Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 27 March 1948 — Page 1

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A GOOD’ FRIDAY: CATASTROPHE — Yesterday

where life was peaceful and serene. Today, Holy Saturday dawned dark and dreary and the people who

rief-Stricken Citizens

Pick Way Through Acres of Debris in Search Of Smashed Homes and Personal Belongings

By RICHARD LEWIS They were looking through the wreckage for salvage] he boy and the old man. | ; It lay all about them, a tangled mass of roofing, siding, Findowglass, bedsteads, chairs, rugs and plumbing. This Fas Main St. in’ Coatesville this’ morning. It was still raining and hard.blasts of wind whistled

rough the rubble. | nie Dead |

» ‘Hey grandpop,” said the poys. “Lookee. The tine Known 'At Coatesville

tation sign.” It was under an overturned I | ocker, the round, metal disc| HARRY RUMLEY #27 Amo) | “hich had swung from a pole on JANICE COFFEY, 16. 1 he fil] WAYNE BEAMAN, 29. ng station across the treet, WAYNE PURSELL, 37. ! MRS. MURIEL PURSELL, 87. | FRANK ELLETT SR. MRS. LOTTIE ELLETT, 27. RICHARD ELLETT, 7. Ror a quarter mile, the center NE hori LAWEE Noe. Coatesville was smashed flat.| HARRY BRITTON, 27, Crawin and women and older chil-|¢ordsville. Gil eh .climbed across ‘wall and| PERRY KNIGHT, 36. on Searching, for personal]. FRANK GRIMES, 40. oie VICTOR WISE, 40, (died of a es U could stand in W. Main St.|heart attack immediately after] he a Ford truck had been|the storm struck). | 2 ed into the ground as though . | Ya giant punch press and look Af Danville

“Never mind that, boy,” said ¢ old man. “Get your clothes

Ogether. You're lothes » going to need

PVer most of the town. DONALD HOWARD, 14.

Holds Daughter's Photo : Mrs. Hazel Burgess stood on At Hadley

> shingles of what had been | H. F. HARTSAW, 47. roof. She held a picture of]

GRACE HADLEY, 47. er daughter, Monice, and a bot-| e of toilet water. . {At Asherville

Nearh Ing an aL. JOUDE man was tak-| Mpg RALPH DIERDOFF, 36. |

han an Army uniform off a coat | g orn order to pull the cloth-| At Fortvitle ollapseq 0, LW Sections of aly; pyre WHETZEL, § sed wall. ‘Phe shirts he L, 87. Rrriey were still clean. RE TI m lucky,” said Mrs. Burgess,| Airliner ‘Scares’ Sub

| | Continued on Page 2—0ol 3) Near Golden Gate | ees SAN FRANCISCO, Mar. 27 (UP)—A “mysterious”

X rine crash-dived less than 60 ds Closed by Storm miles ofr the Golden Gate today tate Highway Depart-|at the approach of a trans-Pa-

late Announces subma-

nen: : a announced that the|cific airliner, and the Navy said tase ob , 0808 are closed be-|it could not “identify it as one of os the tornado. ours.” est ot Routes 36 east and| Navy search planes were sent Danville. anville; 39 south of|to scour the northern California

ik at Coatesville; 36 east coast for the unidentified sub-

+ 40 Haute. at pe) ae west of Eminence and ican Airways Clipper. nd; 63 at Cayuga; 150| A Navy spokesman said “we

West Terre Haute; 157 cannot identify it as one of our] of Clay City; 234 at|submarines on the basis of the]

Cayugs . hh: 235 east of Medora, and|report. It will be checked thorest of Austin. oughly.”

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ile; 39 north of Little/marine which was seen submerg-| west of West Terreling by the crew of a Pan Amer-| pounds.

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"ra SATURDAY, MARCH 27, 1948 : Indianapolis, Ind. sued Gully except Sunday

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Coatesville was just another quiet Indiana ‘community yesterday had looked hopefully at

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INDIANA'S HIROSHIMA — You are looking directly down the center of the path of the tornado which swept through the heart of Coatesville, leaving trees uprooted, torn and twisted. Mixed with the debris of houses | leveled by the twister are automobiles which were tossed into the air from a street a block and a half away. (Photo by Victor Peterson. Other photos by Mr. Peterson and Henry Glesing Jr. of The Times appear on Pages

2 and 18.) On the Inside

e * Birth Notice— . 14th at Bailey's Deputy sheriffs were called; A early today to assist in the birth of a 14th child to Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Bailey, 520 Perry St.

