The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1896-06-04
DETAILS HARD TO GET,
Meaere News OF the Big Disaster That
Reached Chicago.

keaCneu thlcagO.
CHICAGO. May 2S-One of the great
est disasters of recent years has over.
whelmed the city of St Louis in the
shape of a cyclone, which for 30 min.
utes tore its awful way through the city
with a velocity of over so miles an hour.
Although reports from there are very
meagre owing to the almost total de.
struction Of the telegraph wires, it
seems certain that the number of dead
and wounded will amount to fully 900
and the damage done to millions of dol.
lars, The city hospital, which fortu.
nately survived the storm, is filled to
overhowing with mangled men, women
and children, and the morgue within
two hours after the end of the storm
was so full of corpses that it was neces.
sary to provide other quarters for the
reception Of the dead.
In addition to those who were killed
in their houses and on the streets, hun.
dreds Of dead are beneath the waters
of the Mississippi river, OF all the
steamers on the levee when the storm
broke out, but one is now afioat. All
the others have gone down, in many in
stances every soul on board being lost
and others not over two or three being
able to reach place of safety Among
the boats destroyed is the excursion
steamer Great Republic, one OF the
largest steamers on the lower river.
Not man escaped from her, and it is
said she was crowded with excurionists
when the storm came.
The center of the city is q wreck.
and others partially wrecked The
streets are utterly impossible to street
cars, and in many places progress on
foot is matter of great difficulty. To
add to the horrors Of the night, the
electric light plants were rendered ln-
capable Of service. and the gas lamps
were also shut off, leaving the city iu
total darkness Fire also broke out IN
several portions of the city. and the
fire department was unable to make an
effective fight because of the choked.u up
condition of the streets, ard the large
number Of firemen who were engaged
in the imperative work of rescuing the
dead and wounded
1t is impossible at the present time to
estimate the number of lives lost, as
the hospitals are filed with injured and
the morgue is filled with the slain,
while great numbers of the dead and
manned are lying among the ruins in
all directions. A portion of the east
end of the Eads bridge is destroyed, the
grandstand at the fair grounds is down,
the woman's portion of the Jail is gone,
and the immense Cupples block is par
tally destroyed The Waters & Pierce
works and other buildings in various
sections of the city were set on fire by
lightning.
H O. Rice, the Western Union man
ager at the relay depot on the East
Side, climbed across the demolished
bridge and made his was into st Louis
He reports that the Ma tional hotel. Ire.
mont House, Marte II House, De Wolf
cafe, the plant of the Hexel Milling
company, Horns cooper shop and o
great number of other buildings are
blown down, Many dwellings are
wrecked and many Of their occupants
are known TO be dead
At East st. Louis the Vandalia round.
house, the Vandalia freighthouse, in
which 30 men are said TO have been
killed, the Baltimore and Ohio round,
house, the Standard Oil works, East st.
Louis elevator, Crescent elevator, and
l2 other freighthouses on the levee are
destroyed,
One of the worst features OF the dis
aster is thought to have taken place at
the race track at st. Louis, where races
were in full swing and the grandstand
was crowded with people. Returns
from the st. Louis races are received at
the track at Lake Side, Ind, Operator
sending the report of the races stopped
his work long enough to remark,
"There goes the graLdstand," and then
his wire collapsed, and nothing more
was heard from him.
In few seconds the same was re-
ported from Lexington, KY, with tn e
additional information that fully l5C
people were killed. This information
was subsequently corroborated by the
operator of the Wabash road at Deca'
tur.
Later the Wabash operator al Deca'
tur reported to the main dispatcher
Office at Forrest, H., that cyclone ha6
just passed through the country to the
south Of Decatur, and it was reported
to have done great damage. In few
minutes he sent word that second
storm had passed through the country
almost in the track of the first, and that
he was unable to get any more infor
nation regarding it, but that it wal
was thought to have done great dam
age in the country lying east Of East
st. Louis.
The operators on the Alton road were
unable to get any information from
their men in the neighborhood of St
Louis, but reported that just before al
their connections with that city wer,
broken Off they had received word that
they there had been s,vere cyclone al
Rush Hill. Mo-, which is small towI
on the Alton road not far from Mexico
Mo.
The dispatcher's Office of the Illinois
Central were unable all night to get
any information from any point on
their line south of Centralia. 1t wal
reported to them, however, that oy
clone had swept through all the country
south of that point.
IL is thought that the storm swept