Greenfield Republican, Greenfield, Hancock County, 7 June 1889 — Page 3

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AN-APPALLINGCALAMITY.

The ConeKLaugh Valley, Pa., Flooded by a Bursting Lake.

Johnstown Swept Away—Over Ten Thousand People Drowned.

A Resistless Torrent Overwhelms th« City and Carries Everything Before ItMany Towns Wiped Out of Existence-

Hundreds of flutnan Bodies Floating About the Country—H«roi« Attempts at 9-tescue and Despair of the Victims— "Help! Help!" is Hoard From Every »irection---Full Details of an Awful Night.

DKP.P.Y,

Pa., May

31.—A

flood of death

awept down the Allegheny mountains this afternoon and to-night and almost the entire city of Johnstown is 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 of humanity, drifting with the raging waters God knows where.

The disaster overtook Johnstown about 6 o'clock this evening. As the tram bearing the special correspondents aped eastward, the reports at each stop grew more appalling. At Derry a group of railway officials were gathered who had come from Bolivar, the end of the oaesable 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 "Pack-saddle" •eaine the rushing waters. The wooded heights of the Alleghenies looked down iu solemn wonder at the scene of the most terrible destruction that ever struck the romantic valley of the Conemaugh. The water was rising when the men left at 7 o'clock at the rate of five feet an hour.

Clinging to improvised rafts, constructed in the death-battle from floating boards and timbers, were agonized men, women and children, their heartrending shrieks for help striking horror to the breasts of the on-lookers. Their ries were of no avail. Carried along at a railway speed on the breast of this rushing torrent, no human ingenuity could devise a means of rescue. With pallid cheek and hair clinging wet and larnp to her cheek, a mother was seen grasping a floating timber, while with ner other arm she held her babe.

The special train pulled in at Boliver at 11:1)0. and train men were there notified that further progress was impossible. The greatest excitement prevailed at this place and parties of citizens are out endeavoring to save the poor unfortunates that are being hurled £0 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 whole 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 Gariieid, a town on the opposite side. They brought a number ot ropes, and these Mere thrown over into the boiling waters as persona drifted by, in efforts to save some poor beings. For a half lisur all efforts were fruitless, until at last, when the rescuers were about giving up all hope, a little boy, astride of a sningle roof, managed to catch hold of one of the ropes. H« caught it under his left arm and was thrown violently against an abutment, but managed to ktep hold and was pulled onto the bridge amid the cheers of the on-look-ers. The boy's name is Edward Heseler, aged sixteen.

At midnight your correspondent secured an interview with him. His story of the frightful calamity is as follower "With my father, I was spending the •day at my grandfather's house in Cambria City. In the house at the time were Theodore Edward and John Kintz aud John Kintz, jr., Miss Mary Kintz, Mrs. Mary Kintz, wife of John, jr.. Miss Tracy Kintz, Mrs. Rica Smith, John Hirsch and four children, my father and myself. Shortly after 5 o'clock there was a noise of roaring waters and screams of people. We looked out the door and saw persons running. My father told us to never mind, as the waters would not rise further. But soon we saw houses being swept away and then ran up to the floors above. The house was three stories and we were at last forced to the top one. In my fripht I jumped on the bed. It was an old-fashioned one with heavy poets. The water kept rising and my bed was soon afloat. Gradually it was lifted up. The air in the room grew close and the house was moving. Still the bed kept rising and pressed the ceiling. At last the posts pushed the plaster. It yieledd.and a section ofjthe roof gave way. Then suddenly I found myself on the roof and was being carried down stream. After a little the roof commenced to part, and I was afraid I was going to be drowned, but just then another house with a shingle roof floated by, and I managed to crawl on it, and floated down until nearly dead with cold. 1 was saved. After I was freed from the house I did not see my father. My grandfather was in a tree, but he must have been drowned as the water was rising. John Kintz, jr. was also in the tree. Miss Mary Kintz and Mrs. Mary Kintz I saw drown. Miss Smith also drowned. John Hirsch was in a tree, butthe four children were drowned. The scenes were terrible. Live bodies and corpses were floating down with me and away from me. I would hear a person shriek, and then they would disappear. All along the line were people who were trying to save us, but they could do nothing, and only a few more were caught."

