The Salina Journal from Salina, Kansas • Page 1

"THERE ISN'T MUCH LEFT" Members of tornado- stricken El Dorado family search through wreckage of their home for items that might be salvaged. They found few articles that weren't broken. (JOURNAL PHOTO) TODAY'S JOURNAL HELPS YOU In Health Parent has right to be con cerned about frequent nose bleeds; Dr. Molner's column, Pg 15. In Knowing Folks De Gaulle invites to Paris for talks, Pg.

2. Today in Salina, Pg. 16 Death; Funerals, Pg. 16: Births, Pg 16; Parties Clubs, Pg. 6.

In Ideas Much of the nation now looking to wheat belt for economic encouragement; Editorial Pg. 4. In Entertainment TV Previews, Pg. 14; Sports, Pgs. 12, 13; Theaters, Pg.

14. In Pocketbook Planning Anticipated wheat crop to give farmers considerably more money, Pg. 2. Good service pays big dividends these days; Sylvia Porter column, Pg. 4.

Read the daily advertisements. Strafe Rebels Wednesday, June 11-BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP)--Lebanese jet planes today strafed and bombed rebel tribesmen attacking government villages in the Lebanon mountains. LIFE GOES ON IN SCENE OF DESOLATION --Mrs. Cecil Mitchell, El Dorado, shakes 'out bedraggled skirt she retrieved from wreckage of her home, demolished by the tornado. Other tornado pictures on Pg.

2. (JOURNAL PHOTO by Bill Huggins) Collision Kills Father And Son Wednesday, June 11-MOUNDRIDGE (AP)-The fath. er of a 10-year-old boy killed in a truck collision near here yesterday died of his injuries today. The a was Elmer F. Harms, 41, of Newton.

The boy, James E. Harms, was killed instantly in the collision of a pickup truck driven by Harms and a sand truck. FIVE CENTS if THE HOME EDITION SAUNA JOURNAL 87th YEAR No. 162 SALINA, KANSAS, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 1958 20 Pages El Dorado's Twister Death Toll 13 Now Scores Of Others On Injury List By Huell Warren and Frank Tiffany EL DORADO, Kan. tornado devastated 40 square blocks of a modest new residential area of El Dorado late Tuesday.

At least 13 persons were killed and 49 injured. It. Col. W. Goodwin of the National Guard, in charge of the Dear Sal: The whole state joins El Dorado in mourning the tornado dead.

Yours, Ina house wgs gone. It sounded like the cracking of trees." None of the seven was even scratched. City Plunged Into Darkness El Dorado (population 12,000) is 35 miles northeast of Wichita. Its principal industries are two refineries, neither of which was damaged. The tornado swept away four main electric power lines, plunging the city into darkness.

Telephone lines were severed and the municipal water mains were broken in several places. While doctors worked feverishly by the feeble light of candles and flashlights at El Dorado's only hospital, National Guard troops from nearby Augusta and El Dorado's own unit were called to help civilian officers patrol the streets. searching operations, said other bodies might be found in the rubble. The commander of the Kansas Turnpike Highway patrol unit, Maj. Lloyd S.

Vincent, said his men were unable to account for the occupants of three automobiles which the twister apparently! swept off the toll highway at the northeast edge of El Dorado. Find 13th Body Searchers found a 13th body today, identified as that of Miss Bessie Diaz, 28. She was found in rubble of her home. Injured Woman Not Identified Today five of the injured in the El Dorado hospital still were in critical condition. They included an unidentified woman about 23, with blonde hair and blue eyes and a i engagement and wedding rings.

She was unconscious. At Least 150 Homes Destroyed At least 150 houses and an elementary school were destroyed or icavily damaged. One of the cars missing from Turnpike was that of J. Gordon James of Dallas, Tex. His wife was critically injured and )rought to the El Dorado hospital, a time James could not find lis two teenage daughters but he rejoined them.

James said he parked under an overpass on the turnpike to escape wind and heavy hail. Wind swept car away as they left it. Some houses utterly disappeared eaving only foundations and the; concrete floors of garages. Others "I warned the El Dorado police by ost only their roofs. Some, par- radio that the storm was coming, icularly brick houses', had only jroken window panes and other five-minute advance warning if I Looters Swarm In Looters swarmed into the stricken area as soon as darkness fell.

At least three persons were arrested for rifling the debris. As the tornado passed on its at the hospital. Homeless Sheltered An office was set up by the Red Cross, which arranged shelters for the homeless. A blood donors' office was established at Wichita. Richard Tarrant and three other coaches were working out with about 30 boys on two baseball teams when they sighted the tornado.

