Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 June 1889 — THOUSANDS PERISH. [ARTICLE]

THOUSANDS PERISH.

The Conemaugh Valley* Pa., Flooded by a Bursting Lake. Johnstown Swept Away—Over Ten Thousand People Drowned. A Resistless Torrent Overwhelms the v t'ity and Carries Everything Before It—\Hany Towns Wiped Out of Existence— Hundreds of Human Bodies Floating A bout the Country-Heroic Attempts at R escue and Despair of the Victims—jfaelp! Help!” is Heard From Every Pull Details bf an Awful Night. s. Derry, Pa., May 31.—A flood of death down tfaeAllegEehV- mountains > hia gfteHiodn and to-night and mot the entire city of Johnstown is swimming about in the rushing, angry tide. Dead bodies are floatingaboat 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 train bearing the special correspondents sped 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 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 “Pack-saddle” came the rushing waters. The wooded heights of the Alleghenies looked down in solemn wonder at the scene of the moßt terrible destruction that ever struck the romantic valley of the Conemaugb. 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 cries 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 damp to her cheek, a mother was seen grasping a floating timber, while with tier other arm she held her babe. The special train pulled in at Boliver at 11:30, 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 to eternity on the rushing torrent. The tidal wave struck Bolivar just after dark and in five minutes the Oonetnaugh 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 Garfield, a town oh the opposite side. They brought a number of ropes, and these were thrown over into the boiling waters as persons drifted by, in efforts to save some poor beings. For a half hour all efforts were fruitless, until at last, when the rescuers were about giving up all hope* a little boy, astride of 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 pulled onto the bridge amid the cheers of the on-look-ers. The boy’s name is Edward Hessler* aged sixteen. At midnight your correspondent secured an interview with him. His story of the frightful calamity is as follows: ‘‘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 ICintz and 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 fright 1 jumped on the bed. It was an old-fashioned one with heavy posts. The water kept rising and my bed was soon afloat Gradually it was lifted up. The air in the room grew ciflise and the house was moving. Still the bed kept rising and pressed tne ceiling. At last the poses pushed the plaster. It yieledd.and a section of} he roof gave way. Then suddenly I found myßelf 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 1 managed to crawl on it, and floated down until nearly dead with cold.\ I was saved. After I was freed frongthe house I did not see my father. My grandfather was in a tree, bnt he must have been drov ned as the water was rising. John Kintz, jr. was also in the tree. Miss Mary Kintz and Mrs. Mary Kinta l saw drown. Mian Smith also drowned. John Hirsch was in a tree, but the four children were drowned. The scenes were terrible. Dive bodies and corpses were floating down with me and away from me. I‘would hear a person shriek, and then they wonld disappear. All along the line were people who were- trying to save ns, bnt 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 waters. 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 onparalleled terrorism which occurred at the lower bridge which crosses the Conem&ugh at this point A man named Young, with two women, waa aeen coming down the river on a part of a floor. At the upper bridge a rope vun thrown to them. v This they all failed to catch. Bat Veen

the two bridges he was noticed to point posed was his mother. He was then seen to instruct the woman how to catch tbi 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. Be -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 rone a.qd jell 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 bold of a branch of a tree. Theyoung man aided tbe woman to get op into the tree. Be held on with.his handstand rested his feet on a pile of driftwood. A piece of floating debriß struck the drift, sweeping it away. The man hnng with his bodv immersed in the water. A pile of drift -saopcollajted, and he was enabled to get another secure hold. Up the liver there wasVaudden 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 spectators, just opposite the town of Bolivar. Eany 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 tbe bridge just before dark. Bhe 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 of the little waif brought tears to his eyes. All night long the crowd stood about the ruins of tbe bridge which had been swept away at Bolivar. The water rnshed past with a roar, carrying with it parts of honses, furniture and trees. The flood had evidently spent its force up the valley. No more living persons were being carried oast. Watchers with lanterns remained along the banks until daybreak, when the first view of tbe awful devastation of the flood was witnessed. Along the bank lay the rains of what had once been dwelling bonses 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 o pen to refugees, and every possible means will be used to protect the homeless. The wrecking trains of the Pennsylvania raihoad 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 organised into rescuing parties. There is absolutely no news from Johnstown. The little city iB entirely cutoff from communication with the outside world. The damage done is inestimable. No one can tell its extent TturCambria Iron Company’s works are built on made ground. It stands near the river, and many fear thatit has been swert awav or greatly damaged. The loss of these works alone will be in the millions. The little telegraph stations along 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. Barry 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 6 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. Tbe 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 awfnl night and one that I will not spon forget.” IHK RESERVOIR AND ITS LOCATION. In order to understand tbe nature of this calamity, it is necessary to describe the respective locations of the reservoir and Johnstown. Tbe reservoir lies about two and a half miles northeast of Johnstown, and is on the site of the old reservoir, which was one of the feeders of the Pennsylvania canal. It is the property of a number of wealthy gentlemen in Pittsbnrg, who formed themselves into the corporation, the title of which is the “Sonth Fork Fishing and Huntiqg Club.” This sheet of water was formerly known as Gonemangh lake. It is from 200 to 300 feet above the level of Johnstown, being in the mountains. It is about three and onehalf milecrlong, 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 twenty feet Recognizing the menace which the lake was to tne region below, the Sonth Fork Club had the dam inspected once a month by the Pennsylvania railroad engineers, and their investigation showed that nothing leas thin some convulsion of nature would tear the barrier away and loosen the weapon of death. The steady rains of the last forty-eight hears increased the volume of water in all the small maun tain streams, which were already swelled by the lesser rains early in the week. The following dispatch Was received from Philadelphia May-31: The reservoir er dam **t Sooth Fork

