The Cortland Democrat, Friday, June 7,
1889.
TERRIBLE
DISASTER.
FLOOD AND FIRE.
TEN THOUSAND MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN KILLED.
Full Particulars of the Damage, Flood and
Fire at Johnstown and other Points in Pennsylvania.
PITTSBURG,
May 31.—A sudden freshet is reported in the North Fork River east of Johnstown
in the Alleghany Mountains. Two-thirds of Johnstown is said to be under water
and the railroad and telegraph lines are washed out. Pittsburg has had no wire
communication with Johnstown for three hours.
The flood
at Johnstown has resulted in an awful catastrophe. It is said the reservoir
above the town broke about 5 o'clock this evening and the immense volume of water
rushed down to the city carrying with it death and destruction. Houses with
their occupants were swept away and scores, probably hundreds of people, were drowned.
There is no communication with Johnstown, but a telegraph operator in the Pennsylvania
Railroad tower at Sang Hollow, 12 miles this side of Johnstown, says at least
75 dead bodies have floated past. The wires are all down and no trains are running
east of Blairsville, which is about 25 miles from Johnstown There is no way to
get to the scene of the disaster and full particulars can hardly be obtained
to-night although every effort is being made to do so. There will be no trains
through to the East before to-morrow.
The
latest reliable information received from Johnstown comes through the
Pennsylvania railroad officials, who aver that over 200 dead bodies have been
counted floating down stream at Johnstown alone, while along the line many
additional lives have been lost. It is asserted that there are but two houses
in Johnstown proper entirely above the water line.
A special
train bearing Pennsylvania road officials and a large number of newspapermen
has left this city for the scene. Telegraphic communication is entirely cut off
and until telegraph repairmen and operators open at the nearest points, but
little information can be obtained.
A special
from Greensburg says: Johnstown is completely submerged and the loss of life is
inestimable. Houses are going down the river by the dozen and people can be
seen clinging to the roofs. At Coketown, a village of several hundred
inhabitants, the houses are almost entirely covered and a great many dwellings
at Blairsville are submerged. Scarcely a dwelling in the vicinity of Long
Hollow can be seen. The bridges at Bolivar and Ninevah, it is reported, have
given way and that at Saltsburg it is feared will be carried away. People here
who have friends in the flooded district are eagerly awaiting for news at the telegraph
office. Great uneasiness prevails. The river at Livermore is rising and great destruction
will follow.
NEW
FLORENCE, Pa., June 1.—It’s now very evident that more lives have been lost because
of foolish incredulity than from ignorance of the danger. For more than a year
there have been fears of an accident of just such a character.
The
foundations of the South Fork dam were considered unsafe early last spring and
many increasing breakages were reported from time to time.
Ample
warning was given to the Johnstown residents by the railroad officials and by
other gentlemen of standing and reputation in dozens, yes, hundreds of cases. This
was utterly disregarded and those who heeded it early in the day were looked upon
as cowards and many jeers were uttered by lips that are now cold among the rank
grass beside the river
The basin contained water measuring two miles across by five miles in
length, and was 70 feet deep in the deepest place. When the flood burst upon
the city of Johnstown everything was carried before it, and not an instant’s
time was given to seek safety. Houses were demolished, swept from their
foundations and carried in the flood to a culvert near the town. Here a mass of
all manner of debris soon lodged, and by evening it had dammed the water back
in the city over the tops of the still remaining chimneys.
At 11
o'clock last night the blockade at the Johnstown bridge was three-fourths of a
mile and forty feet high and was all on fire. The sky was illuminated for miles
by the conflagration. The bridge at Johnstown proved too stanch for the water. Some
of the top stones were only displaced. Many people had taken refuge there and so
there was no means of escape, they perished by fire from an over turned stove or
some such cause.
