Getting Inside the Story: How Framing, Empathy in News Coverage Affect Historical Relevance
by
Glenys Young, B.A.
A Thesis
In
Interdisciplinary Studies
Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
MASTER OF ARTS
Approved
Roman Taraban, Ph.D. Chair of the Committee
Randy Reddick, Ph.D.
Gretchen Adams, Ph.D.
Mark Sheridan Dean of the Graduate School
May, 2021
Copyright 2021, Glenys Young Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank the members of my committee, Dr. Roman Taraban, Dr. Gretchen Adams, and Dr. Randy Reddick, for helping me to work through the various issues encountered in the completion of this master’s thesis. They have provided support and encouragement, introduced me to useful tools I was not aware of, been honest with me when I tried to bite off too much and when what I tried to do just didn’t work. Above all, they challenged me to keep going.
I would especially like to thank Amanda Castro-Crist and Debbie Bolls for their assistance in the confirmation of the categories I created and used in this paper. Amanda acted as an independent rater for my initial descriptions of the categories, helping me to better communicate the specifications for each subcategory. Then Debbie acted as an independent rater to test those amended descriptions.
I would also like to thank my family, particularly my parents for their support and encouragement throughout this process, and my husband, Adam, who took the brunt of everything during the many hundreds of hours this research required.
Without the time and efforts of these individuals, this thesis would not have been possible.
ii Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...... ii
ABSTRACT ...... v
LIST OF TABLES ...... vi
LIST OF FIGURES ...... viii
CHAPTER I: GETTING INSIDE THE STORY: HOW FRAMING, EMPATHY IN NEWS COVERAGE AFFECT HISTORICAL RELEVANCE ...... 1
The Power of Narratives ...... 1 Why Be Transported? ...... 2 What Affects Transportation? ...... 4 Transportation and Transformation...... 5 Empathy ...... 7 Emotion and Memory ...... 11 How Transportation Affects Memory ...... 13 Media’s Role in Communicating Narratives ...... 15 How Narratives Shape Collective Memory ...... 17 Framing ...... 20 History and Memory ...... 23 Johnstown Flood ...... 23 San Francisco Earthquake ...... 25 Titanic ...... 26 Historical comparisons ...... 29 CHAPTER II: ANALYSIS ...... 32
Materials ...... 32 Procedures ...... 34 Frame analysis ...... 34 Text analysis...... 35 CHAPTER III: RESULTS ...... 45
Hypotheses 1 and 2 ...... 47 Hypothesis 3 ...... 52 Emotion Words ...... 53 Personal Pronouns ...... 55 Social Processes ...... 59 iii Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
Tense ...... 62 Results ...... 64 Hypothesis 4 ...... 65 Emotion Words ...... 65 Personal Pronouns ...... 68 Social Processes ...... 74 Tense ...... 77 Results ...... 78 Hypothesis 5 ...... 79 Hypothesis 6 ...... 81 Hypothesis 7 ...... 83 Discussion ...... 86 Limitations and Future Directions ...... 89 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 92
APPENDIX A ...... 103
APPENDIX B ...... 300
iv Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
ABSTRACT Narratives have a special power to facilitate information recall by transporting a reader into the story and creating an empathic connection to the characters there. Whether that connection is emotional or mental, the reader may be forever changed by what they experience inside the story. When such a story is shared with a large audience, it can create change on a larger scale, affecting even how an entire society remembers that narrative.
This study examined media portrayals of the Johnstown flood of 1889 within the week after the event and within the week of its first, 25th, 50th, and 100th anniversaries to see how the story was told and what effect that storytelling had on the event’s historical persistence. I determined that there was a transition in the storylines emphasized in coverage, that empathic language and narrativity declined over time despite an increase in descriptive writing, and that later coverage differed substantially from coverage within the first 25 years.
