The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1896-05-28
STRUCK BY A CYCLONE
Hundreds of Lives Have
Been Lost in East St.
Louis by Wind.
CLOUDS BROKE INTO STORM
IN A SHORT TIME THE SPEED OF
TIE WIND WAS VERY HIGH.

IN A SHORT TIME THE SPEED or
TIE WIND WAS VERY HIGH.
The Loss of Life is Reported as Being
Appailing-A Steamer Was Blown
Bottom Up With Her Passengers-An
Armory Used as a Hospitai-Thrown
Into a Confused Mass The Fire De-
partment Was Utterly Powerless.
st. Louis, May 27-St. Louis was
struck by cyclone of frightful fury
at late hour this afternoon. Hun
! dreds of people were killed and the
! property loss is beyond estimate.
1 At 500 p. m. the clouds that had COW
| cred the city since noon broke into a
\ furious storm. Within ten minutes the
I wind reached a velocity of eighty miles
an hour, sweeping with its dense waves
of rain. The highest speed of wind
previously recorded here was seventy
two miles an hour in August, 1878. The
screeching of the wind through electric
wires, the crash of debris that swept
h it in every direction, the electric flashes
from tangled wires and crashing thun-
der made scene indescribable.
The loss of life Is appalling.
AT p. m. the lowest estimate of IA
4 talities in East st. Louis and this city
is placed at three hundred.
East st. Louis suffered probably the
\ greatest. Messages came at D. m.
< asking for physicians and nurses. The
steamer Pike, with thirty passengers,
v bound for Peoria, was blown bottom up.
a The steamer Delaphin, with crew
y of six and twenty lady passengers on
\ board was blown against bridge pier
4 and broken in two. The ladies and two
4 of the crew clung to the bridges stone
work and were rescued The steamer
u Lizzie Conger with only Captain Sea-
v man, his wife and three Of the crew
Il aboard went adrift The wreck of a
H boat opposite Carondelet is supposed to
\ be the Conger.
II Ottend's furniture store, at Broadway
Asand Soulard street, was demolished and
|3six men are reported killed saloon
lat No. 6o4 South Seventh street fell
with nine men in the ruins. St. Pat
|8rick's chuch, at Sixth and Biddle
Astreets, fell and the debris fills the
N streets The electric railway line is
N burned out as well as an electric plant.
h Fourteen fire alarms were sounded
within an hour and three alarms were
Z asent in from the poor house, which
n building has 1,200 inmates. The roof
D of the poor house was blown off and
\ the fatalities were great.
A During the last race at the fair
I grounds the roof was blown off the
grand stand. The crowd had gone to
\ the open field for safety and but four
\ men were killed.
The armory at Seventeenth and Pine
* streets is being used as a temporary
4 hospital.
At 1880 the rain, which had ceased for
A a time, began afresh and fell in torrents
y AT s o'clock the eastern sky was afame
n with the light of fires in East st. Louis.
A The metal roof of the Merchants Ex-
\ change was rolled up like a scroll and
|lfell into the streets The Louisville and
a Nashville east-bound local passenger
h train had just reached East ST. Louis,
when the storm struck that city. The
5Itrain was overturned, but miraculously
only a few passengers were injured
They were taken from the cars by rail-
|Iroad yardmen. The Chicago and Alton
east t-bound local passenger train which
left ST. Louis at 5. o'clock was on the
east span of the bridge when the wind
picked the cars up and turned them
over The iron spans and trusses held
1.-THE cars from toppling into the river 100
|lfeet below.
The passengers were thrown into
lconfused mass. The net work of wires
made rescue difficult and dangerous,
| but it is thought all will be got out un-
injured. The east span of the East
|bridge is so badly wrecked that it will
|take three days to allow trains to pass.
The reported fatalities in East st.
yLouis are hourly increasing in number
and at o'clock it is estimated that the
Iloss of life will exceed $50. 1t is impos-
| sible to cross the bridge or river to get
particulars
Lightning struck the Standard Oil
works and flames were soon pouring
|from dozen buildings. The fire de-
partment was utterly powerless to cope
. with the conf1agration and it is feared
nearly the entire business portion and
a great portion Of the residence section
will be destroyed. Among the princi-
| |paI buildings in ruin are the National
hotel. the Standard Oil works, East st.
|Louis Wire Nail works, the Crescent
Elevator, Hesel Elevator and stores
and residences on st. Clair avenue At
b o'clock tonight no wire can be OBJ
{tained to surrounding territory in the
western and northern portion of Mis-
Isouri. but 1t is feared that the loss of
life in these sections will be very large.
The damage to property in ST Louis is
Estimated at one million dollars. and
The loss in East st. Louis is already
wo millions, and the fire is still rag
ing.
There were really two cyclones. One
came from the northwest and the other
rom the east. Both met on the Illinois
lhore of the Mississippi and Joined in a
vhirling cloud of death and destruc
Jon. The list os dead in st. Louis is
beyond present computation.
A startling report has just reached
,olice headquarters that 200 girls are in
he ruins of Light & Meyers cigarette
actory at Tower Grove park. Alarm
Ing reports have come in of great loss
Df life in the southern portion of st.
Louis from the railroad tracks to Ca
'ondolet
The wind swept away the roof of the