Waco, TX Tornado, May 1953 - Known Dead; Pool Hall Hit

KNOWN DEAD IN WACO STORM.
Waco (AP) -- The identified dead in yesterday's tornado at Waco include:
JERRY UTLEY.
MINNIE OLA GRAVES.
STEVE HEARTH.
THOMAS BUSBY, Temple, a Negro.
VICTOR SERMAN.
E. A. SERMAN.
WALTER VAN HOOK, a Negro.
FOY C. BROWN.
GEORGE PAPPAS.
CLARENCE L. POTTER.
GARFIELD NEMMER, 12.
FRANCES NEMMER.
CECIL BERRY.
ARCHIE HENDERSON.
EDWARD M. BRITT, a Negro.
M. HECTOR, a Negro.
DENNIS PEOPLES, a Negro.
EDWARD T. HOARE.
EDWARD LOUIS SIMS, a Negro.
BILLY BEIROS.
BILLY VERNON TAYLOR.
MRS. SUSIE RUTH HOARE.
LONNIE JAMES MOTTEN, a Negro.
SAM HORNER, a Negro.
CYNTHIA BRITT, a Negro.
DANNY SANCHEZ.
WILLIAM DOBERVOLNEY.
JOHNNY B. KING.
KAY SHARBUTT, 18, La Vega.
BERRY LOU STEWART, Lott.
WILLIAM HENRY LITTLE.
HARRY MAHONEY, Dallas.
DAVID FARQHUAR, Gatesville.
MRS. S. B. TURNER, Waco.
GUY SIMS.
BARBARA JOHNSON, 16.
SAM SKYLES.
IRVIN GINSBERT.
CLEE DEGRETTE.
JOYCE MARIE MIERS.
BILLY MAHALES.
CHARLIE PARKER.
ESTCHAN PEREZ CORTEZ.
W. R. STEWART.
KNOX TODD.
BEVERIDGE, C. BOYD.
ARTHUR LEE ROSS.
HELEN JAMES.
KEITH JAMES.
RAYMOND S. RUIZ.
MRS. W. A. KUNGE, Marlin.
DRISTINIO CASAREZ, Romo.
OLLIE MANN.
FELIX VILLARREAL.
JOHN W. BYRD.
VERA McCARVER.
VADA PRATHA.
TOM COURTNEY.
ARTHUR WOODSON.
JACK D. ADAMS.
RAY. L. COMER.
ELIJAH COFFELT.
ROGER KAY SHARBUTT.
SAMMY RAY WARREN.
LLOYD L. TORRES, 26.
WILLIAM FRANK WATKINS.
LOU YOUNES.
R. C. ANDERSON.

POOL HALL HIT; 25 TEEN-AGERS TRAPPED INSIDE.
Waco, May 11 (AP) -- Twenty five to 30 teenagers were trapped in Torrances Recreation Hall when the tornado hit Waco today.
At 11:30 tonight, at least five persons were known to be alive and rescue workers were frantically trying to remove tons of debris.
Doctors and volunteer workers had crawled through holes torn open by hundreds of hands to give shots of morphine and oxygen.
How many were trapped in the crumpled brick building no one could say.
How many were alive was another mystery.
Some injured had been removed from portions of the building but the main part was still blocked.
DONALD HANSFORD, 17, a star last year on the La Vega, Tex., High School football team, was one of those who was trapped but was still alive and able to talk.
Score frantically tunnelled through the debris to reach him.
A tiny hole cut straight down showed the side of the youth's head and a corner of a pool table that had saved his life.
Most of the debris had landed on the fabric which DONALD had dived under. His legs were trapped. "My ankle's numb, I think I've got a broken leg," he told his father who crouched above holding a flashlight on his son's face.
"Don't go to sleep, I won't let you go to sleep," his father said as he kept up a running conversation with the boy.
Young HANSFORD said there were 25 to 30 persons playing pool in the recreation hall. One of them washis buddy, KAY SHARBUTT, 18 also of La Vega.
"I don't know whether he's dead or not, but he's down here with me," young HANSFORD said.
Twenty feet away, rescue workers kept up a running fire of encouraging talk to four other persons reported still alive.
RONNIE MURPHREE, 17, was in the pool hall when the tornado struck and gave a description of what it was like and of his own miraculous escape.
"We were all playing pool," he said. "Then the lights went out, but nobody paid much attention. We just thought it was a storm. It was raining and hail was beating on the windows. Then dust began to come down from the ceiling and that's when I though something was wrong. I dived under a pool table and almost everybody else did too. Then the whole world seemed to fall in. After a while I pushed away some brick and stuff from around the table and crawled out. I was right near the side door. I crawled on out. When I got up on top, I looked around and then I saw this awful, awful mess."
MURPHREE said he stayed and helped them pull two or three persons out. One was a teenager named PAT GREEN. Others were JOHN HILL and CHARLES PICKENS. They were alive.
"I don't think any of them were hurt too bad," MURPHREE said, "but there was a young Mexican who was dead and I think there was a Negro who was dead."

The Abilene Reporter-News Texas 1953-05-13