Keywords: Affective empathy, cognitive empathy, collective memory, collective remembering, framing, narratives, frame analysis, text analysis, LIWC, LSM, CDI, Johnstown flood, San Francisco earthquake, Titanic
v Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
LIST OF TABLES 1 Frames Within Johnstown Flood Coverage ...... 41 2 Documents Used for LIWC Analyses ...... 46 3 Articles Per Subcategory Over Time, 1889-1989 ...... 48 4 Article Percentage Per Subcategory Over Time, 1889-1989 ...... 49 5 Category Transitions, 1889-1989 ...... 50 6 Category Transitions, 1889-1989 ...... 52 7 Positive v. Negative Emotion, 1889-1989 ...... 53 8 Total Emotionality, 1889-1989 ...... 53 9 Personal Pronouns as a Percentage of Text, 1889-1989 ...... 56 10 Personal Pronouns as a Percentage of Pronouns, 1889-1989 ...... 56 11 Personal Pronouns as a Percentage of Pronouns, 1889-1989 ...... 56 12 Social Process Subsets as a Percentage of Text, 1889-1989 ...... 60 13 Social Process Subsets as a Percentage of All Social Terms, 1889-1989 . 60 14 Percentage of Past, Present, and Future Tense, 1889-1989 ...... 62 15 Proportion of Past, Present, and Future Tense, 1889-1989 ...... 63 16 Changes in Affective Processes By Craftsmanship, 1889-1989 ...... 67 17 Total Affective Processes By Craftsmanship, 1889-1988 ...... 67 18 Personal Pronouns as a Percentage of Descriptive Texts, 1889-1989 ...... 71 19 Personal Pronouns as a Percentage of Nondescriptive Texts, 1889-1989 72 20 Personal Pronouns as a Percentage of Pronouns in Descriptive Texts, 1889-1989 ...... 72 21 Personal Pronouns as a Percentage of Pronouns in Nondescriptive Texts, 1889-1989 ...... 72 22 Personal Pronouns as a Percentage of Pronouns in All Texts, 1889-1989 ...... 73 23 Social Process Subsets as a Percentage of All Texts, 1889-1989 ...... 74 24 Social Process Subsets as a Percentage of Descriptive Texts, 1889-1989 ...... 75 25 Social Process Subsets as a Percentage of Nondescriptive Texts, 1889-1989 ...... 75 26 Social Process Subsets as a Percentage of Social Terms in Descriptive Texts ...... 75
vi Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
27 Social Process Subsets as a Percentage of Social Terms in Nondescriptive Texts ...... 75 28 Percentage of Past, Present, and Future Tense in Descriptive. v. Nondescriptive Texts ...... 77 29 Proportion of Past, Present, and Future Tense in Descriptive. v. Nondescriptive Texts ...... 78 30 Percentage of Descriptive v. Nondescriptive Texts, 1889-1989 ...... 80 31 CDI Component Measures, 1889-1989 ...... 81 32 CDI Scores, 1889-1989 ...... 82 33 Function Word Frequencies, 1889-1989 ...... 84 34 LSM Scores, 1889-1989 ...... 84 35 Hypotheses Results ...... 85 36 Affective Processes By Subcategory, 1889-1989 ...... 300 37 Affective Processes By Subcategory, 1889 ...... 303 38 Affective Processes By Subcategory, 1890 ...... 304 39 Affective Processes By Subcategory, 1914 ...... 307 40 Affective Processes By Subcategory, 1939 ...... 308 41 Affective Processes By Subcategory, 1989 ...... 309
vii Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
LIST OF FIGURES 1 Subcategory By Percentage of Coverage Over Time, 1889-1989 ...... 49 2 Category Transitions, 1889-1989 ...... 50 3 Category Transitions, 1889-1989 ...... 52 4 Positive v. Negative Emotion, 1889-1989 ...... 54 5 Total Emotionality, 1889-1989 ...... 54 6 Personal Pronouns as a Percentage of Pronouns, 1889-1989 ...... 57 7 Personal Pronouns as a Percentage of Pronouns, 1889-1989 ...... 57 8 Social Process Subsets as a Percentage of Text, 1889-1989 ...... 61 9 Social Process Subsets as a Percentage of All Social Terms, 1889-1989 . 61 10 Percentage of Past, Present, and Future Tense, 1889-1989 ...... 63 11 Proportion of Past, Present, and Future Tense, 1889-1989 ...... 64 12 Changes in Affective Processes By Craftsmanship, 1889-1989 ...... 68 13 Total Affective Processes By Craftsmanship, 1889-1989 ...... 68 14 Personal Pronouns as a Percentage of Pronouns in All Texts, 1889-1989 ...... 73 15 Social Process Subsets as a Percentage of All Social Terms, 1889-1989 . 76 16 Proportion of Past, Present, and Future Tense in Descriptive. v. Nondescriptive Texts ...... 78 17 Percentage of Descriptive v. Nondescriptive Texts, 1889-1989 ...... 80 18 CDI Scores, 1889-1989 ...... 82 19 Affective Processes By Subcategory, 1889-1989 ...... 301 20 Affective Processes By Subcategory, 1889 ...... 303 21 Affective Processes By Subcategory, 1890 ...... 305 22 Affective Processes By Subcategory, 1914 ...... 307 23 Affective Processes By Subcategory, 1939 ...... 308 24 Affective Processes By Subcategory, 1989 ...... 310
