The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1896-06-04

ST. Louis elevators, Crescent elevators
ana twelve other freight houses on the
levcc are destroyed. The Grand Re
public and several moro excursion
steamers with all on board are report.
cd to have gone down, and there is but
one boat now at the levee Of all which
were there before the storm came. II
is Gillicult to estimate the number OF
| dead and wounded, but Il rough csti.
mate would place tho number ut about
one thousand.
One OF the worst features of the dis
"stcr is thought to have taken place at
the race track at East st. Louis, where
| races were in full swing. The grand
stand was crowded with people. Re
turns from the ST. Louis races arc re-
cclvcd at the track at Lake Side, Ind.
and at u few minutes after 5 o'clock,
tho operator sending the report of the
races stopped his work long cnOug h to
remark: "Thore goes the grand
stand" and then his wire collapsed
and nothing more was heard from him.
In a few seconds, tho same message
was reported from Lexington, KY,
with the additional information that
FULLY 100 people were killed. This in
formation was subsequently corroborat-
Cd by the operator at Decatur, who
said that in his second message re-
ccivcd from East ST. Louis it was de-
clared that the grand stand at the races
was down and that fully $50 people
were buried in the ruins.
a fcw minutes after 5 o'clock, the
operator Of the Associated Press at St.
Louis, who was in the act of taking
the usual report, sent word tn at it was
growing very dark, and asked for q
minutes delnv that he might provide
himself with light. In a second
more tho wire snapped and it was
impossible to get any further informa-
tion from him or out Of the town.
The local weather offices in Chicago
wcrc unable to give any information
regarding the storm, as they wore in
formed early in the evening by the
Western Union that it would not be
able to send tho usual weather bulle-
tins from st. Louis. 1t is said, how
ever, that the condition has been all
day favorable for severe storms all
through Missouri and Southern Hi
nOls. 1t Is thought that the storm
swept over st. Louis from the north
west to southeast, as it is considered
probable that the storm which was re-
ported in the afternoon at Rush Hill,
MO-, would require several hours to
reach st. Louis and the storm aC two
points is reported us having been long
cover the distance between Rush Hill
and st. Louis. The storm which tore
through the country south Of Centralia
Is said TO have occurred at about &
O'Clock, or an hour after st. Louis was
devastated. These three POINTS are in
direct line from the northwest to the
southeast, and the weather officials are
inclined to believe that the storm WAS
one and the Same.
The Eads bridge which is reported
as having been badly damaged by the
storm was built in 1913, and was con-
sldcrcd one Of the strongest arch
bridges in tho world. 1t was built
without IL draw bridge, and rose to an
elevation in the centre and sloped down
to the shore on each side. There was
upon it double railroad track, a
double passageway for wagons, and a
double pathway for pedestrians. From
the reports received it is not thought
that it is so seriously damaged as to
delay the train service Of tho roads
which cross it to any large extent.