The news boy., 1896-06-06
The Loss OF Life In st. Louis.

Tho Loss OF Life In st. Louis.
From reports received at the office ot
Coroner Wait the estimate is made that
the immediate death list in the city
will aggregate at least $50, and there
are many injured who can not possibly
survive.
The list of identified dead up to noon
was 80, and 25 unidentified corpses re.
manned at the morgue.
Tho Killed and Iniurcd-The Property
Losses.
Over three hundred people were
seriously injured and innumerable
slight injuries were inflicted.
The r. G. Dun & Co. mercantile
agency has estimated the property loss
at S5O,OoO,OOO. And the loss is as com
plete and thorough as though its
equivalent in money had been thrown
into the ocean, for there was so little
tornado insurance carried in the city
that it amounts to practically nothing
at this time.
Searching parties are still at work
in the ruins. and no man can say how
many bodies will be brought to light
before the setting of another sun.
The full realization of the loss sus-
tanned has not yet impressed the people.
Gov. Stone has called out the militia
and $50 extra policemen have been
sworn in, to continue on duty
80 days. A fund of SIS, 900 for the i'm
mediate relief of the homeless was
raised on the floor of the Mer.
chants Exchange yesterday with
scarcely an effort, and the sum will be
increased to 100000 if it is found nee
essary-a contingency some fear will
arise. Congressman Joy has intro.
duced n resolution in congress, which
President Cleveland has promised to
sign, arranging for the use of army
tents by those who We're robbed of
their homes by the storm.
Several days will elapsc before an
absolutely accurate estimate can be
made of the destruction wrought by
Wednesdays storm.
1t is not yet possible to state with
certainty how many lives were lost.
it will never be known how many
were injured. Neither will the iden.
tity of all the dead ever be esta blished.
Even the deaths of many victims will
not be positively assured, as there are
bodies hidden in the river and others
buried in wreciage.
For days rescue parties will be at
work digging in the ruins searching
for the dead
The property loss is way up in the
millions. Hundreds of homes are in
ruins, dozens of manufacturing plants
and dozens of business houses are
wrecks. Many steamboats, are gone
to tho bottom of the river and others
are dismantled. railroads of all kinds
have suffered great loss, and wire and
pole-using companies have weeks of
toll and large expenditures of money
to face before they will be in satisfac.
tory shape again.
Terrible List of Casualties Near the Cup.
pies Block.
From the Cupples block, south
Seventh street was one mass of ruins.
No other one street met with such dis.
astrous treatment from the hurricane.
1t was simply frightful.
AT least forty people were killed
along this thoroughfare and the streets
Immediately adjacent. House after
house was totally demolished and the
wonder grows with extended investi-
CATION that the number of deaths is
not far in excess of what it now ap-
pears to be.
The Cupples block itself did not suf.
fer materially, but the dwellings
across the street, twc-story ramshackle
affairs, occupied by poor people, were
in n deplorable condition.
So FAR as known no one was killed in
this blosls.
Naly's ssloon, at 6o4 South Seventh
street, was a total wreck. When it
fell it was fun of men who had taken
refuge there, and from fifteen to
twenty were unquestionab bly, killed.
Many OF them are of character
who have few frienls and would not
be missed. One poor fellow has been
taken out dead and ten others sorely
injured.
1t is thought that others are stih in
the bricl1-choked basement, and n
gang of men is busy digging into tn,
de bris.
The force of the wind was so fright
full along here that the iron trolley
supporting poles of the Southwestern
Electric line are bent over to the
ground. They did not break, but bent
like copper wire.
OF course, all the telegraph pole ar,
down, many of them snapped In twail
with the top-heavy heads hangins
over the street, held aloft by the wires
which still cling to them.
This makes it a dangerous passage
and especially was this true along to
ward noon, when the wind began t
rise.
The poles swayed IN the air, hang
ing over the heads of the people lilS
the sword of Damocles. but the es
cited mob which thronged the side
walks and bulged out over the street
car tracks did not seem to mind it.
They juggled with death in thei
anxiety to view the devastation an
watch the busy scores seeking to fin,
buried relatives or recover lost yalu
ables.
Hundreds walked and drove dow
| into this section from the western par
of the city. 1t was show, and a
business is partially suspended, oppor
tunity Was given many tos sightsee
Ing.
! q. IS {. e :. K, 49,. s