The Times from Shreveport, Louisiana • Page 1

Ark-La-Tex's Greatest Newspaper U. S. Weather Report Shreveport and Vicinity Occasional showers and local thundershowers and colder Monday, with high about 65. Tuesday partly cloudy, cool. Louisiana Showers and local thunderstorm! and colder Monday.

Tuesday partly cloudy, cooL Arkansas Monday rain and colder, local thunderstorms in extreme southeast portion. East Texas Considerable cloudiness and colder Monday, a few scattered showers in east. 'More Than 1,000,000 People Live Within 100 Miles of Shreveport Shopping Center of Ark-La-Te To Reach This Market Us The Shreveport Times first la News, Features, Circulation. Advertising mkt "Serving a Rich Tri-State Region Every Morning of the Year" VOL LXXVI NO. 258 Owner of KWKH 50,000 Watt C.B.S.

Outlet SHREVEPORT, LOUISIANA, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1950 Full Associated Press Full United Press PRICE FIVE CENTS PER COPY Ark-La-Tex Tornadoe 29; ik Die at Cedar Grove Seven Dead, 50 Hurt as Twisters Rake East Texas Tornadoes Strike Twenty Times In Less Than Twenty-Four Hours Haslam, Texas, Feb. 12 battered East Texas today, killing at least seven persons and injuring more than 50 others. Two women were killed near this little East Texas saw-mill town in the Fellowship community. State police reported two other deaths Hear here, but they were unconfirmed. Twisters also killed an elderly woman in Corley, in northeast Texas; an 18-month-old boy and his father in a farm community southeast of Lufkin, and a woman in the fH) I VH 1 tHjJtH Hundred Injured; Eight Lives Lost In Castor Area; Eight Killed By Tornado Iii Bienville Damage at Slack AFB Of City Estimated at $250,000 Tornadoes ripped into northwest Louisiana and East Texas yesterday afternoon, killing 29 persons and injuring approximately 100.

Six were killed when the twister struck Slack Air Force base near Cedar Grove at 1:05 p.m. and names of 27 more were reported in other hospitals in the area. Shreveport hospitals were treating 39 injured last night. Bodies of five airmen, two of which had been identified by air force officials last night, were recovered from the wreckage of buildings at the air force depot. A civilian employe, who was still unidentified last night, was also found dead under the wreckage.

Two negroes, both unidentified, were killed as the destructive wind flattened a half dozen negro residences in Hood's quarter, just east of the air force depot near the Shreveport Cresoting company yards. One was a negro man about 60 and the other a child of four. The tornado is known to have struck first in Caddo parish south of the Forbing-Reisor road where it made a swath of destruction through the Burnley-Pines subdivision. There were no known injured in that area. In the Burnley-Pines area, the tornado demolished a negro shack and lifted the home of T.

R. Todd from its foundation. The roof of the Todd home disappeared. Eight persons were killed near Castor, and at least two others seriously injured, in what the weather bureau here i miiimisimmmm Mm rrf FIVE AIRMEN AND A CIVILIAN died when a bouncing, tornado slashed through Slack Air Force base, the old quartermaster depot south of Cedar Grove. In the ab ove photo, taken from the Shreveport Times plane, The Newsboy, can be seen what remains of two barracks and a mess hall.

One (center) was leveled and the other (right) battered. The mess hall is at left. (Aerial Photo by Graham). 3 MAGNOLIA ARK. LA 6 i Base was a separate storm.

In any event, it prob ably was as badly hit as any area in northwest Louisiana besides the south Shreveport section. Of those killed near Castor, six were members of one family and died in the destruction of one house. Three members of one white family a negro pipeline worker were killed near Sligo- Other deaths were reported in several East Texas towns, including Haslam on the Louisiana line near (See Photos on Pages 5, 10, and 11) Logans port. Three women were reported to be dead there. Slack Air Force base, a ware housing area for the air force, was in the direct path of the tornado.

Although the destructive winds missed most of the main buildings, it leveled one barrack and a mess hall and seriously damaged a large two-story barrack. Col. Thomas W. Steed, command er of Barksdale Air Force base, estt mated the damage at Slack Air Force base at approximately $250 000. Most of the 160 men stationed at the depot were off duty.

(Sunday is a regular day off for most of the personnel.) However, an estl- rCntinr Oa Pa Bt-ta) according to Sgt. W. M. Smith, noncommissioned officer in charge of the mess. Ten airmen were In the mesi hall when it was hit, but only on was seriously injured.

