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STRANGE BUT TRUE
The tornado developed hundreds of incidents so unique that the best of them are entitled to a chapter to themselves. Since the account of the first of these strange storms was written, back in the days of the Marshfield and Grinnell disasters, stories of miraculous, unaccountable escapes, peculiar deaths and fantastic doings of the elements have formed a large part of the history of every storm of this character. For example, nothing is more difficult of explanation than a condition which exists at the wrecked home of Dr. Starkloff on Compton avenue. The outer walls of the splendid red mansion are torn away, the roof is gone and there are other evidences of the ravages of the storm without the building. Yet the light pictures on the walls are hanging in place and the lamps on tables and stands are not disturbed as to position, neither are they in any way damaged. On one of them the delicate lace shade is not even disarranged. In South St. Louis there is a house whose entire north wall is torn out save a support under one of the windows and the window itself. The frame is not damaged and not one of the panes of glass is broken. On Russell avenue, not far from Compton, one of the heavy marble steps that were in front of the main door of the residence was picked up and the end driven into the ground to a depth of two feet. The step is not chipped or in any way injured. There are two iron posts in front of the Merchants' Exchange building. One of them was wrenched off by the storm. Sixty feet away is a wooden post of the same size and height of the iron pillar, and it was in no way damaged. Chunks of ice, presumably from the Wainwright Brewery, were found in the water in Twelfth street, just below the Shickle-Harrison Iron Works.
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