The Butler Weekly Times Newspaper, June 4, 1896, Page 2

cece is ates i aren et AS nln ne i eT ie oa Seer eae 400 DEAD. St. Louis and East St. Louis Vis- ited by a Frightfal Tornado Yesterday Affernoou Thousands Injure up the river to beyond Venice and Madison, where it veered to the east again The worst damage was done in a path about six blocks wide, extend- ing eastward from Grand avenue to tenth street. From Lafayette aye- nue on the th to the railroad tracks on the north, about every other block the wind seemed to reach out and crueh a few buildings teau avenue from Grand aven main path. Every wire | (, to twelfth street was dowr jpoles and their heavy frvig ih \ pte leables were scattered along f E. Pong, | street 3 eR Rundreds of People Believed to Be) THE CITY HOSPITAL'S DAMAGE. ; company | SUH Buried in the Ruins of | HAY Toots} Buildings. ‘night the city hospital looked like a jruin- The surgical ward was partly jdemolished. Portions of the other MILLIONS SWEPT AWAY, buildings were unroofed. Walls were cracked. Even in the darkness The Storm Wrecked Buildings ot All| the physicians began the removal of and unroof residences outside of its | In the flashes of lightning last Deacon Bios, & Co. OTTAWA, iLL} eft a scene of desola minutes before steamer ietly at their docks, some j of waste and wreck. J. J. Odill of the blew up before She had a crew women passen- George Three! ‘of them jumped beforethe explosi | and caught twood. The other was blown overboard by the explo IH. L. TUCKER. ne of hay|.. i 1 -< |sion and was cut about the head, | x 7 i th patiens to temporary quarters, fear- oor hooks, | ie 2 : nee SN babs Rapecially eonk tne ful that the strained stucture would 2. We would | but managed to swim ashore. Three Prescription Drugg st Riyer Front. go down in a general collapse d ses J, E.|others of the crew clung to the pier | . There were 450 sick people in the You als’ {aud made their way up to the LrJs¢ guesses sum MANY VESSELS WRECKED | hospital when the storm c gathered strength in their fright and ran shrieking from the place, Steamboats and Barges Torn From Their Moorings and Dashed to Splinters—Many on Board Lost. teen were injured in one ward. The city hall and the Four Courts were in the path of the cloud as it TO THRE ie et fcan be used at any | anchorage gave way under the terri- FIRE ADDS TO THE HORROR a ~~ of the jail wall was de- point onthe L traek,asthe| hio ape ge he Rn endgen SEO. moilished. couplings are used Convention hall lost a part of the roof on the eastern end and the east end was punctured in several places by flying missiles, and sustained some derangement of the interior. A Nuwber of the Wrecked Buildings Burned. St. Louis, Mo., May 28.—When the sun rose on St. Louis and vicin- ity this morning it showed a scene of terrible ruin and disaster, wind, rain and fire having combined ina mission of destruction. At least 200 lives were lost in this city and as many more in East St Louis, while thousands were injured, many so severely that they cannot recover. The exact number of dead and injured will, however, not be known for many days for the debris ef ruined buildings undoubtedly covers scores of people. The damage and destruction of property will aggregate many wil- lion dollars, but the exact amount cannot be estimated with any degree of $5,000 will make the hall good again. SCORES OF BLILDINGS WRECKED. In the district between Sixth street Chouteau avenue, the tornado tore a diagonal path. The district ecom- prises business houses, them older type. Every building within the path sustained damage. Smoke stack and chimneys were top- pled over. Walls were leveled and roofs were lifted. Thousands of windows were broker and miles of telegraph and telephone wires were left in a oetwork on the ground. of certainty. Through this district the streets are 5 li le. They are cevered in The tornado, which caused this impassab ey destruction, struck the city yester- ~_ 2 — — = _— —_ day afternoen at 5:15 o'clock and Ong te. 6) ce stony the HAWASts goon swept to East St. Louie. The snapped and boats were sent adrift, greatest damage on this side of the ee ve es — = — river was inflicted within a three |*® See ae ne ee eae . mile strip along the Mississippi. |!