"THE Willis lllllll
Fully Four Hundred Dead In
St. Louis.
WHOLE BLOCKS BLOWN DOWN
Death List In St. Louis and East
St. Louis.
Fire Adds to the Horror of the Night.
Many Buildings Burned and Firemen
Practically Helpless—The Wreck of the
Great Eads Bridge Across the Missis-
sippi—Tons of Masonry Tossed About
Like Pebbles—The Republican Conven-
tion Hall Damaged by the Storm—Re-
markable Escape of a Chicago and Al-
- ton Train—Two Square Miles of Ruin.
ST. LOUIS, May 29. —A rough estimate,
which is all that is yet possible, puts the
number of lives lost in the tornado which
struck St. Louis and East St. Louis
Wednesday evening at about 200 in each
place. Hundreds besides received in-
juries. many fatal. The property loss can
only be loosely stated as millions of dol-
lars caused by the wreck of the wind and
the fire which sprung up in the path.
In the portions of St. Louis and East
St. Louis where the worst effects of the
hurricane were felt the wreckage is sup-
posed to hide many victims from sight.
The list of identified dead is only a frac-
tion of the whole tale.
More uncertainty perhaps exists as to
the loss of life along the river front than
anywhere else. Steamers were blown
adrift, and the fate of the excursion steam-
er Republic, said to have had 500 persons
on board, has not been settled. It is denied,
howaver, that it has been lost with its pas-
sengers. .
, The Train Safe.
The report that a Chicago and Alton
vestibule. train, carrying 200 passengers,
had gone into the river through the Eads
bridge, a span of which was blown away,
_ appears to have been incorrect. Cars in
the path of the wind were overturned, but
the lose of life on them is not believed to
have been great.
In the city thousands were injured,
many of them so badly that they cannot
recover. The damage will amount to many
millions of dollars, but cannot be estimat-
ed now with any degree of accuracy. The
number of bodies which may be buried in
the ruins of the many collapsed buildings
is a matter of conjecture only, and the ex-
tent of the disaster is such that it may be
many days before the work of recovering
the bodies can be accomplished. -
' The Story of the Storm.
The tornado, which struck St. Louis at
5:15 p. m., was the worst storm, from ev-
ery point of view, in the history of the
city. In, the northern and business parts
little damage was done, but along the riv-
THE EADS BRIDGE.
or front; in South St. Louis and in East St.
Louis. the destruction was terrible. The
channel this morning was full of wreck-
age from crafts of every kind which Were
,blown from their moorings when the storm
began. Here, again, it is quite impossible
to estimate eghe number of lives which
may have been lost.
s.j‘gom the soutbw’éstern suburbs. where
it first struck the city, to the section in
the vicinity of the Eads bridge, where it
passed out, the storm left a wide path of
ruin behind it. Factory after factory Went
down, and piles of brick and timbers mark
the spots on which they stood. Business
houses were flattened. There was no
chance for the escape of the occupants.
Thousands of families in South St. Louis
are practically homeless.
Flames Add to the Terror.
After the wind and rain had done their
work fire added to the devastation. The
destruction of the waterworks early in
the storm cut off the water supply, and
Chief Purdy and his men fought the fire
with a bucket brigade as best they could.
The whole central portion of the city was
at one time threatened.
While the storm was at its height the
passenger train on the Chicago Alton
pulled out on the bridge from the Missouri
side. The train had only proceeded a
short distance when the engineer, Scott,
realized the danger. The wind struck the
coaches when the train was aboutrhalf
wey across. Overhead the poles were
snapping and tumbling into the river,
while large stones were shifting loose
from their foundations and plunging into
the water. Realizing that any moment
’ his train might be blown into the water
or else the bridge be blown away, Scott,
with rare presence of mind. put on a full
head of steam in an effort to make the
east side shore.
Narrow Escape of a Train.
