Omaha daily bee., 1896-05-31

property to places OF safety. The relic
corps. organized by the st. Louis Providen
association, is canvassing the district from
Tenth street to the river between Geye
avenue and the railroad tracks. On Fri
day they had reached Twelfth street and to
day continued their work east. The head
quarters Of the Merchants exchange relic
committee was thronged all day with sat
faced men and women, receiving succor
Some Of the stories told we're hesrtrend
ing.
The Soulard street police station Is tn
center OF the relief work In the eastern
portion Of the ravaged d!etrict. II lies neal
the center Of the storms path and affords 8
convenient and accessible bureau. Quite 9
number Of relief wagons have been place.
at the command of the sergeant In charge
and the officers are instructed to direct
persons applying to them for relief or as
slstance to the station.
In all S1G9, los has been collected for the
work CT relief. This includes the city's APP
preparation Of 800, 900.
ONE THOUSAND MEN AT WORK.
The work Of cleaning up the devastated
district In South st. Louis was begun this
morning. One thousand men, with teams,
were put to work by the street department
under the personal supervision OF Commls-
sIoner Miner.
Sunday morning the entire street depart
ment go to work under the direction OF
Chief of Police Harrlgan, searching tor
bodies Of the dead. The street department
is now working at an expense OF S2,5OO a
day. COMMISSIONS Miner says 1t VIII
take $4,000 to put the streets in order and
haul away the litter. There Is about Sl3,OOo
20 the credit Of the department for TINS
branch of the service.
Excitement has entirely subsidized, and The
stricken people have already settled down to
face the situation and make the best OF it.
On every hand may be seen men, women and
children engaged in the work OF restoration,
where 1t is possible, or removal, where 1t is
not. Seventeen persons, dead and alive,
have now been taken out of the ruins in the
neighborhood of Seventeenth and Rutger
streets, which. it is thought, constitute the
entire number buried there. All The other
residents of the wrecked buildings have
been located elsewhere. A large force OF
city employees is now at work clearing the
street. At the old Soulard market work
has been abandoned. The debris at this
point does not obstruct travel and VIII not
be touched for some time. Commerce has,
how ever, already sprung up in and about
the ruins. The vendors and hucksters are
out in full force and enjoy but slightly
diminished trade. The tradesmen whose
shops were demolished have contrived tenn
porary quarters under the sheds in tina:
portion of the old building yet standing.
At the ruins Of the furniture factory, at
Soulard and Broadway, a large city gang
is at work clearing the streets. Its efforts
are supplemented by those of a crowd OF
volunteers who labored with the expectation
of recovering the body of Charles Bergest.
a driver for the concern, which is supposed
to be still in the ruins. Around Lafayette
park, east, west, north and south, the
number of ruined houses is legion. Chin
neys are being rebuilt, missing roofs re-
placed by tarpaulins, walls patched and
rooms cleaned. Some persons have got as
far as putting in window panes, but they
are few. Some of the street railway lines
that suffered from the storm have resumed
operations, and are besieged by immense
crowds of sightseers visiting the ruins. The
remaining lines will be in shape for service
next week. The magnitude of the city's
misfortune in losing the city hospital is be-
coming more apparent daily. Only actual
experience in attempting to care for the
unfoitunates made doubly homeless by the
storm has brought out the full extent of the
calamity. The work of building a new hos
pital will be begun at once.
STRANGERS IN THE CITY.
The storm has attracted to st. Louis an
enormous crowd. The streets are thronged
with strangers night and day. The hotels
are taxed to their utmost capacity to care for
their guests. Some OF the big downtown
hostelries have had TO put cots in the
mand. For the past three days all the rail-
rooms to accommodate the extraordinary de-
road trains into St. Louis from every direc-
tion have been loaded to, the guards with the
passengers. Union station IS jammed con-
stantly with a moving. eager, restless mass
of humanity. In the rush of visitors there
are about as many women as men. APP
parently all the towns within a nil radius Of
100 miles of st. Louis have emptied their
populations here and thousands have come
from far beyond that limit. Most of the
strangers are drawn here by morbid Gu
riosity, but many Of them came to look after
relatives and friends.
The devastated district in st. Louis has a
peculiar fascination for visitors. Thousands
Of them throng the Lafayette park region
and really impede the work OF rescue and
repair by crowding the wrecked buildings
and climbing over the t~ottering walls and
heaps of debris that the rescuers really fear
to approach too near.
The scene throughout the wrecked district
last night was a peculiarly weird and dread
full one. Up to 10 o'clock 1t was unbroken
darkness, save here and there where a dim
lamp sent faint CLEANS outward, indlcat-
ing the few houses which had not suffered
to such an extent as to be uninhabltable.
These seemed but to accentuate the gloom
of the surroundings. Constantly passing to
and fro were shadowy forms, sometimes
alone, but more often in twos and indicat-
ing their progress could sometimes be heard
faint metallic clicks, which, to those familiar
with the sounds, indicated the pres
ence of the militia. National guards
to the number Of $50 men were
patrolling the district bounded by Choteau
and Geyer avenue from Grand avenue to the
river, They had received explicit orders to
halt every one they met to demand explana-
lions Of their presence on the streets, and
II these were not entirely satisfactory and
above suspicion they were to arrest the sus-
poets. In the event of resistance they were
10 use their rifles first and II they would
not then move to use cartridges. The de-
meanor and determination of these militia
men was encouraging. 1t was evident they
felt the responsibility which devolved upon
them and they were determined to prove
worthy Of their trusts. Every nook which
might prove the hiding place of those on
evil mission bent was infinitely examined,
and 1t would have gone hard with any one
caught committing a crime.
A large number of hard looking char
aeters with appearances against them were
halted and given explicit orders to move
on.
RESCUERS SEEK REST.
In passing the more noticeable wrecks a
most uncanny feeling came over one that
1t might yet be the funeral pyre of some
unfortunate whose life had been crushed
out. Relief and rescue work had been en-
tirely suspended and even relatives OF per-
sons for good reasons supposed to be under
some particular chaotic mass had gone to
some hospitable roof to seek rest after the
fatigue Of the dreadful day.
AN who had a room habitable had freely
offered II to the poor o~utcasts. Rank and
were entirely forgotten. each remem-