viii Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
CHAPTER I
GETTING INSIDE THE STORY: HOW FRAMING, EMPATHY IN NEWS COVERAGE AFFECT HISTORICAL RELEVANCE
The world was a very different place 4,000 years ago. According to the
Hebrew calendar, Mesopotamia – Iraq, today – was just beginning to recover from
Noah’s Biblical flood. The mysterious construction of Stonehenge was nearing its completion in what is now the United Kingdom. And the Epic of Gilgamesh, the oldest narrative still in existence, was written. For literally thousands of years, stories have been used to teach lessons and morals, one reason being that stories could lodge themselves in the human brain for long-term retention in a way few other informational formats could achieve. For instance, arguably the most notable storyteller in history was a slave named Aesop, who lived in Greece in the sixth and seventh centuries B.C. His narratives were so powerful that they existed purely in oral tradition until they were finally collected in print three centuries after his death, and they persist even today.
In this paper, I focus on the importance of narratives – how they operate in the human mind, how they are shared, and how they ultimately can be used to shape how society remembers the past. I argue that the role of empathy and framing in the telling of these narratives can make a significant difference in how, or indeed if, the story persists over time.
The Power of Narratives
To begin with, we must ask why narratives are so effective at communicating information. One answer is that narratives achieve something not possible through any other type of communication: a phenomenon called transportation (Mazzocco, Green, 1 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
Sasota, & Jones, 2010). Sometimes characterized as getting “lost in a story,” transportation is the process of a reader or viewer becoming engaged in the narrative to such an extent that they mentally leave their reality and are transported into the reality of the story. According to Green, Brock and Kaufman (2004), transportation is when individuals are so focused on the world of the story that they may lose track of time or fail to notice events occurring in the real world around them. Past studies have shown that transportation is an essential element in narratives’ ability to make readers experience the full range of emotions of the characters in the story. Green et al. (2004) proposed that transportation occurs primarily, or perhaps, solely, in response to narrative communications because “nonnarratives do not create alternative worlds for individuals to enter, and they may be less likely to engage emotions or create mental imagery” (p. 314). But why would this ability have developed in the first place?
Why Be Transported?
While research has yet to discover a specific reason why the capacity for transportation evolved in human brains and not in animals’, there are certainly several benefits that humans enjoy as a result of the ability.
Transportation is enjoyable. The experience of being transported provides an escape from one’s own life into the life of another. Green et al. (2004) asserted that the enjoyment of a transportation experience is not because of the strength of the emotions a narrative evokes, but rather because of the process of entering a story, leaving reality behind, and returning somehow changed as a person. That humans enjoy this mental life-swap is evidenced by the success of publishing, television, and film industries, supported by mass audiences “eager to escape into alternate universes for at least a
2 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 few hours each day” (p. 314).
Transportation provides risk within safety. Saying that transportation is enjoyable does not mean that every situation into which a reader or viewer is transported is pleasant. Thanks to humans’ empathy-building mirror neurons, these mental participants in a story will feel what the characters feel. So, while enjoyment is invariably positive, transportation can be scary (Green et al., 2004). It seems counterintuitive that a person would voluntarily “escape” from their own life into a world that is darker and more terrifying, but Green et al. (2004) found the experience allows readers and viewers to vicariously experience unpleasant emotions like fear, sadness and rage, and their accompanying physiological responses. In this way, transportation allows us to explore our own boundaries.
