The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1896-05-29

WueIe ~ eAttIeu tHe Guy, out Ill tne
southwestern suburbs, to where it LEFT
somewhere near the Eads bridge, there
is a wide path of ruins. Factory after
factory went down and piles of bricks
and timbers mark the spots ON which
they stood. Dwellings were picked ur
and thrown in every dirtc ction. Busi.
ness houses We're tiattened and the ruins
cover bruised and mangled bodies.
Thousands of families in. South st. Louis
are homeless, practically, and the tenn.
porary hospitals shelter scores and hun.
dreds.
Early in the storm the plant of the
Laclede Gas company, ar Fourteenth
and Poplar streets, was destroyed and a
large portion of the central part of the
city was cut off from its gas supply.
This affected the newspaper offices
severely. In The Republic office no gas
could be obtained to heat the metal on
the linotype machines, and the only
type setting done was on machines in
which the metal was melted by blow
lamps.
Wires are down all over the city.
Liggett & Myers big factory i'll Comp.
ton Heights is a ruin, and many were
killed and injured in the wreck: Ele-
vators were blown Gown, boats were
sunk, ard chnfcffes anf school houses
were demolished.
Fire Added to the Destruction.
After the wind and rain had done its
work, fire added to the destruction.
Hetzel's mill was tie first to become
ignitcd and it was totally destroyed at a
loss CT $lNa0OO. Harris barrel factory,
80 loaded cars in the terminal yards,
Lynch's boarding house, Boards feed
store, Lees blacksmith shop and other
smaller places, were burned. The de.
struction Of the waterworks early in the
storm cut off the water supply and
Chief Purdy and his men fought the
fire with bucket brigade as best they
could. The whole central portion OF
the city was threatened by the burning
mill, but all hands worked with such a
will that it's further spread was pre-.
vented
Were Very Fortunate to Escape.
The St. Louis Refrigerator and Wood.
enware company's entire plant at Main
street and Park was destroyed The
plant consisted of 4.story factory, a
4.story warehouse, a bicycle factory and
several smaller buildings. When the
cyclone struck the place. there were at
work between 400 and 500 men and
women. The top stories of the ware
house and factory were blown off. For
tunately there were only few people
on the top floor, and all but two are
thought to have escaped with
slight injuries. Fire broke out
in the warehouse just after
top floor was destroyed. The panic
stricken employees rushed pell nell from
the buildings, leaving many disabled
behind them. To add to their horror
hundreds Of heavy pieces Of lumber
from an adjoining lumber yard came
flying through the air and forced many
back into the blazing buildings. Alarms
were sent in from all the fire alarm
boxes in the vicinity but the wires were
already useless. Chief Swingley hap.
pened to be crossing the Fourteenth
street bridge and saw the blaze. He
drove to the nearest engine house and
piloted the apparatus to the fire.
somo Of the Damaged Buildings.
The following are among the dam
aged buildings:
The main Office building, freight
depot and five warehouses of the Iron
Mountain railroad, completely demol-
ished roof elevator B, Standard ele-
vator company, blown away and build
ing badly damaged; Southwestern Lead
company, warehouse completely demol-
ished; Plants milling elevator wrecked /;
property Of the Brown Lumber company
scattered to the four winds roof Amer
ican Refining company scattered; roof
st. Louis Refrigerator and Wooden Gut
ter company, Park avenue, demolished,
later took fire; Regina -four mill, badly
damaged, roof uplifted, smoke stack
blown down; warehouse Nedderhut
Bros, badly damaged; Campbell Bros.
Paint company, totally destroyed (;
Bridge, Beach & Co., loss $3.50, 900 dam.