Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1896-06-06

These were tair targets for the storm and
they suffered. II was this class of losses
that added most to the wiping out of whnt
Is conservatively stated to be $4,000 GO in
vested capital. There are 16 brewerles
within these bounds worth s4,9OO,o0O, and,
while none are destroyed all are dam
aged. The losses fall heaviest on those
least able to bear them-business men of
small capital and owners of humble homes.
After the storm had laid its heavy hand
upon the southern half of the city fire
came to complete the work of destruction.
Five columns of flame shot up. but, thanks
to the deluge of rain, they were mainly con-
fined to their starting points. In three in
stances the engines were unable to get
nearer than block of the fires.
Its Track in East st. Louis.
In East ST. Louis the track of the storm
Is as clearly defined after touching the
Illinois shore as IL plated by a surveyor
Tearing diagonally through the city from
southwest to northeast, 1t cut a clean
swath of destruction. Bloody island, the
river front of the city, is a low, narrow
strip of land. now Joined to the mainland,
that was the termini of all the railroads
centering there. Large freight sheds were
strung along the river front. Nine of the
largest of these are in ruins. The greatest
damage was done to the Vandalia, the
Mobile & Ohio, the Big Four, the Chicago
& Alton, the Wabash and the Louisville &
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 abomination which even the cor
| rodng hand of time could not destroy went
| to pieces before the storm. The switch
| tower, upon the perfect working of which
| depends the movement of hundreds of
trains. was made useless. Three small
hotels In the vicinity were destroyed.
| North and east of the relay depot
wide residence section, mostly small houses
occupied by mechanics was cleaned up. 1t
| Is through this part that the majority of
| the fatalities occurred. The high dykes to
the west that shut off the waters of the
Mississippi were no protection and the frail
| houses went down like houses of cards.
The viaduct across the mass of tracks east
| of Cahokia creek was made useless. The
| new Martell house, the McCauseland opera
house, the city hall, Flannigan'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 he clearly noted here. The
National hotel was uninjured, while two
blocks southeast a house owned by II. d.
Sexton was torn to kindling wood Passing
or outside the city every suburban garden,
| orchard and field Is raZed of its growth.
| III all this OeSOlatlOn death ran riot. High
above 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 storm S
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 moore6
25 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
2 pier of the Eads bridge, where 1t sank
Y Just before the boat struck her boiler:
2 blew up. Nine of her crew of twelve are
; reported as missing. Those of the crew
: who reached land in safety are Jack Nor
I rissey, Pat Milan and a man named Moore
0 About the same time the Odil struck th
pier the towboat Dolphin No. was blown
$ from her wharfboat at the foot of Morgan
, street, dashing her up against the frs
! pier. She struck the pier with force tina
4 crushed in her starboard side. She driftet
down the river for about three blocks ant
e then sank, only leaving her PROV abov
: the water.
: There were II persons, three of then
, women, all of whom had jumped from
a either the steamer Pittsburg or the Libbi
Q Conger, who managed to catch driftwood
: which carried them down the river to tn
h Pittsburg dyke. where they were caugh
= in an eddy and sunk to the bottom.
The Bald Eagle was blown down the rive
v for a considerable distance, when the boa
s was capsized and went to the bottom
o About 20 persons were on board. but moth
d ing has been seen or heard of them.
great many lives were lost by the sink
a ing of barges and smaller crafts In mos
= every case there was at least ten men o
n board each Of them. and in many case
several of them are still missing.
r, The Baton Rouge Belle. tugboat, wa
:, forced from its hawser out into the middl
I, of the river. When 1t reached there 1t be
e gan to roll over and over down the rive
till it reached the foot of Chouteau avenue
where 1t was forced against the wharf {
N the Virgins Ferry company by the win'
IS and sunk in ten feet of water.
The City of Monroe was dashed agains
10 the shore, but did not go down. Cap
w | Zegler eXhorted his passengers and ere
~ to not jump overheard. His last wore
m were: "There is no danger" He was blow
into the river and drowned.
The following boats are reported as dan
Is aged or missing: Pittsburg, City of Vick
y, burg, City of Providence. Belle of Calhoun
n the Madill, the Elm G. Smith, The Lou
Houck, Dolphin No. 2, Bald Eagle and tt
u j. ]. Odil.
\, Search for the Missing.
=, In the ruins of the destroyed structure
ic throughout the city are victims, and it
y possible that the death list will be II
a creased when the search for the bodies
~ completed The injured shrieking vii
pain, were carried into Burk's hotel and
"a livery stable in the vicinity. These we
IN soon filed and the overflow of wounde
~ was taken to other buildings
" From the houses east of the Relay hu
dreds of volunteers rushed to the work
rescue. People ran among the ruins PAM
- - stricken looking for lost friends. Wom'
~ rushed through the streets calling piteou
u, ly for missing husbands and relatives CHI
-, ~ dren cried for parents and hysterical Gil
y zens plunged aimlessly about in the dar
- ness. Mangled bodies and ruins We're ever
,d | where.