Indianapolis Journal, Indianapolis, Marion County, 3 June 1889 — Page 2

THE INDIANAPOLIS JOURNAL, MONDAY, JUNE 3. 188a.

the rear of the Cambria Company's works belonging to that company, were destroyed. AMONG TTLE RUINS, Towns Almost Wiped from the Face of the Earth Nineveh's Charnel-House, EpoclAl to the IndlanapoUs Journal. Johnstown, Pa., June 2. The first force of rescuers and press representatives, who have been making efforts for several days to gain an entrance into the valley in which was located the city of Johnstown, accomplished their purpose jnst as the light of this morning's 6un broke over the mountain-tops surrounding the place of desolation. What was seen during the day confirms in almost every detail all of the gTavest fears, statements and conjectures that have been entertained. The city is literally a ruin, the description of which is simply impossible. From Johnstown to Mineral Point tower the Pennsylvania road-bed has been completely swept away. For a distance of onefourth of a mile the road is uninjured; then comes another complete wreck to beyond South Fork. Three Pennsylvania locomotives and an unknown number of both

freight cars and passenger coaches are lying in the river bed under the debris of Johnstown, at the stone bridge. The towns of Woodvale and Conemanghborough, above Johnstown, are swept as clearly off of the face of the earth as if they had never had an existence. Out of a population of 1,500 souls barely half a dozen have been accounted for. The Hungarian colony at Cambria City are stealing and plundering everything they can reach. The work of exhuming the dead at Johnstown has only begun, but already more than 100 bodies have been carried out of the ruins. Eleven car-loads of finished coffins 'and thirty undertakers arrived dnring the day, and the work of interment, which began this afternoon, will rapidly progress under the direction of a speciallyorganized force of men. Nineveh will hereafter be known as the city of the dead, for at this point the Conemaugh has given up a large portion of its dead. When the waters receded from the fields and bottom-lands over which it had flowed, stiff, staring and naked, bruised and mangle d bodies of men, women and children, from the aged to the infant, lying in the soft mud, was a most horrible scene, making heart-sick those who witnessed it. Xunemacher's planing-mill was used as a temporary morgue, and it was there that the blood-stained, swollen and disfigured remains, of whites and negroes, were first placed for protection and identification, if such a thing were possible. Some of the faces were wreathed in dimpled smiles; upon others death stamped looks of agony and horror that spoke the inexpressible language of the 60ul while struggling with death. Most of the bodies recovered at this place were Catholics, and around their necks hung emblems of their religion. The attire and features of a majority showed them to be of the lowly class, yet there were many bearing evidence of culture, refinement and prosperity. Directly across tho river, in Indiana county, there are three hundred and fifteen bodies reported, lying in the open air, unattended to. The officials of Indiana county sent word that they would attend to the recovery of these bodies during the' day. The probabilities are that a large majority of the victims will never be identified, and will fill nameless graves. During the day several persons succeeded in making a tour of what is left of Johnstown. On the upper floor of the club house, the best preserved building standing, five bodies are lying unidentified, one of them a woman of fine appearance. Hero and there bodies can be seen sticking in tho ruins. There is no doubt but, wild as the estimates of the loss of life and damage to property have been, it is even larger than there is yet any Idea of. More than 2,000 residences lie in the confused mass of burning debris lodged above the stone bridge at the lower end of the town. The ruins are reeking with the smell of decaying and burning bodies. Near the edge of the ruins the decaying body of a stout colored woman is lying like the uncared for remains of an animal. Six blackened skulls, from wnich the flesh has been burned, can be seen protruding from the wreckage, just above the east end of the bridge. They are close together. The Western Union Telegraph Company succeeded in opening a temporary office in an abandoned oil-house on the mountain side, and have seven good wires working to Pittsburg, but none east. The chasm between the railroad bridge and the depot has iust been spanned by a rope bridge. The river cannot be crossed at this place in safety. The skiffs sent from Pittsburg arrived this afternoon, and will greatly aid in tho search for bodies among the debris in the still furiously rushing water. Several hundred bridge builders and track men are repairing the railroad company's property, and trains will be able to cross the chasm by to-morrow morning. It is believed that not less than 2,000 of the drowned found lodgment beneath the mass of debris in the triangle of ground that the Conemaugh cut out of the bankbetween the river proper and the. Pennsylvania railroad bridge. There was the greatest funeral pyre in history. The victims were not up5n it, but were parts of its horrible constitution. Whole houses were washed into the triangle. Houses, outhouses, pig-pens, stys, the refuse of the gutter, the contents of sewers, whole lumber yards, boom upon boom of logs composed the mass. When the upset-, ting of a cook stove ignited the mass and the work of cremation began it was a costly sacrifice to the demon of the , flood, being a literal beast of fire. The smoke arose in a hugo funnel-shaped cloufl and at times it changed to the form of an hourglass. At night tho flames would light up this misty remnant of mortality. The effect upon the living, ignorant and intelligent, was the same. The volume of smoke, with its dual form, produced a feeling of awe in many that was superior in most cases to that in the awful mc ment of the storm's wrath on Friday afternoon. Hundreds stoods for hours regarding the smoke, and wondering if it forbode another visitation direr than its predecessor. It was with a feeling of absolute loathing that all people hereabout this morning awoke to find that nothing remained but a mass of ashes, calcined human bones, stoves, old iron and approximately indestructable material from which only a light-blue vapor was arising. OUTRAGES ON THE DEAD. Inhuman JIangr!an Mutilate Corpses for Trinkets and Receive Swift ranlihment Johnstown, Pa., June 2. The way of the transgressor in the desolated valley of the Conemaugh is hard, indeed. Each hour reveals some new and horrible story of suffering and outrage, and every succeeding hour brings news of swift and merited punishment meted out to the fiends who have dared to desecrate the stiff and mangled corpses in the city of the' dead, and torture the already hali-crazed victims

