Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1896-06-01
MANY THOUSAND VISITORS
Flocked to St. Louis, Yesterday, to
View the Ruins.
More Than One Hundred Funerals
Occurred During the Day-Large
Forces Of Men at Work Endeav-
oring to Restore Order Out Of
Chaos-The Death List in Illinois
Increasing.

st. Louis, Mo-, May 31.-Every rail-
road entering this storm-stricken city
ran excursion trains to-day. They
brought scores Of thousands Of people to
view the devastation and ruin wrought
by the awful storm of Wednesday. Ihe
streets of the ruined district were
thronged with visitors all day. They
came from almost every town and city
within a radius of 300 miles, and nearly
all day cold, drizzling rain fell. Low
ering, threatening clouds covered the
sky and a more dismal scene than the
ruined portion OF this city presented
could scarcely be imagined. And
through the crowded streets all day long
came funeral professions. Nearly ono
hundred burial permits were issued by
the health department yesterday and
every hearse in thee city was kept in con-
slant use. At early dawn people began
to crowd into the city morgue. Many
came in search of friends, but for the
most part psople who visited them were
drawn by morbid desire TO see
THE MANGLED CORPSES
of the unfortunate victims of the tor
nado All day long the officers on duty
were busy keeping the people moving
in line and out of the viewing room Of
the morgue. Every few minutes some
one would think they had discovered
some one whom they knew among the
bodies exposed to view.
Supt. Mack, of the morgue, had try
ing time in answering questions in re-
gard to the bodies and taking names
and descriptions of persons who have
not been seen by their friends since the
storm. There were people there from
points in all directions far and near,
Chicago, Cincinnati, Louisville, Indian
apolis, Kansas City and scores of small
er places were represented. From such
towns came anxious people enquiring
for lost friends.
Although four days have come and
gone since the tornado here, the labor
of the city officials In clearing away
the debris is
SCARCELY PERCEPTIBLE.
The city at night goes ~-ithout street
lamps, either gas or electric The only
light afforded is that furnished by pri-
vate electric plants, and the principal
streets are in darkness. The street
railway companies have had hundreds
of men at work repairing the damage to
their power houses and trolley wires,
and to-day nearly all the principal lines
were in operation. But the work that
has been done is so meagre when COM
pared with that which remains that
there is scarcely any perceptible i'm
provement. The telephone service is
practically paralyzed, although the tel
ephone company has had hundreds of
men at work repairing the damage to
its wires. Hundreds of demolished
buildings have not been touched. No
one can tell if the ruins conceal the
bodies of victims of the Storm. In
many localities a foul stencil arises
from the ruins. Whether this is due to
the fact that the ruins conceal human
bodies or dead animals time alone can
tell. The work Of searching in the
ruins of the old city hospital for
VICTIMS OF THE STORM
began to-day with a force of laborers.
Superintendent of the Workhouse, Mr..
Carr, with a gang of fifty negro pris-
oners, handled the search. Besides the
force of workhouse laborers, thirty la
bOrers from the sewer department were
also placed at work in the ruins. Guards
armed with double barreled guns kept
watch over the workhouse prisoners.
The whole Of the acute surgical ward,
the consumptive ward and other wards
were gone over without disclosing a
trace of a human body. The authori-
ties at Jefferson barracks have notified
the Central Relief Committee that
force of troops will bring up to the
wrecked districts a large number of
tents tomorrow and establish a COM
missary for the purpose of furnishing
cooked food for the needy The cavalry
cooks, stewards and camp men will do
the work
The number of persons and families
who are still without homes and without
the means of getting them is great.
Many wagons are in use to-day distri-
buting food to the hungry. Over
hundred teams were kept busy moving
furniture from wrecked buildings for
those who did not have the means to
pay for a van. There are hundreds Of
people who need clothing and need it
badly and the supply on hand is
| meagre.