Iron County register., 1896-06-04
The Death List is Appalling, But
How Great is Yet Impos-
sible to Tell.
Days of Toll Necessary to Disen-
tomb Many of the Victims
The List of Injured Will Foot UP Hun
dreds, But the Aggregate May
Never be Known.
The Property Loss VIII Foot Up Many
Millions of Dollars.

ST.. LOUIS, May 2s.-The terrible epi-
demic of storms and tornadoes that
has devasted various portions of the
country during the past few weeks
seems to have reached its eliminating
point in ST. Louis and vicinity Wednes-
day evening, resulting in a scene of
widespread destruction difficult to
realize and an aggregate loss of human
life that when the full tale is told will
reach into the hundreds, while many
hundreds more received injuries that
will long remain as a reminder of one
of the wost disasters that ever befel
the western portion of the continent
Nearly all of Wednesday afternoon
there were indications that there
was a storm brewing, and people on
the streets wore an anxious look as
they viewed the threatening clouds.
but none imagined that there was go
ing to be anything more than a thun-
der storm, as intimated in the weather
forecast for the day. Shortly before
five o'clock, however. binding flash
of lightning followed by terrific crash
of thunder told that the beginning of
the storm was at hand. The rain clouds
began moving over the city from the
west, but were met by a strong
wind from the northeast, which. after
q few minutes struggle with the west
erly current, seemed to double back
towards the southeast. Then there
sw ept down from the northwest ter
rifle gale. accompanied with perfect
deluge of rain, which made every
T.. =,
$3.50 this hurricane continued its furi-
Gus onslaught Then the storm took
a trend to the north and swept the
business district between Broadway
;and the river. Boats were blown from
their moorings and capsized before the
eyes of the people on shore. 1t is inn
possible to say as yet how many
were drowned. Several boats are
missing. At East st. Louis,
where the storm shifted after de-
vastating portions of this city, the
damage is awful. There is scarcely a
building standing in the town. When
the storm passed the dead and injured
were lying in the streets From East
st Louis it spread away to the north
In the records of the local weather
bureau the wind has never blown with
the velocity it displayed yesterday.
For nearly thirteen minutes the
speed registered on the observatory
tower was so miles an hour and this
point was well removed from the center
of the storm. During the tornado. and
for a lcng time after it passed. the rain
fell in sheets Lightning struck numer-
-ous buildings. and the property loss by
fire alone win be enormous. The entire
city lighting and the electric street
railway system in the southe rn part of
the city were destroyed. and the
streets were lined for miles with aban-
doned ears, idle and motionless.
A terrible feature of the storm was
the blowing down of the city hospital
The entire west wing and part of the
roof on the north wing of the ram
'shackle old structure was blown away.
Two patients were killed and a num-
Der seriously injured. How many of
the unfortunates Of the city resting in
the hospital walls at the time the
,storm struck it will die as the result
of the exposure to the elements can
not be conjectured-
There was great loss of life in the
path of the tornado. Down various
thoroughfares in the path of the storm
there is scarcely a house standing.
eChoteau avenue was almost blown off
the earth from one end to the other,
and Gratiot street is heap of ruins.
All along in the most thickly-settled
portions OF the city just south of the
railroad tracks in the Mill Creek val-
1ey parties searched all night for
bodies. Dozens of men, women and
children are undoubtedly under the
ruins
Skies as black as ink and steady
rain interfered greatly with the work
OF rescue during the night. The city
was in total darkness. and the streets
were a litter of broken, twisted wires.
All electric currents were ordered
; turned off. and still there was danger
from the mass of wires. In the ruined
districts calcium lights were made to
do Illuminating duty on the streets,
effort to get out the victims were ne>,es-
sarily retarded
The storm came at a time of the
day when it was easiest to paralyse
the machinery of the health and police
departments on account of the shus-
ting off of the lights. Men walked the
Thieves and thugs were abroad work
ang In She cover of the darkness. The
streets We're almost impossible in
places, because Of the plies of rubbish
3ittering them. The entire southern
part Of the city as well as the lower
/, downtown portion was mass of de-
bris-trees, roofs, signs and almost
every imaginable sort ofwreckage.
The darkness of the night hid from
view the full force of the damage.
(which daylight revealed in ghastly dis
tanctness- At this time lists Of the
killed and wounded are incomplete, for
ahc reason that the surgeons in the
various places throughout the city
-here the wounded are being cared
ssor have been too busy to ask for