of the crudest of modern catastrophes. As the roads to the lands around about are opened, tales of almost indescribable horror come to tho ear, and deeds of the vilest nature, perpetrated in the darkness of the night, are brought to light. Just as the shadows began to fall upon the earth, last evening, a party of thirteen Hungarians were noticed stealthily picking their way along the banks of the Conemargh, toward Stout's 8ang Hollow. Suspicious of their purpose, several farmers armed themselves and started in pursuit. Soon their most horrible fears were realized. The Hungarians were out for plunder. Lying upon the shore, they came upon the dead and mangled body of a woman, upon whose person there were a number of trinkets of jewelry and two diamond rings. In their eagerness to secure the plunder the Hungarians got into a squabble, during which one of their number severed the finger upon which were the rings and started on a run with his fearful prize. The revolting nature of the deed so wrought upon the pursuing farmers, who by this time were close at hand, that they gave immediate chase. Some of the Hungarians showed fight, but being outnumbered were compelled to flee for their lives. Nine of the brutes escaped, but four were literally driven into the surging river and to their death. The inhuman monster whose attrocious act has been described was among the number of the involuntary suicides. Another incident of even greater moment has just been brought to my notice. At 8:30 o'clock this morning an old railroader, who had walked from Sang Hollow, stepped up to a number of men who were congregated on the platform stations at Cnrranville, and said: "Gentlemen, had I a shot-gun with me half an hour ago I would now be a murderer, yet with no fear of ever having to suffer. Two miles below here I watched three men going along the banks stealing the jewels from the bodies of the dead wives and daughters of men who havebeen robbed of all they held dear on earth." He had no sooner finished the last sentence than five burly, men, with looks of terrible determination written on their faces, were on their way to the scene of plunder, cne with a coil of rope over his shoulder and another with a revolver in his hand. In twenty minutes, so it is stated, they had overtaken two of their victims, who were thenintheact of cutting pieces from the ears, and fingers from the hands of tho bodies of two dead women. With revolver leveled at the scoundrels, the leader of the posse shouted: '"Throw up v,our hands or I'll blow your heads off." With blanched faces and trembling forms they obeyed the order and begged for mercy. They were searched, and as their pockets were emptiedof their ghastly finds the indignation of the crowd intensified, and when the bloody finger of an infant, encircled with two tiny gold rings, was found among the plunder in the leader's pocket, a cry went up, "Lynch them, lynch them." Without a moment's delay ropes were thrown around their necks and they were dangling to the limbs of a tree, in the branches of which an hour before was entangled the bodies of a dead father and son. After the expiration of half an hour the ropes were cut, and the bodies lowered and carried to a pile of rocks in the forest on the hill above. It is hinted that an Allegheny county official was one of the most prominent actors in this tragedy of justifiable homicide. The pillaging of the houses in Johnstown is something awful to contemplate and describe. It makes one feel almost ashamed to call himself a man and know that others who bear tho same name have converted themselves into human vulture., preying on the dead. Men are carrying shot-guns and revolvers, and woe betide the stranger who looks even suspiciously at any article. One unfeeling wretch was seen to rifle the pockets of a dead man and remove his gold watch and chain, and then turn to a woman and take from her finger a ring, the value of which is not known. A drunken Hungarian, with a pick in his hand, was discovered in a partly demolished residence, in the act of breaking open a trunk. A police officer came up behind him and dealt him a blow with his club, which rendered him unconscious. Later in the night a second case of attempted lynching was witnessed. This evening, near Kearnville, a man was observed stealing valuable articles from houses. He was seized by a mob. A rope was placed around his neck and he was jerked into the air. The rope was tied to a tree, and his would-be lynchers left him. Bystanders cut him down before he was dead. The other men did not interfere, and he was allowed to go. The man was so badly scared that he could not . give his name if he wanted to. Ho hurried away as soon as he recovered his breath. He was not known by any one in the crowd. Ex-Mayor Chahner Dick, of Johnstown, shot a man in Johnstown to-day for robbing a dead woman's body. The story related by Mr. Dick is that ha saw the man go to the dead body of a woman and take off several rings that she had on. He pulled out his revolver and fired. Thebullet struck the man. He fell forward into the water, and his body was washed away by the current. Order Now Perfect. Pittsburg, June 3, The following dispatch has just been received from Johnstown; The unruly element has been nut down, and order is now perfect The citizens5 committee are now in charge, and have matters well organized. A proclamation has just been issued that all men who are able to work must report for work or leave the place. We havo too much to do to support idlers, and will not abuse the generous help that is being sent by doing so. From to-morrow all will be at work. Money now is greatly needed to meet the heavy payrolls that will be incurred for the next two weeks. W. C. Lewis, chairman of the finance committee is ready to receivo the same. A. J. Moxiiam, "Chairman Citizens' Committee." THE DEAD AND SAVED.

