The Taney County republican. (Forsyth, Mo.) 1895-1992, 1896-06-04

ing IN the cover OF the darkness The
streets were almost impassable in
| places. because of tLa piles of rubbish
littering them. +. he entire southern
part of the city as well as the lower
downt-wl portion was q mass Of de-
bris-.rees, rotfs, signs and almost
every imaginable sort of wrechage.
The darkness, of the night hid from
view the full force of the damage,
which daylight revealed in ehastly dis.
tinctness. At this time lists of the
! killed and wounded are incomplete, fol-
| the reason that the surgeons in the
variou, places throughout tho city
where the wounded are being cared
for have been too busy to ask fol-
names. Hundreds were hurt and many
killed whose ames, have not been re-
ported.
The old House of the Good She oherd
has been turned into n temporary hos
pital. The injured patients at the city
hospital were sent to the Alexian
Brothers hospital. The morgue is
| overcrowded with bodies. and mob
besieged it all night seeking to identify
missing friends or relatives in the
heaps of dead.
The storm did little damage, com
| paratively speaking, in the business
and northern portions of the city, save
along the river front, where the dam
age can not be estimated; nor will it
ever be known just how many gave mp
their lives in tho waters Of the Missis-
sippi when the tornado came down and
tore all the boats in the harbor from
their moorings The channel is full
of wrecl<age. In south st. Louis, the
storm spent its force All the way
from Papin street to Carondelet It put
| q stamp on the face of the city that
will not be effaced for years.
Big, strong buildings fell before the
wind like houses made of cards. Fr.a1
where it entered the city, out in the
southwestern suburbs, to where 1t left,
somewhere near the Eads bridge, there
Is a wide path Of ruins. Factory after
factory won't down. and piles OF bricks
and timbers mark the spots on which
they stood. Dwellings W ere picked uT
and thrown in every directio n. Busi'
ness houses were fattened. There was
no chance for the escape of the oc-
cupants. The ruins cover bruised and
mangled bodies that will not be re.
covered until systematic search is
made Hundreds of families in South
st. Louis are homeless. practically.
and the temporary hospitals shelter
scores and hundreds.
Early in the storm the plant of the
Laclede Gas Co., at Fourteenth and
Poplar streets, was destroyed, and a
large portion of the central part OF the
city was cnt off from its gas supply.
The Scullin lines will be crippled for
weeks because of the blowing down OF
the power-house on Geyer avenue.
Wires are down all over the city. Lig-
gett & Meyers big factory at Tower
Grove is ruin and many were killed
and injured in the wreck.
Churches Damaged.
The Mount Calvary Episcopal church,
Jefferson and Lafayette avenues. is a
total wreck.
The Lafayette Park Methodist Epis-
copal, Lafayette Park Presby terian
and Lafayette Park Baptist churches,
are all in state of semidemolition.
The tin roof of the Lafayette Park
Methodist church is scattered all over
Lafayette park. The roof of the La
fayette Park Presbyterian church. with
a portion Of tho walls of the structure,
was blown into the front yard Of the
church. The damage to church prop
erty alone, near Lafayette park, is es-
timated at 100000.
The Annunciation church, at Sixth
and La Sale streets. lost it's spfre, and
the Madison school branch, in the rear
~ n1, n rnnfad
The Trinity German Evangelical
Lutheran church, at Eighth street
and Lafayette avenue, is in ruins and
its parish school, at ZIG Barry street,
is the grave of three persons.
IS. Peter and Paul's Roman Catholic
church, at Seventh and Allen avenue,
can not be renovated for less than Se0,-
OOo. The roof was carried away. plece
by piece. and several largo timbers fell
into the church.
Flames Add to the Destruction.
A portion of the immense plant of
the st. Louis Refrigerator and Wooden
Gutter Co., after being partially de-
molished by the storm, was destroyed
by fire and several lives are said to
have been lost. The damage to prop
erty will be, it is said, in the neighbor-
hood of $500. 900. Adjoining the works
at Main and Park avenue was the
Aluminium bicycle factory, owned by
the same company, which was badly
rutted by the storm.
The hurricane had torn the roof and
sides from the storage department cf
the works, exposing hundreds of the
brightly-polished wheels. Some of the
boys who had braved the elements
were not slow to avail themselves Of
the opportunity, and the bicycles were
carried off by scores
Grand stand Unroofed.
At the fair grounds the races were
in progress and the storms approach
was almost unnoticed until it burst
upon them. The crowd was in the
grand stand, and the jockeys still
warming the horses when the wind
came. Almost instantly the curtain
and sunshades surrounding the grand
stand and clubhouse were torn to
shreds. Men blanched and women
shrieked. All made q stampede for the
lower floor. Right in the midst of it q
terrific gust lifted the entire roof and
threw it on the grass plot immediately
south of the stand. Thea escape OF
hundreds from death or mafming was
!. Yniracl<a