The boy's story is but one incident it shows what happened to one family. God only knows what has happened to hundreds who were in the path of the rushing water*. It is impossible to get anything in the way of news, save meagre details. An eye witness at Oliver block station tells a story of unparalleled terrorism which occurred at the lower bridge which crosses the Conemaugh at this point.

A man named Young, with two women, was seen coining down the river on apart of a floor. At the upper btidge a rope wan thrown to theih. This they all failed to catch. Bdtvaei

the two bridges he was noticed to point toward the elder woman, which it is supposed was his mother. He was then seen to instruct the woman how to catch the rope which was being lowered from the other bridge. Down came the raft with a rush. Young stood with his arm around the two women.

As they swept under the bridge he reached up and seized the rope. He was jerked violently away from the two women, who failed to get a hold on the rope. Seeing that they would not be rescued, he dropped the rope and fell back on the raft, which floated down the river. The current washed their frail craft in toward the bank. The young man was enabled to seize hold of a branch of a tree. The young man aided the woman to get up into the tree. He held on with his hands, and rested his feet on a pile of driftwood. A piece of floating debris struck the drift, sweeping it away. The man hung with his body immersed in the water. A pile of drift soon collected, and he was enabled to get another secure hold. Up the xivei there was a sudden crash, ana a section of the bridge was washed away and floated down the stream, striking the tree and washing it away. All three were thrown into the water and were drowned before the eyes of the horrified pp°otators, just opposite the town of Bolivar.

Eariy in the evening a woman with her two children was seen to pass under the bridge at Bolivar clinging to the roof of a coal house. A rope was lowered to her, but she shook her head and refused to desert the children. Tt was rumored that all three were saved at Cokeville, a few miles below Bolivar.

A later report from Lockport says that the residents succeeded in rescuing five people from the flood, two women and three men. One man succeeded in getting out of the water unaided. They were kindly taken care of by the people of the town.

A little girl passed under the bridge just before dark. She was kneeling on a part of a floor, and her hands clasped as if in prayer. Every effort was made to save her, but they all proved futile. The railroader, who* was standing by, remarked that the piteous appearance cf the little waif brought tears to his eyes.

All night long the crowd stood about the ruins of the bridge which had been swept away at Bolivar. The water rushed past with a roar, carrying with it parts of houses, furniture and trees. The flood had evidently spent its force up the valley. No more living persons were being carried past. Watchers with lanterns remained along the banks until daybreak, when the first view of the awful' devastation of the flood was witnessed.

Along the bank lay the ruins of what had once been dwelling bouses and store. Here and there was an uprooted tree. Piles of drift lay about, in some of which the bodies of the victims of the flood will be found. Rescuing parties are being formed in all the towns along the railroad. Houses have been thrown open to refugees, and every possible means will be used to protect the homeless. The wrecking trains of the Pennsylvania railioad are slowly making their way east to the unfortunate city.

At 2 o'clock this morning they were held at Bolivar. An effort was then being made to repair the wrecks and the crews of the trains were organized into rescuing parties.

There is absolutely no news from Johnstown. The little city is entirely cut off from communication with the outside world. The damage done is inestimable. No one can tell its extent. The Cambria Iron Company's works are built on made ground. It stands near the river, and many fear that it has been swept away or greatly damaged. The loss of these works alone will be in the millions. The little telegraph stations aiong the road are filled with anxious groups of men who have friends and relatives in Johnstown. The smallest item of news is seized upon and circulated. If favorable, they have a moment of relief if not, their faces become moie gloomy.