Efforts to Gather the Bodies and Identify Them Noble Deeds of Rescue. Johnstown, Pa., June 3. The situation here has not changed, and yesterday's estimates of the loss of life do not seem to be 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 survivers aro being well cared for. A portion of the police force of Pittsburg and Allegheny are on duty, and better order is maintained than prevailed yesterday. Communication has been restored between Cambria City and Johnstown by a foot bridge. The work of repairing the track between Sang Hollow and Jonhstown is going on rapidly, and trains will probably be running by to-morrow morning. Not less than fifteen thousand strangers are here. The handsome brick high-school building is damaged to such an extent that it will have to be rebuilt. The water attained the height of the window-sills of the second floor. Its upper stories formed a refuge for many persons. All Saturday afternoon two little girls could be seen at tho windows

frantically calling for aid. ' They had spent all night and tho (lay in the building, cut off from all aid, and without food and drinking-water. Their condition was lamentable. Late in the evening the children were removed to higher ground and properly cared for. A number of persons had been taken from this building earlier in the day, but, in the excitement, the children were forgotten. Their names could not be obtained. Morrell Institute was a beautiful building, and the old homestead of the Morrell family is totally ruined. The water has weakened tho walls and foundations to such an extent that 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. Before daybreak this morning the sounds could not but make one shudder at the very thoughts of the horrible deaths that awaited many who had escaped the devastating flood. Library Hall was another of the fine buildings of the many in the city that is destroyed. Of the Episcopal Church not a vestige remains. Where it once stood there is now a placid lake. The parsonage is swept away, and the rector of the church, Rev. Dillon, was drowned. The church was one of the first buildings to fall. It carried with it several of the surrounding houses, Many of them were occupied. The victims were swept into the comparatively still waters at the bridge, and there met death either by fire or water. James M. Walters, an attorney, spent the night in Alma Hall, and relates a thrilling story. One of the 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. All was carried away. Mr. Walkrs's family drifted on a roof in another direction. Ho 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 respect. Mr. Walters was chosen president, Kcv. Iieale was put in chargo of the first floor, A. M. Hart of the second floor, Doctor Matthews of the fourth floor. No lights were allowed, and the whole night was spent in darkness. The sick were cared for. The weaker women and children had tho best accommodations that could be had, wjjile the others had to wait. The scenes were most agonizing. Heartrending shrieks, sobs and moans pierced the gloomy darkness. The crying of children mingled with the suppressed sobs of the women. Under the guardianship of tho men all took more hope. No oue slept during all the long dark night. Many knelt for hours in prayer, their supplications mingling with the roar of the waters and tho shrieks of the dying in the surrounding houses. In all this misery two women gave premature birth of 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 help, 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. Miss Koso Young, one of tho young ladies in the hall, was frightfully cut and bruised. Mrs. Young had a leg broken. All ' of Mr. Walters's family were saved. y j Col. Norman Smith, of Pittsburg, while returning from Johnstown after a visit to Adjutant-general Hastings, was knocked down from the temporary bridge into the river, and was carried down stream a couple of hundred yards before ho was able to swim ashore. He was not hurt. General Hastings countermanded the ordering out of the Eighteenth Regiment. The .order was not authorized, and the militia are not needed. This afternoon a spring wagon came slowly from the ruins in what was once Cambria. In it on a board, and covered by a muddy cloth, were the remains of Editor C. T. Schubert, of the Johustown Free Press, a German. Behind tho ' wagon walked his friend, Benjamin Gribble. Editor Schubert was one of the most popular and well-known Germans in the city. On Thursday ho had sent his three sons to Conemaughborough, and on Friday afternoon ho and his wife and six other children called at Mr. Gribble's residence. They noticed the rise of? the water, but not until the flood from the burst dam washed the city did they anticipate danger. All fled from the first to tho second floor. Then as the water arose they went to the attic and Mr. Schubert hastily prepared a raft upon which all embarked. Just as the raft reached the bridge a heavy piece of timber