The train had hardly gone 200 feet and
was about the same distance from the
shore when an upper span of the bridge
was blown away. Tons of huge granite
blocks tumbled to the track where the
train loaded with passengers had been but
a moment before. At the same moment
the wind struck the train, overturning all
the cars. None of the passengers was
killed, but several were taken out severely
injured. The wrecked part of the bridge
is just east of the big tower near the Illi-
nois shore and extends cast for about 300
feet. The entire upper portion, used by
street cars and other vehicles, was carried
away, while the tracks beneath were
buried in the debris, in some places eight
feet deep. ~
As the storm was at its highest the gas
holder at Eighteenth street collapsed, and
the people were terrified by columnls of
burning gas leaping high in the air. The
tank was nearly full at the time, and the
force of the wind caught it and turned it
over. As the immense column which sup-
ported the tank proper fell the gas was ig-
nited and burned for a few minutes at a
fearful rate.
Destruction at the Poor-house.
The poorhouse, which is situated at the
‘ extreme southeast limit of the city, suf-
fered severely from the storm. The entire
‘ Advertise in the Gsznrrn.
roof of the building occupied by females
was torn off and flung yards away, large
posts being twisted away from the walls.
The main damage was done at the larger
building. however, and was caused by the
\destruction of the tower which stood on
the top of the central building. The tower
was blown down and crashed entirely
through the building into the basement.
There were eight columns supporting the
roof, and the falling of these carried the
floors of the building beneath it. Eight in-
mates of the poorhousewere injured by
flying rafters, glass and bricks. There
were 1,030 inmates in the institution, and
it is almost incredible that no one was
killed. In the insane Ward the patients
gave the attendants a great deal of trou-
ble during the storm. They could not be
controlled, and filled the building with
their shrieks and cries. After the storm
had abated a little they were induced to
quiet down. The new building for the
male insane patients, which is the most
westerly of all the buildings, was not dam-
aged in the least by the storm. The en-
gine room in the other building was
wrecked and suffered the loss of its smoke-
stacks, which were blown away. The
damage to the buildings is estimated at
$150,000. The hospital fer females escaped
with but little damage, the reel of the
west wing being torn, with numerous
small holes in the building. There was
not a single serious accident reported.
The Wrecked Buildings.
The St. Louis Refrigerator and Wooden
Cutter company’s entire plant at Main
street and Park was destroyed. The plant
consisted of a four story factory, a four
story Warehouse, :1. bicycle factory and
several smaller buildings. When the cy-
clone struck, there were at work between
400 and 500 men and women. The top
stories of the warehouse and factory were
blown oil. Fire broke out in the ware-
house just after the top floor was destroy-
ed. The panic stricken employees rushed
pellmell from the building, leaving many
disabled behind them. Chief Wingley
happened to be crossing the Fourteenth
street bridge and saw the blaze. He drove
to the nearest engine house and piloted
the apparatus to the fire. At 10 o’clock
the fire was under control.
The top floor of the four story building
at Second and Chestnut streets was blown
off. The structure occupied by Daniel
Gunn as a notions store at 2102 Clark
avenue was demolished. The Central
Home of Rest was destroyed and one man
killed, name unknown. Two persons
were injured. The opper roof of the
Shields building on eventh, Banbiddle
and Carr streets was blown off. The
front walls of the buildings at 406 and
408 South Twelfth street were blown
down. The Pepper Cotton company’s
building near the foot of Convent street
and the St. Louis Cotton company’s build-
ing. both one story structures, Were de-
mollshed.
The main office building, freight depot
and five warehouses of the Iron Mountain
railroad company were completely demol-
ished. Roof of elevator B Of the Standard
Elevator company was blown away, and
the building was otherwise badly damag-
ed. The Southwestern Lead company’s
building was completely demolished.
Plant’s milling elevator Was wrecked.
The property of the Brown Lumber com-
pany was blown away, and the roof of the
American Refining company’s building
was destroyed. The Regina flour mill
was badly damaged, the roof being uplift-
ed and the smokestccks blown down. The
warehouse of Nedderhut Bros. was badly
damaged. The Campbell Bros. ’ Paint com-
pany was totally destroyed. The building
of the St. Louis Ice Manufacturing com- ”
pany was blown down; loss. $300,000.
The St. Louis Cotton Compress company’s
building was badly damaged. The vacant
building formerly occupied by the Brown
Oil Mill company was completely wreck-
ed, and six men were buried in the ruins.
