The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-06-06
ST. LOUIS'S GREAT DISASTER.

ST. LOUISS GREAT DISASTER.
The disaster at st. Louis is of such
magnitude that it has appalled, the
world and made at least all the dwell
ers in the Mississippi valley feel less
secure than before in their fancied Sc
curity. Probably there have been be-
fore as great storms as that which
brought ruin and death on such vast
scale at st. Louis, but if so they swept
across comparatively unpeopled terri
tories, vast stretches of prairie and the
horror was appreciated by few people.
The great tornado which swept across
St. Louis and East st. Louis leaving
devastation and death everywhere in
its track was the most destructive to
human life and property of any that
has heretofore visited the United
States. For once the path of one of
these giant elemental disturbances
lay through a great city and the
world stands appalled, at the result.
Just how great is the loss of life at
st. Louis is not even yet known
though it runs up into the hundreds,
and the property loss even at the
latest and most reduced estimate is
between ten and fifteen millions of
dollars.
1t is of little value in the face OF
such a disaster to speculate upon
whether the death wind which passed
over the fair Southern city like a
veritable blast of doom should be
called cyclone or tornado. Scien-
lists tell us that cyclones are revolv-
ing storm, of immense size and force,
starting somewhere between the
Windward Islands and the African
coast, and sweeping along the east
ern shores of the United States.
The great dark cloud out of whose
heart comes this blast of death is we'll
known in the tropics and to every
sailor, and these vast circular storms
from 100 to 1000 miles in diameter
are among the most terrible and SUBJ
lime of natural phenomena. lorna
does, on the other hand, are revolving
storms of short diameter whirling
along narrow path with titanic force
and energy, having within the line of
progress, sometimes, even a greater
destructive power than a cyclone.
This seems to have been the kind of
wind that leveled with it's giant arms
a road through st. Louis and East
St. Louis last week, destroying or in
turing more than seven thousand
buildings, killing hundreds of peo-
pie, and leaving thousands homeless
and destitute. Such awful visitations
are calamities before which man can
only bow as a mysterious providence
and realize to some extent how help
less and insignificant he is before
these great elemental forces of the
world which in a few minutes work
such widespread disaster. The great
frequency of these storms this season
is probably due to the unusual heat
in April and May this year. May
is known as the month of tornadoes
and this year it will be remembered
as month of unprecedented dis
aster. Texas and Oklahoma, Kansas
and Nebraska, Iowa and Michigan
and lastly Illinois and Missouri have
each in turn felt the force of these
great storms, but the losses and
death occasioned elsewhere fade into
insignifcance by the side of the
dark shadow that rests over the me-
tropolis of the South. Universal
sympathy has gone out to st. Louis
and should aid be needed it will be
promptly and generously given.