raised from the water and swept the editor beneath the surface. The raft then glided through, and all the rest were rescued. Mr. Schubert's remains were found this afternoon beneath a pile of broken timbers. This evening his coffin was carried to his widow and children at the house of a friend in Morrellville. A tour of the west bank of the river for a distance of two mlies leaves the mind confused. There are not over a hundred bodies to be seen, but while a mass of people walked back and forth they were strangers. Not one person in ten that one met was a resident of this vicinity. It leads to the belief that hundreds, perhaps thousands, are still buried in the mud and debris, burned in the awful furnace at the stone bridge, or lodged further down than the searchers have yet gone. The work of getting the bodies together for easy, identification began this afternoon. The central point was Morrellville. On Fairfield avenue is a large vacant lot belonging to Frank Lecky. At 5 o'clock this was almost entirely covered with coffins, while between them, and stooping over them were weeping men and women. Although the number was short of a hundred at 5 o'clock, others will come in, and there is no telling what the total will be. In one rough box was a piece of paper with the words "Three children." Tonight they were lifted out and all three placed in one coffin. The little bodies were almost naked, and the purple faces bruised and cut. Many of the bodies had not been identified. Among those who had aro the following: Charles Thomas, Mr. Ambes, Mary Holleran, grand-daughter of John Coad; John Jones, a boy; Cora McClarren, Wm. Smith, Frank and Edward Keerlin, Alexander King, Jacob Waise, Emma Tusedera, Miss Oswald, Emma Bridges, Eliza Delaney, George and Eddie Miller, Mr. and Mrs. John Tokatsch, Mrs. Huff, Wm. Friedberger, Ida Warner, Lewis Lener, Wm. J. Williams. Daisy Finnert, Mary Ann Howe, George Bowser. Thomas Davis, tho famous tavern-keeper, known as "California Tom;" A. L. Bettr, 'John Lumbersky, Wat Stewart, Christ Craig, a child of John Hajs, C.

T. Schubert, i)avid Dickinson, Andrew Greger, August Hickey. The corpse of a beautiful young woman lay in the extemporized morgce. Several people say it is that of Miss Ida Fischer, a prominent young lady of Johnstown. Only a few hundred yards below the bridge a number of bodies had been taken to private houses. They were taken to the Morrellville morgue this afternoon. Among them were the following: Emma Kane, George Kritzf, Marie Duorovski and daughter, Anna Toka, William Kush, James Bridges, Mrs. John Lobcrn and Miss Marie Lobcrn. Five were not identified. In odo rude box lay the body of a beautiful young woman. "Anyone know herf n called out a committeeman. A crowd passed the box, but no one called her name. On the face was a beautiful expression of peace. The features were fine and the clothing elegant. The only disfigurement was angly cut on the left temple, sufficient to csse death. St. Mary's Germ an Catholic Church stands a quarter of a mile below the bridge. Its walls are standing, but inside it is filled with mixed broken benches and ruined images. In it were found the mangled body of P. Eldridge and the remains of several others. The distance to St. Columbia Catholio Church is half a mile. The streets to it are filled wifk broken houses, and people in those that were left standing were busy shovelling mud from the first floors. Tho Bcene at St. Columbia Church was awfuL Forty or fifty bodies had been carried into it and laid on the muddy seats, At 5 p. m. the following had been identified: Charles Kiss, James Lightner and wife, Justice of the Peace Edward O'Neil's baby, Louis Wineseller and wife, Miss Rose McAnney, Kate Frances, Mrs. James P. McConaughy, Daffney Keelan, Thomas Fagan, Mrs. P. Kush, Mrs. Wm. Kirby.Mrs. Hitchin Thomas, a son of Michael Hayes. Lying in a row in this church were five children, from two to six years old. No one had identified them this afternoon. Their little curls were matted with mud. Their nostrils were filled with sand, and their eyes often completely covered. No one had come to wash away the dirt fr6m their tiny faces nor the blood stains from the awful cuts and bruises. Where are their parents? Across the aisle lay the massive frame of a Hungarian laborer. Strong men as well as children were the torrent's victims. The following identified dead are lying in the Fourth ward school-house: F. Butler, James G. Cox, George Randolph, Harry Barbour, James Murtha, Mrs. W. Jones, Robert Miller. Elder Brinkley, S. D. Edridge, Mrs. Barbour, Jacob Wald, wife and child, Kate Lindhait, Robert Baldwin, C. McNaly, Frank Diamond, William Penrod, P. McAuley, John Streiner, L. L. Davis, Mrs. Defrance, the two Misses Richardson, Ella Harrington, Charles A. Marshall, John Bcems, John Anderson, C. H. Wilson, M. Little, A. M. Jones, the three Misses Hamilton, C. R. Butler, Charles Wilson, John Andrews, John Burns, 3Ir. McCoy, Mrs. O. Connell. A number