1923 Tornado in Pinson, Tennessee

FRUITS OF THE CYCLONE AT PINSON, TENN.

Jackson, Tenn., March 12-A recheck tonight of the dead and injured as a result of the Cyclone Sunday night in the vicinity of Pinson and Dean burg, Tenn., shows that 16 are known to have been killed and at least 75 injured. The revised list shows that 15 were killed at Pinson, six white persons and nine negroes, and the death list at Deanburg has been narrowed to one, Charles Cane, son of C. C. Cane, of Deanburg, died as a result of a fractured skull after being hurled through the air for a distance of approximately 100 feet.

According to physicians and undertakers all of the dead at Pinson were horribly mangled. Frame dwellings caved in as if made of paper.

The dead are:

  • Mrs. J. L. James, wife of Methodist pastor.
  • Mrs. B. G. Vantrees, and two daughters, Madge and Mabel.
  • Two children of Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Ervin, one four months old and Howard, about six years.
  • Bodies of eight negroes have been identified.

More serious injured at Pinson:

  • H. Gofer and his wife were badly injured when their home was wrecked.
  • C. V. Fields and his wife,
  • J. C. McDaniel and wife and one daughter,
  • James B. Weir and his wife,
  • Mrs. Corina Hollis and son
  • Clyde Hollis, and Lacy Price were all injured.

The list of the Pinson injured in a Jackson sanatorium are:

  • C. F. Collie, hips injured;
  • Mrs. Beulah Collie, compound fracture, both bones in leg:
  • Willie Collie, leg crushed, requiring amputation below the knee;
  • J. C. Irvin, side crushed, internal injuries, very serious;
  • Mrs. J. C. Irvin, contusions over body;
  • A. F. Johnson, engineer, scalp wounds, shoulder injured;
  • J. G. Isreal, flagman, chest injured;
  • J. 0 Stewart, nose torn partly off;
  • Conductor Melson, contusions on face and body;
  • Mr. and Mrs. H. Coffer,
  • Rev. J. L. James,
  • Martha Vantreese,
  • Miss Cane,
  • Miss Mollie McDaniel,
  • Mr. and Mrs. J. C. McDaniel.

In addition to the forty or more injured brought to Jackson hospitals today, eight more were brought here tonight. They are:

  • N. M. Melton, scalp wounds and cut about face.
  • Mrs. W. W. Melton, concussion of brain, lacerated scalp.
  • Mrs. Addie Ware, dislocation of hip and fractured knee.
  • S. V. Fields, scalp wounds and cuts about face.
  • Mrs. C. V. Fields, both arms broken, face lacerated.
  • Miss Mollie Bolton, fractured legs.
  • Mrs. K. Reddin, internal injuries.
  • E. Z. Hearn, scalp wounds.
  • J. C. Irwin, of Pinson, whose chest was crushed and ribs broken is in a critical condition in a hospital here.

Laquita Thomson presented this typescript document to the Chester County Historical Society, August 1, 2016 and used with her permission.