IN EAST ST. LOUIS

The tornado that wrought such havoc in St. Louis jumped the Mississippi and wrecked the western half of Last St. Louis. More than 100 people were killed and three times that number injured. Two million dollars will not cover the damage done to property. The damage was done in a few minutes' time, and how any person in the path of the cyclone escaped is a mysterv to all who passed over the devastated section. The wind struck the levee just north of the East St. Louis elevator, about 5:30. The wharf of the Wiggins Ferry was the first to suffer and it was thrown far up on the levee

Eye witnesses of the scene in East St. Louis describe it as the most terrible ever witnessed. Whole roofs of houses were flying through the air. Trees were uprooted, and very movable object was endowed with the power of locomotion by the hurricane. Those who possessed sufficient courage to look from their windows saw a mass of opaque air, which seemed to be whirling around in a circle and possessed of no definite object except to destroy as much property and take away as many lives as possible. When the sharp clap of thunder, immediately preceding the fiercest part of the storm, reverberated throughout the city, there were many who thought it was the crack of doom. They sought refuge in prayer and by hiding themselves in their closets. Still the wind blowed. Every gust seemed to gain encouragement from the one which preceded it. It was no respecter of persons. Roofs of modest dwellings and those of factories and apparently solid structures were blown away. It lasted perhaps, fifteen minutes, but time is merely a measure of events and so many things happened in that short interval that there were many terror-stricken persons who believed the storm lasted for hours

When the clouds rolled away and a clearer atmos. phere enabled persons to see some distance from their homes the city bore an altered appearance. Many dwelling houses were splintered into kindling wood. Men and women ran hither and thither, calling aloud for surgeons and nurses to help them care for their dead and wounded. Mothers implored help to find their children. Husbands carried the mangled bodies of their wives out into the streets, where the cool rain seemed a balm that would mitigate their suffering. Comparative calm came as suddenly as the storm. The wind ceased to blow and for a time comparative cheerfulness prevailed. When, however, the awful destruction of the storm was realized a gloom spread over the town like a pall.

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