The herald., 1896-05-28

periShed in the falling walls.
Among other structures demolished
were the National hotel at the stock
yards, the Kleipel restaurant, the old
relay depot and the Dublin house, an old
brick building near it, None of these
entailed any loss Of life. The storm ap-
pears to have extended from north to
south and westward.
The city of Bowling Green, Mo-. is re-
ported wrecked. The cyclone broke at
5:15, coming directly from the west. de-
stroying first the city proper, then cross
ing the Mississippi to East st. Louis and
there, after raging for half an hour, dis
appeared in the direction of Alton.
There was little warning for the help
less people in the streets, the thousands
on their way home from work, or the
inmates of the great mercantile estab-
lishments of the city who had not yet
left their posts of duty.
Temporary hospitals abound in every
part of the city. The armory and Sew
enteenth and Pine streets has been
opened for the care Of the wounded and
many injured have been taken to pri-
vate houses. The city authorities at
midnight are sending mounted police
through the city in an effort to ascertain
if possible what the loss of life and the
number of injured really is.
So far as the absolute facts are con-
cerned nothing definite can be learned
before tomorrow.
destroyed are the furniture store ofFred-
erick Ottendeis at the corner Of Broad
way and Soulard, in the southern part
of the city, where six men are reported
killed; a saloon OF GOA South Seventh
street, where nine men are reported in
the ruins; st. Patrick's church. at the
corner of Sixth and Biddle streets.
A DISMAL SITUATION
One thing that hinders the work of
taking out the dead and rescuing the in
jured is the fact that every electric
light wire and telephone wire is down.
This prevents communication between
the various parts of the city, and the
town being in absolute darkness the
work of rescue is going on with agOniz-
ing slowness.
TO add to the dismal situation the
rain which fell shortly after the tornado
passed began again about 1880 o'clock,
and is now coming down in torrents. 1t
is impossible to get reports from the po-
lice stations, where many of the dead
and injured have been taken, and con-
Sequently all statements in regard to
the dead and wounded up to the present
time are the merest conjectures, but
there Is no doubt that the loss of life is
greater than anything the country has
known since the disaster at Johnstown.
1t is evident that the tornado pursued
a track many miles in length, as reports
from various railroad stations show that
nothing has been received from any
point west of here as far as Moberly.
Scattered bits of information show that
between Moberly and this city various
small towns have been wiped out and
many persons killed in them. 1t was at
first thought that scores had been killed
at the fair grounds, in the western part
of the city, where the roof of the grand
stand was blown Off while the last race
was being rum but it is now known that
the people at the track saw the storm
coming. and, rushing out of the grounds,
took refuge in the adjacent fields.
At the time the storm struck the town
| and created such havoc the accompany
ing noise was terrifying. People were
picked up in the streets and dashed to
the ground or against buildings as
though they had been the merest straw
Three fire alarms were sent in from the
poor house, which has 1900 inmates. The
roof of that structure was blown off and
it is feared that the number of fatalities
there is great.
MARINE DISASTER.
AS to the loss of life on the river it is
reported that the magnificent steamer
Grand Republic was sunk with all on
board. The steamer d. H. Pike, with
thirty passengers on board, bound up
the river from Peoria, was blown bottom
side up.
The steamer Conger was blown nearly
across the river and sank at point op-
posite Carondelet, ten miles below.
The steamer Dauphin, pleasure
boat containing twenty women passen-
gers and a crew of six men on board.
was blown against the middle pier of
the Eads bridge and broken in two In
some miraculous manner the women
and two of the crew managed to cling to
the Stonework of the pier and were after
wards rescued.
The steamer Libbie Conger, of the
Diamond JO line, with Captain Seaman,
his wife and crew of six men, was sunk
in the middle of the river.
Apart from the number of lives lost
here and on the east side of the river,
the number drowned in the Mississippi
will aggregate hundreds.
Excursion steamers lying at the levee
and those running up and down the
river were sunk almost Immediately,
those on board having absolutely no op-
portunity to escape.
The city bears the appearance of hav-
ing been shelled by an enemy. In some
places structures have been entirely de-
stroyed, while in others high. jagged
walls stand, a constant menace to pass
ers-by.
There must be great number of peo-
pie imprisoned in the destroyed build
ings who cannot be gotten out for hours,
although thousands of citizens have Of
fered their aid to the police department
to help in the work of rescue.
Every hospital in the city is filled with
victims and there is a lack of nurses,
physicians and medicines, but as soon
as the people get their wits about them
again, the work of alleviating the suf-
ferings of the injured will be proceeded
with in a systematic manner At the
morgue, which stands at the corner of
Twelfth and Poplar streets, bodies are
being brought in every minute
Venice and Nameoki, villages outside
of st. Louis, were totally destroyed and
great loss of life is reported from them.
but it will be morning before any thing
positive as to the losses and deaths can
be secured
The storm was circular. The day had
been very hot, with clouds in the west
and no wind. About 4 o'clock the mass
ing of the clouds, one upon the other
on the western horizon gave some warn
ing of what was coming, but not one
has been found tonight who appre-
hended at that time anything worse
than hard thunder storm. Suddenly
ont of the cloud bank came a whirling
funnel which dipped to the earth. The
storm was then east of Clayton a small
town a short distance from ST. Louis.
In the incredible time of five minutes
it had traversed the distance from the
western limits of this city to the heart,
and there it ragged. The high buildings
served to confine it, and until they were
destroyed there was no chance for its
escape. The river was literally raised
from it's bed, with the hundreds of boats
hat n