Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1896-06-08
LETTER FROM ST. LOUIS.
st. Louis. Mag 81.

1 80 ~G
Dear Monitor - Perhaps your read
ers would like to hear what actually
occurred in ST. Louis on the afternoon
of May 81 Newspapers have exag-
Grated the reports of loss of life and
property. The horror of the situa-
ton, the great territory injured by
the cyclone and the many people kill
ed, would naturally excite the most
conservative man to estimate the loss
as being far greater than it has since
proved to be. 1t is awful as it now
stands, and no actual estimate can
ever be given Of what the cyclones
work accomplished. There are homes
and families gone, wiped out in a few
moments; buildings smashed in which
were workmen, whose bodies, may
not be reached in the ruins for weeks,
and the City Hospital patients many
of whom, some fifty are unaccounted
for at this writing. The truth as to
how many were killed will never be
known. re .ssas
Wednesday, the day of Jhestorm, was
what we would call muggy day and
very warm. All day in thewest. there
hung heavy, black clouds, at the south
were banks of similar clouds appar-
emily moving westward; these two
clouds met and the result was a dark
green cloud which whirled and circled
over the city until it formed the ter
rih1o ox1oIopo rrIioI, fouobo5 tho oortI,
and destroyed everything before it.
This cloud did not stop it's work in st.
Louis but did terrible damage to East
st. Louis, which is a city of 900 on
the Illinois side of the Mississippi.
1t was about O'Clock when the
wind began to blow and at 5:15 the
cyclone had begun. The storm while
it lasted was the worst I ever saw.
The rain came down in sheets with
wind which added horror to the dam
age. The cyclone did not last longer
than fifteen minutes but to me it
seemed long time.
Imagine sketch of land ten miles
long by mile wide thickly covered.
es, electric light plants, residences
etc., in most instances entirely de-
molished, and with few excava-
tions unroofed or with sides blown
down. Massive buildings of stone,
some blocks weighing tons were blown
to pieces. Churches with perhaps
only the front part standing and
homes with the entire front blown
away. A tornado plays. frightful
pranks. In block of buildings there
might be three torn down while the
fourth was practically uninjured, save
it's chimneys and window or a part of
it's roof. The massive telegraph poles
of carrying cables and wires to the
number Of 100 or more added to the
damage in falling on wires or houses
parti ally wrecked. The school build
in the tornado's way suffered, and it
was most fortunate that schools were
not in session. In one or two inStanc-
es factories were stopped before the
storm came up and employees warned,
which undoubtedly saved their lives.
The most damaged portion of the
city is the southwestern part, al
though buildings suffered to an extent
in the northwestern portion. Fortu-
nately my home escaped any damage.
Two city blocks east of my house the
storm blew down long rows of flats,
killing some, wounding others and
ruined beautiful houses and churches.
The gem of the city, Lafayette Park
of sixty three acres, is ruined. Not a
whole tree standing, their trunks
showing what terrible force the tor
nado had when it twisted the branch
es and limbs apart Some of the most
beautiful residences in st. Louis bor-
der on the Park and the morning af-
ter the storm one could have found
anything from a silk dress down to a
hair pin scattered through the Park
My attempted description cannot
convey to you what an awful thing it
was. It seemed as if I was in a dream
when came to look at the wreck.
Some people who happened to be
out in the storm were actually strip
ped of their clothing by the force of
the wind. No one thought of self
at all, but to get home to his family.
One of my friends ran 10 miles to his
home expecting to find everyone
dead. He could not tell how he got
home. Everywhere in his path he
saw the horrible results of the catas-
trophe, and thought he could see his
own loved ones in the ruins of his
home. Fortunately they were safe.
One lady's hair that l know of, has
turnod orav from the offnnfs of hpr |