The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-05-29

I W a. llaELACdllN llt same as LNaL OF lNC
] sIeat storm ot Aug 8. ISIS. The trend
I of the main volume Of the wind was from
/ southwest 10 northeast, leaving the Mis-
! souri, shore at the center of the southern
/ haf of this city and striking the Illinois
] shore in a path whose northern edge was
/ the Eads bridge. and extending south
/ lnree-iourths OF mile. Within this path
] were mOored twenty-five steamers. large
I and small. The storm fell so suddenly
/ Ihat none OF the vessels was prepared
I IN an Ten large passenger steamers, nVe
I Terry boats two transfer boats, two tug
] boats and half a dozen small pleasure
oarges were driven to the opposite shore
The steamer j. j. Odu was loosencd from
] IT'S mooriugs and blown against the Sec
1 ond pier of the Eads bridge where it
SANK. Just before the boat struck her
/ boilers blew up. Nine Of her crew of
] twelve besides three women passengers
/ ana her captain, George Townsend, are re-
| About the same time the Odn struck the
! per, The tow-boat, Dolphin No. was
/ blown from her wharf boat at the foot
/ OF Morgan street, dashing her up against
/ lEe nrSt pier. She struck the pier with
/ a toree that crushed i'm her starboard side.
/ 9he dliteQ down the river for about three
! docks and then sank, only leaving her
/ prov above the water. There were eleven
! persons, three of them women, all of
| whom had jumped from either the steam
| er Pittsburg of the Libbie Conger, who
| managed TO catch driftwood which car
| ried them down the river TO the Pittsburg
| dyke where they were caught in an eddy
| and sunk to the bottom.
The Bald Eagle was blown down the
| river for a considerable distance when the
| boat was capsized and went to the bottom.
! About twenty persons were on board,
but nothing has been seen or heard of
| them.
A great many lives were lost by the
| sinking OF bargc5 atd smaller craft In
| most every case, there was at least ten
| men on board each Of them and in many
cases several of them are still missing.
| Tne Baton Rouge Belle, a tug boat, was
/ forced from Its haWser out into the mid
/ die of the river. When 1t reached there
/ 10 began to roll over and over down the
! river tin it reached the foot of Choteau
| avenue, where il was forced against the
| wharf of the Virgins Ferry Company by
| The wind and sunk in thirty feet of water.
! The City of Monroe was dashed against
| EAe shore but qid not go down. capt.
/ Zeigler eXhorted his crew to not jump
| overboard. His last words were there is
| no DANGER" He was blown into the river
! and drowned.
The following boats are reported as dam
/ aged or missing: Pittsburg, City of
! Ncksburg. City Of Providence, Belle of
| Calhoun, the Medill, the Ellsworth, the
Lou Houck,. Dolphin NO. ?, Bald Eagle
Estimates of local losses are so wild
| that it is impossible to give any authora-
| tive figures. one good authority places
| them at $l5,0000O another equally good
at 100000. The latter is probably the
| more correct.
At East ST.. Louis 50, 100000 is regarded
| by Mayor Bader as conservative esti-
| mate.
The track of the storm is as clearly de-
| lueu IN East 81. Louis, dLLer tOucnluB
the Illinois shore, as If plated by a sur
| Veyor Tearing diagonally through the
| city from southwest to northeast, il cut
a clean swath of destruction. Bloody ISL
and, the river front Of the city, is a low
| narrow strip of land, now joined to the
mainland, that. was the terminal of all
| the railroads centering there
Large freight sheds were strung
| alOnS the river front. Nine
| Of the largest of these are ruins. The
| greatest damage was done to the Van
| dalia, the Mobile and Ohio, the Big Four,
| the chicago and Alton, the Wabash and
| the Louisville and Nashville sheds At
| the Vandalia the loss Of life was the great
| est. There the structure seemed to be
| lifted up aud dropped again over the foun-
ated were taken from these sheds.
Across Cahokia creek, in the city prop
| er, the destruction was complete. The re-
| lay depot an abomination which even
| the corroding hand of time could not de-
) stroy went to pieces before the storm.
| The switch tower upon the perfect work.
| ing of which depends the movement of
! hundreds Of trains, was made useless.
Three small hotels in the vicinity were
! destroyed. The high dykes to the west,
| that shut off the waters Of the Mssis-
/ slppl, We're no protection and the frail
! houses went down like houses of cards
The viaduct across the mass of tracks,
east of Cahokia creek, We're made use
The new Martell house, the opera house,
| the city hall, Flanagan's hall, three
! churches, the high school and residences
/ east of the viaduct were demolished.
| Further on, to the north and east, in
| the stock yards vicinity, everything was
/ swept away. The definite limits of the
! storm indicated above, may be clearly
| noted here.
while two blocks soc beast a house was
! torn TO kindling WOOD
| In all the suburban districts gardens,
| orchards ana fields were cleaned of its
! growth and in all this desolatfon and
! death ran riot. High above the storm
were heard the cries of sufferers and
/ ehr Qf hla'ra e-fE
! against the storms fury The points of
| greatest disaster, the water front and the
| vicinity Of the relay depot, lfdve not yet
! given up their dead. Scarcely a single
| person in the storms highway escaped
Sitting the truth from the exaggerated
/ stories of excited individuals, ii seems
| probable that the death list will be be-
| tween l50 and 200. OF the injured any fig
| ures under $50 and over 500 may be nam
| ed. Coroner Campbell to-day held in
/ quests on forty-eight bodies and barely
| kept up his work as the dead arrived.
] One morning paper viii tomorrow give
! the losses in East st. Louis and on the
| river as follows:
| River loss ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 10000
| BY storm OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. 3OO0,OD0
BY fire 250,OJ0
Another tabuIation made by the ST.
! Louis Chronicle gives these figures:
/ Identified dead in st. Louis .............121
| Inldentlhed ...-..'...'.'............. 50
Injured
| East st. Louis:
identified dead Observation-Disclosures. %
! Unidentified dead ..........................i2
/ Tbe total number Of families wbo are
| without homes and robbed of all their
| articles OF household and whose effects
! was swept away by the storm, is variously
/ estimated at from 500 to SO. Ii win be
! several days before a complete and reia-
/ bic roster can be made.
St Louis, May 90 1 a. m.-Following is
a revised list of the dead, killed in St.
/ Louis, at the morgue
| Frank Fisher 1,742 Papin street.
| d. r. Hassing, ia Armstrong avenue.
| L. T. Sims, Eighteenth and Park ave-
/ nue..
! r A. Emin. Levee and Choteau.
! Charles Ribbeck l. 236 High street.
Harry Hess, 1,1O9 South Seventh.
| Fred Benwell.
| Earnest thinner.
| Gustave Wilmer, 915 Rutger street.
| John Hessel, 1903 Emmett street.
John Rafferty,, Liggett q Meyers fac
| tory.
| Wallace Bradshaw, Ewing and Scott ave-