Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1896-05-28

from him. In a few seconds the same
message was reported from Lexington,
KY, with the additional information
that fully one hundred and fifty peopls
were killed.
This information was subsequently
corroborated by the operator of the Wa
bash road at Decatur, who said that in
his second message received from East
st. Louis it was declared that the grand
stand at the races was down and that
fully one hundred and fifty people were
buried in the ruins.
A few minutes after o'clock the oper-
ator of the Associated Press at St.
Louis, who was in the act of taking the
usual report. sent word that it was
growing very dark and asked for a
minutes delay that he might provide
himself with light. In second more
the wire snapped, and it was impossible
to get any further information from him
or out of the town.
The local weather office in this city
was unable to give any information re-
garding the storm as they were inform
ed early in the evening by the Western
IJnicn that it would not be able to send
the usual weather bulletins from st.
Louis. 1t was said, however, at the
local Office that the conditions had been
all day very favorable for severe storms
all through Missouri and Southern Hi
nois. 1t is thought that the storm
sveDt over st. Louis from the north
west 10 the southeast. 1t is considered
nrobable that the storm which was re-
norted in the afternoon at Rush HILL
No. would require several hours TO
reach St. Louis, and as the storms at the
two points are reported as having been
long enough apart to enable the storm
70 cover the distance between Rush Hill
and St. Louis, the storms are probably
identical. The storm which tore through
the country south of Centralia is SAID
TO have occurred at about 6 o'cloc, or
an hour after St. Louis was devas-
tated.
These three points are in direct line
from tn enortheast TO the southeds'
and the weather officials are inclined to
believe that the storm was one ana the
same.
THE EADS BRIDGE
which is reported as having been bad
" damaged by the starm, was Duiit IL
1873 and was considered one OF the
strongest arch bridges in the world
II was built without draw bridge ano
rose to an elevation in the center ano
stoned down to the shore on eacn slde
There was on it a double railroad track
which was used by the trains OF the
Wabash and Alton roads, a 6ouDic
massage way for wagons and a double
path way for pedestrians. From the
reports received it is now thought thai
it is not so seriously damaged as to de-
lay the train service of the roads which
cross it TO any large extent.
At midnight it was reported at the
dispatchers Office of the Wabash road
at Forest. Ills, that it was Impossible
to reach any point further south than
Nameoki. which is nine miles northeast
from East st. Louis. The operator at
that point said that up to midnight il
had been impossible to obtain any de-
finite information from st. Louis, but
it was certain that fearful damage had
been done He said that the ruins al
East ST. Louis we're on fire and burning
fiercely, but could tell nothing more
than that. He had not been able to
obtain any information from any OF the
Wabash trains that had passed his sta
ton since o'clock in the afternoon.