The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1896-05-31
.uined district with the chief of police

ruined district with the cn1e1 OF ponce
and vice-president Of the police board
and know that the average of the esti-
mate of the damages which are made
by the press are not exaggerated. IL
the damage is $20,000,00O which is about
the lowest estimate made, and the abso-
lutely necessitouS conditions, such as
positive lack Of food, clothing and shell
ter, are only per cent, it will require
half million dollars to relieve them.
l have never known q call for public
aid to be made that st. LOUIS did not
come promptly to the front, and don't
desire to see conditions either under
estimated or exaggerated.
st. Louis does need, att present, all
the aid she can get. Our own people who
can afford to do SO will help, and their
aid will be liberal, but c!laim that no
sum smaller than a half nhillion dollars
will be adequate to relieve the lack of
food, clothing, household, equipments
and shelter.
1T should be remembered that hun
di'eds of manufacturing plants have
been destroyed and many thousands of
people are to be out of employment for
several months. Who, Therefore dares to
take the responsibility of saying that
ST. Louis can and will take care of her
own sufferers and suffeEing?'
The amount Taxpayers will have to
pay to repair and rebuild city property
blown down and damaged will not be
SIldll one. MI. fldHut1ll, commissioner
of buildings, thinks about $40, coo will re-
habiiitate the city's buildings. On the
other hand, Presiden! McMath of the
board of public impro7 ments thinks Mr..
Randalls estimates Exaggerated, and,
leaving out the city hospital, which is
almost destroyed, calculates that $4,000
or $4,000 will be sufficient to make all
necessary repairs.
No city in the world. in proportion to
its population, has better Geographic
facilities than st. LOUIS But the storm
has blown down the wires and stilled the
instruments, and for a few hours st.
Louis was virtually world to Itself.
Thousands on thousands of messages
were stacked UP here to be sent, and as
great number wtre filed in other cities
for st. Louis delivery.
Immediately after the storm the COM
panies began replacing the wires Thou
sands of linemepl were secured and the
work of reconstruction was pushed night
and day. AS fast as the wires We're put
in working order the messages flashed
over the wires. Operators were brought
from all available sources and messen-
gers by the hundred, mounted on bicy-
Giles and horses and messengers on foot
| were employed. But the kilograms piled
up faster than they could be handled.
To deliver all the messages was an i'm
possibility, and at night more than TO-
VOV iiicSSdScS were pldCcO III lllc HILLS lOl
delivery by the letter carriers. The first
deliveries Friday and Saturday morn
ings contained thousands of the well
known telegraph envelopes which the
companies We're unable to handle.
| In addition to the private kilograms
| inquiring about friends and in reply to
| queries, many special newspaper COR
respondents had congregated In the city
and to a great extent they monopoliZed
| the wires with specials to their papers.
| Friday night nearly 100000 words of
| special kilograms were sent by these
| correspondents.
AS the fund grows for the relief Of the
i 'ictims of the tornado, practically work
| is being done in giving the sufferers
help, in which they stand in sore need.
1t is reported the sufferers must have
| relief at once. The Merchants exchange
relief committee is doing it's work as
! rapidly as possible and is sending wag-
! ons and provisions into all parts Of the
, stricken district.
An army of 300 men with rs large wag-
ons started from the Cupples block early
| this morning to carry assistance to the
| sufferers. Their mission was to remove
| the household goods of the unfortunates
! to places of safety from the elements.
| In many cases the victims had no place
| to move their goods and the Simmons
Hardware company rendered the use Of
| the new warehouse on Ninth stheet be-
| tween Clark and Walnut streets. The
| work, which Is being done as help to
! on Systematically.
The suffering witnessed by the gentle
| men who canvassed the districts Fri
| day and today was indescribable. They
! found entire families almost starving.
At one place they found woman who
was about to be confined, without a
| place to lay her head.
The work being carried on from the
| Cupples building in not in conflict with
| the Merchants exchange relief commit
| tee, but supplementary to it.
| Today the Merchants exchange COM
mittee supplied fifty families with pro-
| visions, ordering the goods of merchants
| who, with their own wagons, could de-
liver them without delay. In addition
| the wagons of the st. Louis Transfer
| company had been placed at the dis
posal of the committee and these were
| employed in transferring property to
| places of safety. The relief corps organ
| lied by the st. Louis Provident associa
| ton is canvassing the district from
| Tenth street to the river between Geyer
| avenue and the railroad tracks. On Fri
| day they had reached Twelfth street and
| today their work was finished. The head
| quarters of the Merchants exchange
| relief committee was thronged all day
| with sad faced men and women seeking
succor. Some of the stories told were
| heartrending.
| The Soulard street police station is
| the center of the relief work in the east
| ern portion of the raVaged district 1t
| lies near the center of the storms path
| and affords a convenient and accessible
| bureau. Quite a number of relief wag-
| ons have been placed at the command
| of the sergeant in charge, and the Off
| GERS are instructed to direct persons APP
| plying to them for relief or assistance
| in moving to the station. In all $169, 10S
| has been collected for the work of relief.
| This includes the city appropriat ton of
| $1,000 00 The work of cleaning up the
| devastated district of South st. Louis
was begun this morning. One thousand
men with teams were put to work by
| the street department under the personal
| supervision of Commissioner Miner.
Sunday morning the entire street de-
partment will go to work under the di-
| rection Of Chief of Police Harrigan,
searching for bodies of the dead. The
| street department. is now working at an
expense of $3.50 Ga day. Commissioner
Miner says it will take $4,000 to put the
| streets in order and haul away the litter.
There issabout $4,000 to the credit of the
| department for this branch Of the SER
vice.
! Excitement has entirely subsided and
| the stricken people have already settled
down to face the situation and make the
| best of it. On every hand may be seen
men, women and children engaged in the
| work of restoration where it is possible,
or removal where it is not.
too Al nnd n RI a