°%* ° dite _— might a ae Many buildings were totally wreck tree af Ma ee — which the ed by the force of the wind and tornado came. A little latter the others were unroofed, while very exeursion steamers would have been few escaped some injury. Signs and | #°16 out. None of them had left cornices were torn off, shade trees | ‘7°'" wharves. Other river passen- and everything else suffered. ger boats had gone an hour before 200 veap—THOUSANDS INJURED ee oe Sem, poo ate ably had passed out of danger. Health Commissioner Starkloff, THE EAST ST. LOUI8 HAVOC twe hours after the tornado had The death deali loud ? 4 passed, feared that the dead would th cee t aaa het ee reach 200 and that not fewer than kee ein eR Se 1,000 persons had sustained serious | 97° 8° wreck the upper marks at injuries. By midnight Associated the east end of the Eads bridge and Press reporters had visited all of |t° SWeeP ® part of East St. Louis the stricken portion of the city sub- In comparison to its, size WO eee urbs and Dr. Starkloff's estimates| ‘is and losses in East St. Lous were fully confirmed. The dead greatly exceed those on this. side of were found in all parta of the de-|*beriver. The larger part of the yastated section, while erushed be-|°e2tral portion of the city is razed neath falling walls, hurled against|*® the ground, wile on the flats the sides of buildings, struck by along the river back to the north of fying timbers, cut by the shattered the Kads bridge nous house is left glase, shocked by the net work of |8tauding. In the latter portion the down wires, humanity suffered in |!0*8 0f life is terrible. Scarcely a ways innumerable and the names of | /#mily seems to have escaped with- all the injured will never ba known. | Ut Some member being killed, while Enough were recorded at the dis. |‘? M8ry anstatoce, whole /loukeholds pensaries last night to show how | We? wiped out of existence. The wide spread were the tornado’s ef. | Catholic church of St John of Nepo- fects {muk, at the corner of Twelfth and Of the destruction of property | Soulard streets, was destroyed, ex. there can ba no satisfactory estimate | CePt the front, whieh stands like a given. The loss in extent and in | tower, all side and back walls being character is beyond conception. |completely destroyed. ; ROR ee a te ee | ay — much to the loss ac : ikea : shan count. own wires, wild currents All the way from Papin street to| of electricity, crushed buildings, all Carondelet the storm put a stamp | contributed to this element of de- on the face of the city that will not | struction. The alarm system was be effaced for years. Big, strong | paralyzed. y . J d Approaches w: block- buildings fell before the wind like} ed. BANU OO aedaSeate Oars houses made of cards. , be a ‘ .. | St. Louis side was supplemented ky From where it entered the city,!a dozen lesser ion Es East St. out in the southwestern suburbs, to/ Louisa mill was burned and two where it left it, somewhere near the | other considerable losses were sus- Eades bridge, there is a wide path | tained. e ef ruins. Factory after factory went added at least & down and piles of bricks and tim-|Such another night of hx rror may bers mark the spots on which they = bipctinte ss stood. Dwellings w and thrown in every uess houses were was no chance for the occupants. The ru bruised and mangled bo willnet be uncovered until search is made. St. Louie never know. GREAT Hours of depressing Selene ' puits ot wind coming by tu nearay {Sl points of the compass, , | clouds at all poinis of ar f There, =e i1KE and the storm ce The early nothing of Tower Grove ; northeasterly direc ed Grand avenue. followed Mill nme. Some finding shelter on the outside. Thir- passed from the city hospital to- ward the river, and both were dam- Ten days work and the expenditure and river northward from many of To the enormous tctal,tires | million dollars. | is the only in which th rafter brack under the he rail. DEERING BINDERS, REATHRS, MOWERS, Are the most popular machines on the market todey. Cailand examine the new 1898 in inesand learn why the Roller Bearings save one horse. We claim without fear of contra- diction that we now have in our car- repository