The area around Bryant, Arkansas towards Salem was hit by the tornado of March 9, 1909. Under the word Bryant is the Highway 5 marker and a little to the left between the letters FAS and the 5 is an asterisk, I believe that to be just about where Jack Rose's GG-GM, Mrs. Margaret Elrod was killed by the tornado. The mass of blue is Hurricane Lake and you can barely see the small blue lines that are Hurricane Creek.
Aged Woman Is Crushed to Death --- Woman Dies Of Fright
Special to the Gazette
Benton, March 9 -- Mrs. Margaret Elrod, age 73, was killed, and her daughters, Fannie and Mary, were injured when their home on Hurricane Creek, five miles northeast of Benton, was demolished by last night's storm. The wind swept an area 200 yards wide for a distance of four miles, leveling everything in its path. The Mount Carmel Methodist Church and schoolhouse were torn to pieces and scattered over a field. Twenty houses were destroyed. The Siddel school was demolished. The Elrod home was an old-fashioned country house with heavy walls. Mrs. Elrod was caught beneath these and her head crushed. She died within an hour. The injuries to her daughters are not considered serious. Mrs. Elrod's son, his wife and baby were in the house at the time, but were uninjured. The wife and two children of J.W. Kruse were saved by a bedstead. Mrs. Kruse was in bed, ill, and when the storm came up the children ran to her. The house collapsed, but the iron bedstead partially protected them from the falling roof. The children escaped uninjured, but Mrs. Kruse's arm was broken. Among the homes destroyed were those of W.F. Forsythe, Joel Trickett, Luther Elrod, Mrs. Margaret Elrod, Bob Roper, John Lorenz, E.M. Lenox, Mrs. Coleman, William Page and Alex Russel.
At Salem settlement Mrs. Sam Kesterson died as the result of the excitement occasioned by the cyclone. Homeless people of the stricken district are being cared for by neighbors who are also volunteering aid in rebuilding. Trees, fences and farm buildings were wiped from the path of the storm. Two miles of the area swept by the wind was the heart of the best farming district in this section of the country.
Charlotte
Curlee Ramsey
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~cramsey/index.html