Death Rides Into Indiana

graphs and stories from stricken areas. ..Pages 2 and 4 |Indiana.

treatment - until a physician ar-| = = = ® = = lth h rived from General Hospital. Easter church news . .. stories and photo........ .Page 5° Fougliout Ingigna, The baby, a girl, weighed seven "= = = ® x =

—————— A Key to Other Feotures on Inside Pages LOCAL TEMPERATURES Amuse. ...9, 14|Clasified 13-14 Forum ..... 10,8ociety .... 6a m., 41 10 a.m... 41 Eddie Ash... 11|Comics .....17/In Indpls..... 2{8ports ...... 11 L 7a. m.. 40 11 a.m... 38 -16| Crossword .. 18 Mrs. Manners 16Stranahan .. 11 Week later. 8a m.. 40 12 (Noon) 37 AS Banarials ++. 10| Movies .....14{Washington . 10

9 a.m... 41 1p m.., 37 IChurches «++.5-8 | Foreign gs 10,Radio ......17 Weather Map 4 cheated, ¥ x 5

apolis Times

= = FORECAST: Mixed rain and snow flurries this afternoon. Cloudy, less wind, colder tonight. High, slightly below freezing. Tomorrow clear, cool.

full page of storm pictures, Page 18 , , . other photo- | * Death made a return trip toll¥

S : : = A week ago Friday a storm The mother, Marie, 34, received > U/1S€ carol services tomorrow . . . a color photo. .Page 3 burst out of nowhere and swept

Death rode atop the twister,(cial business there. {killed many persons in other) states, but Indiana was spared.|ville this morning was Tony, Death was to return just a Maio, Indianapolis

And death) was mot to be ment to help clean up the rubble.

FINAL

HOME |

| PRICE FIVE CENTS

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Easter's return with happiness in their hearts now had prayers in their hearts as they looked down upon their dead. (Indianapolis Times aerial picture by Photographer John Spicklemire.)

80 Injured by Storm In Hendricks County

| Half of Coatesville Smashed fo Rubble; Many Victims Near Death in Hospitals By ROBERT BLOEM |" Half a dozen battered Hoosier communities staggered | back to their feet today in the wake of a tornado that cut a ova) of death and destruction across central Indiana.

| When state police and the Red Cross counted the toll {this morning 19 were dead. More than 80 others were linjured. \ | More than half the town of Coatesville was smashed to |rubble when a ‘mushroom shaped” cloud suddenly. bore iy on it about 5:30 p. m. yesterday. Hadley and Dan. |ville fared only a little better. But by dawn all the “missing” in the stricken commue nities had been accounted for by state police. And already groaning bulldozers were pushing aside the debris of smashed buildings and brushing away the broken trees. 14 Die in Little Coatesville Linemen were clearing the mass of tangled wires and broken utility poles, temporary homes already were set up for the hundreds of homeless and emergency kitchens were feeding the hungry. Even before the money cost of the damage had been {reckoned the survivors were beginning to clean up and get ting ready to rebuild. Fourteen of the victims died in little Coatesville alone, Two more were killed in Hadley and another in Dane. ville. Mrs. Ralph Dierdorff of Asherville died in another 'storm that struck there. Albert Whetzel, 87, was crushed to death by debris when a gale leveled his home two miles north of Fortville, One more person was believed dead in a basement of la smashed home in Coatesville but four teams of state police and Red Cross first aid workers searching the debris {had not yet reached the spot where the unidentified body |was believed to be. Trooper Struck by Lightning | Many of the injured were in critical or serious condition in hospitals in Indianapolis and Greencastle. One state police trooper, Fred Davis, was hurt seriousduring the night-long search when he was struck by lightning. An official appeal was issued to all Hoosiers to stay away from the disaster|workers, Navy ¢ detachments and

.!military police were’ moved in [scene Uiless they had of lon storm-dazed Coatesville less {than two hours after the tornado rats . | struck. Among the arrivals at Coates NE eviight speeded the. v which for hours during the night 1 street com-ihaq to be conducted by {missioner. “He brought 20 men igang janterns. and four pieces of heavy equip-| The force of the storm. bate ;

State police, Red Cross disaster! (Continued on Page 2-Col. 1)!

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