of other bodies are lying in the school-house, but they are unidentified. Thero were men at work in Lower Yoder Catholic Cemetery and Grandview Protestant cemetery this afternoon digging trenches. The bodies that were exposed when the water began falling are in bad condition. Some have already been interred. In the haste and excitement no definite arrangements seem to have been made for funeral services. The only suggestion that could be obtained at Morrellville was that all the bodies would be buried and general memorial services held after the present suffering is alleviated. Harry Rose, tho popular district attorney for Cambria, is among the missing, and there is scarcely a doubt that he is among the lost. Many have been reported dead who are not. CoL John Linton and his family are saved. John M. Rose is not dead, as reported, nor is CoL James McMillin, Tho Rev. II. .Chapman, also reported dead, is alive. Theso facts, circulated this afternoon, caused much joy. A squad of Battery B, under command of Lieutenant Brown, the fore-runners of tho whole battery, arrived at the improvised telegraph office at 6:80 o'clock. He went at once to Adjutant-general Hastings and arranged for proper protection. Another dispensary, under Doctors Wakefield, of the Cambria Medical Society; Stewart, of the Allegheny society, and Milligan, of the Westmoreland society, is doing good work. Dr. Milligan states that they treated three hundred patients today. They are at Napoleon street, in Keansville. No surgical instruments could be procured in the city until 2 o'clock today. Among their three hundred patients the doctors have many with fractured skulls, and nearly all have broken bones. One man had a heavy iron bar driven through his leg above the knee, parting the two bones. A thigh amputation was made. A woman has her knee and the lower part of her limb crushed out of all shape. A thigh amputation was necessary. Dr. Milligan reported at 6 p. M. that seventy-six bodies had been taken out at Keansville, and eighty-five above the silk-works. Chief Evans, of the Pittsburg tire department, arrived this evening with engines No. 2 and 15 and several hose carts and a full complement of men. A large number of Pittsburg physicians came on tho same train. Mr. Crouse, proprietor of tho South Fork Fishing Club Hotel, came 'to Johnstown this afternoon. Ht says that when the dam of Conemaugh lake broke the water seemed to leap, scarcely touching the ground. It bounded . down the valley, crashing and roaring, carrying everything before it. For a mile its front seemed a solid wall twenty feet high. The warning given the stricken city was sent from South Fork village by Freight Agent Dechert, When the great wall that held the body of water began to crumble at the top he sent a message begging the people of Johnstown for God's sake to take to the hills. He reports no serious accidents at South Fork. Richard Davis ran to Prospect Hill when the water raised. As to Mr. Dechert's message, he says just such have been sent down at each flood since the lake was made. The warnings so often proved useless that little attention was paid to it this time. "I cannot desenbe the mad rush," he said. "At first it looked like dust. That must have been the spray. I could see houses going down before it liko a child's play-blocks set on edge in a row. As it came nearer I could see houses totter for a moment, then rise, and the next moment be crushed like eggshells against each other." Mrs. James Davis, her two daughters and a son can nowhere be found. At Woodvale there was a row of brick tenement houses 120 feet long and three stories high. It stood broadside to the current. A few tenants fled, but many went to their attics to watch the flood. To-day scarcely the foundations of the row of brick houses can be found. Superintendent Kirtland, of the West Pennsylvania railroad, arrived at 6:30 with a car-load of provisions from Blairsville. Thirteen bodies were takeu from the river at New Florence. Five were brought east to this point. Several were placed in rough boxes, and buried on the hill side.

opposite New Florence. Several were recovered below that point and brought to Morrellville. , Five hundred tents arrived from Ohio tonight in charge of Adjutant-general Axline. Sixty-five have been put up on the hill side, and aro now occupied by families. General Axline went on to Johnstown to assist Major Sanger, who is in chargo during General Hastings's absence. The commissioners and poor directors of Indiana, Cambria and Westmoreland counties will meet to-morrow morning at Nineveh to decide upon a plan for the burial of the dead found there. It is likely that a plot of ground will be selected just across the river in Cambria county, and the same will be purchased by the three counties. One or two long graves will be made, and the unfortunate dead, as fast as they can be found, will be placed there. Poor Board Attorney Speigel, of this county, states that no expense will