Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1896-06-04

ST. LOUIS, May 29.--When darkness
temporarily interrupted the search 10
storm victims last night, 3l5 peopl
were known to be dead on both side
Of the river, and although the com
plete death list will never be known
1t is believed that 1t will approximat
400 In the two cities The number o
the injured Is even larger and man,
Of the MANNED cannot survive. Tn,
property loss will reach we'll into the
millions but insurance people, fire
men and police alike refuse to hazard
even a guess at accurate figures. Tn,
miles Of wrecked buildings, as yet un
explored, and the numerous collapsed
factories, toward the investigation o.
which little has been made, may hide
almost any number OF bodies, as thu
police have been unable to secure any
thing like an accurate list Of the miss
ing.
In the factory districts many OF thu
employees on duty at the time the storm
broka we're without relatives In the
city, and their disappearance would
scarcely lie noted, even though they
be buried In the ruins II Is believed
BY the police, too, that, owing to the
suddenness with which the crash
came. many tramps and homeless ones
sought shelter among the buildings
which were leveled. and that nothing
will be known Of their death until per.
haps weeks hence their bodies are
found. The list OF known dead In st.
Louis 10 1860 and In East Ut. Louis lla
Hundreds OF homes are In ruins, dog
ems Of manufacturing plants and dog
ems Of business houses are wrecks,
many stesmboats are gone to the bot.
tom Of the river and others are dis.
mantled. 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 satisfact tory
shape again. The most furious work
OF the storm was along Rutger street,
Lafayette and Chouteau avenues and
the contiguous thoroughfares east Of
Jefferson avenue. The houses are In
the Streets with the roofs underneath,
buried by brick and mortar. Under
the brick and mortar are household
goods OF every description, and
on top OF all are uprooted trees and
tangled masses of wires There Is not
tree nor building standing in Lafay.
cite park The wreck of the city hos
pital Is SO surrounded by wreckage
that II Is barely possible to reach 1t.
Many OF the handsome residences on
Fourteenth street and about Lafayette
park are ruined, but the most damage
was done on Sixth, Seventh, Eighth
aud Ninth and south along Chouteau
avenue, in the tenement house dis
tricL Many churches also suffered
from the storm. The path Of the
storm Is about q half mile wide and
over four miles long, sweeping through
the thiclsly populated southwest por-
lion OF Eastland and across the river
IN East st. Louis
Col. Wetmore, manager Of the Liz.
yett & Myers tobacco plant, which was
estimates the entire property
lamaee ut Ss5. 0oO OOO which will be.
he saws almost total loss, owing to
he lack Of cyclone insurance. Other
estimates range from s15 600 600 to s3O.
)oO OoO. but the majority of them are
,lose 10 that made bv Col. Wetmore.
The wreck left bv the storm attracted
IN army Of nicknockets and thieves
md thew piled their trade all dav and
Ill nirht, with few arrests There
we're numerous instances of the rob.
binr OF the dead bodies. and frequent
tbreats oflvnching the obouls. House.
mold goods were stolen and in the
wreck Of the wholesale houses. miscel.
aneous goods were carried away
limos. bv the waoonload. Four hun.
3red members NJ The Missouri national
,uard In odd;t;on N about the same
number of 81 Louis nolice. patrolled
The storm swept district last night.
To-day many more militia will be on