St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-08-04
EMMA THOMAS, aged is.
EMMA MiCHNER, aged l9.
TDEN THORNTDN. aged II.

nado approach. | could see the buildings
of the Pennsylvania salt works, on the
Philadelphia side, going OF like chaff, Then
the storm struck the Major Reybold, which
was partially abreast of my place.
Portions OF her upper works were whirled
fully 400 feet into the air. A tremendous
roaring preceded it. The moving fury re-
sembed dense mass of ruling black
snakes. and it travelled within ten feet of
the surface of the water in the river. A
singular phenomenon was noticed not only
by myself, but by all my men
i'll the yard. This was a huge ball of fire
fully ten feet in diameter. which swiftly
accompanied the storm cloud. After play
ing sad havoc with my establishment saw
this ball of fire explode about two hundred
and fifty yards north of me with report SO
terrific as to shake the very foundation of
the buildings in my yard. Following this
came number of explosions, but
of less force. As the sky
to the eastward was unusually bright
and had a sort of rainbow appearance. In
fact this was one of the most remarkable
sights of the kind that had ever seen. The
BALL OF FIRE,
which exploded, l am satisfied. played mis-
chief at the American Dredging company's
place. Short Il Hart's three-story hosiery
mill, 3039 and 3O41 Salmon street, Rich
mond, this city. was completely
wrecked and scattered in all directions.
There were about eighty people employed
i'll the mill, most of them young girls, and
the effect was to throw them into panic.
A large number jumped from the second
story windows and We're only slightly in
jured, while others were hurled to the
ground with falling walls and struck by
pieces of flying timber and bricks. Be
fore the Storm the air was
filled with flying debris and
people, seeing the awful sight, fed in ter
ror by the hundreds to their cellars. The
cyclone lasted between four and five min-
utes, and was marked with terrific puffs
and rOarS. 1t is singular fact that flat
rooted houses suffered the most. the wind,
with the greatest ease, catching them
under the cornice. lifted them as though
they were sheets of paper There was
hardly an instance where mansard roof
was wrecked. So great was the violence
of the wind that the fronts and sides of
houses and bay windows were mashed, As
though they were egg shells. Roofs were
carried hundreds of yards away, shade trees
were moved down like platoOns of soldiers
that stood the storms of years were up
rooted or broken off like pipestems. The
eccentricities of the wind could be seen on
every side. Buildings, which it would
seem that an ordinary storm would demol-
ish and which were in the direct path of
the storm, were spared, while their neigh
bors, modern structures of brick, would be
gutted and wrecked outright.
ChicaSo's Great Storm.
CHICAGO, Aug. 3.-The great rain storm
stopped at midnight. The total rainfall in
the preceding twelve hours was 5.5S inches,
an inch more than the entire rainfall dur
ing the month of August in either of the
last three years, and the greatest fall within
the time specified on record. The fall was
so great and rapid that the sewers were un-
able to carry off the volume of water The
420 miles of sewer pipe are constructed on
the basis of allowing an inch fall an hour,
while yesterday it exceeded two inches.
The superintendent of sewers is of the
opinion that the flushing of the sewers will
prove beneficial, thoroughly purging them,
and thus proving conducive to the public
health. The paved streets throughout the
city this morning, particularly the stone
paved ones, have the appearance of having
been scrubbed clean with brooms Many
OF the Grant decorations on the
public and private buildings are be-
draggled and torn. The damage by
the flooding of easements was heavy Early
in the afternoon, Easements that were more
than ten feet in depth soon contained be-
tween two and three feet of water Thou
sands of rats poured from the sewers and
easements as the water began TO fill up the
THE RATS RAN AROUND
the streets, scurrying hither and thither in
their search for places of safety. Not un-
like them were the Cinnamon, all of whom
occupy the deep Easements. Nearly every
Celestial in the city found himself without
a place to lay his head, and late into the
night they were seen hunting cheap lodg-
ing houses. NumberleSs families were
forced to leave the Easements in which they
resided and seek for temporary lodging
in apartments above the level of the streets.
Of the residence streets, Huron was
in this respect, the ten
ants of many basement dwellings
being compelled to leave their homes.
The Easements and cellars throughout
the portion of the south side where the
houses are situated were filled
with water to depth of several feet, the
loss through this section being very
heavy, though no estimate of the damage
could be made, even by those who are eX-
perienced in such matters. The first bus
mess firm TO ask for assistance from the
,ity was Lyon q Healy, dealers in mu-
'ical instruments at the corner of State and
Monroe streets. Fire Engine No. 50 was
to abandon the job of pumping
)ut the water after two hours fruitless
abor, as the water poured in as rapidly as
t was pumped ont. Numberless other
places were visited. but
NO BETTER SUCCESS
vas met with, and the many engines which
lad been detailed on the work returned to
heir respective houses. Water from the
sewers and overflOwing cutters flooded the
Palmer house basement last evening putting
lut the fires in the boiler of the engine BY
which the electric lights were run. Three
If the lights had 10 be dispensed with.
The management of the house is remod-
cling the rear Office of the hotel
md had entirely removed the skylight
which rooted the room and the rains
descended uninterruptedly into that portion
If the. basement throughout the day and
light. In the new Opera House block the
ame agency eXtinguished the fires in the
elevator engine boilers and compelled the
stopping OF the elevators. All newly-im-
proved streets are reported to be in bad
condition. Where sewers have been put in
he ground has sunk about three feet.
the streets dangerous. Fail
street. near Lake, and but recently paved.
ank several feet. The Randolph street
ailway track was badly washed out near
Ann street. All that portion of the city
vest of Ashland avenue and south of
twelfth street was covered with water to a
Iepth OF over two feet. This is due TO the
act that this portion of the city is about
our feet lower than the more improved
portions.