Harry Fisher, a young telegraph operator, who was at Bolivar when the first rush began, says: "We knew nothing of the disaster until we saw the river slowly rising, and then more rapidly. News then reached us from Johnstown that the dam at South Fork had burst. Within three hours the water in the river rose at least twenty feet. Shortly before o'clock ruins of houses, beds, household utensils, barrels and kegs came floating past the bridges. At 8 o'clock the water was within six feet of the roadbed of the bridge. The wreck floated past without stopping for at least two hours. Then it began to lessen, and night coming suddenly upon us we could see no more. The wreckage was floating by for a long time before the first living person went down. Fifteen people that I saw were carried down the river. One of these, a boy, was saved, and three of them were drowned just below town. It was an awful night and one that I will not soon forget."

THE RESERVOIR AND ITS LOCATION. In order to understand the nature of this calamity, it is necessary to describe the respective locations of the reservoir and Johnstown. The reservoir lies about two and a half miles northeast of Johnstown, and is on the site of the old reservoir, which wa« one of the feeders o' the Pennsylvania canal. It is the property of a number of wealthy gentlemen in Pittsburg, who formed themselves into the corporation, the title of which is the "South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club." This sheet of water was formerly known as Conemaugh lake. It is from 200 to 800 feet above the level of Johnstown, being in the mountains. It is about three and onehalf miles long, and from a mile to one and one-fourth miles in width, and in some places it is 100 feet in depth. It holds more water than any other reservoir, natural or artificial, in the United States. The lake has been quadrupled in size by artificial means and was held in check by a dam from 700 to 1,000 feet wide. It is ninety feet in thickness at the base and the height is 110 feet. The top has a breadth of over twentv feet. Recognising the menace which the lake was to the region below, the South Fork Club had the dam inspected once a month by the Pennsylvania railroad engineers, and their investigation showed that nothing less than some convulsion of nature would tear the barrier away and loosen the weapon of death. The steady rains of the last lorty-eight hoars increased the volume of vater in all the small, mountain streams, which were alrea ly swelled by the lesser rains early in the week.

The following dispatch wju received from Philadelphia May 31: The reservoir »r dam at (South Fork

which is said to have burst with snc terrible results, is described by a gep.tleman acquainted with the lopdlity in which it was situated to be an- immense body of water formerly used as a water supply for the old Pennsylvania canal. It has" been owned for several years by a number of Pittsburg gentlemen who used it as a fishing ground. The gentleman who gave this information said that if the report of the bursting of the dam was true he had no doubt that the damage and loss of life was fully as great as indicated in_ the diaoatches

The course of the torrent from the broken dam at the foot of the lake to Johnstown is almost eighteen mles, and with the exception cf a lone point the water passed through a narrow Vshaped valley. Four miles below the dam lay the town of South Fork, where the South Fork itself empties into the Conemaugh river. The town contained about two thousand inhabitants. It has not been heard from, but it is said that four-fifths of it has been swept away. Four miles further down OD the Conemaugh river, which runs parallel with the main line of the Pennsylvania railroad, was the town of Mineral Point. It had 800 inhabitans, 90 per cent, of the houses being on a flat close to the river. It seems impossible at this time to hope that any of them have escaped. Six miles further down was the town of Conemaugh, and hjre a1one was there a topoprat hical possibility of the spreading of the flood and the breaking of its force. It contained 2,500 inhabitants and must be almo3t wholly devastated.

Woodvale, with 2,000 people, lay a mile below Conemaugh in the flat, and one mile further down

were

Johnstown

and its cluster of sister towns—Cambria City and Conemaughborough, with a total population of 30,000. On made ground and stretched along the river verge were the inmense iron works of the Cambria iron and steel company, who have 15,000,000 invested in their plant. Besides this, there are many other large industrial establishments on the bank ot the river, the damage to which cannot be estimated.

At 11 p. m. a railroad man says the loss of life will reach hundreds, and perhaps over a thousand.