Johnstown
is in a sort of hollow between two rivers and the flood must have swept over
the city at a depth of forty feet. Whether incredulity and foolhardiness numbers
its flood victims by scores or by hundreds no one yet knows, and it will be many
days before the writing upon tombstones and the tracing of the unknown dead are
ended. There has grown up a bitter feeling among the surviving sufferers against
those who owned the lake and dam, and damage suits will be plentiful by and by.
The dams in Stony creek above Johnstown broke about noon yesterday and thousands
of feet of lumber passed down the stream.
It is
impossible what the loss of life will roll up to, but at 9 o'clock this morning
the coroner of Westmoreland county sent a message out saying that one hundred bodies
had been recovered at Nineveh. Half way from here to Johnstown sober minded people
do not hesitate to say that 1,200 is a moderate estimate. "How can anybody
tell how many are dead," said a railroad engineer to the correspondent
this morning. "I have been at Sang Hollow with my train since 11 o'clock
yesterday, and I have seen fully five hundred persons lost in
the flood."
J. W. Esch,
a brave railroad employee, saved sixteen lives at Nineveh.
The most
awful culmination of the awful night was the roasting of a hundred or more
persons in mid-flood at the new rail road bridge at Johnstown. There were
crowds of men, women and children on the wreck and their screams were soon
added to the awful chorus of horror. They were literally roasted on the flood.
Soon after the fire burned itself out others were thrown against the mass.
There were
some fifty people in sight when the ruins suddenly parted, broke up, and was
swept under the bridge into pitchy darkness. The latest news from Johnstown is
that but two houses could be seen in the town. It is also said that only three
houses remain in Cambria city. The first authentic news was brought by W. H.
Hays, of the Pennsylvania railroad company, who reached New Florence at 9
o'clock. He says the valley towns are annihilated. The associated press now has
the only wire between New Florence and Pittsburg.
A FLOOD OF DEATH.
DERRY, Pa.,
June 1.—A flood of death swept down the Alleghany mountains yesterday afternoon
and last night. Almost the entire city of Johnstown was swimming about in the
rushing, angry tide. Dead bodies are floating about in every direction, and
almost every piece of movable timber is carrying from the doomed city, a
corpse. The disaster overtook Johnstown about 6 o'clock last evening. As the
train bearing the special correspondents sped eastward, the report at each stop
grew more appalling.
At Derry
a group of railway officials were gathered who had come from Bolivar, the end
of the passable portion of the road westward. They had seen but a small portion
of the awful flood, but enough to allow them to imagine the rest.
Down
through the Packsaddle came the rushing waters. The height of the Alleghanies looked
down in solemn wonder at the scene of the most terrible destruction that ever
struck the romantic valley of the Conemaugh.
The water
was raising when the men left at six o'clock at the rate of five feet an hour.
Clinging
to improvised rafts constructed in death's battle, from floating boards and timbers,
were agonized men, women and children, their heartrending shrieks for help
striking horror to the breasts of the onlookers. Their cries were of no avail. Carried along at railway speed on the breast of
the rushing torrents, no human ingenuity could devise a means of rescue. With
hair clinging wet and damp to her pallid cheek, a mother was seen grasping a
floating timber, while in her other arm she held her babe, already drowned.
With a death grip on a plank, a strong man just giving up hope cast an
imploring look to those on the bank; an instant later and he had sunk into the
waves. Prayers to their God, cries to those in safety, rang above the roaring
waves.
The
special train pulled in at Bolivar at 11:30 P. M., and the trainmen were there notified
that further progress was impossible. The greatest excitement prevailed at this
place and parties of citizens are out all the time endeavoring to save the poor
unfortunates that are being hurled to eternity on the rushing torrent.
The tidal
wave struck Bolivar just after dark, and in five minutes the Conemaugh rose
from six to forty feet and the waters spread out over the beautiful country. Soon
houses began floating down and clinging to the debris were men, women and
children shrieking for aid.
