Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1896-05-31

the total number of dead, missing and
fatally injured in the two cities number
424, made up as follows: st. Louis
Known dead, 1876; unknown, II; fatally
injured, Is; missing, Sc. East st. Louis,
Known dead, 1873; unknow dead, 3;
fatally injured, 2.
st. Louis, May S0.-By slow degrees,
st. Louis is recovering from the busi-
ness paralysis caused by the awful
storm. Some Of the principal thorough
fares that were choked with wreckage
have been opened and few of the street
car lines have been started, but the tele-
phone system Of the town is practically
useless. The side streets through tho
storm wrecked district are still in cha
otic condition. Telegraph and telephone
poles, with tangled network OF wires,
roofs of houses, uprooted trees, wagons
and vehicles of all kinds, and the shat
tered remains of whole buildings are
still strewn through most OF thens In
some, traffic is impossible. 1t will re-
quire weeks to restore some OF the
streets to their normal condition.
The number of dead is hourly grow
ing greater as the work of restoring
the ruins progresses.
The ruins where at first it was not
thought there were any dead bodies are
now yielding them up. 1t was said by
the officials a. the city hospital the day
after the storm that no one was crush
ed in the ruins. They are now begin
ming to change their minds. 1t has been
ascertained that sixty to seventy-ftva
of the patients and four or five employees
are missing Until this morning prac-
tically nothing towards exploring the
ruins had been done, but large number
of men were put to work at daylight
to-day. This was done only at the loud
demands of the people who had friends
at the hospital during the storm and
who have not been heard of since.
Father Kenrick, of st. Vincents' church,
who has been attending 10 the spiritual
wants of patients in the hospital for
years says that fifty bodies will be found
if not more. Dr. Sutter estimates the
number at %, but would not be surpris-
ed if it runs over the figure.
Demand for houses and flats by those
who were rendered homeless by We'd
nesday's storm is great, and real estate
men think there are not sufficient va
cant houses in st. Louis to supply the
Of ha than half
Of the available supply has been ex-
hausted, and the real estate offices are
constantly besieged by applicants for
! quarters.
1t is estimated that 1000 homes were
so damaged as to render them unin-
habitable. Real estate agents say that
the number of vacant houses and flats
at the time of the storm will not exceed
six thousand, and some families will
have to go temporarily without shelter
or depend upon their more fortunate
neighbors.
The storm has attracted to st. Louis
an enormous crowd. The streets are
thronged with strangers night and day.
The hotels are taxed almost to their ut
most capacity to care for their guests.
Some of the big down town hotels have
had to put cots in the rooms to meet
the extraordinary demand for accom-
modations. For the past three days all
the railroad trains into st. Louis from
every direction have been loaded to the
guards with passengers. The Union
station is jammed constantly with a
moving, eager, restless mass OF hu-
manity, and in the rush of visitors there
are about as many women as men.
Apparently all the towns within ra-
dius of 100 miles from ST. Louis have
emptied their populations here, and
thousands have come from far beyond
that limit Most Of the strangers were
drawn here by morbid curiosity, but
great many of them came to look after
relatives and friends.
The devastated district in South st.
Louis has peculiar fascination for the
visitors. Thousands of them throng
the Lafayette Park region and really
impede the work of rescue and repair
by crowding around the wrecked build
ings and climbing over tottering walls
and heaps of debris where rescue corps
really fear to approach so near.
Inc SCeUc lulOuSuOuL Tic WiNNhcu
district last night was peculiarly weird
and dreadful one. Up to ten o'clock it
was in broken darkness here and there
where dim lamp sent faint CLEANS out
ward. indicating the few houses which
had not suffered loss to such an extent
as to be uninhabitable.
The burial of bodies still continues
and every kind OF vehicle in which a
coffin can be placed is being used to
carry the bodies to the cemeteries.
Thieves were active last night and did
considerable stealing. Several hundred
suspicious characters were arrested.
Police Commissioner John A. Lee has
gone carefully over the wrecked dis
tricts. He said:
II think the foolish false pride which
has prompted the announcement that
st. Louis needs no outside aid and can
take care of her own distress and ruin
is we'll deserving OF general denuncia-
ton. The men who have announced
that we do not need outside aid do not
know or appreciate the gravity OF the
situation and represent only their own
we'll fed, comfortable and we'll housed
ners0ua1 viauS ~