be spared in regard to the burial of the dead. Immediate action will havo to be taken, as some of the dead have turned black and are rapidly decomposing. Found Floating In the River. Saltsburg, Pa., June 2. The agent of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company to-day obtained possession of a large trunk which was found in the drift pile about a mile east of this place. The trunk contained a large quantity of women's clothing of fine quality, and several letters addressed to Mrs. Swineford, St. Lonis, Mo., and from their tenor they would indicate that it was Mrs. Swineford's intention to visit relatives in Juniata county, Pennsylvania. The body of John Stitt, of Blairsville, was recovered to-day four miles east of Saltsburg. The body of a girl, apparently about thirteen vears of atre. was found op

posite Avonmore, and the body of a large woman, evidently a foreigner, was taken u.i r r i i ? i ii.:. irom me ami, near oanna tunnex, afternoon. FLOOD-BOUND PASSENGERS. this List of Persons Saved on the Pennsylvania Trains Caught at Conemaugh. 1 Philadelphia, June 2. For the first time in forty-eight hours communication was had indirectly with Altoona, at 6 o'clock this evening, at the Pennsylvania railroad office in this city. The superintendent at Altoona says the Atlantic express, leaving Pittsburg at 3 a. m. on Friday, the Chicago and New York limited (east-bound,) which left Pittsburg at 7:10 on Friday morning, and the Seashore express, which left Johnstown early on Friday morning, arrived at Altoona on Saturday afternoon. All the passengers in theso three trains are reported to be welL Altoona sends the following list of passengers on the day express from Chicago, which was caught in the flood at Conemaugh, who are known to be safe: William Henry Smith, general manager of the Associated Press, New York; Edward Lyon, Boston: Mrs. J. W. Matta and daughter Edith, Philadelphia: Elizabeth Houmar, Wrightsville, Pa.: Mrs. Mary L. Co wne, Washington; H. C. uroch, Sharon, Mich.; Mrs. M. H. Smith, Broadway. N, Y.; Mrs. William T. Seargeant, Massachusetts; J. S. Jackson, Philadelphia; Estella J. Kittring. Pennsylvania; Daniel Humphries, Indianapolis; Mrs. Clara DeWi-tand child, Dennison, Ind.; John Laugh rev, wife, three children, Columbus, O.; Mrs. Maggie E. Mulaheny, Indiana; Mrs. Ella Garber, Aurora. 111.; Airs. A. S. Lippincott, Philadelphia; Mrs. Gussie Cook and child, Dennison, Ind.; Mrs. Fanny Murphy and child, Dennison, Ind.; Harriet Stockbridge, Curwen svi lie. Pa,; Mrs. C. W. Sankey and child, Chicago; Annie E. Hamilton, Yorkville. N. Y.; Mrs. Paris Schick, husband and daughter, pMiss Simpson, ; C. E. McClure, Chicago; Mrs. Gallon and daughter. Pittsburc: Mr. Leise and son. Pittsburg; George Lees, Pittsburg; Uriah n . t y -r i t i : ; 1 1 Carroll, ; R. E. Pa.; F. II. Berney, -York. Vauchn. Landisville. ; H. A. Eagan, New The following persons, passengers on the day express, are said to have been drowned at Conemaugh: Mrs. J. W. Brady, Chicago; Miss Margaret Patrick, Pittsburg; William Sheller, Newark, N. J. The following persons, now at Altoona, are safe. It is known to comprise some of those on the two sections of the day express, which was caught in the flood at Conemaugh, and is also thought to be partly made up of those who reached Altoona by other east-bound trains: Mrs. E. W. Halford and daughter, Jeanotte, Washington; E. Knee, ; Miss Grass. Mary E. Moran and Bridget Sulkin, Philadelphia; J. M. Newcome and wife, New London; Mrs. C. II. Leopard, Malina, la.; Carrie 13. Archer, Malina, la.; A. 11. Brown, Jersey City; Wm. Stewart. PittsDurg: J. C. Ploretti, Tyrone; Henry F, Fowler, Bangor, Me.; Clara Cobb, Brooklyn; Charles J. Burbridge, : Allen Proctor, ; Morris, Ely. Camden, N. J.; E. M. Leopard, New York; Mrs. Simon Slick, Reading; John L. Pine, Reading: W. Woodyear, ; John R. Mahon, Philadelphia; E. II. McC n Hough, wife and daughter, Philadelphia; W. E. Winslow, Chicago; Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, Philadelphia; Mrs. Matilda Allen, Philadelphia; John Carr, Jersey City; Emily June, Mt. Vernon, . N. Y.; Virginia Maloney. Woodbury, N. J.; Mary Wilkins, Woodbury, N. J.; H. Watts, Philadelphia; A. Silverson, Ilonesdale, Pa.; Mrs. Ellen Oce, Ilonesdale, Pa.; Prinella Staterin. Philadelphia; Frank Patton, wife ana daughter, Freeport, Pa.; Mrs. Lu R. Fisher, Monroeviile, O.; Mrs. Sherman, Nantucket, R. I.; George Sawyer, Bristol, O.; Mr. Chandly, : R. C. Yohn, New York; Albion Allyannes, Ft. Monroe; Mrs. Fitznatrick, Pittsburg: M. W. Whittaker, Plattsburg, N. Y.; Mrs. MoBradv, Chicago; R. Spangler, Illinois; W, M. Meiton, ; Gertrude Melton, Milwaukee: John Weby, New York; J. C. Ospont, Tacnoe; Simon A. Shepnard, ; C. Keifer, Shippensburg, Pa.; H. St. John, Pennsylvania; J. S. Over, Jersey City; Huston Porter, Washington: Richard Brown, New York; Mrs. Pauline Willard, New York; Mrs. F. A. Eberty, Cannon, N. Y.; Martha Livingston, New York; Frank