Said Tarrant: was the biggest one I ever saw and I've seen quite a few. We rounded up all the boys. The ones who had bicycles we told to get on 'em and get out of there--go home. Then we put the others in our cafs and took them home." School Ruined Fifteen minutes later Tarrant went back to the school, where they could have taken shelter, and found it in ruins. State Trooper Lemon said the tornado crossed over a golf course at the west edge of the city, then dipped into a ravine where it hit the Towanada addition, a new development of houses.

The tornado soared back into the air, only to crash again in another, similar housing area. Then it disappeared. Forty minutes after the El Do. rado tornado, another hit Pontiac way, a reporter said, A heavy! 7 seven miles away but black cloud clung to the eastern horizon. Over the city there was a fleecy cloud, white and beautiful.

"It looked like a Sliroud." Sees It First It was 5:45 p.m. when the tornado hit El Dorado. Trooper Bobj Lemon of the Kansas highway patrol, on duty seven miles south of the city, saw it first. did no damage. Grieving Crowd Orderly At the temporary morgue, Postmaster Glenn Tarrant had charge.

Tarrant, a former sheriff, said the crowd attempting to identify the dead was calm and orderly for the most part. The burden of treating the injured fell on Allen Memorial hos- "I followed it to El Dorado laL Administrator Roger B. fast as I could drive, he said. I Samuelson the hospital emer- ency Ian draft e( was ut mto effect an I don't imagine I gave them a speeded up the handllng of casua1 minor damage. In some cases a louse seemed almost untouched gave them that much." Another witness, Nancy Kersch-l although on either side there were ner, a secretary employed at ra- losses.

jdio station KBTO, saw the tor- One of those who poked through I nado strike the city. She said: "It he ruins of a demolished the Oil Hill district southwest foc vas Mrs. Charles W. Wheeler, jof town, then skipped into the Mrs. Wheeler and her populated residential sec-! daughters, Shirley 18, and Sharon tion.

I didn't realize at first that! sent critical cases and those with bone fractures to three hospitals in Wichita. Portable generators were dispatched from Wichita to El Dorado by the Boeing Airplane and McConnell Air Force Base and Wichita's National Guard unit er court on the corner of Towan- da'Avenue and Douglas street. Four In Family Killed There were unusual escapes from the twister, but John D. Daniels' family wasn't among the lucky ones. Returning home from work, Daniels found his home in ruins.

His 24-year-old wife, Roberta Marie, and his year-old son, John D. missing. Daniels found the bodies at the morgue. Nearby lay the bodies of Mr. and Mrs.

John Jenkins, parents of his wife. Flee Just In Time Red Cross workers said L. E. Bryan told them his son spotted the tornado while driving toward El Dorado from Wichita, where he is employed. Racing to his home, Bryan got his wife and children into the car and headed south.

They took refuge in a culvert. When they returned home, they found it smashed. Bryan was so excited he forgot to give his son's name. Another family, said Red Cross workers, had no basement in their house a crawled under the home for shelter. The tornado twisted the house off the foundation a ving the family unscathed.

ThiriWorst Tornado TOPEKA (AP) Yesterday's tornado at El Dorado ranks as the third worst in the matter of taking lives in the history of Kansas. The weather bureau said today only other tornadoes which resulted in more deaths were those at Udall on May 25, 1955, killing 80, and at Prescott on April 21, 1887, killing 20. Disaster Area The Sedgwick County Medical Proclaimed a of doctors to i i i WASHINGTON (AP) ties. El Dorado from Wichita, but t) team had no more than arrived Small Business Administration to- when it returned to Wichita. The day designated Butler County.

I for the overflow of injured from of the tornado which struck El El Dorado. Dorado yesterday. All of the dead were El Dorado! The designation applies only to residents one, James the owners of homes or businesses 17, took refuge in the basement was a tornado because it was of along with two neighbor women a pale gray color instead of the, Kirby damaged or destroyed. It enables their young children. "It Got Awfully Still" "We huddled in the northwest I.

black I had been told tornadoes! always looked." A temporary morgue was set construclion worker on a project at the Skelly oil refinery. them to apply to the agency for three per cent interest loans to re- First killed, apparently, 4-H Clubs building. There! i corner of the neighbor's base- i a bodies The other victim irnent," she said. "It didn't got awfully still. I went up to the front porch to see what was 'happening.

I could see the funnel in the hospital. El Hospital Overflows Dorado's hospital quickly heading our way. I hurried back was jammed past capacity. Ham- 'down the steps to the basement pered by lack of lights, doctors Here Is A List Of Dead, Injured El Dorado Folks Survey Their Loss Was So Darned Careful Nof To Scotch Thai Bed" ONLY LITTER REMAINS of what once was a new home in Dorado. Note mattress piled against shell of a neighboring home.

