Rock Island Argus., 1896-05-28
WORST OF THE ABOVE CONFIRMED
Meagre Details Show That the Loss of Life
and Property Is Enormous.

Meagre Details Show That the Loss of Life
and Property Is Enormous.
CHICAGO, Misy 2S.-One of the greatest
disasters of recent years overwhelmed the
city of st. Louis last night in the shape of
a cyclone which began shortly after 5
o'clock and for thirty minutes tore its aw-
full way through the city with velocity
of over eighty miles an hour. Although
reports from there are very meagre, ow-
ing to the almost total destruction of the
the number of dead and wounded will
| amount to fully 1000 and the damage
done to millions of dollars The city hos
pital, which fortunately survived the
storm, is filled to overflowing with man.
gled men, women and children, and the
morgue, within two hours after the end of
the storm, was so full of corpses, that it
was necessary to provide other quarters
for the reception of the dead
Hundreds of Dead i'm the River
In addition to those who We're killed in
| their houses and in the streets hundreds of
dead are beneath the waters of the Missis-
! sippi river. OF all the steamers on the
levcc when the storm Broke out but one
| is now afioat-all the others have gone
down, in many instances every soul on
board being lost, and in others not over
| two or three being able to reach place
| of safety. Among the boats destroyed is
the excursion steamer Great Republic, one
| of the largest steamers on the lower river.
Not man escaped from her, and it is
said she was crowded with excursionists
| when the storm came.
Center of the City a Wreck.
The center of the city is wreck. Many
buildings have been demolished and 9TH
ers are partially wrecked. The streets are
utterly impossible to street cars, and in
many places progress onfoot is matter of
| great difficulty. To add to the horrors of
the night the electric light plants were
rendered incapable of service and the gas
lamps are SO shut off, leaving the city in
total darkness. Fire also broke out in sew
cr7il portions Of the city, and the fire de-
partmcnt was unable to make an effective
| fight because Of the chokcd up condition
| of the streets and the large number of fire
| men who were engaged in the imperative
work of rrscuing the dead and wounded.
The ONLY authentic information from
the stricken city WIS sent out by the agent
| of the Associated Press. who managed To
reach tho outlying telegraph office and
iend a brief dispatch, which is given
above.
| The Western Union Telegraph company
announced that because Of its inability to
keep up It's wires it would be impossible
| to send out any more messages last night
from 81. Louis or its vicinity.
| The reports regarding the duration OF
the storm are conflicting, About o'clock
the operator ON the Wabash road at a
small station not far from East st. Louis
managed to get the operator at Decatur,
| Ills. long enough to send him word that
the round house of the Wabash road was
blown down, and that the freight house of
the Nandalia was wrecked and thirty-five
men Were killed in the ruins. After he
had told this much the wire failed him.
shortly after ) o'clock the Wabash oper
ator at Decatur reported to the main dis
patcher's office at Forrest, Ills, that cy
clone had just passed through the coun
try to the south of Decatur and it was re-
ported to have done great damage. In a
few minutes he sent word that n second
storm had passed through the country al
most exactly in the track of the first, and
that he was unable to get any more in
formation regarding it, but that it wa:
thought to have done great damage in the
country lying east of East 1t. Louis
The operators on the Alton road were
unable tc get any Information from thcil
men in the neighborhood OF It. Louis, bu
reported that just before all their connec
tions with that city were broken off the,
had received word that there had been {
severe cyclone at Rush Hill, No. which il
small town on the Alton road not fal
; from Mexico. Mo. The dispatcher's offic,
of the Illinois Central was unable al
night TO get any information from any
point on the line south of Centralia. i
was reported to them, however that {
cyclone had swept through all the countr.
south of that point.
FRIGHTFUL WORK AT THE RACES.