The wind caught the armory building on
Eighteenth and Pine streets, picked it up
and scattered it in pieces around the
neighborhood for blocks.
The \Vreck of the Ends Bridge.
Perhaps the most impressive evidence
of the stormcloud's force is to be seen in
the wreck of the eastern end of the Reds
bridge. There the tornado dealt with
stone masonry. It tore down tons upon
tons of this masonry, beginning with the
'big eastern pier and extending to the foot
of the incline. The storm cutoff the upper
part of the structure as if it had been a
flimsy trestle instead of a structure of
worldwide fame for massiveness. This
bridge connects the city of St. Louis with
East St. Louis and takes its name from its
builder, Captain James B. Eads. It is one
of the marvels of engineering. The center
arch was of 520 feet span and the two
side arches of 502 feet span each. These
parts formed the main structure. In ad-
dition to these there is a 3,000 foot cause~
way on stone arches which carries the
bridge down to the level of the town and
railroad yards in East St. Louis from the
height of the bluff which the main struc-
ture meets on the St. Louis side.
The erection of the bridge was begun in
1857 and completed on July, 1874. The
cost was $6,586,729.
The Havoc In East St. Louis.
The list of the dead and injured on the
east side of the river will not be complete
for hours. Enough is known, however,
to show that more lives have been lost on
the east side than on the west side. The
list of killed may exceed 50. The list of
injured numbers hundreds. Fire added
much to the loss account. Down wires,
currents of electricity, crushed buildings,
all contributed to the amount of destruc-
tion. The alarm system was paralzyed.
A $100.000 confisgration on the St. Louis
side was supplemented by a dozen lesser
fires. The fires added at least $500,000 to
the loss. Such another sight of horror in
St. Louis was never known.
The Course of the Wind.
A million dollars will not cover the
damage done to property. The damage
was done in a few minutes’ time, and
how any person in the path of the cyclone
escaped is a mystery to all who passed
over the devastated portion. The wind
struck the levee just north of the East St.
Louis elevator about 5:80. The west half
of the Wiggins ferry was the first to suffer,
and it was thrown far up on the levee.
After this partial: jump it seems the
wind turned, tearing up the Vandalia
freighthouse, killing all inside.
Huschle’s butcher shop, the Douglass
school, Stick’s house, Sullivan’s and all
buildings south of Crooks street as far
down as the Kichler mills and east to the
slough were leveled.
The four square blocks were absolutely
swopt away, and many of the inmates are
beneath the ruins. Freight cars stand in
all shapes and forms about the yards of
the dwallings as well as the railway yards,
and several were carried beyond the Van-
dalia embankment and thrown into the
slough. .
The Lake House, Croes" building, the
Tremont hotel, Martel House, Vandalia
roundhouse, 20 dwellings around, it, the
Howe institute. the watch tower, Menges'
building, Lynch’s and 'd’s, all near
the dike, were demolished.
Advertise in tire Guam.
, I
' WE E "K LY; N o "REWAL K“ ‘G An corn . J ’
None of the railway yards escaped from
the Cairo Short Line up to the‘Wabash.
and hundreds of cars stand in all shapes
far away from their proper places. Two
engines in the Vandalla ' yards Were
thrown down an embankment and de-
stroyed. For down along the levee from
the bridge wreaks of steamboats are found.
The East St. Louis Dead.
Charles Wait, William Surrer, Mrs.
Stock, J. A. Porter, a Cincinnati drum~
mer, name unknown; L. Richardson, flag-
man for Vandalia railroad; Amelia Suirer,
John Beams. ScoLt Hayward, Peter
Walxnsley, John Anderson, Mrs. Bruce,
Emma Sullivan, Jacob Kintze, P. J.
Strickler, unknown woman and two chil-
dren near Drury icehouse. messenger boy
on bridge. seven unknown dead in Dublin
House, Michael Kildea, Thomas Keefe,
Bert Farrell, William Farrell, Frank Mc-
Cormack. Joseph Franks, unknown man
about 40 years old, unknown women
about 85 years old, ex-Policeman Thomas
Grimn and family of three, Frank Rose,
foreman at Elliott’s works; Robert Bland,
John Valentine. City Collector David S.