A supervisor lrom up the road brings the iniormation that the wreckage at Johnstown is piled up forty above the bridge. The startling news also comes that more than l,00u lives have been lest. This cannot be substantiated. It is known by actual count that 110 people were seen floating past Sang Hollow before dark. Forty-seven were counted at New Florence, and the number had diminished to eight at Bolivar. This will give some idea of the terrible fatality. The darkness coming on stopped further count, and it was only by the agonizing cries that rang out above the rise of the waters that it was known a human being was being carried to his death. The scenes along the river are wild in the extreme. Although at this hour the water is gradually subsiding, still, as it dashes againBt the rocks that fill the narrow channel of the Conemaugh, its spray is carried high up the shore.

THE WATER THICK WITH PEOPLI BOLIVAR, Pa., May 31.—The water is higher here than was ever known, and two-story houses, barns, stables, whole forests of trees, out-houses, smokehouses, railroad bridges,county bridges, rafts, inverted skiffs, and driftwood by the acre, from all of which imploring hands were held out to those on the banks willing, but impotent, to help, have floated down the swollen torrent of the Conemaugh. Information received is meagre, but for the most part, accurate. At Lockport, two miles east, more than twenty people have been taken from the flood.

The first great rush of water reached here at 7 o'clock this evening, This came from the bursted dam above Johnstown. It came like a frenzied whirlpool, and before the people could realize it, they were in its grasp. Fortunately the people living on the lowlying ground escaped. At 7:30 o'clock a great pile of driftwood |was swept along and from it shriek upon shriek for "help," "help," "for God's sake come!"

The horrified spectators on the shore saw three women, to one of whom were clinging two children, neither of whom was apparently more than an infant. The rapidity of the current and the position of the raft together with the lack of facilities for rescuing,

Jng

recluded

gity,

A.V

the possibility of ever think-

of the matter, and the raft passed out of sight, the screams of the women and children blending in their pleadings for aid long after the raft was around the bend.

The stream then became thick, strewn with men, women and children clinging to all sorts of temporary means of salvation. Two men and two women were clinging to the tops of huge trees, the men emulating the women in their shrieks for help that it was not possible to give. Justatdark a lad was seen clinging to a log. James Curry secured along fine and ran to the river bank. The noose of the lasso fell over the boy's neck and shoulders, and a moment later the drenched, poverty stricken little fellow was hanled to the bank. He was soon restored, and stated that his name was Edwin Harsten, thirteen years of age. He has lived with his father and

randfather and mother in Cambria apart of Johnstown. At 4 o'clock their home had been caught in the volume of water let loose by the bursting of the dam. They had all climbed upon amass of drift wood, and were carried along. Their raft went to pieces against a bridge pier, and he had not seen his relatives since, but thought that they were drowned.

Death and devastation—Of all the great disasters in the history of the world, the one at Johnstown, Pa., will probably Sgure as the greatest that ever occurred in a civilized community. The first reports of the awful loss of life are not only verified by the late particulars but the number of dead, it is conceded, will exceed the number first named eight or ten times over. Adjutant General Hastings estimates the number of those who lost their lives at 8,000 to 15,000. Not a living soul had entered or departed from Johnstown since the hour of the dieaster. Attempts will be made to enter the city by means of skiffs. A gentleman just in'from Johnstown estimates the loss of life at fully 12,WO. It is reported that but seventy buildings are left standing. Bodies are being hauled out of Sang Hollow by the wagon load as they drift down. The horror of the place is beyond descrip tion. An attempt will be made to make a record of all persons dead and living, Tbe most conservative reports place the loss of life at 5,000 to 7,000, ana it may