C. Gallpeyeath, Tyrone; C. Smith, Marysville, Pa.; P. F. Bain, New York; O. S. Thurman, New York; O. O. Martz, Orrstown; R. H. Wortling, Greensburg, Pa.; Mr. R. Smith, Pittsburg; Allen J. Fitz, Elinira; R. Vandike and wife, Sunbury; Rollins S. Dromley, Pittsburg; Wm. Hawkins, Illinois; E. II. Hare. Wilkinsburg, Pa.; E. Wolf, Holdbrook, N. J.; Orlando Rockwood, Pennsylvania; J. W. Graves. Altoona, Pa.: C. A. Bradford, ; S. II. Bailey. Altoona: L. II. Cameron, Bellwood. Pa.; Mrs. C. S. Hand, ; Simeon C. Hand, W. Baker, ; John Kline, Vickstown: J. K. Drys, Rochester, N. Y.; Geo. D. Donaldson, New York: James H. Stewart, wife and baby, Allegheny; C. H. Baxter, Lima, O.; A. H. Sourder, Omaha, Neb.; James E. Lcrrms, Washington; E. W. Stover, Waynesboro, Pa.; A. M. Olter, Waynesboro, Pa.; A. M. Shandlcr, New York; R. J. Johnson, New York; S. Mvers, Philadelphia; Mrs. Nelson (colored), Milwaukee; Geo. Sylvester, wife and two children; W. W. WTilmot. wife and child, Redland; Annie Hamilton, Minneapolis; Thornton Robinson, Allegheny; Geo. Keller, Harrisburgh; John Burris, Philadelphia; George Houseman, Philadelpbia; R. 1L Key, ; R. H. Ranney, Kalamazoo; Jas. B. Ranney, Kalamazoo; Geo. Kaskcns. family, Kingf;old, ML; Sam Birney, Lorens, O.; James Jutibrd, : W. E. P. Bullock, ; Rev. J. H. Leiper, Philadelphia; J. Lvana Amboch, Lorenzo; Mrs. M. A. Bleaswell; D. S. Shearer, ; N. 8. Davis, wife and three children, Lancaster; Margaret Justice, Dr. Robinson, Allegheny. The above list of names was received by telegraph direct from Bedford, Pa. Bedford got them from Cessna, Pa., by telephone; Cessna received them over the telephone from Martinsburg, the latter place naving a Jelegraph wire to Altoona. The list does not comprise all of those in the day express, as some are known to be still at Conemaugh, and in view of tho dubious route by which the names reached hero, their absolute correctness cannot bo relied upon. A dispatch from Washington says: Mrs. Frank Hatton has received a telegram saying that her husband is among the saved. How the Passengers Escaped. Johnstown, Pa., June 2. In a talk, toI day, with conductor Bell, of the first sec

tion of the day express east, laid up at Conemaugh on the night of the disaster, he said: 'The tirst and secoud sect ions stopped sido by sido at Conemaugh Friday afternoon, on account of the washout at Lilly. The second was next to the hill, the first on the outside. Suddenly I saw what looked like a wall of water. It was thirty feet high. AVe barely had time to notify the passengers, and they nearly all fled np the hillside. One old man, , who, with his son. returned for some reason, was drowne-1. Two cars went down in the current, I do not know how many were drowned. Wo paw two on top of the cars. Tho water set tire to u lot of lime, and the tiro caught two Pullman cars, which wero destroyed, but no person was burned, all the passengers having left the train before the cars caught. There were about 100 persons on my section, which was made up of day coaches. After the mad rush the passengers went back to the can, and later were cared for by the people of Conemaugh; afterwards they were taken to Ebensburg. They expected to go east to Altoona this afternoon. Friends of those on the Chicago limited need leel no anxiety, as it was not in tho flood at alL" How a Drummer Escaped. Greensburg, Pa., June 2. O. J. Palmer, traveling salesman for a Pittsburg meathouse, was on the ill-fated day express, one car of which was washed away by the flood, ne narrowly escaped drowning, and tells a horrible tale of his experience on that occasion. The engineer, the fireman and himself, when they saw the flood coming, got upon the top of the car. and when the coach was carried away they caught the driftwood. Fortunately, it was carried near the shore, and tbey escaped to the hills. Mr. Palmer walked a distance of twenty miles around tho flooded district to a railroad station on this sido. BELIEF FOR, THE SUFFERERS. Provisions and Bedding Forwarded to Johns, town The Demand for Coffin. Pittsburg, June 2.-The usually quiet streets of Pittsburg on Sunday were to-day alive with excited people eagerly seeking news from flood-destroyed Johnstown. In front of the newspaper bulletins the crowds were so dense as to almost entirely suspend travel, and each new poster was read with an interest that to many was more than mere curiosity. Telegraph offices wero thronged with people trying in vain to receive some word from friends and relatives in the 6tricken city. When the wires started working to Johnstown this morning there were on file at the Western Union office one thousand telegraphic inquiries from all parts of the continent for friends and relatives. Of these how few will ever be answered. Early in tho morning seven car-loads of provisions left the Union Depot for Johnstown on a special train. Many cars loaded with provisions, bedding, etc, are arriving from points west, north and south, and are being rapidly forwarded to the scene of