies of Prentice Few, 20, who died in a Corsicana hospital today and Leroy Bagley, 9 months, who died in a Corsicana hospital yesterday will likely be sent to Frost late today for burial.

The body of Mrs. W. H. Bowman, 60, who died en route to a Corsicana Hospital was held there today and probably will be sent to Frost today or tomorrow for burial.  Her husband was killed instantly.

Hawkins Scarborough, judge of the Thirteenth Judicial District Court was one of the first arrivals in Frost after the storm and remained there all night.

JURY EXCUSED

He excused all members of the jury for the week and the number of criminal cases set for trial Wednesday and Friday were passed.  A majority of the members of the jury panel left Corsicana after the storm to aid in the rescue at Frost.

Andrew G. Steele, county superintendent and past commander of the American Legion post at Corsicana accompanied by 32 legionnaires went to Frost soon after the storm and began patrolling the streets and aiding in the rescue work until national guardsmen took over these duties.

Steele said he had tendered the services of the American Legion boys to relieve those on the scene.  He said that probably 35 or 40 men would go to Frost this afternoon.

The roar of the tornado as it swept destructively through the west end of the county was heard by residents of Western Corsicana.

Rehabilitation work at Frost got underway today with highway crews opening up roads and telephone and telegraph companies restoring communication services.  Railroad crews also restored damaged tracks.

Red Cross workers were on the scene administering to the injured and needy.

funeral services for most of the victims were planned for tomorrow.  They will be buried in the cemetery at Frost.

Business men of Corsicana and Hillsboro conferred with those of Frost to the erection of temporary buildings for carrying on their businesses.

A search of the wreckage at Frost revealed no additional.

Meanwhile, reports of high winds, some of a tornado nature, trickled in over crippled communication lines from other sections of the state.

Four persons were injured northeast of Childress when a tornado destroyed two farm houses and damaged another.  The family of J. J. Hunnicutt escaped to a cellar shortly before their home collapsed.

Some property damage was done by a small tornado that swept across the northeastern part of Llano County.  No one was injured.  Small outbuildings in and near Sherman were wrecked, telephone poles were blown down and general small damage resulted from a wind storm.

Residence windows were smashed and trees uprooted by a wind storm at Marshall.  The damage was reported light.

Roofs were blown off large buildings and smaller structures were demolished by a wind of tornado proportions which struck Plano yesterday.  Trees were blown down in the residential section, and signs were dashed to the ground down town.  An accompanying heavy rain sent creeks on a rampage.

Houston Chronicle - May 8, 1930

DEATH LIST IN TEXAS CYCLONES
By Associated Press.

Dallas, May 8 - A partial list of dead in Texas tornadoes today placed the number at 75, as follows:

NEAR RUNGE, KARNES COUNTY: Ferdinand Machost, 72 Mrs Pauline Machost, 68 Mrs. Francisco Villareal. Celestine Cruz Villareal. Domingo Villareal. Mrs. Martha Herrera, 35. Mrs. Lucia-Salas Garcia, 40. Pancho-Garcia. Santos Garcia. Juan Garcia. Manuela Garcia. Caldus Garcia. Augustina Garcia. Mrs. Manuela Gomez Salas. Silvera Salas. NEAR NORDHEIM, DEWITT COUNTY: Cavino Trevino, 77. Mrs. Gavine Trevino. Setriova Molina, 70 Guadalupe Garcia. Francisco Garza. Ruberta Garza. Serapio Garcia. Lorenzo Garcia. Martin Garcia. Florencia Garcia. Mrs. Emil Huck, 32. Mrs. Otto Fuherken. NEAR KENEDY, KARNES COUNTY: Francisco Delana. NEAR OTTINE, GONZALES COUNTY: Oleaven Clark, 3 (negro) AT RANDOLPH FIELD NEAR SAN ANTONIO John Kleespies, Houston AT BRONSON: Mrs. W. T. Strickland. W. T. Strickland

AT ENNIS: Baby daughter of Art Wagner. Bob Flanagan, 15. AT FROST: Leroy Bagley, 9 months. E. A. Patterson, 50. J. E. Lee, 65. John Fiew, 17. Prentice Fiew, 21. R. L. Bell, 50. Bell's child, 12 W. H. Bowman, 70. Mrs. W. H. Bowman, 60. Gid Bogan, 65. Tom Bogan. John Fly, 50. Mary Currie, negress, 50. Jones Currie, 35, negro. Child of Jesse Satchel, negro. Four unidentifed negroes. Three unidentified Mexicans. NEAR BYNUM, HILL COUNTY: E. F. Ishbell. Alba Ishbell. Miss Jugerson of Clifton. Mrs. Emma Hoft. Charles Wolfe of Spur NEAR MASSEY, HILL COUNTY: Miss Delmar Anderson NEAR ABBOTT, HILL COUNTY: Ehtel Williams. NEAR MERTENS, HILL COUNTY: Will Johnson. Senorita Modesca. Two unidentified negroes. Five more died in Hill County Thursday.  Their names were not available immediately. NEAR WEST McLENNAN COUNTY: Mrs. Bacha, 75 Baby Bacha, 6 months.