Tornadoes of 1958 - Mississippi

Tornadoes of 1958

February 28, 1958, Dallas Morning News, Dallas, Texas, page 10

Mississippi Tornadoes Leave 12 Dead, 70 Hurt

JACKSON, Miss., Feb. 27 - Savage tornadoes slammed central Mississippi last night, killing 12 and leaving about 70 persons injured in the tangled wreckage of their homes.

Other windstorms caused lesser damage in parts of Louisiana, Florida, Texas and Alabama.

The Mississippi twisters started just after the supper hour and several families had narrow escapes as the powerful winds struck without warning.

The family of Charles Wright huddled under a mattress in their 149-year-old home at Luckney, a few miles east of Jackson, Miss., and sang a hymn. The storm left the ancient house in ruins but the family escaped unhurt.

South Jackson, the "Little Professor of Piney Woods", Dr. Laurence C. Jones, sorrowfully checked the tremendous damage done his Negro Country Life School, now world famous.

"Terrible", he said.

Shattered buildings and chewed woodlands pocked a rural area 140 miles long in central and east Mississippi, from Canton, 20 miles north of Jackson, to Poplarville, 120 miles to the south.

Five died between Richton and Waynesboro, near the Alabama line in southeast Mississippi. Five died at the Farm Haven community near Canton, one near Jackson; and one near Walnut Grove, 40 miles east of Jackson.

The first twister hit near Jackson.

"It sounded like a million belts", said Mrs. Leland Bolton of Luckney community. "Only the good Lord saved us. An icebox held off the falling debris when the roof fell in."

At dinner, the Lee Hawthorne family heard a noise like a nearby train. "It's a tornado", joked one son. A minute later the house was only debris.

At Liberty, the Rev. Victor Johnson ordered 10 youths at a Baptist church meeting to kneel and pray. The tornado passed less than 20 yards away.