The Sun-News (Levelland, Tex.), Vol. 9, No. 51, Ed. 1 Sunday, May 8, 1949 Page: 1 of 12
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TORNADO STRIKES SUNDOWN
County, Texos Featuring The Oil News
Number 51
THE THREE VIEWS . . . above are what is left after yesterday's tornado, of the home
that housed the Sundown Church of Christ minister, Bill Scott, his wife and their two
babies. The family was blown from the house and were picked up about 300 feet from it.
Scott was electrocuted when becoming entangled With a high line. His four-year-old
daughter, Pamela died shortly after reaching the Phillips-Dupre hospital. Mrs. Scott and
their seven-months-old son, Randy, were in a critical condition at the hospital late last
night. (Herald-Sun-News Photo)
New Hotel Committee Confident Plan
Will Be Success By End Of Campaign
Friday noon total of the New organized,
Hotel campaign fund showed 165,- manager,
800 subscribed. Executive commit-
tee members expressed confidence
in achiexjng their minimum goal
*l*Bby Tuesday noon.
High team Thursday was team
No. 1 with J. C. Peeler, captain.
Subscription sales of $2800 for the
twenty-four hour period preceding
the luncheon gave them the goat
for the day. Friday noon, team No.
t, D. L. Case reported $1300 sub-
scribed for the day to take first
^place honors.
“We are just beginning to get
#
said John Potts, sales
We expect to call on
every person in Levelland before
the campaign ends. This project
cannot fail ... it is absolutely vital
to the progress of Levelland.”
Two teams reported no sales on
Wednesday and the executive
committee reported a blank on
Thursday. Friday all teams and
the executive committee reported
subscriptions. This was pointed out
as being an indication that indivi-
dual solicitors were steppng up the
pace. "If each team member can
turn in $1200 In subscriptions be-
ta
Two Tornadoes Reported On
North Plains Thursday Night
(By Associated Press)
Two tornadoes swooped over the
Texas Panhandle Thursday night
as a cold front invaded Texas. One
damaged a farm house near Dal-
hart. There were no reports of in-
juries.
The other twister put on a show
for the folks of Adrian, a tiny
town in Oldham county, west of
Amarillo. It plowed through wheat
fields at dusk, but did little dam-
age.
Snowing In Denver
The slow-moving cold front
moved southeastward down
through the Panhandle Friday
morning. It was backed by gen-
uine cold weather—it was snowing
at Denver Friday—but it won’t
pack any real temperature push
for Texas.
It will bring thundershowers to
both East and West Texas, how-
ever, the weather bureau said.
J. L. Hathaway of the Canadian
River Gas company reported that
one tornado struck the tip of Tex-
as, four miles northeast of Dal-
hart, about midnight Thursday
night.
Farm House Damage
Hathaway, an employe of the
company’s Bivins station between
Amarillo and Dumas, said one
farm house was damaged.
The twister at Adrian struck
during a light hail and rainstorm.
“Just about everybody in town
watched It”, said W. H. James,
employe of an Adrian mercantile
store. “It was several miles away,
so it didn’t amount to much. No-
body lives out there ... its just
wheat.. *
“It looked like two clouds ran
together and made a funnel-shap-
ed cloud. The funnel dipped down
and plowed across the wheat for a
spell, and then it lifted. We fig-
ured it might come back down but
it didn’t.
Adrian has a population of
about 400.
It was clear Friday at El Paso
and in the Big Bend country of
West Texas. There were low
clouds, in West Texas and high
clouds elsewhere in the state.
Government Check
Forger Sought By
Sheriff And Feds
A search is being made by
local police forces and Federal
officers for a man alleged to
have forged the name of T. N.
Humphries in the endorsement
of a government check. The
check was *aken from his resi-
dence mailbox, Humphries said
and cashed at a local grocery
store.
Value of the check was $62.50.
The forger had tried to cash the
check at the local bank, but the
cashier turned him down. Sher-
iff Charley Bullock reported the
offense to Federal officers who
had a description of a man
wanted for the same offense in
Clarendon. Descriptions were
identical, Bullock said.
Four chrome rims are waiting
in the sheriff’s office for the
rightful owners to Identify.