Sage and wife. Philip Strickler, Jr., and
mother, Judge Faulk of Vandalia, 1119.;
Mrs. Martel], all of borders at Martell’s
house except Judge Hope of Alton, 1115.:
Mr. and Mrs. John Hayes, Will Hayes, 16
boarders at the Tremont House, Myler
Mitchell, William Mitchell, six unidenti-
fied bodies at the electric railway station,
two of whom are supposed to be William
Sullivan and wife; Mrs. John Reed, Pat-
rick Dean and family of six‘, John Buch-
art, two boarders at Stacey’s boarding
house. Edward O’Brien, John Breen. Ida
Claddue, Mrs. Roofs, Albert Volkman,
Joseph Mitchell, John Sullivan. William
Rickey, unknown man on Collinsville
avenue, son of Mrs. Ira. Kent, Henry Win-
terman, Jacob Koertz and 16 unidentified
bodies at Winsley park.
The Convention Hall Damaged.
During the cyclone the great auditorium
building, in which the national Repub-
lican convention is to be held, was so badly
damaged that it will take at least ten days
to repair it. The convention was scheduled
to be held in the buildi'~ on June 16.
All the workmen that'can be employed
will be needed to repair the damage to
buildings in St. Louis and East St. Louis.
This may cause extra delay in the recon-
struction of the convention building. It
is thought not likely that the city will be
in shape to receive the 'national delegates,
even if the building is repaired by the time
that the convention is called. ‘
When the auditorium building was
constructed, it took two months to com-
plete it.
The Convention ball, as it is called
here, is the only building in the city that
can accommodate 6,000 or‘S,000 persons,
and unless it is repaired in time/some ac-
tion will have-to be taken by Republicans
to change the date and possibly the place
of holding the convention. '
When the windst-omx was at its height,
a report was received at police headquar-
ters that the auditorium building had
been totally destroyed. It was some time
before the actual damage to the building
could be ascertained. It was then learned
that part of' the roof of Convention hall
on the east end had been carried away and
destroyed. The walls in several places
were punctured by flying timbers, and
much of the interior was more or less
damag-vd.
The. ..all was in the path of the storm,
and tl..~.t it was not totally destroyed was
a sunrise to everyone. The building is
constructed of Georgia pine. Its size was
one of the strongest arguments used to in,
duce the Republicans to hold the conven-
tion in St. Louis.
The Dead In St. Louis.
Watchman on the Dolphin, name on-
known, drowned; Benjamin Desllva'.‘ un-
known man at Lohrum’s quarry, Alexan-
der Churcinger, driver for Western Star
Dairy company; James Dunn, Francisco
oderiguez, Fred Wells, 3 years old;
Theresa Wells, 8 months old; Mrs. Carter
and child, unknown man, driver; Peter
Deidrich, employed at bagging mill; Max
Weiss, Malachy McDonald, superintendent
WatersPierce Oil company; -—-—- Jones,
engineer Etna Iron 'works; Frankie
Picher, Francis Cheney, Isabelle Horn,
Sawyer Manufacturing company; Charles
Tandy, Sawyer Manufacturing company;
—- Zimmerman, killed at Union Depot
company’s house; Katie Claypool.
wart-:2, \.— v—r -—-
Patriotic Daughter-5’ Pilgrimage.
NEWBCEG, N. Y., May 29 —The mem-
bers of the Empire State Society of the
Sons of the American Revolution, accom-
panied by the Daughters of the American
Revolution, will make a historical pil-
grimage to Newburg ' by steamboat from
New York Monday, June 15, the anniver-
sary of the appointment of Washington as
commander in chief of the continental
army. There will be_1,200 in the party,
and at Washington’s headquarters, this
city, the visitors will be welcomed by
Mayor Odell and others.
The Detroit Conference Fails.
DETROIT, May ESL—The committee of
iron and steel manufacturers was in con-
ference with a committee from the Amal-
gamated association over the schedule
adopted by the association’s delegates.
