i^nicuu r uniani, a tuwn nieicnam, iuuiiu ms sun

i^nicuu r uniani, a tuwn nieicnam, iuuiiu ms sun aiivt; near Elizabeth and helped them both to the Wallace home, which was by now an emergency hospital with frightened and confused schoolchildren whimpering on makeshift beds. Meanwhile, in the darkness, other parents searched the rubble-strewn fields, hysterical with fear and grief.

Many of the fathers had been at the store, where the post office was located. As it was too stormy for the farmers to work, they had gathered there to play rook. It began to get dark and Robert Starke ran to the rear window. He told G.W. Johnson, the storekeeper, that an angry black cloud was approaching. Rain fell in torrents and the wind gained a momentum that none of the men had ever experienced. The rook game stopped and all the men waited in stunned silence. After two minutes or so, the winds died down and word came that the center of the village had been destroyed. The store emptied as the worried men rushed to the school yard.

Mrs. Winfrey recalled riding to Woodville in the aftermath of the storm and being pressed into service by Dr. Kelly, a Culpeper doctor who was helping at the Wallace home. He gave her a pair of shears and asked her to cut the clothes off the injured children.

The emergency nurse first worked on Elizabeth Browning, the girl rescued by Lillard Pulliam. Cutting along her right coat sleeve to the shoulder, Mrs. Winfrey “found a bone sticking out. So I switched to the left arm; there was another bone sticking out.”

The more she cut away clothes, the worse were the injuries she saw. Elizabeth’s right arm was so badly crushed only temporary setting was attempted. Dr. Kelly also set her left arm, and Elizabeth and Billy Pulliam, whose liver had been punctured by a giant splinter, were sent to Fauquier. Others were sent on to Charlottesville, but the shorter, more level journey to Warrenton was selected for these two most severely-injured children.