The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1896-06-03

strip of land. now Joined TO the ma.r,. id.
that was the terinini of all the railroads.
centcring there Large freight sheds ve-.
strung along the river front. Nine of the
largest of these are in ruins. The greatest
damage was done TO the Vandalia. the
& Alton. the Wabash and the Louisville e.
Nashville sheds At the Vandalia the loss
Of life was greatest. There the structure
seemed lifted up and dropped again over
the foundations. Fourteen of the dead
enumerated were taken from these sheds
Across Cahokia creek, IN the city proper,
the destruction was complete. The relay
depot. an abominat ton which even the cor
roding hand of time could not destroy, went
to pieces before the storm. The switch
tower. upon the perfect working of which
depends the movement or hundreds of
trains. was made useless Three small
hotels in the vicinity were DESTROYED.
North and east of the relay depot a
wide residence section. mostly small houses
occupied by mechanics. was cleaned up. II
is through this part that the majority of
the fatalities occurred. The high dykes to
the west that shut on the waters of the
Mississippi were no protection and the frau
houses went down like houses of cards.
The viaduct across the mass Of tracks east
of Cahokia creek was made useless. The
new Marteu house. the McCauseland opera
house the city hall, Flanngan's hail. three
churches, the high school and residences
that covered IA blocks OF ground east Of the
viaduct, were demolished. Farther on to
the north and east, in the stock yards vicin-
ity, everything was swept away. The
definite limits of the storm. indicated
above. may be clearly noted here. The
National hotel was unintured. while two
blocks southeast a house owned by H D.
Sexton was torn to kindling wood Passing
on outside the city every suburban garden.
orchard and field Is RACED Of its growth.
In all this desolation death ran riot. High
atcve the storm were heard the cries of
suffering ana the shrieks Of people strug-
Cling helplessly against the storms fury.
The Points of greatest disaster, the water
front and the vicinity OF the relay depot.
have not yet given up all their dead.
Scarcely a single person in the storms
highway escaped some injury.
Disasters on the River.
The track of the storm across the river
was practically the same as that of the
great storm of August 4, 1878 The trend of
the main volume of wind was from south
west to northeast. leaving the Missouri
shore at the center Of the southern half OF
this city and striking the Illinois shore in
a path whose northern edge was the Eads
| bridge and extending south three-fourths
of mile. Within this path were moored
- steamers large and small The storm
fell so suddenly that none Of the vessels
were prepared In all ten large passenger
| steamers. five ferryboats. two transfer
boats, two tugboats and half a dozen small
pleasure barges were driven to the opposite
shore or sunk outright
The steamer J. ]. Odil was loosened from
its moorings and blown against the second
pier of the Eads bridge, where Ii sank.
Just before the boat struck her boilers
blew I'D Nine of her crew Of twelve are
reported as missing. Those Of the crew
who reached land in safety are Jack Nor
rissey, Pat Milan and a man named Moore.
About the same time the Odil struck the
pier the towboat Dolphin No. was blown
from her wharfboat at the foot of Morgan
street, dashing her up against the first
pier. She struck the pier with a force that
crushed in her starboard side. She drifted
down the river for about three blocks and
then sank, only leaving her Prov above
the water.
There were II persons, three of them
women, all of whom had Jumped from
either the steamer Pfttshurg or the Libbie
Conger, who manag ed to catch driftwood,
which carried them down the river to the
Pittsburg dyke. where they were caught
in an eddy and sunk to the bottom
The Bald Eagle was bown down the river
for a considerable distance, when the boat
was capsized and went to the bottom.
About 20 persons were on board, but moth
ing has been seen or heard of them
4 great many lives were lost by the sink
ing of barges and smaller crafts. In most
every case there was at least ten men on
beard each of them, and in many cases
several of them are still missing.
The Baton Rouge Belle. tugboat, was
forced from its hawser out into the middle
of the river. When it reached there II be-
gan to roll over and over down the river
till it reached the foot Of Chouteau avenue.
where it was forced against the wharf of
the Virgins Ferry company by the wind,
and sunk in ten feet of water.
The City Of Monroe was dashed against
the shore, but did not go down. Capt.
Ziegler exhorted his passengers and crew
to not jump overheard His last words
were: There is no danger" He was blown
into the river and drowned
The following boats are reported as dam
aged or missing: Pittsburg, City Of Vicks-
burg, City of Providence, Belle of Calhoun,
the Madill, the Elm G. Smith, the Louis
Houek, Dolphin No. 2. Bald Eagle and the
]. J. OdiL
Work of Relief.