Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1896-05-29

KLY 1RAN6CRlfTy 1lIIEa
the stricken city was sent out " ~
agent Of the Associated Press, who mn
aged to reach an outlying telegrih
Office and send q brief dispatch . ~
lows: e N i.
Tornado blowing at the rate Of 0yer
so miles an hour struck st. Louis and
ragged for half an hour with great fury
and ~ result hundreds Of livessaxo
lost on both sides of the river. Mary
buildings are blown down and many
river steamers Hi. u l'J{s
sunk With All ON Board.
It is impossible at the present time to
estimate the number Of lives lost, a. the
hospitals are filed with the injured and
the morgue is filed with the slain,
while great numbers Of the dead and
manned are lying among the ruins u
all directions. A portion Of the east
end Of the Eads bridge is destroyed, the
grand stand at the fair grounds IS
down, the woman's portion 81 the
county jail is gone and the immense
Cupples block is partially destroyed.
The Waters q Pierce oil works are
burning and other buildings in various
sections Of the city are on Are. z
The Western Union Telegraph COM.
pany announced that because Of it's ina
bility to keep up it's wires it would be
impossible to send out any more mes
sages from St. Louis or its vicinity.
Destruction at East st. Louis. "a
At East St. Louis the destruction
, seems greatest. H. @. Rice, the Vest
ern Union manager at the relay depot
on the East Side, climbed across the de-
moished Eads bridge and made his
way into St.. Louis. He reports that
the National hotel, fremont House,
Martell House, De Wolf cafe, the
plant Of the Hexel Milling company,
Horns cooper shop and a great
number of other buildings are blown
down. Many dwellings are wrecked
and many Of their occupants are known
to be dead. The Vandalia roundhouse,
the Vandalia freighthouse, in which IS
men are said to have been killed; the
Baltimore and Ohio roundhouse, the
Standard Oil works, East St. Louis ele-
vator, Crescent elevator and IL other
freighthouses on the levee are destroyed
AT EAST ST. LOUIS.
Loss of Life There Estimated From Fifty
to One Hundred and Fifty.
EAST ST. LOUIS, Ills, May 49, Here
the whole western portion Of the city
suffered greatly. It is impossible to
even approximate the loss of life, but it
is variously put at from 50 to 100. The
storm struck just north Of the East ST.
Louis elevator and passed up the levee.
in a northerly direction. In its course.
it struck the Big -Four freighthouse first,
then the blocks in which the stores
front on the levee, destroying all back
to G street. The swath cut was three
blocks wide and four long. The Mar
tell House, with all its guests, was
blown into Cohodo creek, and no. one
but Judge Hope Of Alton and Mr.. Mar
tell were saved. A '@5 A
Says the Town Is Wreck. Il
A. w. Becker of the big firm of A. p
Becker g 60. of East St. Louis was
among the first persons to cross the.
Eads bridge after the storm abated.
His family was in st. Louis and in his
eagerness to get to the. he climbed
over the debris Of the Lridse on his
hands and knees, over wrecked cars
dead horses and mass Of other dob1is.$
He informed a reporter that the condi- i
tion Of East St. Louis is almost beyond
description. The town IS a wreck for.
blocks around and the loss of life I'M
that region alone is estimated at from
200 to $50, The Vandalia freighthouse3
Was Completely Demolished 3
and a number Of people persisted in the
ruins. When Mr.. Becker left the scene
men were engaged in digging out the,
dead and dying and several bodies had
already been removed. Meinez' s grocery
store and . whole row of brick build
ings adjoining it were RACED to the
ground, but no person was injured. The
city hall, which had just been repaired,
was completely wrecked. Court was in
session when the storm came, but
everybody got out in safety. I
sCHooLHoUSE WRECKED. 1
Eighty Children Reported Killed at