Daily Oklahoman
Sunday, May 14, 1905
CLEARING AWAY WRECKAGE IN THE STRICKEN TOWN
First Work of Removing Debris Began Yesterday After Last Dead Were Buried
TWO ADDED TO THE DEATH LIST
And Four More are Hourly Expected to Die --- An Organization Perfected for Rebuilding
the Town and Relief Work Is Being Handled in Excellent Manor
Snyder, Okla., May 13 -- The first work clearing the
debris commenced in Snyder at noon today, every available man being pressed
into service. They will be paid from money in the relief fund, which was near
the $7,500 mark at noon today. Mounted police patrol the cyclone district and
no sightseers are allowed thereon. The relief committee reorganized this morning
and each member was assigned his duty toward furnishing relief to the suffering.
One of the banks has been turned into relief headquarters and the largest building
standing in the city has been turned into a relief store. Carloads of provisions
were received today from Chickasha, Mangum, Oklahoma City and Hobart.
The Fessenden family, the last of the dead, were buried in a trench without
ceremony this afternoon. The body of James W. Hudson, who was shipped to Lawton
hospital yesterday, was returned here for burial this evening. Mr. Hudson’s
family of seven, with the exception of one son and daughter, were killed outright.
The daughter is not expected to survive the night. Among the injured, several
are not expected to survive overnight. Mrs. Jack Hunter, who lived in the suburbs,
died this afternoon. The Hunter home is a total wreck. Their stove was picked
up half a mile from the house. Miss Mize, Mr. Paulson, Miss Grace Buser and
Miss Murphy have all sustained injuries that will prove fatal. Mr. Paulson was
operated on this afternoon. A scantling struck him, making a hole in his back
nearly four inches long, and fracturing his spine. Gangrene has set in. Miss
Buser suffered a scalp wound and had a cut to the hip six inches long and three
inches deep. She refused to take anesthetics and allowed the doctors to sew
up her wound without a murmur. Her sister is also in critical condition. The
father and mother were killed outright.
The company of Oklahoma National Guard has established camp on the hill south
of town. They have headquarters office in the city. The company of thirty-two
men will do guard duty tonight.
The stench in the cyclone district from dead animals is very bad today. They
are being removed and burned. Chickens with their feathers blown off are everywhere.
Several dead snakes have been found on the prairie over which the cyclone passed.
The Frisco has three work trains with double crews working all day replacing
cars on the tracks and clearing up.
Nineteen injured remain in the hospital and hotel tonight. Twelve nurses arrived
from Hobart at 7 o’clock to relieve the present force. Hundreds of sightseers
come in on every train and their presence is not welcome. After tomorrow every
man who has no business will be given a chance to work or walk. Telephone communication
was established with the surrounding country for the first time today. The telegraph
service is very cramped yet.
Carpenters are roofing a large building for a hospital today, the present quarters
being inadequate. The patients will be removed to the hospital tomorrow where
a corps of nurses and doctors will be hired by the relief committee to attend
them until entirely recovered.
The work of rebuilding and repairing commenced at noon today. In sixty days
the business section of town will be rebuilt. More business activity is noticed
today than any day since the disaster. Mayor Stevenson issued a proclamation
this evening that all persons be off the streets by 10 o’clock every night;
the saloons shall close at 12 o’clock, and asking the citizens to clear
their property as early as possible to prevent sickness in the city.
The Burial Scenes.
Scenes at the burial of those who perished in the storm were extremely pathetic.
The relatives repaired to the dry goods store where the morgue had been established,
and identified remains of their loved ones. Sometimes the swollen, expressionless
face with glassy eyes which stared vacantly up from the dry goods shelf was
an aged mother, and when her grown sons and daughters stood by and sobbed as
they gazed on the distorted features of a face that for a lifetime had been
clearer to them than all else. The sight was one calculated to move the strongest
man to tears. More pitiful than all, however, were the scenes enacted when some
young couples came to claim the remains of their first born. Bodies of children
were placed on the upper shelves and wrapped in sheets. When the cloth was thrown
back and there was exposed to view the little face upon which in life both had
so often gazed with love and pride and hope, cries of anguish wrung from aching
hearts were more than many could bear.
The floor of the morgue was covered with water. It came not from the rain but
from the ice in which some of the bodies were packed. It had gradually crept
up to and around pile of blood-stained bed clothing near the door, and the spattered
sacks of grain which were piled in a corner, until finally it found its way
across the sidewalk and slowly trickled into the gutter.
It was about 7:30 o’clock Friday morning when a tall loud-voiced man,
clad in a yellow slicker and rubber boots, walked through the mud and rain to
the middle of the street at the principal corner in Snyder, and in stentorian
tones announced: “Men are wanted to help bury the dead. All who are willing
to assist are asked to come and stand by me.” In a few minutes the line
by the man in the slicker was long enough to reach nearly across the street.
Many of the men in the line were in their shirt sleeves and were wet to the
skin. They went willingly to work. As many as could clambered on a dray, armed
with picks and shovels, and proceeded to the cemetery. Others hastened to aid
the undertakers. There was an ample supply of caskets. A car containing a hundred
was sent down from Oklahoma City. Nearly all of them were used. The car was
parked on a Frisco sidetrack where it could be seen from all parts of the main
business streets. The caskets were brought in drays to the undertakers’
shops as they were needed.
Some of the Freaks
One of the many pranks of the cyclone occurred at the new compress. An employee had a bicycle in the office; the bicycle was found uninjured on the prairie fifty yards from the compress. The bell off the bicycle was found on top of the large steam cylinder about 20 feet from the ground. A spoon engraved with the name of one of the stricken families in Snyder was found 12 miles northeast of the city in a farmer’s barn yard. At the school house the shingles were knocked off for the space of four feet square while the remainder of the house was uninjured. Immediately across the street east, a house occupied by Davis family was mashed flat with Mrs. Davis and daughter Alice Dunn under remains. Mrs. Davis was killed outright; Miss Dunn will probably recover.
Next door to them the house was turned completely around and faced the other way. The piano of Mrs. Hetwig was carried 1,200 yards and suffered little injury except from flying missiles. A jar of fruit was carried from Hetwig residence two blocks away and let down without being cracked. On the west side of town, out of sixty-five houses not three wagon loads of wood is left, and even the foundations of most are gone. Rubbish was carried 35 miles in that direction. Fifteen miles northeast, a door off one of the livery barns measuring 5 by 7 feet is lying intact within 100 yards of the farm house. A pocketbook belonging to L. C. James, 19 miles southwest, whose house was destroyed and family killed, was picked up near the Frisco depot. It was identified by papers.
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February 14, 2007