Three of the rims were taken
from the same 1941 Ford, Bul-
lock said and were recovered in
arrests made last week. Owners
are asked to come by the office
and claim them.
You can clear up that brown de-
posit which accomulates in the
vinegar cruet by using a little am-
monia or borax in water.
Two Known Dead After Twister
Hits Edge Of Town Late Friday
One Year In Jail
$300 Fine Assessed
J. D. Green charged by five
counts from information received
in the County court for the sale of
whiskey in Hockley county was
dished out severe punishment by a
jury in County Judge McCann’s
court Wednesday.
Charge 1, sale of whiskey to
W. E. Russell on April 14; charge
2, sale of whiskey to Harry B.
Gross on April 28; charge 3, sale
of whiskey to W. E. Russell on
April 28; charge 4, sale of whiskey
to Harry D. Gross on April 28;
and Charge 5, sale of whiskey to
W. E. Russell on April 28.
Upon hearing the evidence the
State elected to prosecute on
counts 1, 2, and 5.
The jury after hearing the evi-
dence and the council returned to
the jury room and later returned
before Judge McCann with a ver-
dict of guilt on each of the three
counts the State elected to try.
On each count the jury assessed
on the defendant punishment of
$100 fine and four months in jail,
making a total of $300 and 12
months jail sentence.
The State was represented by
Bill Boedecker and the defense by
Burton S. Burks of Lubock.
The defense attorney gave notice
of appeal to the Crirpinal Court of
Appeals at Austin, Texas.
Services Held
Wednesday For
Durkee Infant
Interment services were held
at ten a. m. Friday for Thomas E.
Durkee, three-day old son of Mr.
and Mrs. Edward H. Durkee of
Levelland, at the Terry County
Memorial Cemetery, Brownfield.
The baby died at 2:30 o’clock
Wednesday afternoon in the
Treadway-Daniell hospital in
Brownfield.
Survivors include the parents,
three half-sisters, Freddie Ruth,
Frances, and Felicia Lowe, the
maternal grandparents, Mr. and
Mrs. J. B. Harr, Brownfield; pa-
ternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs.
G. W. Durkee, Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The Durkee home here is 206
Austin. The father is an em-
ployee of Stanolind
THE TRUCK BELONGING ... to the Bruce Burney Oil Hauling Contracting firm and
shown above was picked up by the Sundown twister and blown about twenty-five feet
out in a field after being carried across Sundown's main street. Damage to four big
trucks, two pick-ups, two cars and shop equipment belonging to the firm was extensive.
Shop and office buildings were destroyed. ' (Herald-Sun-News Photo)
| it whipped,” Potts said.
I Team No. 12, captained by Rev.
| Jordan Grooms led the field in to-
| tal sales with $7900 subscribed. In
second place was team No. 1, with
Peeler as captain reporting $5600
ihus far.
“It is estimated that investments
in this stock will return better
than 5% interest,” Harry H. Mann,
general chairman, said. “An in-
vestment of this nature is sound in
every respect. We shall continue
to stress that this in no way con-
stitutes a donation or coatribution,
but is a sound business invest-
ment.”
The apes called chimpanzees are
more like man in intelligence than
now and Tuesday, we’ve got any other animal. <
-----
THK SUNDOWN CHURCH OF CHRIST . . .if shown os if the walls, hod exploded during
yesterday's storm and let the roof foil to the ground. The frame structure was complete-
ly demolished. Beside it was the minister's home shown in other photographs on this
A late afternoon tornado struck Sundown
yesterday bringing death and destruction.
The twister, that hit with a deluge of rain-
fall just after five p. m., claimed the lives of the
young Sundown Church of Christ minister, Bill
M. Scott, and his daughter Pamela, age four.
In a critical condition late last night at the Phillips-
Dupre hospital here in Levelland were Mrs. Scott and their
seven-month-old son, Randy.
Scott was killed outright and Pamela died shortly
after being brought to the hospital at 6:40.
So far as was learned at press time, these were the
only known fatilities resulting from the cyclone, while
some reports indicated that some of Sundown’s residents
were still not accounted for.
To what extent life and property toll might amount
to in the rural area was still to be learned today.
All communications with Sundown were cut off with
the exception of two-way radio. The town ’was also with-
out power and lights late last night.
