The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1896-06-04
TT WAS TERRIBLE.

3 o'clock. and for thirty minutes it tort
its awful way through the city WIN
velocity Of over eighty miles an hour
Although reports from there are very
meaprc. owing TO the almost total dc
struction of telegraph wires, it seems
certain that the number OF dead ant
wounded will amount TO fully 1000. ant
the damage done TO millions Of dollars
The city hospital. which, fortunately
survived the storm. is filled 10 overflow
ing with manglcd men, women ana chi
drcn, and the mOrgue, within two hours
after the end of the storm, was 50 iul
of corpscs that it was necessary TO pro
vide other quarters for the reception Oh
the dead.
In addition to those who were killed
in their houses and in the streets hun
dreds of dead are beneath The waters OF
the Mississippi river. OF all the
steamers on the lcvc" when the storm
broke out but one is now atloat. Nj
the others have gone down. in many i'll
stances every soul on board being lost
Among the boats destroyed is the cXcur.
sion steamer Grand Republic, one OF
the largest steamers on tine rover river
Not soul escaped from her and it is
said she was crowded with cYcursonists
when the storm came.
The center of the city is a wreck.
The streets are utterly impossible To
street cars and in many places progress
on foot is n matter of great difficulty.
TO add to the horrors of the night. the
electric light plants were rendered in
capable of service and the gas lamps
are also shut off, leaving the city in total
darkness. Fire also broke out in sew
cral portions of the city and the fire de-
partmcnt was unable TO make an effective
fight because of the chOkCd-up condition
Of the streets and the large number of
tircmcn who We're engaged in the i'm
pcrativc work of rcscuing the dead and
wounded.
The only authentic information from the
stricken city tonight was sent out by
the agent Of the Associated Press, who
managed TO reach an outlying telegraph
Office and sent Il brief dispatch, as fol-
lows:
"A tornado blowing at the rate of over
eighty miles an hour struck st. Louis
tonight and ragged for half an hour with
great fury and ms II result hundreds of
lives are lost on both sides of the river.
Many buildings are blown down and
many river steamers sunk. with all on
board. 1t is impossible at the present
time TO estimate the number of lives lost.
as the hospitals are full of injured and
the morgue is filled with the slain, while
great numbers of dead and manned are
lAlHS ulhonS lilt uInS III 'lll hll'Nll'il''
\ portion of the east end of the Eads
bridge is destroyed; the grand stand at
the fair grounds is down: the woman's
portion of the Jail is down and the inn
mcnse Cupples block is partially de-
strOycd.
"Thc Waters Pierce oil works are
burning and other buildings in various
sections of the city are on fire"
The Western Union company an
a. Ia A
up its wires it would be impossible to
send out any more messages tonight
from ST. Louis or vicinity.
The reports regarding the duration of
the storm are conflicting. About :
o'clock the operator ON the Wabash road
ut a small station not far from East st.
Louis managed to get the operator at
Decatur, ILL.,. long enough to send him
4Tord that the roundhousc of the Wabash
road was blown downand that the freight
house of the Nandalia was wrecked and
thirty-fyc men were killed in the ruins.
After he had told this much the wire
failed him. Shortly after ) o'clock the
Wabash operator at Decatur reported to
the train dispatchcrs office AT Forest.
ILL.,, that a cyclone had just passed
through the country to the south of De
catur and it was reported to have done
great damage. In Il few minutes he
sent word that a second storm had
passed through the country almost cN-
actly in the track of the first and that
he was unable TO get any more informa-
ton regarding it. but that it was thought
to have done damage in the country
lying east of ST. Louis. The operators
ON the Alton road We're unable to get
any information from their man i'll the
ncighborhood of St. Louis, but reported
that just before all connections with that
city were broken off they had received
word that n severe cyclone AT Rush Hill,
Mo-, which is small town on the Alton
road not far from Mexico, Mo. The
dispatchcr's office of the Illinois Cen
trail was unable tonight to get any infor-
nation from any point on their line south
of Ccntralia. 1t was reported TO them,
however, that 4 cyclone had swept
through all the country south of that
point.
III. c. Rice, the Western Union man
agcr at the relay depot on the east side,
climbed across the demolished bridge and
made his way into ST. Louis. He re-
ports that the National hotel. the IRE
mont house. Martcll house, De Wolf cafe,
the plant of the HcNel Milling company,
Horns cooper shop and Il great number
of other dwellings are blown down,
Many dwellings are wrecked and many
of their occupants are known to be dead.
The Nandalia round house, the Van
dalia freight house, III which thirty-tivc
men are said to have been killed, the
Baltimore and Ohio round house the
Standard Oil works. East ST. Louis clc-
vator, Crescent elevator and twelve
freight houses are destroyed.
The Grand Republic and several other
excursion steamers, with all on board
are reported to have gone down. 1t is
difficult to estimate the number of dead
and wounded, but Il rough estimate would
place the number ut about 1000.
Both the Western Union and Postal
companies have lost every wire in the
city.
One of the worst features of the dis.
aster seems to have taken place at the
race track at st. Louis while the races
were in full swing and the grand stand
was crowded with people Returns
from the st. Louis races are received al
the track at Lakeside and few minutes
after o'clock the operator sending the
report of the races stopped his work long
enough to remark There goes the grand
stand" and then his wire collapsed and
nothing more was heard from him. In
a few seconds the same message was
repeated from Lexington, Ky.,with the
additional information that fully 15C
people were dead. This information
was subsequently corroborated by the OPP
orator of the Wabash road at Decatur
who said that in his second message re,
ceived from East st. Louis it was re.
Al.