(JOURNAL PHOTO By Jim Cable Salina Journal Reporter Victims of the El Dorado tornado are beginning the long, hard job of digging out of the storm's debris. National Guardsmen walk the streets alert for looters. A few arrests have been made. Owners of homes destroyed along the 14-block long stretch of Tawanda Avenue, an east-west street in the southwest part of the city i were busy searching through the litter Wednesday morning. Many of the homes were brand new and their occupants had moved in within the past year.

Carl Henn had just moved into severely-hit home. Wednesday night he stepped put into his yard to move his car out of the rain, which had just begun. He looked over the hill behind the house and saw the funnel He and his wife jumped into a pickup truck and drove out of the area. They were able to save their furniture. They plan to rebuild their home.

Another victim, Kenneth Usrey, stood and looked at the twisted and flattened body of his house trailer. 'I was supposed to move into that after my wedding June 21," he said. "Doesn't look like I w'll now." Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Mitchell saw the tornado coming and escaped to their storm cellar.

"It looked terrible," Mrs. Mitchell said. "I warned our neighbors, and 17 of us went into our cellar." Their house was destroyed. The busy residents of the area found irony in some of the situations. "Everytlme we moved I was darned careful not to scratch that bed," one woman said.

"Now look at The bed was a splintered, mud- covered mess. Another man walked up to the side of what had been his new automobile. He kicked it in the side and; then said: "It's nice to know you can't hurt It any worse." Wednesday, June 11-- EL DORADO, Kan. Thej 13 persons killed in yesterday's tornado here included: A John i and his i Mary. llotjcrta Marie Daniels.

and her Kon, John D. 1 ye.ir. Howell i hi.s i and thi-ir son. John n. Mr.

anil Mrs. W. il. Cuntrcll. Kirby, '12, of Clinton, a construction worker ynx- ployed at an oil i project.

i i a Carter Welly. Tlie Injured ai Allen Memor. rial Huspltul here: Ain rJaliworth, 21. Johnson, transferred to Wichita I i Hospital. Mrs.

uiwrcnce 10. Kl DuraUu, and her children. a i ujn, Ucjbert, li. A. Mr.

Lipacorr.ii. 4(1, El Dorado. Mr. ami schweln. Hi ami and two Ui- veda, and A months, El uoracio.

Terry West. IS, Kl Dorado, transferred to Wichita f.Wcsiey) Hospital. Paul Gllmore. -15, El Dorado. Halllc Day, 70, Kl Dfrado.

Anna Demo, 7ft. El Dorado, transferred to Wichita (Wesley) a Sewcll, about IS. El Do. railo. George Kexroat, Kl Dorado, and nis wife.

SI. Ted a ID, Kl Dorado, trans- i i to Wlchil.i i i i Hospit a a i i i HI Belly Smith. 17. HisrnH. Mrs'' Charles Welly.

M. Kl DO' rado, transferred to Wichiu (St. J. II, Dillon, 6S, El Dorado, and wife. S7 Emrrm Adami, 44, Kl Dorado.

Frert Belk. 63, El Dorado, transferred to Wichita (Wesley) Hospt. tal. Zona Palmer. 7, El Dorado.

C. D. Wllcox. Belojt. Kan.

Teed. 47. El Dorado, a to Wichita iSt. Joseph) Hospital. Jones.

transferred to Dorado, (Wesley baby sirl about 3S. El DC. transferred El Dorado, (St. Jo- 67, El Wichita Ho.xpltai. An i i i 2 a old Mrs.

Ralph Olson, rado. Fred SharplnR. 17, to Wichita iWeslcvi. Charles Hale, 69. transferred to Wichita sephi i i a Lowderrrmn.

about 78, El Oornilo. tr.innferred to Wichita A Mrs. Wcitenccl. El Doiado, lo Wlrhita Mrs. r.ifnn Cooper.

-II, Et Dora Mrs. John r.raber. 38, Dor a a i a Oalnes, 15, El Dorado. Sunton PI Dorado. M.

M. T.nnc. El Dorado. R. Robertson El Dorado.

Those Riven enjcrscncy treat. at 'he hospl'al and released: Mrs. Richard Palmer, El Dora ilo. Richard Palmer. Kl Dorado.

ThireM Palmer, El Dorado. Mrs. Lo'ula Carson, El Dorado fh.irles Welty. M. Bl Dorado.

Bonnie Hlckernon, 23, Kl Dorado. KrnncK Kl Dorado. Pnltn'-r. 27. Dorado.

Mrs fxils El anil her son i fUrri Tlpton. Kl Dorado, David Can'On, Kl wtO. Ken Jenklni, Wichita. Btrlow, Ceiwjr,.