Excerpts from The Vienna Times, Vienna, Illinois dated March 7, 1940
 
FARM HOMES AND BARNS IN FLATWOODS AND VICINITY HARDEST HIT. FOUR HOMES COMPLETELY
DESTROYED. DOZEN BARNS WRECKED BY
TORNADO.
     A tornado, the worst to strike this county in several years, came about noon Saturday. The twister came from a
southwesterly direction. As a result, six people were injured and one killed, four farm homes were completely demolished,
about eight damaged and about fifteen barns were either blown completely away or twisted from their foundations.
One man, Curtis Abbott, 60, was killed in front of his home near Flatwoods. John Faulkner and Clemon Stapleton were injured. Mrs. M. C. Stapleton was injured when her home near the gristmill at Flatwoods was swept away. Mrs. Lula Castleman was struck on the head by flying debris, while she and her husband were trying to drive out of the storm in their wagon. She suffered a scalp wound. Lindsey Walls was picked up, carried about an eighth of a mile and dropped. He was near the Abbott home. Hobart Trigg, a student in Robbs High School, was also caught on the road near the mill by the storm. He suffered a bruised shoulder and other injuries.
     FLATWOODS HARD HIT BY STORM
The next property damage was to the barn of Roscoe Castleman. The house was also slightly damaged. Across the field stands the old mill building. Farmers and a crew of WPA workers had gathered around the mill. The mill is operated by M. C. Stapleton and is owned by his father-in-law, Pres Morris. The WPA workers saw the tornado coming and ran down the road and sought shelter behind a bank. Among those seeking protection from the storm behind the bank were John Faulkner, Joe Trigg and Edward Sharp. Pres Morris an aged man was standing in the mill building beside a gasoline engine. He told a Times reporter that he did not sense the danger and said, "First I was down, then I was up and when the storm passed, I found that everything but me and the engine were gone." The wind took the building, flooring, crushing equipment and carried it a considerable distance. The aged man was not injured and was probably standing on the concrete foundation of the engine which kept him from being carried away with the rest of the mill.
     SEEK SHELTER BEHIND BANK
Joe Trigg was the first of the six or eight men who sought protection in the road behind the bank to recover from the shock of the storm. He said he saw Faulkner lying with his face in a pool of water. He only had the use of one arm, but dragged him from the water. Others were thrown into the bank and debris struck them. A stump rolled on Edward Sharp but he was not injured. Faulkner was carried to the Pres Morris home. Clemon Stapleton, son of Mr. And Mrs. M. C. Stapleton was also carried to the Morris home, being seriously injured. Mr. Stapleton ran to the house and Mrs. Stapleton was severely injured. Farther to the north and east and in the path of the twister was the house and barn of Mr. And Mrs. Sam Morse. The family saw the storm coming and ran to the Abbott home a short distance away. Mr. Morse was carrying his youngest child and Mrs. Morse had her 8-year-old-son by the hand. Mr. Morse got inside the Abbott house with his child, but Mrs. Morse did not reach the house. She grabbed a cedar post in the front yard. Neither she nor the child were injured.
     The Morse home and barn were leveled to the ground, leaving them with only the clothes they wore. Their car parked in front of their home was picked up and carried about an eighth of a mile and deposited in a field.
     CURTIS ABBOTT KILLED IN FRONT OF FARM HOME
     Curtis Abbott and his son were unhitching a team and they too saw the storm approaching. They started for the house but did not get inside. About ten feet from the front porch the elder Mr. Abbott held to a cedar post. His son Dee was near Mrs. Morse and her son. After the storm passed they saw Curtis Abbott lying on the ground. They ran to his side and he only gasped a few times and passed away. A coroner's inquest held Saturday night by Deputy Coroner Loren S. Murrie returned a verdict of death caused by being struck by some flying object or being thrown against a post breaking two ribs, which punctured the heart. The left arm was also broken. There were no other marks on his body.
     Lindsey Walls, who lived about a mile from the Abbott house was enroute to Glendale with neighbors. He attempted to reach the Abbott house. He was caught by the wind which rolled and carried him a considerable distance, threw him up in the air and then dropped him back to the ground. He was carried to the Abbott house after the storm had passed and was later taken out to the gravel road in a wagon and from there by ambulance to a Cairo hospital.
     The path of the storm continued on to the home of Cleo Boaz near Glendale, where four large trees in the front yard were uprooted. A pick-up truck was turned over and the house twisted on its foundation. No one at that farm home was injured.
     Dr. Brown of Pope County was summoned and was soon in the storm area administering to the needs of those injured.
     A representative of the Johnson County Chapter of the American Red Cross was soon on the scene and after making a hurried survey of the situation returned to Vienna. After getting in touch with the National Chapter's Mid-Western branch office at St. Louis, he was authorized to offer emergency help to the injured. I. H. Hook, Edgar Gillespie, Bob Hook and Royce Bridges left immediately for Flatwoods. Dr. W. J. Anderson, Jr., was called by relatives of Faulkner and he accompanied the party. Due to the poor road conditions, it was necessary for the party to walk over a mile to the house where the injured persons had been taken. An ambulance had already been summoned by some of the relatives of those injured and was waiting at the gravel road. After an examination Dr. Anderson advised that John Faulkner, Mrs. M. C. Stapleton and son, Clemon be taken to a hospital.
     Neighbors were at the Morris home to lend a hand and with eight persons to an ambulance cot and four or five to relieve them along the way, they were carried, one at a time, to the ambulance. It was not until 3:30 a.m. Sunday morning that this task was completed.
     A representative from the St. Louis office of the National Chapter of the American Red Cross, Mr. Clinton Denison arrived in Vienna Sunday at noon to take charge of disaster work in Johnson and Pope counties. Mr. Denison made a preliminary survey of the storm area Monday. Immediate relief will be forthcoming for those in the area who are unable to provide for themselves.
     Faulkner was taken to the Fisher hospital by Dr. Anderson. He is suffering from a fractured skull. His condition is considered quite serious. Clemon Stapleton was suffering from concussion and a severe scalp wound. Mrs. Stapleton was suffering from a possible internal injury and bruises. It was feared for a while that she might have a fractured leg, but it was only badly twisted and sprained. Mrs. Stapleton and her son were taken to a Harrisburg hospital.
    Lindsey Walls was taken to a Cairo hospital. One arm was broken in two places. The ball and socket joint of one arm was displaced and a piece of wood was embedded in the hip. It is thought that he will recover.
     A barn on the farm of Mrs. Wandie Bass Morris was blown down and the farm home of Lewis Shelton was destroyed. He too saw the approach of the storm when he was in his home. No other member of the family was at home at the time. He ran to a cellar between his barn and house and probably escaped serious injury or death.
     The farm home of John King, just over the county line in Pope county was lost with his barn. Mr. King saw the storm approaching and called to his wife and two other relatives. They ran from the house just before it was splintered.
     The home of Frank Sullivan was damaged, his barn swept away and the hen house destroyed. The home of Paul Morse in Pope County also was damaged to some extent by the wind.