ji'i «_*

reach 10,0C0. It is known that the pgesenger trains on the Pennsylvania road were thrown into ihe maddened torient and many of the passengers drowned. The trains were held on a siding between Johnstown ana Conemaugh stations. Ihe awful torrent came down the narrow defile between the mountains, a distance of nine miles, with a fall of 300 feet. The deluge came down against them with such resistless force that the heavy trains, locomotives, Pullmans and all were overturned and swept down the torrent, and were lodged against tbe great stone viaduct, along with forty-one locomotives from the Johnstown round-house, the heavy machinery and ponderous framework of the Gautier mill, and accumulated debris of more than a thousand houses, furniture, bridges, lumber, drift and human beings. The low arches of the stone viaduct choked up immediately, and the water backed back over the entire level to a depth of 38 feet. In the great sea thus formed thousands of people were struggling for life. The accumulated drift at the viaduct caught fire from the upsetting ot stoves or lamps. As the flames crackled and roared among the dry timber of the floating houses, human bodies were seen between the house roofs, locomotives, cars, etc., the greedy flames licking with haste their diet of human flesh. No rescue was possible. Strong men turned away with agonized expressions and women screamed at the awful horror of the scene. It will be impossible to know tbe exact loss of life, if ever, until the waters have subsided and the debris removed. A correspondent was the first man to cross to Johnstown proper which he did by means of a basket suspended from a cable, as passengers are removed from wrecked ships. The whole city had been swept away, but a few buildings remaining. The hotel Hulbert bad 05 guests, 63 of whom were killed by the falling walls. Employes of the Cambria Co.'s iron and nail works were warned to flee to the hillside. Resting in fancied security they loitered about the mills and were engulfed in an instant and their bodies strewn along the Conemaugh, Kiskimini and Allegheney rivers, some of them being caught as far down the Ohio river as Rochester. In Cambria, St. Columbia's church, anew structure, was flooded to a depth of six feet in the auditorium when the water receded the floor was covered to a depth of seven inches with a slimy ooze. On boards stretched along the top of the pews were thirty bodies which had been snatched from the stream by Father T, Davlin, and some of his parishoners. A man of great size and strength entered, passed from one form to another, finally clasping the form of a child ot nine to his bosom, exclaiming: "My Maggie, my little Maggie," and giving expressions to ejaculations of deep grief. He carried the child to what had been his home and laid it beside the forms of his wife and two ether children, all of whom had been drowned. It is impossible to narrate the many pathetic incidents. At Morrell forty-three bodies were laid out. eight of them children. At Ninevah 106 bodies were laid out in a saw mill and additions were being made by wagon loads at a time. There is no possibility of telling just who has been lost, as thousands are missing. Many of the survivors tell of thrilling escapes. The number of people visible from the banks were so few in contrast with the population of the various boroughs which constitute the city that the question, "where are the people?" is asked on all sides. The awfulness of tbe scene defies language to depict as it does imagination to conceive of. Without seeing the havoc created, iio idea can be given even of the desolation or the extent of the damage. How many bodies lie beneath the great ted of fire, underswept by a raging torrent, the uncovering of their bones can alone determine. The agonized cries of the friends who cannot learn any tidings of their loved ones is most pathetic and deplorable. When a form is seen to drop down deeper into the flames from the burning away of supports shrieks pierce the air like a wail from a lost soul. The survivors are camping on tbe mountain side and food, clothing and shelter are in great need. Dead bodies are lying along the banks of the river between Sang Hollow and Johnstown as "thick as flies." It is the most terrible sight ever witnessed. The Cambria Iron Works, valued at $'5,000,000, is a total loss. The people of Johnstown had been warned several times in the morning of the danger and directed to move to the highlands, but they did not heed the warning. They laughed at the idea of danger. A very few hours later these people were being carried down in a surging torrent, drowned, burned or crushed in the maelstrom of disaster. President Hairison's Private Secretary, E. J. Halford,and wife were on the train liying at Conemaugh, which was swept away, but they escaped. Great crowds lined the river at Pittsburg. A large amount of debris was carried by. The river rose manv feet but did no serious damage. The Pennsylvania railroad is a very heavy loser. Its tracks are washed awav for many miles, bridges destroved and road bed washed out. The relief from the country will be generous and general. Pittsburg in one day contributed to an amount equal to $100,000.