Audiences repeatedly return to tragedies to vicariously experience the “dark side” of human emotions and live more fully through risk-taking within relative safety.
“Just as most story heroes survive risks, the story recipient can see herself as similarly invulnerable. Even if the story protagonists are doomed, the audience member is safe”
(Green et al., 2004, p. 316).
Thus, transportation allows us to participate in the story, to overcome risks we might never take in real life, and to still be assured of our safety in the end, even if the narrative’s characters don’t survive.
Transportation allows connection. Anecdotally, we know that even young children are naturally drawn into narrative worlds. This suggests that transportation might be a fundamental quality in humans. Green et al (2004) proposed that readers’ mental connections with story characters may be a natural extension of humans’ need
3 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 to understand others in our real world. By extension, we come to feel that we personally know the characters and may even think about them like real people. But how would the evolution of this ability be beneficial? Green et al. (2004) explained that individuals can use characters’ situations and experiences to understand their own lives. In a way, becoming a part of the narrative allows readers to put themselves inside the story and mentally reframe the events so they apply to the particular circumstances readers are facing. Remember this idea, because I revisit it.
What Affects Transportation?
It’s important to note that several factors can influence a person’s transportation.
Medium. Different media may transport individuals differently, but it appears that all media have the potential to transport audiences. Text may be more transportive for people who spontaneously form vivid mental pictures, allowing readers to invest their imaginations in the story and go at their own pace, both of which should encourage transportation (Green et al., 2004). But film’s ability to focus viewers’ attention may make immersion more likely for people who don’t spontaneously form vivid mental pictures.
Craftsmanship. Anyone who has read a poorly edited text can attest to the fact that typographical errors often detract from a reading experience. But beyond that, other storytelling elements can impact how deeply a person can become immersed in the narrative world, such as the presence of rich details, which can allow people to form more vivid mental images and feel closer to or more knowledgeable about characters (Green et al., 2004).
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Situational influences. Imagine going to the movie theater to see a much- anticipated film only to find your experience repeatedly interrupted by the seat-kicking child behind you. This is a classic example of an external force impairing transportation, which can dramatically reduce media enjoyment. “A crying baby in a movie theater, distracting noise when one is attempting to read, or other stimuli that attract attention to the real world rather than the media world make transportation difficult or impossible” (Green et al., 2004, p. 321).
While many factors can affect transportation, there is one factor that – perhaps surprisingly – does not. Studies show that fiction and non-fiction can be equally transportive to audiences as long as they are presented as a narrative (Green & Brock,
2000; Green, Chatham, & Sestir, 2012).
Transportation and Transformation
Because narrative transportation integrates attention, imagery, and feelings, all mental systems and capacities become focused on events occurring in the narrative.
Green and Brock (2000) found that transportation can improve the persuasiveness of messages within narratives and lead audience members to integrate story information into their real-world belief structures. This finding led them to create the
Transportation-Imagery Model, which posits that (1) narrative persuasion is limited to texts that are narratives, evoke images, and implicate readers’ beliefs; (2) all else equal, narrative persuasion occurs to the extent that evoked images are activated by psychological transportation; (3) the propensity for transportation is affected by attributes of the recipient, such as imagery skill; (4) the propensity for transportation is affected by attributes of the text, such as artistic craftsmanship; and (5) the propensity
5 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 for transportation is affected by attributes of the context – the situation in which the recipient is engaging with the narrative (Green & Brock, 2002, pp. 316-317).
However, using the Tellegen (1982) Absorption Scale, Green and Brock
(2000) found that absorption did not correlate with the changed beliefs or character evaluations they had previously observed with narrative transportation, so it’s not simply the process of entering the narrative world that is responsible – there must be some sort of personal change that occurs there. Oatley (2002) described this as a spectrum: At one end is transportation, where the narrative serves purely as an escape, and at the other end is transformation, where the narrative serves to change the self.
