The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1896-06-05

mailnings in quite number of places.
appended is table showing a careful
estimate of killed and injured, based
on the dispatches:
Place. Killed. Injured.
81. LOUIS ........ .sUU OUU
East st. Louis 100000. $50 800
Near CentIalia ........... AZ %
Breckenridge, Ill ......... z .....
Near Mount Vernon, ILL.,. ~
Near Vandalia. Ill ...... 13 Ii
Near Mexico, Mo ......... Is "a
The number of killed cannot be far
from 500. and of injured about 700.
The following official statement has
been furnished the Associated Press:
',The convention auditorium was
practically uninjured by the great
storm of yesterday, the only damage
being that some of the light roof cover
ing OH the southeast corner of the
building was blown off. The damage
eau be repaired in IL very few days.
There is not the slightest doubt but
that the building will be perfectly re-
stored and in tirst-class condition long
before the day the convention is to
meet. II. Il. ByrneS,
Sergeant-at-Arms."
Death and Destruction.
st. Louis. May 30.-The awful sweep
of the tornado is marked to-day by Il
devastated district in the southwestern
portion Of the city half mile wide and
four miles long, with wrecked build
ings. lettering walls, debris. choked
streets, aud rescuing parties to tell the
story of havoc and death.
st. l.oMis is dazed by the awful ca
lamity, and it will be days before the
total loss of life and the amount Of
property destroyed will be known.
The estimates of the number killed
vary from 200 to 500. with the belief
general that the latter figures are
nearer correct. Coroner Waite at IL
o'clock said that the death list in st.
Louis proper would easily reach 200,
and that in East st. Louis it would be
perhaps as large. At police head!uar-
tiers the dead in st. Louis were esti-
mated ut 300, and in East st. Louis ut
200.
Extra editions of the local papers
place the total loss of life ut 500 or
more. The storm left its path Uttered
with dead and dying, and the patrol
wagons, ambulances and undertakers'
cars were busy all day long carrying
the identified dead to their homes and
the homes of relatives and friends, or
leaving the unidentified with the city
authorities.
The Property LOSS Il Terrific,
estimates ranging from $1O,OO0,00O to
3O,OO0,GOO. The storm which wrought
the havoc was most peculiar one, and
scarcely two people in the city agree as
to just how the damage was done. The
wind seemed to take the form of q
tornado, rather than that of n cyclone,
the wrecked buildings showing none
of the twisted irons and Orders which
usually mark the track Of q rotary
wind storm.
The general trend was from south
west to northeast. the center of the
business district OF the city lying about
a mile north of the storms path. The
heavy damage was in the vicinity of
Tower Grove and Lafayette Park,
where handsome residences were COM
pletely wrecked and many injured.
One OF the remarkable features was
the destruction of s: wing Of the city
hospital. carrying 200 patients and
nurses down in tile wreck, and killing
but one person.
1t will probably never be known eX-
ac'ly how many lives were lost, as a
number of people were drowned in the
Mississippi river by the sinking Of
boats. AMI many bodies buried under
the ruins of wrecked buildings may
never be found.
Ruin and Disaster.
When the sun rose on st. Louis and
vicinity this morning it showed Il scene
of terrible ruin and disaster. Wind,
rain and fire had combined in q mis-
sion of destruction. The greatest dam
age on this side Of the river was in
nicted within three-mile strip along
the mighty stream. Hours of depress-
ing sultriness. puffs of wind coming by
turns from all points of the compass.
piling up in heavy clouds around the
horizon. the flying hither and tllitler of
light, mist-like formations across the
dull, dark-colored masses-thesc were
the characteristics of an afternoon
which brought to st. Louis the most
disastrous storm in the city's history.
For hours the currents shifted. the
wind blew hot and cold, and the storm
center developed.
in the west thunder storm ilryel.
oped. The early mutterings indicated
nothing more alarming than down.
pour with the ordinary electrical &C.
compartments. This rain cloud came
up slowly at first, from the west, he.
You'd Forest Park AS the black rim
mounted higher above the horizon its
arc embraced more territory to the
north and south. A strong wind from
the east legan to blow right in the
face Of the storm. 1t was a lower cur
rent. 1t raised the dark cloud and
brought it forward faster and faster,
Suddenly the wind stopped blowing
from the east and there swept from
the northwest
A Terrific Gale
which made the best built structures
tremble. With the hurricanc-for that
was the first form the storm took whe,
1t broke over the western part of the
ctty--eame n deltgc Of rain. For half
MI hour from n few Minutes before )
until $50 this hurricane blew from the
northwest. Then there came a lull.
The currents shifted. In the south.
west there came into existence a storm