the best line of top bhastons, double carriages, j traps, sur- ever shown in DEERING Deering harvesting oil, Deering twine STEEL HAY RAKES soreen wire, sereen doors, spring hinges, door springs, hedge tools, ice cream freezers, lawn mowers, hose, refrigerators, lemon squeezers, ice shavers, oil cans, hay forks, scythes and suaths, grass hooks now that harvest is approaching don’t you need a gocd big Majestic Steel Range to do your cooking. DEACON BROS. & CO. Low Price Hardware and G:ocery House blow right in the faee of the storm. It wasa lower current. It raised the dark cloud and brought it for- ward faster and faster. Suddely the wind stopped blowing from the east- and there swept from the northwest a terrific gale which made the best built structures tremble. With the hurricane, for that was the first form took when it broke over the western part of the city, came a deluge of rain. For half an hour, from a few minutes before 5:30, this hurricane blew from the northwest. Then there came a lull. The currents shifted to the south- west, and there came into existence astorm cloud with the essential feature of the ternado, the funnel shape. This second storm buret up- on the city from the southwest. It came in on the south side of Lafay- ette park, struek the city hospital and from there tore its way through the city tothe river by the north- easterly course. It wrought such }havoe as will long leave traces in that part of the eity which lies east |of Seventh street and north of Cerre |street to the Eads bridge. The j boats at the wharf were torn from i their ings and capsized or went | adrif ud crossed the river emolished the upper work at the he bridge and then it fury on East St. Louis. | The district between Clark avenue jand Washington ayenue, from | Twelfth street to the river suffered |fearfully from the ravages of the {tornado. The brunt of the violence |of the storm was borne by the por- | tion of the distriet lying south and {along the river bank. as compara- | tively light damage was done to the | y further north and west. ado vented its greatest fury river front. and the levee up and down was devastat- d waste. Great steamers and blown down the ft that but one remains disaster. It is moorings tornado struck the ern the forms one after another, with a the dark The scene uncertainty and knew whether to from the fury of the was one of lel No one EU N THE VER FRONT. After the tornado had passed it other trac! And the best of it is that it cos you nomoere than infer- ior tracks;it track made rom their moorings at} lined the} proper. There is no way of estimating the number of lives that were lost on the river craft that happened to be near when the tornado came. Hun- dreds of barges were moored all along the river bank. In some in- stances as many as ten or twelve persons were on board when the into the water and the destruction of life will be large. Several boats were jerked from “;|their moorings and earried down | the river, rollimg over, and finally struck the raft of the Wiggins Fer- javenue, ik Sam... PARTIAL ST. LOUIS I The roof of the Republican con- vention hall ern wall of the city jail clear down, exposing the interior. It was during the exercise hours and 200 prisoners were exercising in the building. They were panic stricken. They were too frightened to try to escape. Jailer Wagner was on the scene in a moment and with the aid of a num- ber of detectives and policemen the prisoners were placed in their cells. The tanks of the Waters Pierce Oil company on Gratiot street were blown up, spreading destruction on every hand. Three stories of the Coe Manufac turing company’s building, Ninth and Gratiot, and nearly half of the Wainwrith brewery were blown down. 2 The Summer High school, Elev- enth and Spruce, McDermott’s sa- loon, Eleventh and Chestnut, the Central Emigrant, on the opposite corner, and Jere Sheehan's livery stable, Eleventh and Walnut were unroofed. The Coneelidated wire works building at Twenty first and Papin streete were almost totally wrecked. Seven people are known to have been injured seriously by this wreck and many more are said to have been hurt by falling walls. The two story building of the C. H. Sawyer Manufacturing