The manufacturers declined to agree to
the item which asks for an advance of 50
cents pervton on the 11-10 cent selling
card. The manufacturers left for their
homes, and the conference will probably
be continued at Pittsburg week.
an-
Lav-t
It is estimated that there are 13,000
bicycles in Bridgeport.
Eczema div
Grew Worse under Treatment of Best
Physicians. Tried
CUTIBURA REMEDIES '
Great Change in Five Days and To-day is
Entirely Cured.
My baby had Eczema in its worst form.
One of the best physicians in the city attended
her, but she continued to get worse all the
time. He finally admitted he was at his wits’
end. I then got CUTICURA REMEDIES, and in
afew days noticed a great change in her con.
dition. She continued to improve and 10-day
is entire! cured, has nice head of hair, and is
lively an hearty. I spent considerable money
for drugs and doctor’s bills, which was useless.
J. B. JACOBS, 2031 Wilkins Ave, Balt., Md.
Srnnr Cons Tallmusxr. -Wcrm baths with Cun-
cuuA Soar. gentle applications of Concern (ointment).
the great skin care, and mild doses of Concern; Rasca-
vm, greatest of humor cures. ‘
Sold throughout the world. Price. Concern 50c :
Boar. 25c.: Ecsowzur,50c. and . l -
Ceca. Com, Sole Proph Boater:1 POTTER Daron.»
@- “ How to Cure Every Skin Humor," mailed free-
. Piano Lessons,
Mas. GEORGE W. BRADLEY. (daughter l
of the late.Wni. Rituals.) Rives eibcent
and satisfactory instructions on the Piano at
her home No. 193 Man: street.‘ ‘
CLOSED B S N I “ J Honor t.
MEMORIAL 03 ”ll {"85 Dlwa 'I ‘ theDee
DAY. '— - ' H- .
usw you omcr, 442 nnonnmv. ewes
sHALF-PRICE SALEe—
(FRIDAY, MAY 29, 1896.
“ A Day Lost in the Dry Goods Business is Never Made; Up.”
DECORATION DAY
We shall not open our Store, for we feel that it is our duty to close business in honor of the men wholie in
the “ Bivouac of the Dead,” that their memory, aswell as their graves, may be kept green in the minds of the
generations that have sprung up since the great conflict. Therefore, that the day may not be lost to us in a
business way, we shall have a HALF PRICE SALE on something in every Department. Commencing PEI-r I
DAY MORNING, May 27, and continuing all day until 10 P. M. And to make this sale doubly interesting,
lie Shall Gila Away aLadles’ Waverly Bicycle, 23M. Price $85.00
Purchased from W. S. Smith. South Main Street, South Norwalk,
who guarantees it in every particular. If the winner wishes, they
may exchange it- for a Gentleman’s Wheel. Every purchaser of 25
Cents Worth will receive a Coupon. The lucky number will be
drawn 9.30 on Friday Evening.
»NOW FOR A. SENSA'I‘IONI
Any of our immense Variety of Shirl Waisls
That we sell at 500 and others sell at 75c, we shall sell at HALF PRICE, 25 Cents Each,
Laundered Collars and Cuffs, Large Sleeves. Remember, this is only for F riday’s' Half
Price Sale.
them again at that price.
lHl BUSTUN SlllllBEnr. Main and Wall 83.
l 1
A POINTER.”
Buy four for $1.00 and get four chances on the Bicycle. You Will never get
‘Is your plate glass or safe insured? 'If not, call on me and
I will write you a. policy in the Mutual Plate Glass and Safe Insur-
ance Company. Glass will break and burglars use dynamite.
ln case of Fire
You . should be insured. A policy in the Reliance of Philadelphia.
Phoenix of Hartford; Scotland Union of Scotland; New Hampshire of
Manchester; Rochester German of Rochester; United States and Pacific.
of New York; Security of New Hampshire or Granite State of Ports.
mouth will protect you against the fire fiend.
W... er. summation.
VL .
Real Estate and General Insurance,
noon 1, GAZETTE nurnnnuci
=3}
LOANS NEGOTIATED AND INVESTMENTS MADE.
‘ \
Norwalk Chronicler