Iron County register., 1896-06-04

Postal Telegraph companies, the Bell
Telephone company, the Telegraph
Fire Alarm company and the Electric
Light company. was almost a total
wreck. Hundreds of the poles sup
porting the wires We're broken short
of, while the wires everywhere were
tangled and broken by fving debris
A Ruined Power Plant.
The ruin of the Union Depot Rail-
road Co. s power-house and car shed,
at jefferson and Geyer, is complete.
The great machinery is twisted and
bent out of shape. The walls are all
torn down, together with a 200-foot
smokestack. A large number Of cars
in the car shed were crushed, and the
Office was demolished. Three employees
were caught in the ruin, but escaped
with broken bones.
The Chamber of Commerce Roof.
The roof of the Chamber of Com
merce building was ripped from its
fastenings and whipped about like a
rag in the wind. Great sheets of tin
were hurled up in the air and twisted
into shapeless masses There was not
square foot of roof left smooth and
when the storm was over the roofing
was lying on the four streets sur
rounding the building.
Panic at the Jail
The woman's corner of the Jail was
blown down and bedlam turned loose.
The first known of the storm was the
violent shaking of the building. which
is one of the strongest and safest in
stitutions in the city. There came
near being dangerous mutiny among
the prisoners, but a strong force of
police su bdued the prisoners and quieted
them down.
The Union Clubhouse a Ruin.
The magnificent Union club is a
complete ruin. This building, COM
pleted but a little over a year ago, was
the meeting place of the elite of South
st. Louis society. It was an architec-
tural gem.
Along the River.
The 1evee was the scene of the worst
devastation on this side of the river.
Before the storm, a long row of steam
boats and wharfboats and barges were
moored from Biddle street to Chouteau
avenue. These were swept from their
fastenings almost in a solid phalanx
and cast adrift. Some were overturned
and sunk, others were blown across
and crushed against the Illinois side.
The Anchor line wharfboat and the
excursion wharf were the only craft
left between the bridge and Spruce
street. Both were showed up on the
bank, indicating that the storm had
rotary motion, as all other craft were
blown in the other direction. Some
were seen floating when the brunt of
the storm had passed, but in nearly all
cases the upper works We're torn away.
The damage to shipping alone viii run
up into the hundreds Of thousands of
dollars.
ANCHOR LINE BOATS MISSING
Three boats of the Anchor line were
in port These were the City of Mon
roe, which was ready to leave for New
Orleans. She had a large crew and
about thirty-five passengers She was
badly wrecked in her upper works,
taken across the river. The passen-
gers and crew are reported safe. The
other two boats were the City of Cairo
and the Arkansas City. They were
moored at the foot of Chouteau avenue
and Carroll street respectively. They
were torn loose, and drifted across the
river. Being temporarily out of COM
mission, they had but few employees
aboard. This company also had
number of barges torn away and prob
ably sunk.
The st. Louis & Mississippi Valley
r. Al
Exporter and the Harvester. the best
of the line, set adrift. also the main
wharfboat and a number of barges.
One of the boats was reported to be
sunk at the foot of Arsenal street.
The Henry Lourey. of this line. was
left at the wharf but little damaged,
also the wharfboat used for handling
cement.
The tug Rescue No. ?, belonging to
the Virgins Ferry Co., was sunk at the
foot of Olive street.
TURNED UPSIDE DOWN.
The Dolphin No. 2, belonging to the
Dolphin Transportation Co., was
moored at the foot of car street She
was turned upside down and sunk in
mids.ream, nearly opposite the foot of
one of the piers of the bridge. and
some of the members of the crew,
including the chambermaid. got off
on a projection of the pier and were
rescued by one of the tugs
ABOVE THE BRIDGE.
At the foot of Cass avenue four
boats and two ice barges were lying.
None of these was torn from its moor
ings, but the Polar Wave had her pilot
Vinton's cabin is gone; the Jack Frost
lost her smobestacks and her cabin.
and the Charlotte Boeckeler lost her
stacks and part of her cabin. The
roofs were blown from both of the ice
barges, the lone and the Snow
Below Cass avenue, to the bridge, all
boats were gone, except the Washing
ton avenue wharfboat, which hung to
its mooring. There were above the
bridge: The Libbie Conger, the City
of Quincy. the Dolphin No. 2. the Belle
of Calhoun, the Bald Eagle and the
harbor boat and tug, the Rescue
There were also some sand barges and
wharfboats.
The Libbie Conger went down side
wise and missed the piers, floating on
down the stream. stripped of her tops.
The harbor boat struck the dump boat,
and was thus kept from striking a
pier. 1t passed through under the
bridge and was driven down the
stream Both OF its chimneys were
blown off.