company, 1819 Chouteau avenue, was demol- ished. John Sawyer, a member of the firm, and Emma Cheney and Isabella Hamden, typewriters, were crushed to death under the walls. H. H. Sawyer, a member of the firm, was injured fatally. The St. Louis Refrigerator and Woodenware company’s factory was | by lightning. at $300,000. | One corner of the city hospital |; was blown out and the building otb- ‘erwise damaged. One patient died from fright and two others were jkilled by falling debris, with many | Seriously injured, a number of rhom will die. The loss is eatimated The Siddell & Shenley build- jingg at Seventh and Rudger | streets fell in and it is rumored that eighteen women were buried in the ruins. | Engine house No 1 was blown | down and all of the fireman buried. | The Laclede Gas company’s tank lat Fourteenth and Gratiot streets was struck by lightning and e-plod- | ed. ; i | The Samuel Cupples Woodenware companys warehouse at Seventh }and Spruce streets was burned. WRECKS ALONG THE STREETS. Six unknown men were taken out {of the ruins of a bex factory at Ninth and Barry. | The Foundling asylum at Hickory jand Elm is a complete wreck. | On South Jefferson avenue four \fine residences completely | wrecked. fi | were Salle was blown | The St. Lou | building at Fighteenth and Ghot jis a wreek. | At Broadway and So | 8 four story b burying fa Sixty men were a d streets work on the ry company at the foot of Choutau | was blown off and a} : | twenty four foot section of the west-/ completely destroyed by fire caused | .|In some cares switch targets were framework of the Liggett & Myers/ ese tobaceo factory;tweniy or saa demolisked and merchandise scat | escaped with injuries, while the re- | mainder are thought to be buried in the ruins. Craver's planing mill at Craver tered in all directions The wind lifted the roof off Chas, H. Peck’s new building, to the north of the Wall Paper company, and jand Arsenal streets was destroyed. blew down the wall of a new brick The roof of the South St. Louis building two doors further north, Turner hall Thirteenth and Arsenal! ft almost demolished the buildi streets, was blown in. j of William Koenig & Co, agents of The Carondelet Gas and Electric) Aultman & Co, agricultural imple. compary buildings were consider-! ments. The roof and ceiling to the ably damaged. first floor were wrecked and the oc- The Hydraulic Press work, Man- cupants of the offices saved their chester road and ‘Frisco railroad ives by taking refuge in the vault, tracks, were blown down: damage, The building of the American Re- | $15,000. frigerator Transit company, at the The St. Louis Refrigerator and | jeyee and Cedar street, were badly ‘Wooden Gutter company’s entire demolished. | plant at Main and Park was destroy-| The Terminal elevator, Biddle and ed. The plant consisted of a four-) Main was robbed of the south end story factory,a four story warehouse, | wall on the first floor. a bicycle factory and several smaller| The fourth story and roof of Me. buildings. When the cyclone struck | Pheeter’s dry goods warehouse on the plant there were at work between | the levee, between Biddle and Carr 400 and 500 men and women. Fire | streets, was blown off. broke out in the warehouse just after The front and roof of Fisher & the top floor was destroyed. The | Davis’ three story brick saw mill panic stricken employees rushed | machinery house. 1724-26 North pell mell from the buildings, leaving | Main was wrecked. many disabled behind them. Toadd| ‘The roof and smokestacks of the to their herror hundreds of pieces | Fulton iron works and machine of heavy lumber from adjoining lum | shop, Fulton and Carr, were blown ber yards came flying through the | off and the roof was blown off a va air and forced many back into the | cant building belonging to the Dr. blazing buildings. J. H. McLean estate. Collins and The top floor of the four story | Biddle. building at Second and Chestnut Upon the levee and Carr street streets was blown off. : the wind played sad havoc. The The structure occupied by Dan| immense freight shed of the Chica- Gunn as a notion store at 2102 Clark | go, Burlington & Quincy railroad, avenue was demolished. two blocks long and one wide, ex- The Central Home of Rest was | tending from Carr street to Frank demolished and one man killed, | in avenue, is a totall wreck. name unknown. Two were injured.