Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1896-06-02

affords little index of the true situation.
Only the more seriously injured We're taken
TO the hospitals. or If they were they
seized the first opportunity to go to their
homes. while hundreds who sustained more
Or less serious injuries were at home at
the time, and consequently have not fig
ured in the published lists of the wounded.
Taking the hospital and police reports al
basis for calculation, however, it is es-
Minated that those who sustained injuries
which may be called serious-that is,
broken limbs, internal injuries, fractures
of the skull and similar wounds, number
about 400. The slightly wounded cannot
be even estimated, and it is hardly prob
nble that any mere guess would come
within several hundred of the actual fig
nres 1t is only safe to say that those
who sustained bruises, scratches and con-
fusions and were cut by splintered glass
or struck by the lighter class of flying
wrcckage number thousands. Many of
them did not need the attention of ply
stefan, and for this reason no account will
be accessible as to this class of casualties.
Dead in East st. Louis.
Across the river, in East st. Louis the
number of dead reported to the author
aties up to five o'clock Friday morning
was 11s. Contrary to the first impression,
the loss Of life in the Illinois city was not
no great as in st. Louis proper. This is
now known beyond doubt. There was more
damage. relatively, on the east than on
IAS west Dirk OIL the river, DuL TO onset
this the territory was more thinly settled
that Is. the houses were further apart
and contained fewer inmates. Therefore.
while East st. Louis suffered more In pro-
portion to population, the list of dead and
injured is smaller than that across the
river. 1t is also believed that the dead I'M
reported to the police will number more
than 60 or 70. making the total list foot UP
Its at the outside.
Another Mistaken Report Corrected.
Another mistaken idea In relation to tho
situation in East st. Louis Is that the
storm disorganizcd the whole system OF
IRE and police protection. AS a matter
pf fact there has at no time, except for
= few hours on Wednesday night immedt-
Rtely following the cyclone, been the
Plightest hitch in the working of either
department. The difficulty at that time
WAS wholly because of the prostration of
the municipal telegraph system, which
rendered the work of the fire department
difficult, but at no time has there been
the least relaxation Of the discipline and
effectiveness of the police, and it is q
notable fact that the East ST. Louis po-
lice have kept the casualty statistics far
more closely and accurately than has been
the case in st. Louis itself. They estima to
the seriously injured at from 200 to 25O and
their accuracy in the matter of the death
list justifies the belief that the estimate
OF the injured will be little out of the
way In the matter of slightly injured
the difficulty is the same as In St. Louis.
ana nothing but guesswork can be VEN
tured. Probably 600 or 700 persons have re-
cetved minor wounds.
Work of Storm Elsewhere.
Leaving st. Louis. and following the
track OF the storm as it swept through
Missouri and Illinois. the figures become
more indefinite. The telegraph wires are
aSAl IN dsmoralized condition, and 10,