d the air filled with dust, sand, gravel, sticks and other
debris.

Besides suffering from a dust storm, Kansas was stricken by floods due
to heavy rain in some parts of the state. Hail and lightning accompanied
the rain and did much damage.

TORNADO IN ARKANSAS

A tornado on Monday night, March 24th, eight miles southwest of Leslie,
Arkansas, killed Mrs. John Couders and seriously injured John Couders
and his son William, and James Trieste, his wife and three children.

A tornado that passed over Clarksville, Arkansas, on Tuesday, killed
Miss Ida Brazell and blew down many houses. At Rumeley five were killed
and several injured. Couriers immediately sought aid, carrying news of
great suffering in the mountains.

Their tales were heart-moving. Lack of insurance, lack of funds and lack
of knowledge of what to do when overtaken by calamity made the situation
in small towns and in out-of-the-way places more pathetic than that of
the unhappy homeless in some of the large cities affected by the tornado
or the flood. To the latter relief was immediately sent--from
neighboring places, from the whole country. The others, suffering no
less, did not always even succeed in being heard.

CHAPTER XXIII

THE TORNADO IN INDIANA

THE BRUNT OF THE STORM--MANY BURIED UNDER WRECKAGE--SLEEPERS HURLED
FROM BEDS--FREAKS OF THE STORM--INJURED CARRIED TO HOSPITALS--ACUTE
SUFFERING--RESCUE WORK--NATIONAL GUARD ON DUTY--TOWN OF PERTH LAID
WASTE.

The record of disaster by tornado was greater in Terre Haute than in any
other place except Omaha. For two weeks before Easter a dense atmosphere
hung over the city, which occasional heavy rainfalls did not clear. Then
suddenly on Sunday night, about ten o'clock, the lightning flashed and
loud peals of thunder followed.

The tornado seemed to spring out of the southwestern part of the city as
if it came from the swollen waters of the Wabash River. It first smashed
into Gardentown, a suburb of the city, where a great many working people
live, and every building in its path crumpled down before it. The
lightning sped over building after building, setting many of them on
fire. Parts of the Root Glass Company's plant were flattened. The end of
the foundry room of the Gartland Factory, a solid brick wall eight
inches thick, was caved in. Brick and stone structures suffered alike.

MANY BURIED UNDER WRECKAGE

In the streets were tangled masses of twisted electric wires splut