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Submitted: 7/6/10 • Approved: 2/22/11 • Last Updated: 9/7/12 • R340261-G0-S3
Apr 23, 1876 - Oct 29, 1942
Berryville, AR Tornado, Oct 1942
Posted February 3rd, 2009 by Stu Beitler
Berryville AR Main Square 1925.jpg
32 ARE KILLED, 200 INJURED IN FREAK TORNADO.
HUNT FOR ADDITIONAL DEAD; TWISTER RIPS THROUGH ARK. VILLAGE.
BULLETIN:
Berryville, Ark. -- (INS) -- Red Cross officials today listed 32 persons definitely dead as the result of a tornado which last night virtually leveled this Ozark mountain village of 1,500 inhabitants.
Berryville, Ark. -- (U.P.) -- Disaster crews, who already have recovered 32 bodies, hunted for additional dead, injured and missing today in the wreckage left by a tornado that swept through this northwestern Arkansas town last night flattening more than 75 homes. More dead were believed pinned beneath the splintered houses, which still were yielding the bodies of dead and gravely injured persons at dawn. Thirty-two bodies had been taken to the town's only mortuary by daybreak.
Rescue work in the early morning was hampered by darkness and confusion. Four physicians and six ambulances were brought from Harrison, Ark., 38 miles away, to aid the only three doctors who live in this town of 1,500.
In addition to the residences destroyed, several business buildings were leveled. They included the Berryville Wholesale company headquarters, a sawmill and the Missouri and Arkansas railroad station.
There had been no warning beyond the usual violent preliminary storm which means much to residents of this tornado conscious community of the Arkansas Ozarks. Suddenly the twisting funnel of a tornado dropped into the northwest residential section and cut a swath five blocks long.
The houses in the direct path of the storm were reduced to kindling. Those along the edges lost roofs, windows and even rooms. The tornado destroyed electric power lines and rescue workers had to depend on lantern and battery lights until dawn.
District Judge J. W. TRIMBLE, who joined Sheriff OSCAR HAMLIN in directing the rescue of injured, estimated that at least 200 persons had been hurt.
A typical example of what happened when the tornado struck between 10:30 and 11 o'clock last night was that of the WILTON family. Their house was swept from its foundation and witnesses said it "vanished." MRS. HILDRED WILTON, 30, and her son, CARROLL, 2, were killed. The husband and father was only slightly injured.
The dead included a woman of 75, another of 65, children of 14 and nine, and a small boy who was identified only as "DAVIS." They were among the 14 bodies recovered up until dawn.
Civilian defense organization members, neighbors whose homes escaped, and doctors and ambulance drivers from nearby Harrison and Eureka Springs were searching the wreckage for more dead and injured. Automobiles were lined up around the devastated district and their headlights provided some illumination for the workers during the night.
The identified dead, in addition to MRS. WILTON and her baby, were:
MRS. EDNA WRIGHT, 65.
MRS. MYRTLE DWYER, 53.
MRS. IDA KANATZER, 75.
ED LEDBETTER, 50.
ALFRED SELLICK, 35.
NADINE CLARK, 9.
CAROLYN McWETHY, 12.
A small boy last name, "DAVIS."
MRS. JAMES SCOTT, 50.
MRS. SCOTT'S mother, about 70.
PAT RINELT, 55.
Hammond Times Indiana 1942-10-30
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!
Contributed on 7/6/10 by camble121647
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Record #: 340261