Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1896-06-05


md fathers, daughters, brothers and other
relatives called there and inquired anXiously
for missing ones. They rushed into the dead
room." They were hysterical with grief. 1t
was after midnight when the crowd dispers-
ed.
The list of dead discovered so far falls be-
low first estimates, but is long enough TO De
Crushed beneath falling walls,
hurled against the sides OF buildings, struck
nv t1ving timber, cutby shattered glass, shock
ed bv the net work of electric wires, humanity
suffered in ways innumerable. The names
of all the injured will never be known. The
loss of property is beyond conception. There
were $50 sick people in the city hospital when
the storm came Some ran shrelling from the
place; thirteen were njured in the wards. The
Convention Hall lost part of the roof and was
punctured in several places by flying timbers
but ten days work will make the hall good
again. A section of the brick wall of the Jail
went down and the prisoners were panic
stricken. Between Sixth street and the river
and noithWard from Choteau avenue every
building within the path sustained damage.
SmokeStacks and chimneys etoppled over,
walls were leyeled, roofs were lifted. thous-
ands of windows were smashed, and miles OF
telegraph wires were Left in a net work on the
ground. The streets are covered in places
with debris 10 feet deep. Along the leyee
front the .haWsers snapped and boats were
sent adrift, some to go down. The DEATH
dealing cloud crossed the river and swept
away part of East st. Louis. The list of
dead and Injured on the East side of the riy~
| Ell will not be complete until after effective
search, though more lives have been lost than
upon the west side. The injured number hum
dreds. The most impressive evidence of the
storms force is TO be seen in the wreck of the
| eastern end Of tEe Eags bridge. The tornado
tore off and tumbled down tens Upon tons of
stone masonry, beginning with the big eastern
pier and extending to the foot of the incline.
Fire in East ST. Louis added at least 81 900 900
| to the property loss. In st. Louis south of the
Iron Mountain tracks and aaat Of Sixth street
to the river the scene was frightful, but it was
nothing compared with the scenes along the
| Ieyee, Broadway and the side streets. Every
house had relatives and friends among the
dead and injured. Husbands, fathers and
brothers would run from one temporary mGr-
que to another in order to attempt to Identify
their relatives and friends. Miss Dean sat
speechless in the car stables while her dead
father lay at her feet. Her mother was not
| far away and her two younger brothers lay
mangled upon door nearby. 1t was an
awful spectacle. but it was duplicated over
and over ag ain. 10 add to the distress there
. was no light of any kind to be had.
ACCOUNT BY AN EYE WITNESS.
Col. Martin, the Sergeant alarms elect OF
| the Republican National convention who
went out driving with his son, says:
We had been out perhaps Is minutes when
saw another tremendous black cloud ap-
preaching. 1t was coming with the same
whrling motion wehad noticed in the first one
| And it was The most beautiful thing | ever
saw 1t looked as if ii Was almost Lined with
live electric wire, and as 1t turned and rolled
one could hear a swishing roar which sound
ed like the breakers OF the lake rushing over
each oines. bad left the buggy when my
horse started to run, ana got back into the
rig and drove for home.
A TREE WALTZED UP THE STREET.
| II mad hardly resumed my seat when my son
and saw the slate fly from The Grand Avenue
Presbyterian Church, which was block
away. An instant later tight board fence
go feet long, was torn from the ground posts
and carried some distance and smashed into
pieces. We started south, both OF Us by thil
time rather frightened; and as we looked up
/! I4indell avenue l witnessed something
which impressed ne more than anything else
during the evening.
| ga huge tree had been uprooted, and was
coming up Lindell avenue at tremendous
rate. 1t was lying horizontally and was
coming towards me, its foliage in front, and
the roots dragging On the ground. The Tres
was keeping in the centre of the road as nicely
as if it were being pushed by human power,
and was followed in its ride-if you would
call It ride-by boxes and trees and articles
Of every description. 4ou may be sure that
we fastened as fast. as possible for the livery
barn again, and as we reached it we found q
dozen men trying to close the ssliding doors
which opened into the first floor,
HORSES PINNED UNDER ROOF.
/ SThe wind was coming in at a furious rate,
but they allowed rs to drive IN. The stable
is the largest institution OF the kind in the
country, as you may imagine when you know
that upward Of 100 horses are kept on the
third floor, My son and l had scarcely got
inside the barn when there was g tremendous
crash and the roof fell in. Very fortunately
the brick walls fell in instead of out and
rested the roof somewhat so that it did not
crash all the way through the building. 1t
pinned the horses, however which were on the
| third floor
"Outsde the scene was almost iadescribable
The air seemed to be full of everything Box
|
able appeared to be flying about at tremen-
dous rate. The big telegraph poles were
snapped like so mony pieces OF Slender glass,
and the electricity running through the wires
was visible almost everywhere | saw an
immense tree picked up and thrown on the
| top q house, which it crashed in The
| screams Of women, tile nsighiVg of the horses
who were caught on the floor above and the
| kissing Of the electricity furnished sounds
| which were fit accompaniment for the terribly
grand scene when was taking place outside.
| The darkness had by this time almost settled
over the city and only added to the terror of
the situation.
A TWENIY-MINUTE BLOW.
"Ishould think that this scene lasted for
perhaps twenty minutes, and then FASTENED
to my home. My residence is built of six
teen-inch brick walls, but my wife and daugh-
tiers told me that it shook life leaf during
the worst part OF the stern. Some benches on
my lawn were found 400 feet away from my
home, and several or my neighbors had their
chimneys blown through the roofs OF their
homes.
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