Estimates of the loss of life, say frtill later reports, do not seem to have been exaggerated. Six hundred bodies are now lying in Johnstown and a large number have already been buried. Four immense relief trains have arrived and the survivors are well cared for. A por tion of the police force of Pittsburg and Allegheny are on duty, and order is being maintained. Communication between Johnstown and Cambria City has been restored by a footbridge. The work of repairing the railroad track is going rapidly forward. Fifteen thousand strangers are in the vicinity. The handsome school building is wrecked. The Normal Institute is totally ruined. Library Hall and the Episcopal Church are wiped out. A placid lake occupies the site of the latter. James M. Walters, an attorney, spent the night in Alma hall, and relates a thrilling story. One of ihe most curious occurrences of the whole disaster was how Mr. Walters got to the hall. He has his office on the second floor. His home is at No. 135 Walnut street. He says he was in the house with his family when the waters struck it. Aliwas carried away. Mr. Walters' family drifted on a roof in another direction. He passed down several streets and alleys until he came to the hall. His dwelling struck that edifice and he was thrown into his own office. About two hundred persons had taken

refuge in the hall and were on the second, third and fourth stories. The men held a meeting and drew up some rules which all were bound to respe ct. Mr. Waiters was chosen president, the Rev. Mr. Beale was put in charge of the first floor, A. M. Hart of the second floor, and Dr. Matthews of the fourth floor. Iso 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 that could be had, while the others had to wait. The scene was mast agonizing heart-rending shrieks, sobs and moans pierced the gloomy darkness. The crying ot children mingled with the suppressed sobs of the women. Under the guardianship of the men all took more hope. No one slept during all the long, dark night. Many knelt for hours in prayer, their supplications mingling with the roar of the waters and the shrieks of the dying in the surrounding houses. In all this misery two women gave premature birth to children. Dr. Matthews is a hero. Several of his ribs were crushed by falling timber and his pains were most severe, yet he attended all the sick. When two women in a house across the street shouted for h«ilp, he, with two other brave young men climbed across the drift and ministered to their wants. No one died during the night, but women and children surrendered their lives on the succeeding day as a result of terror and fatigue.

When Supt. Pitcairn telegraphed to Pittsburg that Johnstown was annihilated he came very close to the facts of the case, although be had not seen the ill-fated city. To Bay that Johnstown is a wreck is but stating the facts of the case. Nothing like it has ever been seen in this country. Where long rows of dwelling-bouses and business blocks stood forty-eight hours ago, ruin and desolation now reign supreme. Probably fifteen thousand houses have been swept away from the face of the earth as completely as if they had never been erected'. Main-st., from end to end, is piled fifteen to twenty feet high with debris, and in some intances it is as high as the roof of the houses. This great mass of wreckage fills the street from curb to curb, and frequently has crushed the fronts of the buildings in and filled the space with reminders of the terrible calamity.

The most conservative people declare that the dead will reach 5,000. The streets have been full of men carrying bodies to various places, where they await identification, and tbe work has only just begun. Every hour or so the forces of men working on the various heaps of debris find numbers of bodies buried in the mud and wreckage. It is believed that when the flames^ are extinguished in the wreckage at the bridge and the same is removed that hundreds and hundreds of victims will be discovered. In fact, this seems certain, as dozens of bodies have already been found on the outskirts of the huge mass of broken timber.

Those people who were not disabled are working earnestly for the revival of the stricken city, but it will take months of work to come anywhere near repairing the fearful damage, while it is about certain that the list of the lost will never be made complete. The supply of coffins sent in from Pittsburg and other points is so great that the relief committee telegraphed Sunday evening not to send any more until ordered. No funds have yet been received from Philadelphia, but the authorities are confident that when telegraphic communication is restored they will get liberal contributions from that city. Dozens of smaller sums have already been sent iu generous amounts, and the people are encouraged to believe that all their more pressing wants will be provided for. It will require several days yet to ascertain a definite idea as to the loss of life, but it will certainly reach up into the thousands, Every hour brings fresh evidences of the fact that the disaster eclipses anything of thj kind in the history of the country, and no one can say what the final result will be.

