Iron County register., 1896-06-11
AN IRON COUNTY LADY
Tells Her Story Of the Cyclone.

the terrible cyclone which visited our
city one week ago has become a little
stale, but thought perhaps some OF
our friends who do not get the daily
papers, would like to read of it through
the REGISTER, and from one who was
among the victims; so l thought I'd
give little account of it so far as l
can, though l was not caught in the
worst part of the storm.
Had it not been for the foresight of
my employer, 1 would probably have
never been able to write about it, for
was all through my work and wanted
to leave the Office about twenty min
utes of five o'clock. But he said he
had more work for me, SO l waited
with patience while he talked with a
customer. In about ten minutes it got
so dark we had to light the gas, but
that is not unusual in St. Louis. Then
the wind began to blow, and in two or
in it's fury and force. The rain came
down in sheets, and we could hardly
see across the street. We could see,
however. the signs, shingles, pieces of
slate, and tin roofs, and bricks, flying
in the air, and falling thick and fast
Our building shook considerably, but
we didn't realize how bad it was till
the storm began to lull, and even then
l had no idea of what had happened
out where we lived.
About $40 the rain had Stacked up
sufficient for me to start home, so l
ventured out with the thought, "I'll
just run up to the corner and take the
cable car home" But when Preached
there, 10! the cars were all at dead
stand still, and so l started to walk
home-about two miles. l walked
out to Market Street and had to step
buildings that had fallen out, and l
thought it was pretty bad there, but
could hear people talking of how much
more damage was done on other
streets. BY and by, looked toward
the west, and saw the second storm
approaching; then l ran about four
blocks to reach the station, which did
just in time to escape it. The station
seemed to prove a 'sshelter in the time
of Storm" for there were hundreds, if
not thousands, who sought its protec-
tion from the raging elements. The
power-house was injured, and they had
the station lighted with lanters-dim
light, it is true, but more to be de-
pended upon than the light of the 10th
century.
After the second storm was over, l
ventured out again, and got along very
nicely until l reached the bridge.
There the wires were lying in all di-
rections. Telegraph poles were twist
ed off as if they were no bigger than a
switch or twig, and they fell in all di-
rections. When l reached Papin
street, then began to see and realize
that the worst was still before me, for
there was big stone front house all
in a pile on the street, and car with
a telegraph pole holding it down, and
trees lying across each other on the
pavement. 1 thought I'd follow the
car line through narrow passage and
get home quicker, but when reached
that l found the big Cracker Factory
on Chouteau Avenue had fallen across
the passage; so l went down another
block and across vacant lot, through
mud and water all the time picking
my way through wires and poles, ano
climbing over trees. just as l was
crossing the lot, three street car con-
ductors overlook ME and l asked them
if 1 could get through. They asked
me where / lived and l told them, and
one of them said, ..Well, I'm afraid
you won't find any home there, for
every thing on Chouteau and Arm
strong is blown away. My home is
down but no one hurt" and then be-
gan to have grave fears that I would
not find the members of my family
who were at home, so quickened my
steps. as fast as l could, and when l
reached Park and Mississippi Avenues
and saw the effect of the tornado upon
Lafayette Park, / can never describe
the feeling that came over me. Itwas
terrible and awful to behold! Those
large trees, the iron fence, and every
thing almost, fiat. There wasn't a
tree standing-every thing twisted and
broken and uprooted. Then l looked
on my right, and there were all those
large stone fronts, one with the whole
side wall out, and some with the roofs
blown away, and all with the windows
out. But l hurried on, and to look
down Armstrong Avenue where we
lived. was a sight to terrorize the
strongest. finally found the house,
which was not so badly wrecked as
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