Tornado Sweeps Pine Bluffs, Ark.

Buildings Unroofed, Many Collapse and City Is Left In Total Darkness.

One Man Electrocuted.

Hello Girls In Panic When the Front of Building Falls - Fifty Launches and Government Fleet Sunk - Cotton Loss $1,000,000.

Pine Bluff, Ark., June 10. - The most destructive tornado that has ever visited this city struck Pine Bluff at 5 o’clock, and it is believed several people were killed.

Downtown buildings were unroofed, several collapsed and trees were uprooted and poles torn down in all directions. The residence and business sections are strewn with wires and wreckage.

The two light companies were forced to turn off the service and the city was in total darkness. The Graphic, the only morning newspaper here, was forced to abandon its issue. Candles were used in all buildings and every home.

The storm continued for fully an hour and was accompanied by a hail shower that lasted ten minutes.

Cotton Damage $1,000,000.

Reports from localities adjacent to this city say the storm was general, and it is estimated the cotton crop alone has been damaged to the extent of $1,000,000.

The greatest damage was done along the river front, where the old stable of Berlin Bros., on East Court street, collapsed.

The roof of the Berlin Bros.’ warehouse adjoining the wrecked stable was lifted 20 feet into the air and deposited on top of the Pierce building.

The roof of the Pruden’s stable, on East Barraque street, was dropped in that street, blocking traffic. The new building of the Southwestern Telegraph and Telephone Company was damaged and when the front part of the building a panic resulted among the telephone girls.

The big brick warehouse of S. Bluthenthal & Co. and that of the R.M. Knox company, on the river front, were completely wrecked.

Contractor Is Electrocuted

WILLIAM IVY, contractor, was electrocuted by a live wire which had been blown down. His body was released from the wire which coiled about him only after the current had been shut off at the power house of…

Fifty launches in the Arkansas river were sunk and boats in the government fleet were blown upon the revetments.

During the storm fire broke out in two different sections of the city, increasing the loss.

Belleville News-Democrat, Belleville, IL 10 Jun 1910
__________________

Transcribed by June. Thanks June!