The question remains, however, what causes this transformation. Green and Brock
(2002) proposed that individual differences, such as a reader’s imagery ability and absorption propensity, should moderate transportability. Thus, narrative persuasion may be a joint function of how transporting a text is and readers’ individual differences. Mazzocco et al. (2010) qualified that, in some settings, individual differences in spontaneous transportability may be less important, because well- written, emotionally charged, suspense-inducing narratives are likely to transport even people who are generally not transportable. However, initiating and maintaining the mental processes essential to achieve transportation – including mental imagery production, emotional responding, character identification and comprehension – requires substantial effort and attentional focus. This means that different people are likely to experience significant differences in motivation and ability to be transported.
I believe one factor that plays a pivotal role in narrative transformation is empathy.
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Empathy
I suggest that empathy – the ability to put oneself in the place of a character, share his or her experiences and/or vicariously feel his or her emotions – is necessary for any transformation to occur. Besel and Yuille (2010) wrote that people predisposed to feel compassion for others in distress – that is, people who are emotionally empathic – may naturally be better able to recognize distress cues. Mazzocco et al.
(2010) found that persuasive narratives were more effective when received by highly transportable participants, and this effect was mediated by emotional responses rather than rational appraisals. They wrote, “Our results, in particular, highlight the important role that empathy plays in eliciting attitude change” (p. 366).
Oatley (2002) suggested literary works can elicit a reader’s emotional responses by sparking one of the reader’s own autobiographical memories, by presenting a character for whom the reader feels sympathy, and by presenting a character with whom the reader identifies. Oatley’s definition of identification involves a reader becoming one with a character – thus empathy is what he’s really referring to. Busselle and Bilandzic (2009) wrote that identification is linked to three different but related aspects of transportation: (1) cognitive perspective-taking, wherein a viewer locates himself with the story to see events from an insider’s point of view; (2) empathy, in which the audience member mirrors a character’s emotional experience; and (3) sympathy, in which a viewer understands primary characters’ emotions even if he does not share them. As you will soon see, these are all characteristics of empathy.
Alexander (2004) found that allowing people to participate in the pain of
7 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 others inherently broadens their social understanding and sympathy. But as Green
(1996) wrote, “If emotion were the sole driving force behind our obtained belief change effects, it might be expected that only the affective factor of the transportation scale would show significant effects on the outcome measures. This result did not occur” (p. 143). Thus, it cannot be simply sympathy for the characters that leads to a transformation. I suggest that empathy – actually putting oneself in the place of the characters, both mentally (cognitive empathy) and emotionally (affective empathy) – is responsible.
However, the interaction between transportation and empathy is complex.
Stansfield and Bunce (2014) show that transportation has a greater impact than an individual’s trait affective empathy on levels of affective empathy induced by a story.
They concluded it was unclear whether transportation into a text caused affective empathy or whether the experience of feeling affective empathy while reading contributed to the reader’s ability to be transported.
Types of empathy. Also complex is the question of whether empathy is a cognitive process, in which observers come to discern accurately the target’s internal state without necessarily experiencing any emotional change themselves, or an affective process, in which observers either come to share the target’s emotional state or experience some emotional state in response to the target’s. However, a third approach has seen greater acceptance in recent years: “to explicitly treat empathy as a multidimensional phenomenon that inevitably includes both cognitive and emotional components” (Davis, 2006, p. 443). In line with this third approach, Davis (1994) developed a comprehensive measure of empathy. The Interpersonal Reactivity Index
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(IRI) contains four seven-item subscales that each measure a separate facet of empathy: the perspective-taking scale measures the reported tendency to spontaneously adopt the psychological point of view of others in everyday life; the empathic concern scale measures the tendency to experience feelings of sympathy and compassion for unfortunate others; the personal distress scale measures the tendency to experience distress and discomfort in response to extreme distress in others; and the fantasy scale measures the tendency to imaginatively transpose oneself into fictional situations.
I believe both cognitive and affective empathy are required for transformation: cognitive empathy produces the perspective-taking ability required for transportation, and affective empathy allows for the emotional melding with the characters that leads to transformation. But to understand how empathy influences transportation and transformation, it’s also critical to understand what can influence empathy.
