The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-05-28

Decatur reported to the main dis
na.cher's Office at Forest, Ill, that a
cyclone had Just passed through the
country TO the south Of Decatur and
that il had done great damage. In
few minutes he sent word that
A SECOND STORM HAD PASSED
through the country almost exactly in
The track Of the first, and that ne was
unable to get any more infor1narlon re-
garding it, but that 1t was thousn lo',,. -
have done great damage IN pne Gun
try e2sC of St Louis.
The operators on the Alton road were
unable TO get any information ION esl
their men IN the neighborhood OF %. %;
I,olris. but reported that just before an
their connections with that CITY Were
broken off, they had received worn tilea .
there had been severe cyctoiie o.
Rush Hill Mo, whfch is small town
on The Alton road not far TOM 1eNiOo'
Mo. -,,.-.,.
Central was unable all night 70 get any
information from any point on the me
south of Centralia- 1t was reported 10
Them. however, that cycsone hao
Swent through all the country south OIL
that point.
II East ST Louis the destruction
seams greatest. II. c. Rice, the west
can Union manager at the relay uep POI
on the east side climbed across lne
damaged bridge and made mis- way into
ST. Iouis. He reports that the Nation
al hotel fremont hotel Martell house,
De Wolf Gaze The plant OF the Hazel
Milling company. Horns cooper shop
and a great number Of other buildings
are blown down. Many
DWELLINGS ARE WRECKED
and many of their occupants are known
TO be dead The Vandalia round house,
the Vandalia freight house, in which
tlfrty-five naen are said to have been
killed. The Baltimore & Ohio round
house. the : andard Oil works, East St
Louis elevator. Crescent elevator and
twelve other freight houses on the levee
are destroyed.
The Great Republic steamer and sew
eral more excursion steamers, with all
on board. are reported to have gone
down, and there is but one boat on the
levee of all which were there before
the storm came 1t is difficult to esti-
mate the number OF dead and wounded,
but q rough estimate would place the
number at about 1000. The Western
Union and Postal companies have lost
every wire OF the city.
After sending this brief dispatch the
telegraph wire failed. One of the worst
features Of the disaster IS thought to
have taken place at the race track at
St Louis. where the races were in full
swing and the grand stand was crowd
ed. Returns from the st. Louis races
are received at the track at Lakeside.
Ind. and . few minutes after ) O'clock
The operator sending the report of the
remark:
THERE GOES THE GRAND STAND,
and then his wire collapsed and Moth
ing more was heard from him.
In a few seconds the same message
was reported from Lexington. KY.
with the additi-nal information that
fully $50 people We're dead. This infor-
nation was subsequently corroborated
by the operator of the Wabash road at
Decatur, who said that in his second
message received from East ST Louis
Fl was declared the grand stand at the
races was down and that fully $50 peo-
pie were buried N the ruins.
The cyclone broke at fifteen minutes
after o'clock. coming directly from
the west. destroying first in the city
proper, then crossing the Mississippi to
East st. Louis. and thereafter raging
for a half hour. disappeared in the
direction of Alton.
THERE WAS LITTLE WARNING
for the helpless people in the streets,
the thousands on their way home from
work or the inmates of the great mer-
camille establishments of the city who
had not left their posts of duty Tenn
pOr2ry hospitals abound in every mart
.f+
and Pine streets has been opened for
the care of the wounded and many in
iured have been taken into private
houses. The city authorities At mid
night are sending mounted ro1ice
through the city in an effort to ascer-
tain if possible what the loss OF l:fe
and the number of injured really Is.
So far as absolute facts are con-
cerned. nothing definite can be learned
before tomorrow. Among the houses
known TO nave been destroyed are the
furniture store Of Frederick Ottereds.
at the corner of Broadway and Soulard
street in the southern part OF the city.
where six men are reported killed: q
saloon a. 60i South Seventh street.
where nine men are reported III the
ruins; St. Patrick's churen. a. the cor
ner Of Sixth and Biddle straa-s. one
thing that
HlNDERS THE WORK
of taking out the dead and reec,in1
the injured is the fact that every cleo
trio light wire and telephone wire Is
down- This prevents communication
between the various parts Of the CITY.
anc the town being in absolute dark
ness. cAe work of rescue is going on
with agonizing slowness.
70 add 20 the dismal situation. the
rain which fell shortly after the tor
nado passed. began again about 7.2O
O'clock ana IS now coming down in
torrents. 1t is impossible to pet re-
ports from the police stations where
many Of thS dead and injured have
been taken, and consequently all stare
ments in regard to the dead ara
wounded up to the pres ant time ara
me merest coujectures: but there * M
ooubt that the loss of life is praa IA.
than anything the country has known
since the disaster at Johns.own " ;s
track ''eu
MANY MILES IN LENGTH.
as reports from various railroad s+o
lions show that nothing has been re-.
ceiVeo from any point west of here as
far as M0berly.
Scattered bits of information sbo,v
that between Moberly and this civ
various small towns have been w,r,e5
out, and many persons killed in them
It was at first thought that scores had
been killed at the fair grounds. in the
western part of the city, where the
roof Of the grand stand was blown off
while the last race was being run. b,1t
i is now known that the people at The
track saw the storm coming and. rush
ing out OF the grounds, took refuge in
he adjacent fields.