SAN FRANCISCO MAIL NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2571, 24 June 1903, Page 44

SAN FRANCISCO MAIL NEWS.

(Per Ventura at Auckland.) SAN FRANCISCO, Juno *. A tornado whiuh visited the towns of G-ain&sville, New Holland, and White Sulphur, Cra., on tho afternoon of the Ist, resulted ua the killing of about £5 mar, women, amd children. According to reports, which are aa yet meomplete, it ia estimated: tl^at 40 persona were fatally injured and many mare hurt. Probably 1000 persons aiv homiotfi.43. Two hundred houses, besides the Gainesville Oofefron Milb, »vcrc dfvtroyed by I'ho storm, aggregating a pro;^e>rty Io s of 300,000d01. La.'t night brought increased misery to the torna'lo sufferer-;, f<^r steady rain in lato in the afternoon, at founded by bitterly cold weather. All night lo'ig phjvioan-o and \ohnutopri pii^htd thwr way through wrpeka^f, guided to suffering victims by their groans Here and there fallen trco3 would lx) in ('>;> way or a wrecked house would £top pr'^g.-ess to the City lfa-'l. Armoury, cmkl O'ourt'homr, wlrro tho li'ine!ci<i ■ftcvo token fur .^hc!t<r A mai> meeting was ht-ld to day, at which SGCOdoI wt-rc >-iibieril>ed to tbo r^k^f fund. A inci-n^e liais l*»r<n scat to the S •crctary of War asking for tents to nhf Her tho homcle-.*, and aii aT>pi)al far ad la be Jig rnado to Uu pnbl'c. Autorrrob'le racing rwiv 1 a severe check in c-oii-eqii~itov of the di&.we'"-' of May 24. »St.air:ing in t !i P morning from PiLm, Madrd w\w nwlo tho fir^-t stage from Vcr^a. lies t"> Bordeaux. Three hundred and fortytlircp miles were finished when Lou 13 lienault dashed into Bordeaux, having made the record run of oiijht hours and 27 rrJnutru. An hour later M. (Jabrvol arrived with a still better record of eigl.'t hours minute-*. It i-> f^rimatoJ that tho tiinos made Ijv those autnmoh !es covered 62 ir-'l-es ai hour outside the cities; but, unforttiuatetly, the crir-? of this race w;is marked by a tn>. 1 of blood. RrpcrU of Miv 25 .''iow tlixt six p^rHc.L^ were ki'led awl 13 others injuml— >,-m.f> of thfm fitally — on ac<-mnt of the race. War Bc/n.ii-e Vil, 10 m-Moi from C'iEr!rc n o, the raaohine driren by H. Porter overturned at the rp-ihoa'l eroding, and took fire. Th? ohaff'-iir w.is t—ng? t undi-r tho m.iolm.o and b-'rnl )o d- n'Ji, and two "•'jldioTd and a. c-hi'd wnro kil'ic l . Anot'er fh%ff"ur was fatally injuird r-vr Ar^ou lenv. A woman cro-^ipg t' c read in »r AW*>s was kilktl. Tin 11 we'll know n autcmdbilist Lorraine Barrows was lvrpo]e c ->ly injured in n accident which killed ti«

cYiaffeur and demolished his monstrous Mareol-Rfc'nault. The winner of the ParisVienna rrcc l^et year was overturned and dangerously injured. Louis Renault was muoh affected when this news reached him, and at once ordered all Renault cars to be withdrawn from the race. Mr Stead and his ehpffeur were at first thought to be killed, byi- *fc*y havo rallied, and will live. A cyclist was killed at Angouleme-, and 12 miles from Bordeaux Mme. Chayseas was thrown from her wheel, run over, and mortally wounded by a motor car. The French and Spanish Governments ab once forbade the continuation of the race. OlarenceMoore, of Washington, give 3 a graphic description of the races. He turned Louis Renault's car aa it passed him, and found it making 74i miles an hour. He saw Jarrotfc approaching at lightning speed, when 8 huge black mastiff got in the way. Jarrott realised that to attempt to avoid tho dog would cause his car to dash into tho trees, and steered directly ahead. Every bone in the dog's body was broken, some in a dozen places. Mr Moore is of opinion that the disasters will stop the excessive speed of racing, and says that tho Paris-Madrid race was less a contest of sportsmanship thr-n com petition between rival makers seeking to gain reputation. Senor Preno announced his inte.ntion to interpolate the Government on the necessity for the stringent regulation of automobile racing. He intends also to introduce a law' fixing a maximum spe<>d, and forbidding racers to circulate in streets or on public roads Another serious train wreck occurred in California on May 30, though by pome nvraclo no one was killed. The Southbond ovc-rla'id passenger train, which left San Franci-oo on Saturday morning at 8 o'clock, was wrecked nt Punta Gorda. 15 mike below Santa Barbara at 8 o'clock in the evening. The tra'n was running at a high rate of spw-d when the dining car left the rails, pulling the parlour car and one coach over an embankment 40ft high and into the ocean below. The surf was rolling in, and the occupants of the cars narrowly escaped being drowned in their shocked and wounded condition. Forty persons were injured, but none will die. The uninjured laboured heroically in rescuing those who were hurt. This work was attended by great difficulty. A spread rail was the cause of the accident.