Antecedents include personal characteristics, such as the capacity for empathy, the intellectual ability to engage in perspective-taking, and, importantly, individual differences in empathic tendency – that is, the “tendency to engage in empathy-related processes or to experience empathic outcomes”; and the situational context in which the response occurs, including the affective strength of the situation and the degree of similarity between the observer and the target (Davis, 1994, pp. 14-15).
How empathy happens. Several processes can lead to empathy. The most basic, motor mimicry – or motor mirroring – is the tendency for observers to automatically and, largely unconsciously, imitate the target. This produces an emotional state in the observer consistent with the emotional state of the target (Davis,
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1994). Cognitive neuroscience has backed up this idea with research into mirror neurons, which were discovered first in monkeys – a real-life case of monkey see, monkey do – and subsequently in humans.
When a monkey plans a certain type of goal-related hand action, e.g., tearing,
holding, or grasping, neural cells in its premotor cortex dedicated to the chosen
type of action are activated. Surprisingly, when a monkey merely observes
another monkey or human perform a similar hand action, the same cells coded
for that type of action are also selectively activated. Thus, for certain neurons,
there is a sort of neural mirroring; the change that occurs in the actor’s brain is
(more or less) replicated in the brain of the observer. (Goldman, 2011, p. 33)
Mirror reflexes, likewise, involve the matching of one’s own actions with those observed in others. Carroll (2011) listed several examples of such behaviors, including knitting our eyebrows when the person we’re conversing with does, falling into step with the person walking beside us, laughing when others laugh, etc. “In short, we have an involuntary tendency to replicate automatically in our own bodies the behavior, particularly the expressive behavior, of our conspecifics. … These imitative reflexes grant us some inkling of what others are feeling” (p. 178). Carroll cautions that mirror reflexes are not fully articulated emotional states, but they may activate an observer’s emotional responses by alerting him to the valence of a target’s feelings and enabling the observer to mobilize the appropriate reaction.
Other empathic processes are more cognitive in nature. In classical conditioning, a simple cognitive process, an observer who has previously experienced a specific emotion in connection with another person’s particular affective cue, may
10 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 feel that same emotion when seeing a similar cue from a different target (Davis, 1994).
Advanced cognitive processes include language-mediated association, in which the target’s words trigger associations with the observer’s own feelings or experiences, and the most advanced process, called “role-taking” or “perspective-taking,” in which one individual attempts to understand another by imagining that person’s perspective
(Davis, 1994). Neuropsychologists had, by the mid-2000s, begun to identify specific brain structures associated with perspective-taking.
Evidence suggests that the brain activity that occurs when imagining another
person’s point of view is different from the activity that accompanies
imagining one’s own perspective. … Thus, it appears that both mimicry and
perspective-taking – empathic processes that vary considerably in the cognitive
complexity – are reliably associated with specific neural structures. (Davis,
2006, p. 451)
Specifically, Banissy, Kanai, Walsh, and Rees (2012) provided a very thorough listing of the various brain structures that have been linked to either cognitive or affective empathy. They found correlations between the grey matter in specific areas of the brain and different aspects of empathy, as defined by the subscales of the IRI.
Emotion and Memory
While we know that empathy is tied to the personal connection experienced in transportation, and we know that transportation can facilitate memory, the relationship between emotion and memory is complicated, to say the least. It’s well established that emotion can enhance memory, but that’s about where the consensus stops. Some
11 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 research suggests positive emotion is most beneficial to memory (Walker, Vogl, &
Thompson, 1997; Suedfeld & Eich, 1995), while other research shows the opposite
(Kensinger & Schacter, 2005), and still others say results are mixed (Bisby & Burgess,
2017). As Kensinger (2007) wrote, “Emotional memories are not impervious to forgetting or distortion. However, whether emotion enhances the detail with which information is remembered or whether emotion simply biases a person to believe that they have retained a vivid memory continues to be debated” (p. 213).
