The St. Louis Republic., 1903-01-02


| results made 1902 black page in Times
annals. Besides sad list Of railway acci-
r; dents, great fires, serious foods varied ex-
| plosions and loses at sea, perhaps not un-
/ precedented. rarer misfortunes Of titanic
proportions befell mankind.
! Seismic shocks occurred in almost every
! portion of the globe. Volcanoes were active
| synchronously, and scores Of thousands lost
| their lives in consequence OF these cata-
clysms.
The disaster at Mont Pelee Is so recent
and SO appalling in its extent as scarcely to
need recalling. On May the world was
startled by the report that 10000 lives had
been lost by the eruption Of lava. smoke,
vapor and gas-a disaster unparalleled on
this side of the Atlantic. May to Is fur
ther outbursts occurred. doing more dam
age. and as late as September ZOO more
lives were reported lost in these troubious
West indies.
But great losses Of a similar kind fell
upon Europe and Asia, too, during the last
twelve months. A thousand lives were lost
in Smyrna September 3; 1000 at Shamaka,
Siberia, February Ii, and 2,5O0 to 500 at
Andijan. in Asiatic Russia, December II.
CHRONOLOGICAL RECORD.
Taken chronologically one can better un-
derStand how scarcely a week has passed
without convulsion Of nature OF one sort
or another:
Mexico January 49,. Shamaka February
40, Spain, France and Italy (March. April
and May); Sicily (April 2D, Mont Pelse
(Aiay 81. Guatemala CLAY 1D. San Salvador
June -, Tulcan. Ecuador June ID: HaWa4i
June ~ IS Sicily y, SSune 1n, Sa5Snssa y ssasua a
Alaska august IL; southern Call1ornia
august 49,, Minaanao. P. l. (Ausust ~;
aaetSiae ca W Aasn tsepsember E and 5j: Mexico
(September 25J: Artasch. Turkestan lSep-
tember 30; Smyrna lSeptemoer ~; St'
Jamaica (November 23) and Andi1an. Rus
sian Asia December 10. In this country
slight shocks were felt in Utah. Iowa. Cali
fornia, Georgia. the New England Sta'es
and scattered points between.
FIFTY THOUSAND VICTIMS.
All in all. the total loss Of life through
seismic shocks may be set down as approx.
imately 5000 The damage nag to property roper -,s rs
up into the millions Of dollars.
While the fire losses may not nave been
any more spectacular than usual the dis
liar accidents were out of the ordinary.
The explosion at Park avenue and Forty
first street, IN New iork Gi.y; Gy;d on s,,antr,
FIVE others. besides causing s4DUW camages;
Coming right on the heels of the rear,end
collision In the Park avenue tunnel he1; 4s 45tssa
were killed and thirty-hve injured, TINS
disaster seemed all the more impressive
Two other mlSIOTIuUeS OCtuihAAh iA OAS
month also marked the latter part OF the
year. On election night, November :. sne
explod IN of mass OF fireworks amid
sTowd Of siea m and Injured two
score more. On the night Of November ~
the rare spectacle of festoons or names
thousands who will recall the new East
iIyss Kssr wsra oIreSG losi a.e but damage was
done and a great mumcipai Improvement 'e'
hor a
Other explosions OF the year reaoiiy o,
called are the gas works. on AVenus ,,;,a y; oi
IL m!s a az sas mains in chicaso
I'll killed.. February 8; an Iowa coal m,.m mn
(2l killed. injured, January DupOn.
der magazine at Madrid (io killed.. June p:
a mine In Gaiicia Qs killed.; June 2; the
Pittsburg railroad yards ~ Hieuii e ii,toH 20
killed.. july Is; Delaware Pulp Mills: .
killed.. August 30: coal mine BeWsn. S0,o.
l6 killed.. August I; masazine, Sao mssSfn
Progresso laden with oil. San FRANCISCO
LOSS BY FLOODS.
Not less than $6.OC0.oo0 loss in 1902 IN the
United States was due to foods. and the
total Terv likely exceeded this considerably.
lives were lost IN early MaFcn.
when the rivers and streams OF New 4oIx.
land ieaped their banks and did enormous
damage In thickly settled locailtiesr rougnly !
estimated at so S Iheas,sa The later pIs dozen IN
Worsh 1,yss '9ss sseooS ' destroyed. On july the
western States suffered equally heavy pc, |
IN July is the Father Of Waters" aug
nented by many swollen tributaries. inihel.
ID ,soO.CO5 damage through the Mississippi
Valley. I
about New York. Probably the most CON
,picuous instance was the destruction OF the
Seventy first Regiment Armory and the |;
n;ght OF February o. when sixteen were
a ,ary loss @ Of $4,000 inflicted, Two weeks
before ebraaay Gceurrsd ,S .ti sne .aSiiee slG IN
,mfrered by fire to the extent OF $a0eo.ooo.
BRITISH QUEEN FIRE.
Other fires memorable for loss Of life or |
or both were the burning OF the
ncimding wharf and salvage $ssotpca. On
March 1S: the fire at Atlantic City, along the
famous board walk. on Aprii g. when ~
,OO 90, damage was done to eleven hosteiries;
Beach on June 4. when the damage was
nlaced at 500 900 and four lives were lost as
veil: a -milIion-dollar fire In the tobac-
o-houses a. Norfolk. on January II: the
and the Empire Hotel fire. February (elev-
an killed) in St. Louis: the IRE at Saratoga
,n June q when five were killed: the Texas
iii wells fire on October {. when thirty were
kjlled and $5N.0N damages done; the st.
Luke's Hospital FIRE In Chicago. June (thir-
teen killed.: the fire in the Hotel Lincoln,
Chicago December fourteen killed.. ard
he factory fire In Chicago on October q.
ON a tenement-houee fire on January Is
cost ten lives. and half as many more died.
IN st. Paul October =. when = large pack
- Tha reJ,vsv sfnsfsfirs s.,. fecs I'm