HUMAN GHOULS.

The pillaging of the houses in Johnstown is something awful to con ten. plate and descrioe. It makes one feel almost, ashamed to call himself a man and know that others who bear the same name have converted themselves into human vultures, preying on the dead. Men are carrying shot guns and revolvers and woe betide the stranger who looks even suspiciously at any article. Goods of great value were being sold in town 8unday for a drink of whisky. A supply store has been established in the ward of Johnstown. A line of men, women and children extending for a square waited patiently to have their wants supplied.

Each hour reveals some new and horrible story of outrage. Just as darkness began to shadow the earth Saturday evening a party of thirteen Hungarians started out to rob the dead. Several farmers suspicious of their purpose, armed themselves and followed them. They were soon caught in the act. They not only robbed the dead, but cut off the fingers to secure the rings thereon, or would slit the ear to get the jewels without the labor of unclasping. The fanners pursued the ghouls. Nine of them escaped, but four of the inhuman monsters were literally driven into the surging river and death. Sunday morning another gang of Hungarians were discovered in the same ghoulish wo.k. The party was captured and their pockets were found to be filled with fingers and pieces of the ears of their victims. Ropes were thrown over the branches of a tree and the wretches were hung like the dogs they were. Other and similar cases are reported, but on Monday complete control ofD-K the territory had been secured, and it was dangerous for man to even look with covetous eyes on what he might behold. The disaster at Johnstown, Pa., is the greatest in modern history.

Dead everywhere. That is the burden of Tuesday's telegrams. Three thousand bodies already recovered. Over one thousand discovered in Johnstown on Monday alone. Victims of the awful deluge found by scores beneath each pile of debris and in mud and sand by tbe river side. Fully 30 per cent of the residents of Johnstown and Cambria were either drowned or burned in the funeral pyre. The loss to property in the devastated district is placed at $25,000,000. The nation is nobly responding to the silent appeals for assistance. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have already been contributed. Almost every city in the Union preffering cash and necessaries.!

Mr. McConau gh ey, chief of the bureau erf registration, said Wednesday that he is convinced that the number who perished is fully 10,000 or more. Across the river at Old Nineveh, nine miles below Johnstown, thirty-five bodies were taken out of the debris and mud Tuesday. This is the first opening oi the narrow valley through which the Conemaugh dashes like a miil-raee. From the acres of mud on the Nineveh side of the river 2u0 bodies were recovered in a little while Tuesday, making seven hundred bodies recoyered at that point. The searchers find many bodies by means of a hand or a piece of clothing sticking up through the mud. They carry Jong sticks with which they prod the soil. Often the spade will reveal a dcz-n bodies within a few feet ot each other. One of the most ghastly finds was that of a baby, which was hanging in a tree. Its foot had caught in a fork, and by this means it was suspended. One of the men reached up with a pole to pull down what he believed to be a piece of clothing, when the body fell.

At the present rate there will soon be a live man digging in the ruins to every dead one. Evans Johns, who has charge of the Smoky City forces, stated that 2,200 men would* be at work in the ruins by Wednesday morning. Three hundred arrived from Pittsburg Tuesday and 500 more are announced to come under the captaincy of William Flynn Wednesday morning. There are twentysix foremen here, all level-headed fellows, who keep their unwieldy and almost exhausted forces under masterful control. Although they were scattered all over the waste places, the heavy work was done on the point district, where a couple of hundred mansions lie in solid heaps of brick, s..one and timbers.