A large
number of citizens at once gathered on the county bridge and they were reinforced
by a number from Garfield, a town on the opposite side of the river. They brought
a number of ropes and these were thrown into the boiling waters as persons
drifted by in efforts to save some poor beings. For half an hour all efforts
were fruitless until at last, when the rescuers were about giving up all hope,
a little boy, astride a shingle roof, managed to catch hold of one of the
ropes. He caught it under his left arm and was thrown violently against an
abutment, but managed to keep hold, and was successfully pulled on to the
bridge, amid the cheers of the onlookers. His name was Hesseler, and his rescuer
was a train hand named Carney.
The lad was at once taken to the town of Garfield
and cared for. The boy was about 16 years old.
JOHNSTOWN,
Pa., June 3.—The situation here is not changed and yesterday's estimates of the
loss of life do not seem exaggerated. Six hundred bodies are now lying in
Johnstown and a large number have already been buried. Four immense relief
trains arrived last night and the survivors are being well cared for. Many of
the dead were found with their hands yet clinging tenaciously to the branches
of trees and shrubs. A young couple were locked in each others' arms. A mother was
found with a child clasped in each arm and held closely to her bosom. There is
no possibility of telling just who has been lost as thousands are missing.
Many survivors
tell of the most thrilling escapes from the collections of debris, house roofs,
[train] car doors and planks, and seem paralyzed from fright and horror. The
number of people visible from the banks are so few in contrast with the
population of the various little boroughs which constitute the city that the
question "Where are the people?" is asked on all sides.
The
impression is gaining that the disclosures yet to come where the gorge
collected, and which is now burning over an area of several acres will be yet
more ghastly. It is feared that thousands lie beneath the great bed of fire.
Millions cannot repair the damage, and the desolation covers miles of
territory. The agonized cries and lamentations of the friends who have not been
able to learn any tidings of their loved ones is most deplorable and pathetic. When
a form is seen to drop down deeper into the flames from the burning away of supports
wild shrieks pierce the air.
The
following have been recognized as dead thus far:
John W.
Parsons, wife and child, Aubrey Parsons, wife and two children, Mrs. John Henderson
and two children, Miss Frank, daughter of John Frank, James Lightner and wife
and sister, Margaret Lightner, Mike Lather, James Bridges, Louis Weinseller and
wife, Lizzie Howe, Mrs. Andrew Leonard, Mrs. Cush, Miss Katzenmeyer, Miss
Broesby, Mrs. Caroline Polack, John Kurtz, Edward Lightner, missing, Dennis Carroll,
missing, Samuel and Rose Hawthorne, Mrs. James Smith and three children, Peter
McEnnerny and family of nine, Mrs. and Miss Hammel, Mrs. H. M. Ogle, Western
Union telegraph operator, and Miss Minnie Ogle, Miss Grace Gorman, Miss Watkins,
Miss Minnie Linzon, missing, Thomas Jackson, telegraph lineman, Mr. Rodgers,
William Gaither, Charles Thomas, Mr. Amos, Mary Holleran, granddaughter of John
Coad, John Jones, a boy, Cord McClarren, William Smith, Frank and Edward
Kerlin, Alexander King, Jacob Waise, Emma Tusedara, Miss Oswald, Emma Breges,
Eliza Delaney, George and Eddie Miller, Mr. and Mrs. John Tokatsch, Mrs. Huff,
William Fredberger, Ida Warner, Lewis Leur, William J. Williams, Daisy Finnert,
Mary Ann Howe, George Rowser, Thomas Davis, the famous tavern keeper known as
"California Tom," A. L. Beter, John Leunbersky, Wat Stewart, Christ
Craig, a child of John Hays, C. T. Schubert. Emma Bridges, David Dickinson, Andrew
Greger, August Hickey, a beautiful young woman said to be Ida Fischer, a
prominent young lady of Johnstown, Emma Kane, George Kritzf, Marie Duarooski
and her daughter of the same name, Anna Tona, William Kush, James Bridges, Mrs.
