Researched by : Tina Easley

Typed by : Becky Roberts

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Every House At Guion Levelled – Only Bank Vault Left Standing

Known Dead

            Alicia - 17

            Sneeds - 16

            Parkin – 11

            Pleasant Valley – 5

            Lorado – 6

            Guion – 3

            Statesville – 2

            Wynne – 4

            New Port, Ark. – April 11. – Full extent of the deaths and damage caused by a tornado that ripped a wide swath across five northeastern Arkansas counties last night, was being revealed gradually today as crippled wire communications were repaired and rescuers penetrated the stricken areas.

            The latest tabulation showed 64 known dead in seven towns and rural communities swept by the storm that first struck west of Guion, and then dealt death and destruction as it clawed through Alicia, Parkin, Sneeds, Lorado and Batesville.

            Red Cross and volunteer relief workers who made brief excursions into the storm torn surrounding country said a final check of the rural districts probably would show many additional dead and injured.

            Relief work, caring for the scores of injured and hundreds of homeless, was under the direction of Albert Evans, of St. Louis, assistant National Red Cross director of disaster relief.

            Nearly 100 of the more seriously injured from the region of Sneeds. Alicia and Swifton were taken to the hospital at Batesville, which escaped the storm. Three of the injured died shortly after daybreak.

            Sneeds a little community 4 ¼ miles from Swifton, bore the brunt of the storm with a death toll of 16 known dead. Eleven were killed in the nearby village of Alicia. Guion was obliterated except for the five small homes on the edge of the community. The town bank was reduced to a pile of wreckage only the vault remaining standing.

            The mortuary at Swifton, first town in the path of the tornado held the bodies of the dead in the community around Sneeds and Alicia.

            As Red Cross workers arrived from New Port and Little Rock to organize the relief, additional  fear was felt because of the swollen condition of the White and Black rivers, already past flood stages and threatening to inundate the storm swept area.

            Many were reported missing. Scores of rescuers prodded into wrecked homes and business buildings in an effort to learn whether the missing were pinned under the debris or merely overlooked in the confusion that resulted when the tornado struck.

            W.E. Weaver, resident of Guion, told the United Press that his town was “blown of the map”. He said 75 buildings and homes were razed in five minutes and he feared the death toll would be larger than at first reported

            Rescue workers in Alicia found five bodies in the wreckage of the John H. Smith home. John H. Smith, his wife and their three children. Their home collapsed at the height of the storm and then caught fire.

TRAIN RACES TORNADO

        Passengers of Missouri Pacific trains from St. Louis to Little Rock related how the train raced the tornado for nearly 100 miles finally winning the race by a few miles.

            The train gained a speed of 75 miles an hour at times, they said, and passengers were hurled about the coaches and Pullmans as the engineer rounded curves at a terrific speed.

            Passengers said they could see the black funnel shaped cloud dipping and destroying the track just behind the train threatened to pick up the coaches and hurl them into the ditches along the tracks.

                        64 Known Dead In Ark. Tornado

                  April 11, 1929