America's Deadliest Twister: The Tri-State Tornado of 1925

Notes

125 Notes 1. GENESIS, 1 p.m.: ANNAPOLIS, MISSOURI, TO GORHAM, ILLINOIS 1. Murphysboro (IL) Daily Republican, March 21, 1925, 2. 2. Benton (IL) Evening News, March 21, 1925. J. P. Glen, the only record keeper in Gorham, openly admitted the death totals could be wrong, which explains the wide variances seen in the literature of the official number of Gorham dead. 3. St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 20, 1925, 2. 4. Ibid. 5. Joy, “Great Tornado,” 9. 6. Salzmann, Murphysboro Tornado, 72B–72G. 2. MURPHYSBORO, ILLINOIS 1. Murphysboro (IL) Daily Independent, golden anniversary of publication ed., October 16, 1923. 2. Allen, It Happened, 111–12. 3. A chivari (also shivaree, callythumping, bull-banding) derives from a medieval French tradition called charivari and is thought to be a holdover from when the French culture dominated the Mississippi Valley in the first half of the eighteenth century. Usually begun after the newlyweds have gone to bed, a chivari is a rude, noisy ruckus generated from anything that can make an obnoxious racket from washtubs being beaten to horns, bells, and the like. After a time, the door to the assaulted house is expected to be opened and refreshments served, or as was the case in Murphysboro even though this was the heart of Prohibition, the bridegroom takes the men to the nearest tavern. 126 Notes to Pages 000–000 Notes to Pages 17–32 The ladies were on their own. At times a chivari can also assume a negative function and perhaps this is the case with the new Mr. and Mrs. Gualdoni. Perhaps their friends or family disapproved. One can only speculate. Allen, Legends and Lore, 82–83. 4. St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 21, 1925, 4. In the hours and hours of research for this narrative, the author could find not another word about Buster Brown. A three-year-old John Henry Brown, a black toddler, died, but he was the only male Brown on the Murphysboro roster (see appendix). 5. Eileen Breeden Jones, interview with author, August 8, 2011, DeSoto, Illinois. 6. St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 21, 1925, 2. 7. Felknor, Tri-State Tornado, 58. The Stecher Brewing Company operated under various names from 1867 to 1940. The site was razed in 1980. 8. Smith, History, 1053. 9. Kimmel, “Personal Account.” 10. Ibid. 11. Murphysboro (IL) Daily Independent, March 21, 1925, 1. 12. St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 20, 1925, 4. 13. Ibid. 14. Murphysboro (IL) Daily Independent, March 22, 1925. 15. Benton (IL) Evening News, March 23, 1925. 16. Sam O’Neil, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 22, 1925, 2. 17. Benton (IL) Evening News, March 23, 1925. 18. Frost, Voices from Murphysboro. 19. Joseph A. Melvin, research paper, n.d., file “Tornado 1925,” archives, Jackson County Historical Society. 20. Ibid. 21. Colonel S. O. Tripp to Levy, memorandum, in Salzmann, Murphysboro Tornado. 22. Ibid. 23. Resort is an archaic term for a house of entertainment. The Murphysboro address may have served as a black-only bar/restaurant, or a gambling parlor, or a bawdy house, or some combination. In 1925 Murphysboro was one of the few towns in southern Illinois in which whites and blacks lived in the same community, yet blacks were rigorously segregated. They lived in a specific part of town, patronized black-run businesses, worshipped in their own churches, and were educated in separate schools. 24. St. Louis Globe Democrat, March 20, 1925; Murphysboro (IL) Daily Republican , March 27, 1925; West Frankfort (IL) Daily American, special ed., April 4, 1925. 25. Murphysboro (IL) Daily Republican, March 27, 1925. 26. Jones, interview. 27. Murphysboro (IL) Daily Republican, March 27, 1925. Notes to Pages 000–000 127 Notes to Pages 33–59 28. Joy, “Great Tornado,” 4. 29. Pantagraph, Bloomington-Normal, Illinois, March 20, 1925, 1. 30. Ibid., 32. 31. Joy, “Great Tornado,” 6. 32. Ibid. 33. Joy, “Great Tornado,” 24. 34. Murphysboro (IL) Daily Independent, March 24, 1925, 5. 35. Sam O’Neil, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 22, 1925, 2. 36. Henry M. Baker to Isaac Levy, in Salzmann, Murphysboro Tornado, 98A. 3. DESOTO, ILLINOIS 1. Henry M. Baker to Isaac Levy, in Salzmann, Murphysboro Tornado, 98A. 2. Carbondale (IL) Free Press, March 26, 1925, 2. 3. Illinois Coal Industry, Report, 7. 4. Dewmaine, Illinois, was an unincorporated, racially segregated mining camp thirteen miles east from DeSoto and built around a coal mine on the north edge of Carterville. 5...