Pulaski County Tornado of 1875

A strong tornado hit Pulaski County “eight miles down the river from Little Rock” on April 8, 1875, killing four people and causing extensive damage.

On April 8, 1875, “it was observed that the darkness was unusual, but it was attributed to ‘rain clouds’” by people living downriver from Little Rock (Pulaski County). It began to rain, and “with no warning whatever their houses were ruined and their fences and fields damaged.”

The tornado initially touched down on the Thibault plantation, causing “a monster cottonwood” to fall on the home of a Black man named Jacob Level and his family, “killing his wife and child.” Traveling northeast on a path that was a quarter mile wide “and extended for miles,” the tornado tore the roof from the house of Randall Jones, a Black man, before blowing a pair of cottonwood trees down on the home of Polly Williams, a Black woman, and her family; “by a miracle, none of the family were killed, although several were scratched and bruised.”

The home of a Mr. McBall “was torn to splinters” with “nothing remaining except the gable end,” and the new wood-frame home of William Bevens “was merely a feather to the powerful wind, and was demolished in a second”; his daughter was killed.

The twister next struck the Badgett plantation, where it destroyed a cabin, gin house and buggy shed. The Arbuckle plantation was hit next, with the main house “greatly injured” and the cabins of five Black families destroyed, “but no one [was] killed, though several were seriously injured.”

The tornado tore into the house of a widow named Jones, which “was blown to the ground and scattered to the winds.” She was killed instantly, and “her two daughters, son, cousin, and a negro woman [were] seriously, if not fatally, injured.”

The tornado crossed the Arkansas River, damaging several buildings before dissipating. The storm also “played havoc near Kerr’s station on the Memphis and Little Rock Railroad. Houses, barns and fences were leveled, and thousands of trees torn off by their roots.”

For additional information:
“Capital City Variety.” Arkansas Gazette, April 11, 1875, p. 4.

“Terrible Tornado.” Arkansas Gazette, April 9, 1875, p. 4.

“War of the Elements.” Arkansas Gazette,” April 11, 1875, p. 4.

Mark K. Christ
Little Rock, Arkansas