There is, of course, a wealth of evidence to suggest that emotion can enhance memory. Sharot and Phelps (2004) found that arousal supports longer memory retention by facilitating slower forgetting. In their study of videos showing sudden motor-vehicle accidents and videos showing only a safe street, Kuriyama, Soshi, Fujii, and Kim (2010) found that participants’ fear outlasted their memories of which videos showed a collision, implying that emotional memory persists longer than event memory, and emotional memory contributes to the recognition of past aversive episodes. Kensinger, Garoff-Eaton, and Schacter (2006) found that emotion affected the likelihood for details of a studied item to be remembered but did not affect the overall amount of items remembered. However, part of the problem in trying to pinpoint the impact of emotion on memory – whether separated by type or simply emotion in general – is that a given event includes many types of details that could be remembered.
If a person is remembering the time she was robbed on her walk home from
work, she could remember external details tied to the emotional element of the
event (e.g., the gun), external details not directly tied to the emotional element
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(e.g., the street she was walking along), or internal details tied to her own
thoughts and feelings as the event unfolded (e.g., feeling faint, trying to recall
techniques taught in a self-defense course) (Kensinger, 2007, p. 215).
A number of studies have shown that individuals remember elements that are centrally tied to the emotional item but forget elements more peripheral to the emotional aspect of the event. Similarly, in their review of existing research, Bisby and Burgess (2017) wrote that memory is often strengthened for negative words or images, but their associations with other items and with context is disrupted.
How Transportation Affects Memory
So why does transportation into a narrative world facilitate greater information recall? One suggestion is that a person who has mentally participated in the events has made stronger mental connections, interweaving information from multiple senses for a specific episodic memory of the occurrence. “Narratives are assumed to ‘grasp together’ events, characters, and motives into a coherent representation of the past – much in the way that … episodic memory ‘binds together’ information for the individual” (Wertsch & Roediger, 2008, p. 324).
However, it’s too simplistic to say that narratives are simply encoded into the brain when they’re initially received and then left there in storage.
Retrieval and reprocessing. Like all other types of messages, narratives are continually re-processed each time they are retrieved – new information may be incorporated into the message that was previously encoded and stored, and the amended message will then be encoded and stored for future retrieval. According to
Tulving (2002), episodic memory is the only memory system that enables people to
13 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 consciously re-experience past experiences, but does it send the person mentally into the past or bring the past experience into the present? “Its special, and unique, relationship to time, surprisingly, is not widely known. Nor is it, I think, adequately appreciated. Most people naturally associate all memory with the past and are astonished to learn that this is not so” (p. 6). In fact, re-experiencing a past event through memory inherently ties the past to the present.
Involuntary autobiographical memories. Contrary to the concept of escaping into another world, it appears that transportation actually increases a person’s connection to their own experiences. McDonald, Sarge, Lin, Collier, and Potocki
(2015) found that as readers’ or viewers’ involvement in a narrative increased, the number of their own memories involuntarily triggered by the story – what they called involuntary autobiographical memories – also increased.
Our ‘selves’ appear to be at the forefront of our media experiences as we enjoy
and become involved in them. … While we become involved in a story, it
would appear that a steady undercurrent of our thought processes remain fixed
on how what we are viewing relates to who we are, and, by recalling memories
of ourselves, we begin to recognize how we became ourselves. (pp. 23-24)
In summary, transportation into the reality of a narrative facilitates readers’ and viewers’ enjoyment, risk-taking and empathic connection with others while at the same time making their own memories and behaviors more salient and open to change. So, what’s an effective way to change a person’s perception? Tell the person a story. What’s an effective way to change many people’s perceptions? Tell that story to many people.
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Media’s Role in Communicating Narratives
So far, I have established how narratives operate in the individual human brain and the role of different types of empathy in making an observer an active participant in the narrative. From here, I turn to how stories are shared. The fact that stories stay with an audience longer than other types of information is not news to communicators
– far from it. The practical wisdom of sharing stories to share information is journalism 101. The fastest and easiest way to make an audience care about some mundane or confusing topic is to share the story of someone whose life it affects.
