The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-06-13
THE ST. LOUIS CYCLONE.
some of the Queer Freaks of the Great
Storm.
(Chicago Inter Ocean,

One of the features OF Lafayette Park
was the enormous number of English
sparrows who made it their home. After
the tornado the bodies of thousands of
them were found in the park, and for
squares in the vicinity.
| Among the strangest sights seen was
that of twigs and branches from the
trees in the parks which were literally
| blown into the trunks of trees, and even
telegraph poles, in the city. Ono twig of
| the diameter Of lead pencil was buried
tina depth Of an inch and a quarter in q
| telegraph pole on the opposite side of the
street.
Tho effect Of the wind on different
trees was curious. Some it left standing,
but stripped them Of bark and leaves.
Others were snapped off like pipestems
near the ground, and their foliage was
not disturbed, while from others nearly
all the branches were whipped off and
the naked trunks left standing.
Some of the freaks of the wind as now
looked at are amusing. A man was
picked up and blown diagonally across
| OA2O pain a OlSuesAOc VI wv lSGu, anu Gu0n
set down SO lightly that he was not hurt
| bit. When he recovered from his dizzi-
| ness and lack Of breath he discovered
that all the buttons had been ripped off
his vest, but his hat remained on his
| head.
A strange thing happened to a grocer
living on Jefferson avenue. When the
storm came he rushed with his famii Y
n to the base ment and remained there
until the tornado passed. When he wen
upstsirs again and opened the door of one
OF his sitting rooms he was surprised to
and one pillow. A hole thorugh the back
wall showed how 1t happened. Nobody
has called yet for the bed.
just as the storm was at it's widest,
Adam Waller, newsboy, was crossing
the Eads bridge with his arm full of pa
pers. He was about to step on the ma
sonry work of the east abutment when
the tornado struck it and carried part of
the bridge away. The next thing he
knew he was failing into creek half a
! mile away. He was carried all that dis
| tance over the town of East ST. Louis,
which was being ruined. He swan
ashore and wanted to return to ST. Louis
to get the extra editions of the newspa-
pers, which he declared would be print
| ed, but he could not cross the river,
and had no chance to add to his fortune
| An amusing incident of the Stock
| ko h.
ing of q goat through the window of a
saloon. The animal was quickly on it's
feet, and, leaping to table. Dleated a
greeting to the astonished bartender.
Not unlike the shooting of a tailow
candle through pine board was the
complete perforation of a big steam boil
or by scautling four inches square at
the end. It did not strike at right angles
to the surface Of the boiler, but slanting,
and the timber passed clear through it.
The end to the timbe was not bat tered,
and but slightly splintered.
! In number of cases tin roofs were
lifted in a single pieue from buildings
and fell upon telegraph lines looking not
unlike huge carpets hung up for beating.
| The entire roof of the big Merchants
Exchange Building was blown off In one
piece, 5ox12O feet in size, and hung on
tie wires in front of the Planters Hotel.
A great many persons were badly cut
by the falling of tin roofs.
The walls of the power-house of the
Peoples Railway Company were thrown
down on the immense ca BILE machinery,
completely covering it. Strange to say,
when the debris was removed the ma.
chinery was found to have r--+-ined nc
damage, and 1T is now in rsrS lon IL,
tia open air.
Tha task Of giving relief to the thou.
sands Of sufferers of the storm was a
stupendous one, and it was simply i'm.
possible during the first few days to
properly supply all the needy. The relief
work Is now we'll organized, and regular
distributions of food and supplies are
made. The citizens of ST. Louis have
never failed to respond nobly when ap
peals came to them from suffering hui
nlanity in any part of the globe, and she
| Ia doing her best to care for her OWL
people when calamity is brought home
to her. While there is a difference OF
opinion among the citizens as to the
wisdom of ths city authorities in declin-
ing at the outset the generous offers Of
aid from outside places, it is certain that
those who escaped the fury Of the storm
have nobly come to the rescue ard relief
of those who did not. If mistakes were
made in the hours of terror and dismey
they were of the head rather than of the
heart. Awful as the calmity was, il
would have been vastly worse had the
path of the tornado been half a mile
further to the north, for there is of doubt