which is said to have burst with sue terrible results, is described by a gentleman acquainted with the locality in which it Was situated to he an immense body oi water formerly used as a water supply for the old Penney lvanlCj*nal. It has been owned for several years by a number of Pittsburg gentlemen who used it aa aflshing 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 dispatches The coarse of the torrent from the broken dam at the foot of the lake to Johnstown is almost eighteen m les, .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 Sonth Fork, where the Sonth Fork itself empties into the Conemaugh river. The town contained about two thousand inhabitants. It has not been heard from, bnt it is said that four-fifths of it has been Bwept away. Four miles further down on 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 1 of Conemaugh, and alone was there a topograf hical possibility of the spreading of the flood and the breaking of its force. It contained 2,500 inhabitants and must be almost wholly devastated. Wood vale, with 2,000 people, lay a mile below Conemaugh in the flat, and onemile further down were Johnstown and its cluster of sister towns —Cambria City and Conemanghborough, with a total population of 30,000. On made ground and stretched along the river verge were the immense iron works cf the Cambria iron and steel company, who have $5,000,000 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 from up the road brings the inlormatipn that the wreckage at Johnstown is piled up forty • t above the bridge. The startling Lews also comes that more than I,ooj lives have been l<'st. This cannot be substantiated. It is known by actual count that 110 people were seen floating past Sang Hollow before dark. Forty-Beven 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 ont 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 against the rocks that fill the narrow channel of the Conemaugh, its spray is carried high up the shore. . THE WATEB THICK WITH PEOPLE. Bolivab, Pa., May 31.— The water is higher here than was ever known, and two-story houses, hams, 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 hursted dam above Johnstown. It came lixe 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 jfcwaß swept along and from it shriek upon shriek for “help,” “help,” “for God’s sake some!” 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, precluded the possibility of ever thinking 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 aronnu 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. Just at dark a lad was seen slinging to a log. James Curry secured a long lme and ran to the river bank. The noose of the lasso fell over the boy’s neck and shoulders, and a moment later thedrenohed, poverty stricken little fellow was hauled 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 grandfather and mother in Cambria Citv, apart of Johnstown. At 4 o’clock their home had been caught in the volume of water let loose by the bursting of tbe dam. They had all climbed upon a mass of drift wood, and were carried along. Their raft went to pieces against a bridge pier, and he bad not seen his relatives since, but thongbt that they were drowned.

Death and devastation—Of all the great disasters in the historv of the world, the one at Johnstown, Pa., will probably figure as the greatest that ever occurred In a civilized community. The first reports of the awful loes of life are not duly veiified 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,C00. Not a living soul had entered or departed from Johnstown since the hour of the disaster. 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,W0. It is reported that but seventy buildings are left standing. Bodice are being hauled out of Bang 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. The most conservative reports place the loes of life at 5,000 to 7,000, and it may

