1935 — Apr 6, Tornadoes, Lake Providence LA/9, Dolorosa/3, Gloster/8, Gillsburg/6, MS-26

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 12-4-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–26  Blanchard. We do not include the lightning strike death in Yazoo City, MS.

–27  AP. “Gloster Suffers Most As Storm Claims 27 Lives…” Daily Herald, Biloxi, MS. 4-8-1935, 1, 8.

            –9  Lake Providence, LA (drownings; houseboat on Mississippi River blown over)

  1. Abernathy, 34.
  2. John Hogue, 70
  3. B. Hogue, Natchez lumberman.
  4. Tom Oklahoma
  5. Eppie Sparks, 25

Five unnamed.

–3  Dolorosa, MS, three children

–6  Gillsburg, MS

  1. Augene [Eugene?] Caston, 43
  2. Marie Caston, 10
  3. Vardaman Caston, 20
  4. Ida Harrell, 63
  5. Birdie Lee Patrick, 30
  6. Catherine Patrick, 4, daughter of Birdie Lee Patrick

–8  Gloster, MS

  1. Chester Allen, wife of lumberman
  2. Joe Brown of Methodist Church when parsonage was destroyed.
  3. John B. Corban, 70, sewing machine salesman.
  4. John B. Corban, 70.
  5. Tom Whittington, 75, farmer
  6. 1 of 3 unidentified
  7. 2nd of 3 unidentified
  8. 3rd of 3 unidentified.

–1  Yazoo City, MS. Lightning; Ruby June Germany, 9.

–26  AP. “Twenty-Six Lives Are Claimed By Storm.” The Monroe News-Star, LA. 4-8-1935, 1.

            –9  Lake Providence, LA (drownings; houseboat on Mississippi River blown over).

            –3  Dolorosa, MS.

–6  Gillsburg, MS.

–8  Gloster, MS.

–17  Mississippi. Grazulis, Thomas.  Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991. 1993, p. 860.[1]

—  3  Dolorosa, MS  Apr 6, 1935  19:00 3k [killed] 4inj  5m  F2

–14  MS-LA Apr 6, 1935  22:40  14k  220inj 300y F3 (No LA information.)

            –8  Gloster

            –6  Gillsburg

 

Narrative Information

 

April 8, AP: “Gloster, Miss., April 8. – (AP) – A whining tornado blew out of the west over parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama and left in its path 27 known dead, more than 200 injured and property damage estimated at $300,000. The funnel shaped wind did a hop, skip and jump over the area, striking first at Lake Providence, La., then moved down the river to damage several points but when it crossed the Mississippi River moving southeast it struck three times with added fury at Dolorosa, Gloster and Gillsburg, Miss., and spent its force by dipping down around Mobile, Ala. ….

 

“The main fury of the wind was felt at Gloster, a town of 1500 population between McComb and Natchez. Not a house in the town escaped some damage and 760 inhabitants were affected directly by the storm. Mayor Louis Kahn said 87 dwellings were blown to splinters, 41 so badly damaged that they will have to be raze. 28 other dwellings and 20 business houses partly damaged. The railroad station, the hotel and three churches were wrecked, the cotton gin, the cotton warehouse and the town water tank were totally destroyed. Even the cemetery did not escape, tomb stones being blown down and shunted from grave to grave. The landscape was strewn with timber, metal roofing, uprooted trees and general debris.

 

“Four white persons and four negroes were killed at Gloster and 150 injured and the property damage was estimated at $250,000 by the mayor.

 

“From there the storm struck next outside of the village of Gillsburg, 25 miles southeast of Gloster, where six persons were killed, a score injured and 14 homes blown down.

 

“The tornado then rose into the skies and was thought spent in the ozone but it swooped down yesterday in the Mobile, Ala., area where it wrecked several homes, unroofed others and did several thousand dollars property damage but no human loss of life or injury were reported.

 

“At Lake Providence, La., four persons and five negroes were drowned when the wind blew over a large boathouse anchored in the Mississippi River, six miles below the town. Several houses were blown down in Lake Providence, Sicily Island and Ferriday with some dozen persons reported injured.

 

“Then the wind crossed into the state of Mississippi into the state of Mississippi and hit Dolorosa, a plantation settlement where three negro children were killed. One little [child] was blown out of his bed into the night and his body was not found until near noon yesterday. The store of Solomon Schwartz was blown over and he was scalped by flying timber and had several ribs broken.

 

“The wind caught most of the people asleep and they were so panic stricken they could not describe the storm.

 

“Three heavy steel box cars were blown off the track at a Gloster siding and W. W. Cunningham, trainmaster of the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad, said: ‘I’ve visited other towns after storms have struck but this is the first time I’ve seen a box car blown from a track.’….

 

Sources

 

Associated Press. “Gloster Suffers Most As Storm Claims 27 Lives, Causes $300,000 Loss.” Daily Herald, Biloxi, MS. 4-8-1935, pp. 1 and 8. Accessed 12-4-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/biloxi-daily-herald-apr-08-1935-p-1/

 

Associated Press. “Twenty-Six Lives Are Claimed By Storm.” The Monroe News-Star, LA. 4-8-1935, p. 1. Accessed 12-4-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/monroe-news-star-apr-08-1935-p-1/

 

Grazulis, Thomas P. Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991: A Chronology and Analysis of Events. St. Johnsbury, VE: Environmental Films, 1993, 1,326 pages.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1] It does not appear that Grazulis included the overturning of a houseboat in the MS River at Lake Providence.