Sergeant Smith, who is first cook for the mess detachment, said ha warned the men to get in the large refrigerators just before the wind struck. He said, "I looked out and saw it coming and knew that it was going to be serious where we were." The sergeant, who was tempting to get his mess equip-ment collected from amidst the -debris, was almost in a state of shock; but appeared unhurt. He said he saved himself from injury by standing between one of the rear doors of the building and a large vooden rack whicS held eating trays. The one airman who was injured seriously, he said, had become excited arid "was getting out of here." He was standing in the shambles of what had been the mess hall as he spoke. Sergeant Smith, whose home tain Clint City.

Flau said he accounted for the other eight men and did not believe any bodies were under the WTeckage of the mess hall. In the barrack just across the Casualty List DEAD, Five airmen from Slack air force depot, three of whom are unidentified. Those identified are Pfc. William Eli Oliveira, 22, of Honolulu, and Pfc. Herbert Lawrence Cas- ofc; 1 6r air nnl iro cn uanrnn rf Oft 11 Wk I One civilian at Slack air force depot, unidentified.

Dotty Jo Knotts, 17, of near Castor. A negro man. about 0. of Hood'6 quarters near Slack air force depot. A negro boy, about 4, also of Hood's quarters.

A negro youth, about 25, fatally injured near Grand Cane and thought to be a Shreveport resident. Dick Windsor, 36, of near Lufkin, Texas. Linwood Windsor, 18 months old, of near Lufkin, Texas. Velma Loud, negro woman, of near Castor. I One civilian at Slack air force base.

Unidentified. Sam Smith. 69, of near Castor. Mrs. Sam Smith, 59, of near Castor.

Elaine Smith, 18, of near Castor. Miss Celie Sullivan, 66, of near Castor. Prentice Little, 4, of Minden. Mrs. Leonard Burton, about 25, of near Castor.

R. L. Angle, Sligo. Two Angle sons. Sligo.

Catlard Oa Pac I I KWKH First With News Of 1 ornado Radio Station KWKH, The Shreveport Times station, was first to report details of the tornado which struck Shreveport at 12:45 p.m. yesterday. At 1:25 p.m. KWKH broadcast its first bulletin on the twister which struck Slack Air Force base- By. 6 p.m.

the station had broadcast eight bulletins and stories on the tornado. Shortly after the twister hit the base, Bob Shipley, KWKH news on the spot to make a tape recording of the rescue operations and get stories from eyewitnesses. This was aired at 2:45 p.m. Later in the afternoon Shipley went to the, Logans port area to interview people there, and to survey the tornado damage. Horace Logan, KWKH program director, went to Roy-town, Sligo and Ringgold for more tape recordings.

Shortly after the station broadcast the first bulletins calls were received from man' radio stations in several states. Many stations Jericho community near here Many of the injured were in critical condition or se- Property damage mounted high. In all. twisters struck at least 20 times in less than 24 hours- The twisting winds whip-lashed southeast, central and northeast Texas this morning before skipping Into Louisiana. The women killed at the Fellowship community were Identified as Mrs.

Laura Grayson and Mrs. Will Eastrldge. The house they were in was demolished as the twister roared in about noon. Five persons, all relatives of Mrs. Grayson, were injured.

The tornado hit this town of some 500 people about noon, but its main force slashed into the Fellowship community. An undetermined number of persons was injured here. There was no estimate of property damage, but at least one sawmill was battered down. 0 Mrs. Buster Fults was killed as a twister ripped through the Jeri cho community, about 20 miles south of here.

Fults and three of the couple's children were reported in critical condition in a hospital at Center. Just before noon, a twister smashed through the Salem farm community, 1 miles southeast of Lufkin. It killed 18-month-old Lin- wood Windsor and critically injured his father, Dick Windsor. The mother and three other children suffered serious injuries. The tornado that hit Corley, 30 miles west of Texarkana, kilied a 66-year-old farm wifte.

A twister also hit Chireno in the Lufkin area, but no dead or injured were reported there. Another demolished two houses in the Lovell's Lake community, 10 miles southwest of Beaumont, but there were no casual ties. Hughes Springs and Pine, both in Northeast Texas; Gill, in East Texas, and Groesbeck. in central Texas, also were hit this morning. Another twister tore up an isolated farm house eight miles west of Tyler.

Twisters late yesterday struck at La Porte and Alvin, both in the Houston area; Baileyville, in central Texas; Chapel Hill, in East Texas, and Omaha, in Northeast Texas. Eight persons were injured by the tornado that lashed into this little community 30 miles west of Texarkana just after midnight. Several buildings were torn down. Three persons were hurt at Hughes Springs, when the same twister hit there. munity, nine miles south of Marshall, injured nine persons five white, four negro.

