Arizona republican., 1896-05-29
THE ST. LOUIS DISASTER. Fearful Havoc of the Storm Wave. Hundreds of Lives Lost In the
 Ruins. Will Be Some Days Before the Full Extent Of the Damage Is
 Known.

ST. LOUIS, May 28.-It will be al most impossible to place. a correct es- innate on the number of lives lost and the damage done by the horrible tor nado that struck the city last night, utnil few days longer yet.
 The cyclone tore it's awful way through the city with velocity of over eighty miles an hour It seems cer- tain that the number of dead and wounded will amount to fully 1000 and the damage done to millions of dol lars The city hospital which fortu- nately survived the storm is filled to overfowing with mangled men, wo- men and children, and the morgue within two hours after the end of the storm was so full of corpses that it was necessary to provide other quarters for the reception of the dead. In addition to those who were killed in their houses and in the streets, hundreds of dead are beneath the waters Of the Mississippi river.
 Under the ruins of factories, ware houses and dwellings lie scores of mangled corpses and the waters of the Mississippi will carry many bodies away. Reports are constantly coming in from points on the river of ferries and steamers sunk with their loads of human freight and of trains blown from the track and demolished and passengers crushed to death in the ruins. This morning John McDowell, roustabout o the tug Alliance, re- turned to the city burdened with mes sages to loving ones from fathers and brothers telling of their safety. They reported the Medilia blown to pieces and that the crew s@am ashore. IL is reported that the ferries at the foot of Anna street and at East Carondolet, have been blown to pieces and sunk with their crews and passengers. Cap tain Pat Carmody's presence of mind prevented panic at the fair grounds. When the crowd appealed for protec- tlon from the tornado Pat corra.ed the frightened people under the stand and forced them to remain there. The roof of the stand was blown in a heap just where they wanted to go.
 At East St.. Louis the destruction seems to be greatest. The National hotel, Fremont house, Martell house, Dewolf cafe, Hazel Milling company's mill, Horns cooper shop and a. great many dwellings east of there as far as FIfth street are gone and many people killed. The Baltimore & Ohio and Vandalia roundhouse, Standard oil works, East St. Louis and Crescent elevators and twelve freight houses on l the levee are destroyed The Grand Republic and several more excursion steamers with all on oard are sunk in the river and all steamers on the levee have gone down. The city hospital is full of the wounded and the morgua contains great number of the dead.
 The grand stand at the fair grounds and the women's portion of the jail were blown down.
 Sixty inmates of the city hospital were all injured. The bridge of the Chicago & Alton road over the river was wrecked on the Missouri side. A span of 300 feet fell just behind a pas senger train. Tons of huge granite rocks fell just as the train passed. Sev- eral cars were overturned and many passengers injured. At the St. Louis Refrigerator company's works seventy people are still buried in the ruins. After working it's destruction in this city the storm moved westward into the 1 country. At Clayton most of the 1 buildings in town were wrecked and several were killed and many injured Weather Officer Frankenfeld says: Yesterday was what popularly would | be termed as a warm, hay, muggy ! day" The storm area moved slowly eastward. The barometer commenced to fall at noon. The sky became over cast and by o'clock the green cloud slowly advanced from the northeast. A violent secondary storm center was created. The storm had commenced at $40 p. m. and rain fell in torrents. One and fifty-three hundredths fell in an hour. The electric storm was of un- usual volume, the sky being a contin- ous blaze of light.
 Two hundred lives were lost in this city and as many more in East St. Louis last night, while thousands were injured, many so severely that they cannot recover. The exact number will not be known for many days, per haps never, for the debris of ruined buildings all over the city covers nund- reds of human beings. The d2na~2 and destruction of property vill ayc~-- gate many millions. but the zx amount cannot be estimated with any degree of certainty The greatest
 damage on this side of the river was 1 inflicted within three mile strip along
 the mighty stream. Many buildings