reach 10,000. It is known that the Passenger trains oh the Pennsylvania road were thrown into ike maddened torrent and "many of the passengers drowned, pphe trains were held on a Riding between JnhuAtown find PKtipb .Miwinp-wviTYCiu o UUUOWWXI ttXrU XtlH"* maugh stations. The awful torrent came down the narrow defile between the mountains, a distance of nine miles, with a fall of 300 feet. Tne deluge came down against them with such resistless force that the heavy trains, locomotives, Pnllmans and all were overturned and swept down the torrent, and were lodged against the great stone viaduct, along with forty-one locomotives from the Johnstown round-house, the heavy machinery and ponderons 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 straggling 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 ytereseen between the house roofs, b* ” tives, cars, etc., the greedy flap' ing with haste their diet-'' flesh. No rescue was po* men turned away wD pressions and worn*’ awful horror of tbv impossible to know life, if ever, until eubtided and the de\ correspondent was th& - to Johnstown proper vh means of a basket suspbx cable, as passengers are rerm wrecked ships. The whole tsu,. been swept away, but a few builh. remaining. The hotel Hulbert had 06 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 tbe Conemaugh, Kiskimini and Allegheney rivers, some of them being caught as far down the Ohio river as Rochester. In Cambria, St. Columbia’s church, a new structure, was flooded to a depth of six feet; in the auditorium when tbe water receded the floor was covered to a depth of seven inches with a-slimy ocze. - On—boards stretched along the top of the pews were thirty bodies which had been snatched from tbe 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 of 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 other children, all of whom had been drowned. It is impossible to narrate tbe 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 thonsands are missing. Many of the survivors tell of thrilling eecapes. The number of people visible from the banks were so few in contrast with tne population of the various boroughs which constitute the city that the question, “where are the people?’’ is asked on all sides. The awfulness of the scene defies language to depict as it does imagination to conceive of. Without seeing the havoc created, no idea can be given even of the desolation or the extent of the damage. How many bodies lie beneath the great ted of fire, underBwept by a raging torrent, the uncovering of their bones can alone determine. The agonized cries of the friends who cannot learn any tidings of tfleir 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 the mountain Bide 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,U00,C00, 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 hoars later these people were being carried down in a surging torrent, drowned, homed or crashed in the maelstrom of disaster. President Harrison’s Private Secretary, E. J. Halford,and wife were on the train liying at Conemangk, which was swept away, but they escaped. Great crowds lined the river at Pittsburg. A large amount of debris was carried by. The river roee many feet but did no serious damage. The Pennsylvania railroad is a very heavy loser. Its tracks are washed away for many miles, bridges destroyed and road bed washed ont The relief from the country will be generous and general. Pittsburg in one day contributed to an amount equal to SIOO,OOO.

Estimates of the loss of life, say still later reports, do not seem to have been exaggerated. Six hundred bodies are now lyipg in Johnstown and a large number have already, been buried. Four immense relief trains have arrived and the survivors are weli cared for. A portion 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 foot bridge. The work of repairing the railroad track is going rapidly forward. Fifteon 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 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. Ali was carried away. Mr. Waiters’ 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 sec.pad, anil-Joarth. stories. The men held a meeting and drew up some rules which all were bound to respect. Mr. Walters 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 flqor. No lights were allowed and the whole night was spentin darkness. The Sick were cared for. The weaker women and children baa the best accommodations that could be bad, while the others had to wait. The scene was most agonizing; heart-rending shrieks, sobs and moans pierced the gloomy darkness. The crying of children mingled with the suppressed sobs of tbe women. Under the guardianship pf the men all took more hope. No one slept daring all the long, dark night. Many knelt for hours in prayer, their supplications mingling with the roar of the waters and the shrieks of Hie dying in tbe surrounding honses. In all this misery two women rave premature birth to children. Dr. Matthews is a hero. Several of his ribs were crushed by fallv timber and his pains were most ■“t he attended all tbe Bick. women in a house across the - 1 for hMp, he, with two ung men climbed across nuts red to their wants, daring the night, ildren surrendered succeeding day t and fatigue, rn telegraphed to ■ m anstown was annirv dose to the facts of ,n he had not seen the -- To say that Johnstown is . bat stating the facts of the j. Nothing like it has ever been seen ,n this country. Where long rows of dwelling-houses and hnsinees blocks stood forty-eight hours ago, rain and desolation now reign supreme. Probably fifteen thousand honses 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 honses. This great mass oi wreckage fills the etrett from curb to curb, and frequently has crashed 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 o! men carrying bodies to various places, where they await identification, and the work has only just began. Every hour or so the forces of men working on the various heaps of debris find numbers of bodies buried in the mnd and wreckage. It ia believed that when the flames are extinguished in the wreckage at tbe bridge and the same is removed that hundreds and hundreds of victims will he discovered. In fact, this seems certain, as dozens of bodies have already been found on the outskirts oi the huge mass of broken timber. Those people who were not disabled are working earnestly for the revival of the stricken city, bnt 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 ana other points is so great that the relief committee telegraphed Sunday evening not to send any more until ordered. No funas have yet been received from Philadelphia, hut 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 in generous amounts, and the people are encouraged to believe that ail their more pressing wants will be provided for. It will require several days vet to ascertain a definite idea as to the ioss of life, hat it will certainly reach up into the thonsands. Every hour brings fresh evidences of tbe fact that the disaster eclipses anything of the kind in the history of the country, and no one can say what the. final result will be.