Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1896-05-28
CYCLONE SWEEPS ST. Louis.

evening. Hundreds of people were
killed and the property loss is beyond
estimate.
At $40 p. m. the clouds that had
covered the city since noon broke into
furious storm. Within ten minutes
the wind reached velocity of eighty
miles an hour, sweeping with it dense
| waves of rain. The highest speed pre-
yiously recorded there was seventy-two
miles an hour, in August, 1878.
The screeching of the wind through
electric wires, the crash of debris that
swept in every direction, the electric
flashes from tangled wires and crashing
thunder made scene Undesirable. The
loss of life is appalling and runs up in
| to the hundreds. Death and destruc-
ton marks the pathway of the tornado.
There were really two cyclones. One
came from the northwest and the other
| from the direct east. Both met on the
Illinois shore of the Mississippi river
and Joined in a whirling cloud of death
and destruction. The list of dead in
st. Louis is beyond present computa-
| ton.
The city hospital, which fortunately
survived the storm, is filled to overflow
ing with mangled men, women and
children, and the morgue, within two
hours after the end of the storm, was so
full of corpses that it was necessary to
provide other quarters for the reception
of the dead. The armory, at Seven
teenth and Pine streets, is being used
as temporary hospital.
The center of the city is wreck.
Many buildings have been demolished
| and others partially wrecked. The
streets are utterly impossible to street
| cars, aud in many places progress on
| foot is matter of great difficulty.
Last night the city was in state of
panic. Nearly all electric wires were
down and the city was in darkness.
To add to the confusion the tornado
was followed by deluge of rain, &C
companied by vivid flashes of lightning
which continued for some hours.
The scene in East St. Louis is appall-
ing. The tornado struck that city with
terrible effect and it is estimated that
three hundred people are dead in that
place alone as a result of the wind,
flood and flames. The streets are filled
with the wreckage of demolished
houses over an area of fifteen blocks.
The tornado was followed by an out
break of fire, caused by lightning, and
before the flames could be gotten under
control, property to the value of nearly
So, 900, 900 was destroyed. The tornado
passed in an easterly direction and it is
J reported that Vandalia and Caseyville,
I in illinois, suffered severely. One re-
port states the the railroad depot in
Vandalia was blown away and thirty
| people were killed.
East st. Louis suffered probably the
greatest. Messengers were sent from
there asking for physicians and nurses.
The steamer d. 81. Pike, with 80 pas
sengers on board, bound for Peoria, was
blown bottom side up in the middle OF
the river and q number of persons were
drowned. The steamer Dalaphin, with
a crew of 26 lady passengers on board,
was blown against bridge pier and
broken in two. The ladies and two OF
the crew chung to the bridge stone
work and were rescued. Fire also
broke out in several portions of the
city, and the fire department was un.
able to make an effective fight, because
of the choked up condition of the
streets, and the large number of fire.
men who were engaged in the impera-
tive work of rescuiDg the dead and
wounded.
In st. Louis fourteen fire alarms were
sounded within an hour, and three
| alarms were sent in from the poor
house, which building has 1000 in
mates. The roof of the poor house
| was blown off and the fatalities are
great.
At S o'clock the eastern sky was
afame with the light of fires in East ST..
Louis. The metal roof of the Mer-
chants Exchange was rolled up like a
scroll and fell into the street.
The Louisville and Nashville east
bound local passenger train had just
reached East st. Louis when the storm
struck that city. The train was over.
turned, but miraculously only few
passengers here injured.
Both the great bridges leading into
st. Louis to the east side were badly
wrecked, the east approach to the Eads
bridge being swept away, and span
taken bodily from the Merchants
bridge. Every steamer in the river in
front of St. Louis is reported sunk and
the loss of life must be enormous. The
Chicago and Alton east bound local
passenger train, which left st. Louis at
o'clock, was on the east span of the
bridge when the wind picked the cars
up and turned them over on their sides.
The iron spans and trusses held the
cars from topping into the river, 100
feet below.
b. C. Rice, the manager of the West
ern Union at the relay depot on the
east side, reports q wreck of terrible
proportions. He said the National
Hotel, fremont House, Martell House,
DeWolfe's cafe, Hazel Milling Compa-
ny's mill, Horns cooper shop and
large number of dwellings east of that
section were swept into wreckage
The Baltimore and Ohio and Van
dalia roundhouses, the Standard Oil
Works, the East ST. Louis and Crescent
elevators and q dozen freight houses
were caught in the vortex of the cy-
clone and reduced to debris.
1t is reported that the Grand Repub-
lie and several other excursion steam
ers with all their passengers and crews
went down.
During the last race at the fair
grounds the roof was blown of the