disaster. A scene of activity was presented at the Chamber of Commerce this morning. A number of gentlemen of the relief committee were present, receiving official and private telegrams from towns and cities in. this and other States, receiving contribu-v tions of money from churches and individ-: uals, and answering questions for those who came to seek information. The coffin manufactories here are worked to their fullest capacity, and coffins are be-; ing shipped rapidly. This morning ten car-' loads were sent down, containing 2,200coflins. They will be distributed atva-. rious points along the river, where the dead have been collected. Reports are coming in from a large number of towns throughout the Western part of this State, eastern Ohio and West Virginia of citizens1 meetings being held, and donations in aid of the sull'ercrs are . fast pouring in. A benefit by the "My Partner" theatrical company, to ne given maid of the sufierers, was advertised to be given in one of the theaters in this city this evening. Tho fact coming to the ears of tho Law and Order Societv, however, they were given notice that tne performance would not be permitted. This action is severely censured by tho community. Throughout both cities to-day the principal halls were occupied by meetings of various characters, anion g them being many labor organizations, ana the most liberal feeling was shown. Contributions poured in fast and plenty, and everv efi'ort will bo made to push relief forward, as quickly as possible to the grief-stricken city. The first mail from the East since tho flood arrived in this city this afternoon. It came principally from New York and New England points, by way of Buffalo and Erie. A number of Catholic priests left for the scene of disaster this morning, and requiem masses will be given in many of tho churches to-morrow. The G. A. R. executive committee havo called a meeting in the City Hall to make arrangements for extending nelp, especially to the Grand Army victims of the flood. Raiting: Money at Cleveland. Cleveland, O., June 2. Cleveland is taking active steps to aid in the relief of the sufferers by tho flood at Johnstown. A meeting was held at the office of Mayor Gardner this morning and appropriate committees appointed. Contributions of money and supplies came in all day. About ,000 was raised at tho Mayor's meeting inside of fifteen minutes, and collections were taken up in all the churches, as much as $.VX) being contributed by some congregations. The fund will grow to large proportions tomorrow. A car-load of provisions was tent forward at 11 o'clock to-night, and another will be shipped to-morrow. A special effort will be made to collect supplies of clothing, etc., for the sufferers. Senator Qnay's Contribution. Johnstown, June 2,This afternoon George T. Swank, editor of the Johnstown Tribune, received tho following telegram from Senator Quay, dated at Beaver Station. Beaver county: "Draw on me at 4 sight, at the Beaver Deposit 13ank, for $500. in aid of your trouble." W. F. Brown, of Pittsburg, of the Americus Kelief Corps, to-day notified Captain Kuhn, city solicitor, that the Pittsburg Masons stand ready to furnish anything that is wanted. Organizing Kelief at Washington. ' Washington, June 2. The President did not attend church to-day, but was busy all day arranging with Governor Beaver, by telegraph, for tho relief of tho stricken districts in Pennsylvania Miss Clara Barton has gone to llarrisburg to supervise tho work of the Kcd Cross Society in relieving the distress at Johnstown, Relief Measures at Greensburj?. Greensburg, Pa., June 2. The cash collected by tho committee here for the sufferers has reached $20,000. and it is probable that this will bo doubled in a day or two. A car-load of provisions and clothing was sent to Johnstown this morning, from here. Sleeting Called at Kansas City. Kansas City, June 2. Mayor Davenport issued a proclamation to-day calling a mass meeting for to-morrow night, to enable tho citizens of Kansas City to unite in a plan for sending relief to the stricken section of Pennsylvania. John B. Drake Gives 8500. Chicago, June 2. Mayor Cregier to-day called a meeting of citizens, to be held at tho City Hall to-morrow, to take measures for the relief of the Johnstown sutlVrers. John B. Drake, of the (J rand Pacific Hotel, headed a subscription list with 0(0. IN NEW YOKK STATE,

Great Damage at Klmlra and Other PointsSeveral Lire Lost. Elmira, N. Y., June 2. The water hem last night was from a foot to a foot and a half higher than ever beforo known. This afternoon the bodies of two children floated down the river. A roof upon which thrco persons wero clinging is 6aidto have passed by the city last night. Tho body of a female baby was washed ashore in the lower portion of tho city this afternoon. Last night the Erie railway bridge was anchored ! in its place by two trains of freight cars. ' Tho water rose to the cars, which, with the bridge, acted as a dam, and forced th?'