The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-05-29
COMING OF THE FATAL CLOUDS.
A Graphic story of the storms De-
scent on the City.

A Graphic Story of the storms De-
scent on the City.
st. Louis, May 2s.-The history of the
storms movement last night is quickly
told. The day was an oppressive one in
the city. There was no wind and the peo-
pie suffered from the heat. About 4
o'clock in the afternoon the entire western
horizon was banked with clouds. These
We're piled one upon the other, with curl
ing edges, yellow in tinge. A light wind
sprang up and a sudden darkness came
upon the city. This darkness Increased
until the storm broke. 1t gave the first
alarm to thousands Of people in the
streets, at pleasure parks, in light craft
on the Mississippi or at work in the great
mercantile establishments.
There seemed to be three separate cy-
clones. They came from the northwest
west and southwest When they reached
the Mississippi river they had become
one 1t was 4:45 O'Clock when the storm
broke. It's descent was so sudden that
fleeing women and children were caught
in the street and hurled to destruction
or buried under falling walls. Before
the mass of clouds in the west, hanging
over the villages Of Clayton, Fernridge
Eden and Central, gave vent to then
frightful contents, tunnels shot out from
them. Some of these seemed to be pro-
jected into the air, other leaped to the
earth, twisting and turning. Lightning
played about them and there was a mar
Velous electrical display.
Then came the Outburst. Three of the
tunnels approached st. Louis with a wilma
that was travelling at the rate Of eighty
miles an hour. So destructable was the
cyclone and so Irresistible and so much
greater in magnitude than any country
has ever previously known Of that some Of
the staunchest business blocks went down
before it, Iron beams were torn from
their fastenings and carried blocks away
as If they were feathers. Roofs, braced
and held TO their positions by every de-
vice known to the best builders of any
day, were torn off as If held only by
threads. Telegraph poles fell in long rows
not coming down one by one, but in
groups Of a dozen or more at a time
The east end of the Eads bridge ono
Of the most solid and finest bridges I'M
the world, was destroyed. The other
great bridges spanning the MississfDut
were all injured. Scores of persons wers
drowned, or, after being killed on land
were blown into the water. Steamers were
blown high on the banks ana others were
turned around. Stin others, after be.
ing torn from their mornings disaD DDear-
ed and have not been heard from. As
a rule, the smaller craft were sunk.
Not while within the city limits ala the
tunnels rise and fall from the ground -
is usually the case in cyclones in srnaN
places. There was no reboundng. Con-
sequently Whatever was In the path Of
the wind was either destroyed or badly
injured
And this destruction was done within an
hour.
AS the storm cut through the railroad
yards back of the union station IL Turned
over any number Of freight and passen-
ger cars, and carried away the nortbves
tern corner of the union depot grain eIa
yator. This elevator Is one of the largest
in the city, and as the wreckage came down
it crashed through the roofs of q baIf
dozen deserted shanties.
About o'clock the wind levelled to the
ground the four-story stone-front build
Continued on Fifth Page.)