The Grenada sentinel., 1896-05-30
A THOUSAND DEAD.
ST. LOUIS SWEPT BY 4 CYCLONE
HOSPITALS Full to Overlooking With
Mangled Bodies.
Hundreds Of Dead Beneath the WateEs VI
the Mississippi River-The Destruction
Seems Greatest In East st. Aou's'
Where Fire Added to the HOT
ror Of the Sitaation.

~
ror Of the Sitsation.
Chicago, May 27.-Oae Of the greatest
disasters Of recent years overwhelmed
the city Of St. Louis tonight in the shape
OF cyclone. which began shortly after
s o'clock, and for thirty minutes tore its
awful way through the city with We
locity Of over eighty miles au hour. Al
though reports from there are very mea-
ger, owing to the almost total destruc-
ton Of telegraph wires, 1t seems certain
that the number Of dead and wounded
will amount to fully one thousand, and
the damage done to millions Of dollars
The city hospital, which fortunately
survived tho storm, 10 filled to over
flowing with mangled men. women and
children, and the morgue, within two
hours after the end Of the storm, was so
full OF corpses that it was necessary to
provide other quarters for the reception
Of the dead. In addition to those who
were killed in their houses and In the
streets, hundreds Of dead are beneath
the waters Of the Mississippi river.
OF all the steamers on the levee, when
the storm broke out, but one Is now
ahoat All the others have gone down.
in many instances every soul on board
being lost, and in others not over two or
three being able to reach place OF
safety. Among the boats destroyed is
the excursion steamer Great Republic,
one of the largest steamers on the lower
river. Not man escaped from her, and
it is said she was crowded with excur-
sionists when the storm came.
Center of the City Wreck.
The center Of the city is a wreck.
Many buildings have been demolished
and Others partially wrecked. The
streets are utterly impossible to street
cars, and in many places progress on
foot is a matter of great difficulty. Tc
add to the horrors of the night, the cleo
trio light plants were rendered incapa-
BILE OF service. and the gas lamps are
also shut off, leaving the city in total
darkness. Fire also broke in several
portions of the city, and the fire depart
ment was unable to make an effective
fight because OF the choked condition OF
the streets and the large number of fire.
men who were engaged in the impera'
tive work OF rescuing the dead and
wounded.
Morgue Filled With Bodies.
The only authentic information from
the stricken city tonight was sent out
by the agent of the Associated Press,
who managed to reach an outlying tele.
graph Office and sent a brief dispatch as
follows:
Tornado blowing at the rate OF over
eighty miles an hour struck st. Louis
tonight and ragged for half an hour with
great fury, and as result hundreds OF
lives are lost on both sides Of the river.
Many buildings are blown down and
many river steamers sunk with all on
board. 1t is impossible at the present
time to estimate the number of lives
lost, as the hospitals are full with the
injured and the lnorgue is filled with
the slain, while great numbers of the
dead and MANNED are lying among the
ruins in all directions.
"A portion of the east end OF the Eads
bridge is destroyed, the grand stand at
the fair grounds is down, the women's
portion of the Jail is down and the i'm
mense Cupples block is partially de.
stroyed. The Waters & Pierce oil
works are burning and other buildings
in various sections of the city are on
fire."
The Western Union company an.
nounced that because OF it's inability to
keep up its wires it would be impos.
sible to send out any more messages
tonight from St. Louis or its vicinity.
Destruction on the East Side.
At East St. Louis the destruction
seems greatest. II. c. Rice, the West
ern Union manager at the relay depot
on the east side, climbed across the de.
molished bridge and made his way into
St. Louis. He reports the National
Hotel. the fremont House, Martell
House, DeWolf Cafe, the plant of the
Hexel Milling Company, Horn cooper
shop and great number of other build
ings are blown down. Many dwellings
are wrecked, and many OF their occu'
pants are known to be dead.
Loss of Life on the River.
As to loss of life on the river it is re
ported that the magnificent steamer
Grand Republic was sunk with all o.
board The steamer d. II. Pike, witt
thirty passengers on board, bound u,
the river from Peoria, was blown ash orr
bottom UP.
The steamer Conger was blown nearl,
across the river and sank at a point op
posite Carondelet, fourteen miles below
The steamer Dauphin, pleasure boat
containing twenty women passenger
and crew of six men on board, wa
blown against the middle pier Of tn
Eads bridge and broken in two. In som
miraculous manner the women and tw
OF the crew managed to cling to the ston
work of the pier and were afterward res
cued. The steamer Libbie Conger, OF th
Diamond 10 line, with Capt. Seaman
his wife and crew of six men, was sun
In the middle OF the river. Apart iron
the number OF lives lost here and on tn
east side OF the river, the number kille
and missing will aggregate hundreds
Excursion steamers lying at the leve