John Lobern and Miss Marie Lobern.
Fine
thoroughfares in the most densely populated parts of the town are denuded of
their elegant houses. Trees were stripped of branches, uprooted and swept away.
Not a single structure now left within the city is safe for habitation. All
must be rebuilt. The gorge has so obstructed the sluiceways of the viaduct
that the water does not recede very fast. All the water craft having been swept
away the getting about in the deluged streets is attended with danger.
Notwithstanding
the distress of their fellow citizens the Huns were caught purloining the
garments and searching the pockets of the flood victims. All food supplies
having been destroyed and all places of shelter being insecure, hundreds took
refuge on the slopes which surrounded the city.
There
were pathetic scenes. Little children clustered around their elders crying for
food and shivering with the cold mountain air. For 18 hours the little city was
cut off from the world, and the tragedies of the awful night can never be told.
The
Pennsylvania railroad tracks at Sang Hollow, three miles west, were torn out
and absolutely washed away for three quarters of a mile. The heavy steel rails were
twisted as if they were wires, and in some instances were broken off. One track
was swept into the river, the rails and ties of the east track were thrown on
the westbound track, and in one place they were twisted into a plait. The stone
ballast was washed away from between the ties for over a mile and in one place
the rails, ties and ballast were all swept away and the heavy roadbed was
beaten as hard as a cemented floor.
Food,
clothing, money and shelter are needed by the inhabitants. Pittsburg and Alleghany have started a relief fund but the sum
needed is more than any one can give. Food has been forwarded from the cities
and towns along the road. On the Baltimore & Ohio there was much damage
also. The actual loss of life cannot be ascertained within less than a week or
10 days. The damage done the Cambria Iron Works is incalculable, and they will
have to spend a fabulous sum in repairs. It will be several months before they
can resume operations.
A portion
of the police of Pittsburg and Alleghany are on duty, and better order is now
maintained. There is an absence of pillaging. Communication has been restored between
Cambria City and Johnstown by a footbridge. The work of repairing the tracks
between Sang Hollow and Johnstown is going on rapidly and trains will probably
be running by tomorrow. Not less than 15,000 strangers are here.
Col. Norman
M. Smith of Pittsburg, while returning from Johnstown after a visit to Adjutant
General Hastings was knocked from the temporary bridge into the river and
carried down stream a couple of hundred yards before he was able to swim
ashore. He was not hurt. Gen. Hastings countermanded the ordering out of the
Eighteenth regiment. The militia are not needed. J. G. Gill and 25 men started
in a wagon to go up the mountain and all were drowned by the torrent which
overtook them. Gus McHugh, an engineer on the Pennsylvania railroad, who lived
in Conemaugh, was asleep when the torrent rushed down the valley. His wife was away
from home at the time. Her husband and four children were drowned.
Each hour
reveals some new and horrible story of suffering and outrage and brings news of
merited punishment meted out to the fiends who have dared to desecrate the corpses.
Tales of almost indescribable horror come to light and deeds of the vilest nature,
perpetrated in the darkness are brought to light. Last evening 13 Hungarians were
noticed picking their way along the banks of the Conemaugh towards Sang Hollow.
Several farmers armed themselves and started in pursuit. The Hungarians came
upon the dead and mangled body of a woman upon which there were a number of
trinkets and two diamond rings. In their eagerness to secure the plunder the
Hungarians squabbled, and one of them severed the finger upon which were the
rings and ran off with the prize. The farmers gave chase. Some of the
Hungarians showed fight, but being outnumbered fled. Nine of the brutes escaped,
but four were driven into the surging river and to their death. The monster whose
acts has been described was among the drowned.
This
morning an old railroader, who had walked from Sang Hollow, stepped up to a
number of men on the platform of the station at Curranville and said:
"Gentlemen, had I a shot gun half an hour ago, I would now be a murderer,
yet with no fear of ever having to suffer for my crime. Two miles below here I
watched three men going along the bank stealing jewels from the bodies of the
dead wives and daughters of the men who have been robbed of all they held dear
on earth."