| s+ Tonia, May 27.—At East St The copper roof — — Louis houses, factories and work- Seventh between t © and Warr | shops along Front street were cut streets, was blown off. ae to the ground and many other strue- The front walls of the building at tures wrecked. 4068 South Twelfth street were} pow many lives were snuffed out blown down. Some of the occupants ; yader the wrecks it will take time were slightly bruised. + At the Globe Shoe and Clothing tthe ote a en company the windows of the upper | a floors were blown in and damage | — wean ee ee we a done to merchandise amount-! yoyo ey ame otel of Wm: was Wicker, in which were fifteen or ing to thousands of dollars. | e The roofs and skylights of Co ed People, went down with s Merchants’ Exchange building were | cate err nan deetrsipal U) blown off. The damage is extensive. Fi e y The cigar store at the bridge en | Were the city hall, the police station trance of Third and Washington | the Trement house, the Baltimore & avenues was blown into the streets, | Obio and N andalia railroad round The Paper Cotton compress com- houses. Every freight house on the |pany’s building near the foot of island, the Wiggins Ferry company’s ; Convent street and the St. Louis! warehouse, the Standard Oil works, {cotton compress building, both one_ the Griggins hotel, the Workman's story buildings, were demolished. | bank and Harrie’ cooper ehop. Strickler’s cigar store, Broadway) After the wind and rain had done jand Biddell street, lost a fifty foot | its work fire added to the destrue- front. Mrs. Strickler was sitting in | tion. Retzel’s mill was the first to | the front doorway at the time with become ignited and it was totally | her baby in her arms, but was un- destroyed at a loss of $150,000. \ burt. Harris's Barrel factory, nearly fifty | The storm tore off half of the roof loaded cars in the terminal yards, jof the Nationa! Paper company’s Lynch’s boarding house, Heard’s i building, south eighth street, and | feed store, Lee's blacksmith shop demolished the skipping room on and other smaller places were burn- ithe first floor. Total damage about ed. The destruction of the water | $46,000. works early in the storm cut off the | Atthe burning St. Lous refrig- water supply and Chief Purdy and |erator and gutter warehouse several his men fought the fire with a buc- | injured firemen had been taken from | ket brigade as best they could. The | the wreck and three more were whole central portion ot the city was | known to be in the caller dead. threatened by the burning mill, but | Three brothers. named Hardy, were all hande worked witb euch a will |dangerously injured. It was eaid that its further spread was prevent- |that probably seventy more were ed. The fire caused consternation. | still buried in the ruins. As the This year will stand as a record istorm was atits height the gashold breaker for tornadoes and great loss jerat Eighteenth street collapsed. of life Within the last thirteen | People were terrified by columns of days tt have been storms which | burning gas leaping high in the air sed the loss of 650 people | The old three. story building on the southeast corner of Main and Pine | streets, occupied by the St. Louis |Commission company. is a total } wreck Pine street was filled with age and debris to the hei ten feet. tof Sherm The storm visited the i received in Penny & Gentles at the May 17—Northern Kaneas {B y and Franklin Y ept by a terrible ate glass windows on ose of life was near th ompletely demoli mi deluged the stor |About the Iron Mounta’ {yards were strewn about eur: nois and Jowa, in which 10/ souls perished either by tbe wind or drowning in the fleode. Last ni the storm in I 0 people peris the awful total of 66° since April 12. } ‘broken off by the flying timbers | Planks were driven into the earth en off. Freight cars were : making actual dead jand bri Wear you a City. city 8 § and know worth we pa duplic Ch or int tas Ol is cl dried ly fa will | and | We Sufi blow whet i Bili whi ied Sto Th wh ma the ran An Tot nes pa, for tek tha sot th ne ei!