DEADLY TORNADO SWEEPS OKLAHOMA.

PICKS UP SCHOOL HOUSE AND TEARS BUILDING FROM ITS FOUNDATIONS.

15 CHILDREN KILLED.

AND OTHERS ARE SERIOUSLY INJURED AS RESULT OF THE RECENT CYCLONE.

M'Alester, Okla., Jan. 5. -- The death toll in the Mission school house tragedy at Vireton, north of here, went to fifteen when four children died today from injuries sustained when a tornado wreck the school house yesterday. JESSIE ROSE, 8, and FLORENCE ROSE, 15, died at their home near Vireton, and ELSIE and RAYMOND PERRY, aged 14 and 8, respectively, died at the hospital here.

Cyclone Is Fatal.
M'Alester, Okla., Jan. 5. -- With eleven school children dead, four fatally injured, and eight others suffering from broken bones and internal injuries, the people of Pittsburgh county today rallied to the support of the stricken district that was swept by a tornado yesterday.
Ripping everything from roots and foundation as the tornado swept along a little Baptist Indian mission, at Vireton, with twenty-eight within, was picked up and tossed in the air, scattering its human freight. But two escaped injury.
The dead:
JESSIE BRISTOW, 17.
LILLIE BRISTOW, 7.
GEORGE BRUMATT, 6.
MYRTLE DAVIS, 9.
OLLIE DAVIS, 7.
ALBERT DICKINSON, 6.
FLOYD M'FALL, 7.
JAMES PADDY, 13.
ETTA PENDLETON, 17.
ALTA WARREN, 18.
VERDA WARREN, 14.
Originating at Richville, the storm gained momentum as it swung up the ravine and when it passed the Choctaw Indian mission it had sufficient force to tear that frail building from its foundation. Further up the narrow valley the tornado struck the Vireton school house and left nothing but three boards to mark the spot where it stood.

The Fort Wayne News Indiana 1917-01-05

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CHILDREN VICTIMS OF TORNADO'S FURY.

ELVENE DEAD AFTER STORM WRECKS SCHOOLHOUSE IN OKLAHOMA.

Muskegee, Okla., Jan. 5. -- A total of eleven dead and the injury of a number who are expected to die was the report today from the district which was swept by a tornado yesterday. All the dead were school children ranging in age from 6 to 18. The loss of life and the bulk of the property damage occurred in the valley town of Vireton, Okla., thireteen miles northwest of McAlester.
Preparations were being made for the noon dismissal of the country school here when the tornado entered the valley and swooped down upon the village. The school house was carried off its foundation and screaming children and timbers were hurled through the air by the fury of the wind.

Bodies Hurled Far.
Bodies were picked up a hundred yards from where the school house stood, they being blown across a ravine and well up on the opposite hillside.
Of the twenty-nine persons within the building only two escaped injury. Four are believed to be so badly injured that they cannot recover. The teacher, MISS VERA CARTER, at first believed to have been killed, sustained a double fracture of the jaw besides other painful injuries. She is expected to recover. The Choctaw Indian mission at Vireton was destroyed and virtually all the residences suffered from the storm.

Other Regions Suffer.
Before reaching Vireton the tornado struck at Richsville, Okla., seven miles southwest, wrecking a boiler room and a tipple at a coal mine there. It then lifted and did no further damage until Vireton was reached.
Quinton, Okla., twenty miles north of Vireton, also suffered from the Tornado. Seven persons were injured and five houses were destroyed by its activities there.
Two other fatalities from the tornado here, were, REV. J. W. KEITH, and his son, E. L. KEITH. MRS. KEITH, his wife, is in very critical condition.

The Fort Wayne Sentinel Indiana 1917-01-05
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!