He had no
sooner finished than five burly men were on their way to the scene of plunder,
one with a coil of rope and another with a revolver. In 20 minutes, so it is stated,
they overtook two of the thieves in the act of cutting pieces from the ears and
fingers from the hands of women. The scoundrels were captured and searched. As their
pockets were emptied of their ghastly finds the indignation of the crowd
intensified and when a bloody finger of an infant encircled with two gold rings
was found among the plunder a cry went up, "Lynch them, lynch them."
Without a moment's delay ropes were thrown around the robbers' necks and were
soon dangling to the limbs of a tree in the branches of which but an hour
before were entangled the bodies of a father and son. After half an hour the
bodies were lowered and carried to a pile of rocks in the forest. It is hinted that
an Alleghany county official was one of the most prominent actors in the lynching.
The
handsome high brick school building here is damaged so badly that it will have
to be rebuilt. The water rose to the second floors. The upper stories formed a refuge
for many persons. All Saturday afternoon two little girls at the windows
frantically called for aid. They had spent all night and the day in the
building without food and drinking water. Late in the evening they were
rescued. A number of persons were taken from this building earlier in the day
but in the excitement the children were forgotten. Morrill Institute, a
beautiful building and the old homestead of the Morrill family is totally
ruined. There is danger of its collapsing. Many families took refuge in this
building and were saved. Now that the waters have receded there is great
danger from falling walls. All day long the crashing of walls could be heard
across the river. Horrible death awaited many who had escaped the flood.
Library
Hall was another fine building of the many in the city that were destroyed. Of
the Episcopal church not a vestige remains. Its site is now a placid lake. The
parsonage was swept away and the rector, Rev. Mr. Dillon, was drowned. The
church was one of the first buildings to fall. It carried with it several
surrounding houses, many occupied. The victims were swept into comparatively
still waters at the bridge and there met death by fire or water.
James M.
Walters, the attorney, has his office on the second floor of Alma Hall. His home is at No. 135 Walnut street. He was in
the house with his family when the waters struck it. All was carried away. Mr.
Walters' family drifted on a roof in another direction. He passed down several
streets and alleys until he came to Alma Hall. His dwelling struck that edifice
and he was thrown into his own office. About 200 persons had taken refuge on
the upper stories of the hall. The men drew up rules of conduct and Walters was
chosen president. No lights were allowed and the whole night was spent in
darkness. The sick were cared for. The weaker women and children had the best
accommodations.
The
scenes were most agonizing. Heart rending shrieks, sobs and moans pierced the
darkness. No one slept during the long night; many knelt for hours in prayer their
supplications mingling with the roar of the waters and shrieks of the dying in the
surrounding houses. Two women gave premature birth to children. Dr. Matthews had
several of his ribs crushed by a falling timber and his pains were severe. Yet
he attended the sick. When two women in a house across the street shouted for
help he with two other men crossed the drift and ministered to their wants. Several
women and children died the next day from terror and fatigue. Miss Row Young was
frightfully cut and bruised. Mrs. Young had a leg broken. All of Mr. Walters' family
were saved.
Editor T.
C. Schubert of Johnstown Free Press,
German, one of the most popular and well known Germans here, Thursday sent his
three sons to Conemaugh borough. Friday he and his wife and six other children
called at Mr. Grlbble's residence. The water drove them to the attic. Mr.
Schubert prepared a raft upon which all embarked. As the raft reached the bridge
a heavy timber rose from the water and swept the editor beneath the surface. The
raft glided through and all the rest were rescued. Mr. Schubert's remains were found
yesterday beneath a pile of broken timbers.