Here the labors of the searchers were rewarded by the diFCovary of a corpse about every five minutes," As a general thing the bodies were almost unrecognizable unless by marks or letters on their person. In every case decomposition has set in, and the work of the searchers is becoming one that will test their stomachs as well as their hearts.

A reeking menace to life and health lies in the bed of the Conemaugh for 300 yards above the Pennsylvania railroad bridge. When ihe drift accumu-

manner. M'GARIGLE'S RETURN. The Chit'ago Fugitive Voluntarily F.sturns from Exile and 1'leailn Guilty.

W. J. McGarigle, ex-Warden of the Cook county, III., Hospital, who has been a fugitive from justice under indictment as one of the "boodlers" in the county ring, living for some time in Bauf, British Columbia, walked into Judge Shepard's court room Bhortly before noon, Friday, and delivered him-( self up. McGarigle pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy. A fine of $1,00C was at once imposed, and when it if paid he will be free.

When McGarigle fled to Canada near ly two years ago he was under sen tence of two years in the peniten tiary, but a petition for a new trial was pending in the coiaris. After his departure the petitions for a nev trial in his case and that of Ed. McDon aid were denied. McDonald's case wen before the Supreme Court, and the de cision of the lower court was reversed The action before Judge Shepard wa simply the granting of a new and ino mediate trial to McGarigle, and the inn

posing of a fine on his plea of guiltj McGaricle made his escape artfullj Sheriff Matson had taken him to hi home to permit a change of clothinj McGarigle went into a bath room an dodged out by a rear entrance. Frienc were in waiting and helped him off in carriage. He took a yacht on Lai Michigan and cruised about for seven days, finally landing in Canada, whej he has since lived.

A professional thief is also an aritl metical paradox—he works out all essays in addition and multiplication means of substraction.

BASE BALL.

TOE IJ5AGUR. Won. Lost.

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lated against this adamantine structure, -t hundreds—some say thousands—of bodies were pinioned under the debris. It extends across the river 400 feet and twice that distance up stream. The

awful story of how it caught fire and burned for three days, roasting the pinioned victims and filling the valley with the sickening odor of burning flesh, has been related. But the flames tired of their work too soon. They had bnrned the top off the huge pile and left the foul sediment to act as a sieve for the Conemaugh. Hundreds of halfburned corpses were taken off the place but every timber held others where the strongest of machinery would be re-4 quired to reach and liberate them. Blasters have been at work all afternoon near the stone bridge. Mr. Kirk has decided that the bodies will rot before half of them can be reached in his

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THE ASSOCIATION. Won. St. Lou's 26 Brooklyn 20 Athletic 19 Cincinnati .... 21 Kansas City.... IS Baltimore. 10 Columbus ..... li Louisville „..., 7

Boston 20 6 Philadelphia.. 17 New York 17 Cleveland 1' Chicago........... IS Pittsburg 12 Indiauapolis... 10 Washington.... 0

THE MARKETS.

INDIANAPOLIS, June 5, 18fc9, GBAIN I Wheat— Corn— No.2 Red. 77 I ho. 1 White#**#* No.3 Red 75 No. 2 Yellow....

OATS, White.....

I*--, LIVE STOCK. CATTLE—Good to choice 4.1i Choice heifers 3.25 Common to medium cows 2. Goo^to choice cows 2. HOGS—Heavy 4 Light 4.35I Mixed 4. Pigs SHEEP—Good to choice 3.7i Fair to medium 3.3'

EGGS, BUTTER, POULTBL.

Eggs..... 10c Hens per H..J Butter,oreamery22c I Roosters Fancy country...12c Turkeys Choice country.. 9c 11

MISCELLANEOUS.

WOOL—Fine merino, washed unwashed med very coarse a timothy.. 12.50 Sugar cured 8.% Bacon clear Clover seed... 4.25 Feathers,

Chicago.

Wheat (May)- 87 Pork Corn ".m 35 I Laid Oats ...25 I Ribs.....«•«..«