The main force of the tornado hit the north edge of
town, completely destroying the Sundown Church of
Christ, the parsonage first door south, the house in which
the R. L. Simpsons were living just north of the church,
took the roof off the Bruce Burney home, completely des-
troyed the shop and office of the Burney Oil Haul-
ing Contractor firm, flattened the building occupied by the
Howard Shaw, dirt moving contractor, and three other
residences on north main street.
Many other homes and business buildings suffered
from slight to severe damage with many windows being
blown out and roofs partially torn away.
Most extensive property damage was realized by Bur-
ney, who owned the home in which Mrs. Burney and their
three children were trapped during the storm.
The four took refuge in the only room that had a roof
remaining on it when the storm ceased.
Burney also owned the home in which his foreman,
Simpson and the Simpson family resided. Mrs. Simpson
and the three Simpson children were also at home when
the storm struck without warning. The three children es-
caped serious injury while Mrs. Simpson is reported to
have received a leg injury.
Nothing was left standing of the Burney shop and of-
fice located just across the street north of the Burney
home.
Escaping uninjured was Curly Edwards, bookkeeper
for Burney. Curly took refuge under a heavy desk when
the twister struck and remained there while the building
around him was flattened to the grouhd. He was the
building’s only occupant.
Besides the approximate $25,000 worth of buildings
owned by Mr. Burney that were destroyed, about $20,000
worth of equipment was turned into twisted and broken
masses, some hardly recognizable. Included were four
large trucks, two cars, and two pickups besides much of
the shop equipment.
One pickup was carried by the swirling mass of wind
for approximately a quarter of a mile and another pickup
nearly as far.
The Church of Christ building was of wooden frame
construction and looked to this reporter to have been ap-
proximately 24 feet wide and about 60 or 70 feet long.
According to identification cards, Scott was born v
January 29, 1928.
The bodies of the minister and his small daughter are
at The Plains Funeral Home which had contacted the
minister’s brother and parents of Charleston, West Va.
Funeral services are pending.
The Scott family was blown some three hundred feet
across the street with their home and Scott was reported
to have become entangled with high voltage wires.
Mrs. Scott is 22.
They had resided in Sundown for about a month.
Highline and telephone poles were blown down in
the area where the tornado hit. Wires were down and
communications had been cut off to other Panhandle towns
late last night. A deluge of rain started falling in the Lev-
clland area about 5:30 and water filled the highway
ditches and in spots covered the highway. As much as four
inches of rain, accompanied by some hail was reported.
A continual stream of cars lined the Levelland-Sundown
highway after word of the cyclone reached neighboring
cities.
A road block was set up by officials who permitted
only persons living in Sundown, newspapermen or persons
with relatives living in Sundown to enter town.
One aftermath of the heavy traffic was an accident
which happened about 10:30 last night at the east edge
of Sundown. A 1941 Pontiac in which four persons were
riding ran into the rear of a truck that was backing on to
the road. Receiving a broken knee cap was Robert E. Lee,
38 of Lubbock. Mary Stout, Lubbock senior high school
student received a serious head injury while two occupants
of the back seat of the car were badly shaken.
Bill Lambert, who works for Geo. P. Livermore of
Levelland, brought the four to the Phillips-Dupre hospital.
Lee was later carried to a Lubbock hospital.
Phone calls flooded the Levelland switch boards
persons willing to volunteer their services to the *
stricken area of the southern Hockley county town.
Included in this group were <the nursing
fered by Mrs. Glenn Woody and Mrs. Hugh
who immediately voluriteered to help at the h______^
Many anxious eyes kept a close watch on the
and little sleep was realized by many last night. Th<
were fortunate enough to be cjose to a storm cellar
little persuasion to spend the night in them after t
storms, frequent this year through the area* were
near home.
And with the dawn comet again that time
Mother Nature wjll probably again weep as
down on death and *
light and nocturnal
know the full extall
th<
y
>uched
m
Air
i&lz. *
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The Sun-News (Levelland, Tex.), Vol. 9, No. 51, Ed. 1 Sunday, May 8, 1949, newspaper, May 8, 1949; Levelland, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1129849/m1/1/: accessed July 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting South Plains College.