In a tour
of the west bank of a river for two wiles not over a hundred bodies were seen, but
while a mass of people walked back and forth they were strangers. Not one
person in 10 was a resident in this vicinity. This leads to the belief that hundreds,
perhaps thousands, are still buried in the mud and debris, buried in the awful
furnace at the stone bridge, or lodged further down than the searchers have yet
gone.
That many
are buried yet, is also indicated by a fresh find every few hours though no thorough
search has been commenced. The work of getting the bodies together for identification
began this afternoon.
The central
part was Morrellville. A large lot was almost covered with coffins, while between
them were weeping men and women. The number was short of one hundred, but
others will come in. In one rough box were three children, their bodies almost naked
and the purple faces bruised and cut.
In a
rough box lay the body of an unknown young woman, elegantly dressed. St. Mary's
German Catholic Church stands a quarter of a mile below the bridge. Its walls
are standing, but inside it is filled with broken benches and ruined images. In
it were found the mangled body of P. Eldridge and the remains of several negroes.
The distance to St. Columbia's Catholic church is half a mile. The streets to
it are filled with broken houses, and the people in those left standing ware
shoveling mud from the first floors. The scene at St. Columbia's church was
awful. Forty or fifty bodies had been carried into it and laid on the muddy
seats. The following were identified:
Kate Prank, Charles A. Keiss, James Lightner
and wife, Justice of the Peace Edward O'Neil's baby, Louis Wineseller and wife,
Miss Rose McAneny, Mrs. Jas. P. O'Conoughy, Daffney Keelan, Thomas Fagan, Mrs.
P. Kush, Mrs. William Kirby, Mrs. Hitchin and Thomas, son of Michael Hays.
Lying in
a row were five unidentified children from 2 to 6 years old. Their little curls
were matted with mud. Their nostrils were filled with sand and the eyes often
completely covered. Their faces were stained with blood from cuts and bruises. Across
the aisle lay the massive form of a Hungarian laborer. The following identified
dead are in the Fourth ward school house:
F.
Butler, Jas. Q. Cox,
George Randolph, Harry Barbour, James Martha, Mrs. W. Jones, Robert Miller, Elmer Brinky, S. D. Eldridge,
Mrs. Barbour, Jacob Wald, wife and child, Kate Lindhait, Robert Baldwin, C.
McNalley, Frank Dimond, William Penrod, P. McAuley, John Streiner, M. L. Davis,
Mrs. Defrance, the two Misses Richards, Ella Harrington, Charles A. Marshall,
John Beems, John Anderson, C. H. Wilson, M. Little, A. M. Jones, the Misses
Hamilton, (three), C. R. Butler, Charles Wilson, John Andrews, John Burns, Mrs.
McCoy and Mrs. O'Connell.
A number
of other bodies in the school house are unidentified. Men were digging trenches
to-day in the cemeteries. The bodies that were exposed when the water began
falling are in a bad condition. Some have already been interred. In the haste
and excitement no definite arrangements seem to have been made for burial
services. Harry Rose, District Attorney for Cambria, is reckoned among the
lost.
Many have been reported lost who are not.
Col. John Linton and his family are safe. John M. Rose is not dead, as
reported, nor Col. James McMillan. Rev. H. Chapman also reported dead is alive.
These facts today caused much joy. A squad of Battery B arrived at 6:30 o'clock.
Another dispensary under doctors Wakefield and Milligan is doing good work.
They treated 300 patients to-day. Among the patients are many with fractured skull
and nearly all have broken bones. One man had a heavy iron bar driven through
his leg beneath the knee separating the two bones. A thigh amputation was made.
A woman had her knee and the lower part of her limb crushed out of shape. A
thigh amputation was necessary.
Dr.
Milligan reported at 6 P. M. that 76 bodies had been taken out at
Kearnsville, and 83 above the silk works.
Chief
Coons, of the Pittsburg fire department, arrived this evening with engines and
several hose carts, with a full complement of men. A large number of Pittsburg
physicians came on the same train.