Four or "five homes were destroyed. The Pine tornado demolished three houses and damaged a number others. R. W. Hart received severe head and body injuries.

At Omaha, the twister whipped in during a heavy rain storm late last nignc. tiaii me r. w. arris Cawtlnf4 On Ttm STa) Bossier Boy Hurt in Car Accident Dies An 11-year-old Bossier City school boy died at 10:30 o'clock last night, about five hours after he was, struck by an ambulance en route to Castor to return tornado casualties to Shreveport. The youth was identified as Tommy Blackwell.

son of Mr. and Mrs. S. M. Blackwell of 2518 Lamar street, Bossier City.

Physicians at the North Louisiana sanitarium said Tommy died of a fractured skull. The tracin arridpnt nrrnrrpri at. 5:15 p.m- when Tommy stepped from between cars waiting on a red light in the 900 block of Barksdale boulevard into the path of the oncoming ambulance. J. E.

Antony. 28, driver of the Wellman's ambulance which struck the child, said he "had no chance of missing the boy." Witnesses told police that the youth stepped from between the waiting cars and looked south toward a red Wellman's ambulance which was traveling about 100 (Contlnaed On Pace Sctcb) 0 Index Classified Comics Editorial Hoper 17-19 9 4 16 Radio Society Sports Theatres Weather 11 6 14-15 16 7 omtr The tornado which swept through northwest Louisiana yesterday afternoon struck southwest Bienville parish about 2 p.m. Eight persons were known to be dead late yesterday afternoon, according to Bienville Sheriff Prentis Oakley. Directly in the path of the storm was an area southwest of Castor tornado struck the southwest corner of the parish, according to Sheriff Oakley, and continued on to the Roy 6. Martin sawmill, which is about two miles south of Castor.

It is thought to have jumped then and moved on up through the center of Bienville parish into Claiborne parish. Besides the dead, six more were described as seriously injured by the Bienville official. He said his deputies and several state troopers were working in the stricken area about 30 minutes after the tornado struck. Ambulances from Arcadia and Ringgold we're carrying the dead and injured to those towns. "The death list will be larger than seven, I'm sure," Sheriff Oakley said late yesterday afternoon.

Rescue work was going on at that time. The southwest Bienville area appeared to be one of the most hard-hit areas in the northwest Louisiana section. Sheriff Oakley estimated that from 20 to 30 bouses were blown away. All of them were farm houses, he said, except three which were located near the Martin sawmill. Rescue and evacuation work was continuing into the night.

Many workers in Bienville narish as well as elsewhere were expected to work all nignt clearing tne areas. The Martin Lumber mill was heavily damaged by the tornado. The planer shed and the commissary building were demolished. Aocordine to a witness, the tor nado came out of the southwest and continued in a northeasterly direction for ten miles. Late last nicht one authority in Ringgold said about 25 or 30 injured were thought to be at tne letcner ciinic there.

This could not be confirmed. First Since 1940- Although the Ark-La-Tex area may seldom get through a winter without being touched by tor-nados, the storm which struck the Cedar Grove area was the first which has struck in the city of Shreveport since the storm of 1940. The 1940 storm killed 10 persons here, injured 32 persons and caused more than $1,000,000 worth of damage. The Times' 1940 files tells us that the areas most heavily damaged by the 1940 tornado included the Queens Highway and Portland area, the vicinity of Byrd high school, the Centenary section, the State Fair Grounds and the Jewella area. Valentine- Santa.

Claus received a valentine yesterday from NANCY COUCH of Shreveport, ho thanked him for the toys he brought her for Christmas. Congratulations STROLLER wishes to congratulate the following new parents: Mr. and Mrs. GEORGE W. (Continued On Face Seren) Man Found Slain Near Genoa, Ark.

Texarkana, Feb. 12 (Spe cial) A man identified by Miller county officers as Curtis Long, 35, was found beaten to death near Genoa, late tonight. He bled to death after he was beaten about the head, apparently with a hatchet. His juglar vein was slashed. Miller county officers are hold' ing two Genoa men for questioning.

