Bill Barlow's Budget

GREAT DISTRESS
Southern Cyclone Sufferers Destitute.

EVEN THEIR CLOTHING GONE

The Great Storm of Friday Night Very Destructive to Property—Not Many Lives Lost, But Numbers Injured—An Appeal For Aid

Atlanta, March 6. —The reports from the center of the cyclone disturbance of Friday night show that the great destitution caused will call for relief. Many of the cyclone sufferers are in a destitute condition, having been rendered houseless and homeless by the wind, with not a vestige of clothing, except the garments they had on their backs. They were exposed to the biting cold. Starvation stares some of them in the face. A meeting held in Greenville appeals for assistance, giving out that the facts are brief but terrible.

The Town Destroyed.

"The town is now a scene of desolation, many of the elegant homes, as well as her humble cottages, are destroyed and numbers of families are destitute, penniless and homeless. Four of her churches and her beautiful college have been levelled to the dust. This is a calamity which cannot be relieved by the sufferers falling back upon insurance companies, but relief must come, if it comes at all, from the promptings of a Christian beneficence and human pity and generosity. It is to such sentiments in the bosoms of our fellow citizens of every kind that we appeal."

Everything Swept Away.

In Troup county the cyclone swept away nearly all the farm houses scattering all their supplies. A man who returned Sunday from the storm-swept regions says: "We followed the track of the monster eight miles and noted nothing but complete devastation and destruction. The loss falls heavily on the farmers and the poor negroes, and a subscription will be made up here to help those who have lost everything. It was terrible to witness the sufferings as we went along. People here and there, white and black were gathering up their bedding and cooking utensils and what provisions could be found scattered over the hills. So complete was the destruction that it is stated that there was not enough dry cloth in Piedmont to bind the wounds of the suffering. Many were left with only the clothes they went to bed in. Everything was blown away and drenched in the pouring rain."

Doctor's Story.

Drs. Thurmond and Perdue have just come into Barnesville from the scene of the storm. Each had been in a different direction, working since daylight Sunday morning. They reported that they had set the limbs and dressed the wounds of 23 persons, and other doctors have been working along the wake. Many reports of persons dying come in, but as they are people living in distant places it is impossible to get their names.

An Appeal For Aid.

Meridian, Miss., March 6.—Mayor Dial has issued a proclamation calling upon the citizens to contribute funds for the relief of the distressed victims of the cyclone at Marion, Toomsuba, Kewanee, Pachuta and Barnett. At a mass meeting a committee was appointed by the mayor to ascertain the extent of the damage, where help is most needed and to solicit and disburse contributions. All of the ministers in the city appealed to their congregations to aid the sufferers and a liberal sum was collected in the different churches. It has been impossible, so far, to even approximate the financial loss occasioned by the cyclone, but it will go into the hundreds of thousands.