The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-03-29

1-AEon OF danger we're Two distinct rock
ings Of the huisding. about which time
window was blown from the castings ard
Immediately after the plassering began 70
crop fron the ceiling A Wild rush vas
made from the room which carried
me with IL and ! had just reached the
door when the enfiye floor gare way and
We were precipitated to the basement
minded and almost suffccated BY clouds OF
dust. and crushed and iammed by falling
rmoers. IN somewsy the door frame feai
With me and maintained an upright posi-
hon When il stopped. vas enabled to
exrricate myself from the debris and make
my exit to the street through the adjoin-
ING house, whose doors kicked in Al
once returned over the ruins with several
men and extinguished the fire which then
begun By this time rain was falling
IN torrents, the lightning flashes only
gave nomentaxy views of the
position of the ruins and blinded
everybody The entire building collapsed
IN front and rear. OF the east and vest
side walls nothing was left standing above
the second story. There were nearly 100
members present at our lodge meeting,
fully two-thirds Of whom we're ladies. Be
sides our lodge another order was holding
meeting on the same floor
with US A hand was rehearsing
on the second door, and party of deco
rators were 1T work IN the large hall, pre-
pairing for an entertainment So far as
could Judge there we're less than . dozen
all told who got cut unhurt, and the groans
thai issued from the broken. twisted heap
was proof that scores are still there unable
to escape"
Great Loss or Life.
IL Is now thought that the deaths viii
number about $50. This evening . large
force of men have been sent out TO make
thorough canvass of the devastated dis
trics and to report losses of life and prop
erty as fully a. possible. They viii try to
make statement tonight
The property loss 1t present Is estimated
at nearly million dollars. The work of
rescuing the mangled and dead goes bravely
on. Hundreds OF anxious men are work
ing as they never worked before for the
bodies Of friends and relatives that lie bur
led in the mass of brick and mortar that
covers the site where yesterday stood Falls
City hall.
The cries Of men. women and children
are heard on every side, and the surging
crowd Of 10.o00 people block the streets for
squares. II is q sight to strike anguish to
the soul. Bodies dead and wounded are
dragged from beneath the ruins all around
the district: and men, women and children
linger about with dread anxiety lest they
recognise in some shapeless masses the re-
mains OF some relative or friend.
As night closed in its folds the devastated
city of Louisville, scores OF widows and
orphans are bowed down with the weight
OF deepest grief. Wreck and ruin have
settled down in its very midst and specters
Of the dead. whose funeral pyers are heaps
of bricks and mortar, seem to rise up and
enshroud in the awful halo of their pres
eHcs the entire city.
Bands OF brave rescuers continue to
work, but in the dark. they seem to work
silently, though no less arduously. As
each remnant of piles OF wreckage is lifted
il is in anticipation OF uncovering To view
the Efeless form Or death set features of
some victim Of the awful storm, but there
is no time to consider the dead, for the
living may yet Be buried beneath the de-
bris, and they tufn and delve again with re-
newed energy into the great mass and
search for the crushed and mangled.
Henetess Families.
The advantage Of light and its fear-dis-
pelling qualities are denied the workers, for
all electric wires were torn down by the
storm and left the city to be enshrouded in
the deepest gloom. It grows so dark in the
shadows of the crumbling walls that still
stand. that every object with semblance of
human form must be grasped TO prove it
flesh or stone.
There is no estimating the number of
those who lie burned in their graves
People are still hunting for missing men,
bers of their families. and mothers and
fathers are gazing on the ruins and crying
to the Almighty TO deliver to them
at least their dead. Hardened
hearts move with deep sympathy
and idle men dive into the dirt, and
the grim streets are thronged with multi
tudes OF sorrowing people. They stand
upon the corners solemnly discussing the
dreadful catastrophe, or moved from one
point OF the wrecked district to another.
gazing at the scenes Of the ruins.
There are at least 100 families homeless
in the streets that we're happy yesterday in
the possession of their homes.
Not only were houses dashed to the
ground, but furniture in many instances
was entirely destroyed. Hundreds of
thousands Of dollars worth of household
goods and merchandise lay last night
upon the business streets at the mercy Of
thieves
Fifteen unidentified bodies are lying in
heap at the Falls City hall. There are
other heaps all over the city. Many bodies
have been carried away by friends. and II
is difficult to make complete list of the
dead. but the list Of the dead and injured
viii not be far from 400
An inspection of the water works this
afternoon showed the standpipe 10 be COM
pleteiy wrecked. Until repairs are COM
pleted no pumping can be done, and there
is only about enough water in the reser-
voir to last i've days. At the end of that
time the public will have to depend on
wells.
The Course Of Destruction.
The tornado last night entered the south
eastern portion OF the city at Eighteenth
street and swept path i've blocks diseon-
ally. reaching in . ragged line 70 seventh
street, leveling every building in its path
probably 250o bouses-
Main street from Eighth 10 Fourteenth
Is In the ruins. not one of the hand
some wholesale houses are left, and the to-
bacco warehouses are swept away. On
Market street the walls of the city hall. .
foCr-story building, were blown down While
several Masonic and Knights OF Honor
lodges were in session
Every house on Market Jefferson and
Walnut streets, from Tenth 70 Sixteenth, Is
in ruins. Psrkiand, q suburb. was swept
s-.w Gurh S~~rastT uas raver knoUr