Long, believed to be a native of Cleveland, Ohio, may have been visiting a sister in Genoa, officers said. He brought to a Texarkana hospital by private car and de clared dead upon arrival. BtroMeir U7 FOR BIN Workers Calm, Methodical ROY TOM :1 GRAND CANB Rescue Work Was Begun Soon A Her Tivister Hit BjJDI FORT Member of The Times Staff Rescue and evacuation work began yesterday afternoon at Slack air force base about 15 minutes after the tornado struck. In a driving rain, Shreveport firemen and police set up A LOCANSPORT JERICHO BOUNCING TORNADOES THAT STRUCK East Texas and North Louisiana moved primarily in a northeasterly direction. Above are shown the main areas where the devastating winds struck.

(Times Map), CASTOR the gulf is 33 miles upstream from New Orleans, well below the junction of the other rivers. The engineers began to open the spillway last Friday. They removed 20 more sections today from the structure separating he river and the loodway. A total of 92 of the 330 "bays" have been opened, and the engineers said ten or possibly more would be opened tomorrow. Since the opening of the spillway the river at New Orleans has fallen from 19.98 to 19.43 feet.

The water at the nead of the spillway is 14 feet dep and at Lake Pontchartrain it is between one and two feet deep. About gallons of water are entering the spillway each second. quoted KWKH on news of the tor nado. Three Killed, 18 Hurt Near Logansport A roaring tornado cut i 200-yard-wide path of destruction in Texas and Louisiana communities in the Logansport area leaving three known dead and 18 known injured yesterday. The twister hit Haslam, Texas, skirted Logansport and and moved northeastward, hitting Grand Cane and Long-street and inflicting additional injuries among scores of rural negroes.

JDead were: Mrs. C. C. Mavfield. 53, who re sided two miles north of Logan sport on the Marshall, Texas, road.

Mrs. Laura Grayson, 77, of Joaouin, Texas. Mrs. Juia Eastrldge, 79. of Joaquin.

Mrs. Mavfield died after being taken to Sandifer sanitarium in Logansport. Mrs. Eastridge and Mrs. Gravson died when the storrn destroyed the Grayson residence.

Eighteen injured persons from Joaquin and Haslam, Texas, and rural areas outside of Logansport were treated at the Sandifer sanitarium. Other injured were' taken to Center, Texas, and Mansfield. The 18 persons treated at the sanitarium, only hospital in that immediate area, were: Mrs. Minor Boston, 1320 Wilkin son street, Shreveport, broken arm. shock, body injuries, treated and transferred to Shreveport.

R. C. Gravson. 3846 Dilz street, Shreveport, injured back, treated and released. Betty Ann Gravson, about 13, of Joaquin, gash on head tCaBtlaact Oi Ff River Levees Overflow Predicted an emergency organization in a matter of minutes along with air force personnel.

Although the devastating wind had cut a path of almost total destruction through the base only minutes before, workers were remarkably calm and carried out their duties with quick, methodical plans. The tornado, hich struck at 1:05 p.m., picked up a large two-story barrack, carried it about' 100 yards and smashed it into the ground with such force that it was unrecognizable as a building. It left no trace of the building where It had stood. At least one body had been found in this wreckage during the first 30 minutes of rescue work. Two more bodies were found within the first hour after the wind had hit.

The funnel-shaped destruction dropped the barrack between two other buildings a mess hall and another barrack. The mess hall was almost demolished and the other barrack was badly damaged. Although several airmen were injured in these two buildings, none was known to have died, at least in the early part of the afternoon. Airmen had completed their noon meal at the mess hall and filed out of the building only five minutes before the tornado struck. Urge Sandbagging of Atchafalaya New Orleans, Feb.

12 (). The weather bureau today warned that the Atchafalaya river may overflow unless levees are sandbagged in the Morgan City area near the southeast Louisiana coast. The bureau predicted the river would reach a stage of 7.5 feet and that some levees were not that high. Flood stage at Morgan City is 6 feet. There was no reading today, but the river stage was 6.3 yesterday.

The U. S. engineers said the area had been alerted and that levees were being patrolled. They said that the situation was not alarming. Heavy rains in the Atchafalaya basin and along its parent streams, the Mississippi and Red rivers, and winds from the Gulf of Mexico were responsible for the prediction.

The Atchafalaya, Red, Old and Mississippi rivers form an with the Mississippi on one side, the Red the top half of the other side, the Aachafalaya the bottom half and Old river the cross-bar. The direction of Old river's flow depends on the levels of water in the other rivers. It it now draining from the Mississippi into the Atchafalaya. The red is also emptying into the Athafalaya. The engineers said did not believe the opening of the Bonnet Carre spillway would affect the Atchafala-a river.

The spillway drains from, the Mississippi river into, the Lke Pontchartrain and (CaaUaaaf Oa Far BtTm 'ft.