The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-06-02
VICTIMS OF THE
GREAT TORNADO,
Over Five Hundred Perished
in the Two Cities
of st. Louis.
MANY ARE YET MISSING.
When the River Gives Up the
Dead All the Fatalities
Will Be Known.
RELIEF FOR THE DESTITUTE.
Helen Gould Sends Her Sympathy and
a Check for a Thousand
Dollars.
RELIEF FOR THE DESTITUTE.

wrecks of the buildings destroyed IN last
last Wednesdays great storm have at last
enabled the public to be fairly accurately
apprised of the fatalities wrought by the
cyclone. But one place remains to be
heard from, and this, in fact, may never
reveal the truth-the Mississippi River.
The river gives up the dead slowly, and
the statisticians at work on the list OF the
cyclone fatalities have not yet reached an
estimate of the number lost in the great
waterway. They know certainly that five
were lost on the steamer J. ]. Odell, and
they know that others, whose identity re-
mains a mystery, were seen to disappear
during the tornado.
The river captains and patrolmen along
the levee say that conservative estimate
of the roustabouts, shanty jewellers and
hatboat residents, who lost their lives in
the storm, is less than twenty. The total
list OF fatalities and missing as compiled
this evening numbers 400 men. The
known dead in St. Louis are 1856; unknown
dead in St. Louis, s; fatally injured in st.
Louis, IS; missing in st. Louis, lis;
known dead in East st. Louis, las; IN
known dead in East st. Louis, 3; fatally
injured in East st. Louis, 2; total fatality,
400
The corpse of ohm Barfeest was taken
from the ruins of 0ttenad's factory, at
Broadway and Soulard street, this after
noon. The remains of an unknown white
man were taken from the river at the foot
OF lesson street to-day. The body was
fpT1D5 nj RI ha rbaol Of ar or
anchored near that point and from the
position of the body it is surmised that
the deceased vas blown into the river dur
ing the tornado and tried to save himself
by clinging to the boat wheel.
The work of searching the ruins goes
steadily forward. That a great many
pses are in the ruins seems to be certain
BY the fact that the police have long
list of missing. Some of them may turn
up, of course, but it is safe to assume that
the major portion of them are dead.
At the City Hospital the debris is being
removed by force of prisoners from the
workhouse, but no corpses have been
found DR.. Suffer still claims there were
but thrae deaths IN all that institution,
and has no reason to suppose that any
more viii be found.
The total relief fund is now beyond $780,
0OO The actual work of relieving the dis
tress has been begun. Canvassers repre-
senting the relief committee were busy all
day Sunday investigating the condition of
applicants for aid. As rapidly as it could
be ascertained what was needed by per-
sons who had suffered from the storm
steps were taken to relieve them. In some
instances food and shelter were provided,
while in others clothing was given out.
Vice President Warner of the Missouri
Pacific received the following telegram to.
day:
NEW YORK, June l.
C. G. Warner, Vice-President Missouri Pacific
RaiL1Cay Company 81. Louis-Am sending
$1,000 as subscription to relief OF st. Louis
sufferers from cyclone. The city has our
warm sympathy. HELEN NJ. GOULD.
The telegraph companies have repaired
the damages done to their lines by
Wednesdays tornado and are again
handling the business of the public with
out delay The Bell Telephone Company
sustained greater damage. and the repairs
cannot be made so quickly. To-day there
were 2000 instruments in working order
and $500 were still silent. 1t will be at
least a week before all repairs can be
made
The continuous rains are great draw
back to the vigorous efforts that are being
made to start the street lights. After
working night and day all the streetcar
on schedule time.
The stu alton in East ST. Louis is dis
couraging. Along the river mist, fog and
FL H. Il
storm, and the soggy and sodden piles of
splintered houses and boxcars are their
miserable abiding places. Foul odors rise
from the decaying carcasses of dead ami
mails. II is still too soon for any thought
of rebuilding the homes of the island poor.
The devastation was so terrible and COM
plete that this cannot come for some time,
but the business interests which have cap
ital behind them are on their feet and
working with all their might. This is
manifest, and somewhat relieves the other
wise forlorn aspect of the situation.
The Vandalia people are rebuilding their
freigh.house and gratifying progress is
being made The East st. Louis cold
storage plant, which was damaged to the
extent of 100000, has 100 men working on
it. The relay depot is also being put into
some sort of shape.
All the schools opened this morning ex-
cept the Howe and the Douglass. The lat
ter was on the island and was completely
blown away. The Howe was also too badly
wrecked to admit of use without extensive
repairs.
The carpenters of the city are working at
a slight advance on the ordinary schedule.
There is a great demand for bricklayers,
some of whom are being paid for their
work at the rate of 70 cents an hour.
The two militia CONF anies are still in
the city and kept busy doing police work
Without their assistance the police here
would be unable to cope with the thieves
and hoboes.
Mayor Bader, chairman of the relief
committee, reports generous returns to
their appeals for aid. The distribution of
food, clothing and medicines is appor
toned to the various volunteer societies,