Because of media’s wide reach and adept use of narratives, they are often perceived as having an enormous influence on the shaping of collective memory
(called cultural memory in some fields), by which I mean the static base of knowledge that a specific group – in this case, our society – possesses. Kansteiner (2002) described collective memories as those that “transcend the time and space of the events’ original occurrence … [and] take on a powerful life of their own unencumbered by actual individual memory” (p. 302). As an example, Kansteiner suggested the Holocaust in American society, claiming that millions of people share a limited range of stories and images, few of them have any personal connection to the actual events, and their experiences, while neither intense nor overpowering, still shape people’s identities and worldviews.
To test the extent to which media can influence public perceptions and memory, Kligler-Vilenchik, Tsfati, and Meyers (2014) studied how well the media memory-agenda (topics the media promoted as important) matched the public memory-agenda (topics the public saw as important) in two different time periods: a
15 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 time of normal historical salience and a time of elevated historical salience around the
60th anniversary of Israel’s founding. Contrary to their expectations, they found that, even as Israeli Independence Day neared and mainstream Israeli media increased their coverage, public perceptions of the founding’s importance – which were already high
– remained unchanged. Kligler-Vilenchik et al. (2014) concluded that their results indicate collective memory is resistant to change, but that doesn’t mean the media cannot influence the public’s perceptions of important events. For instance, the coverage of the founding of the Israeli state included other events in Israeli history, many of which were subsequently named as important events.
In a general sense, media also influence public perception of the importance of an event or topic through what may be considered formatting devices, such as the numbers of words and pictures dedicated to an issue, the layout of a text, the placement of a news article on a page, or the editing of an audiovisual production
(Van Gorp, 2010). Media audiences inherently understand that how a story is formatted is a cue to its relevance. For instance, the most important news will appear on the front page of a newspaper or within the first segment of a newscast; news at the top of a printed page often carries a larger or bolder headline, showing greater prominence than stories found lower on the page; and the more inches or time devoted to that news is a direct reflection of the importance the news outlet places upon it.
While these findings certainly support the idea that media influences collective memory, it’s important to note that showing the association between the two does not prove causation; that is, Kligler-Vilenchik et al. (2014) could not yet definitively say that the changes in media memory-agenda caused the changes in public memory-
16 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 agenda. However, they showed that age was a significant factor in an individual’s propensity to agree with the media memory-agenda: each year increase in respondents’ age increased their odds of agreeing with the media memory-agenda by
2.8 percent. This last point is particularly interesting in terms of shaping collective memory. It suggests that perhaps repeatedly telling an old story to new generations serves to shape the younger peoples’ understanding of its importance while simultaneously reinforcing it among the older people.
How Narratives Shape Collective Memory
Collective memory is inherently difficult to measure, partly because so much of it is implicit and partly because it’s impractical to administer memory tests to a large portion of the population to determine what society, as a whole, remembers. In their study, Kligler-Vilenchik et al. (2014) combined a content analysis of television and newspaper coverage to determine the media memory-agenda and surveys to determine the public memory-agenda. Of course, another difficulty is that traditional methods, like memory tests and surveys, paint an incomplete picture, particularly compared to the potential results that could be achieved if they were paired with neuroscience-based research methods like fMRI and biometrics.
While it is possible to do such research on an individual’s memory, this is not yet possible for collective memory. For one thing, there are no agreed-upon methodological tools to employ for collective memory research (Wertsch & Roediger,
2008). Another complication is the ongoing debate about whether collective memory even exists, despite that Kligler-Vilenchik et al. (2014) made a convincing argument in its favor. Another viewpoint is that all memory is inherently collective because
17 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 memories are shaped within the minds of socially situated individuals (Wertsch &
Roediger, 2008). Wertsch and Roediger suggest that what makes collective memory collective is that the tools employed in achieving it – such as narrative form – are shared throughout a group. “Psychological studies of episodic memory typically assume that narrative organization is generated by the individual” (Wertsch &
Roediger, 2008, p. 324), but collective remembering then uses existing narratives in the toolkit to make sense of the past on a societal scale. This means people can better understand a situation by comparing it to something they’re already familiar with through narratives. For instance, consider the “David and Goliath” allusion for any underdog facing a substantial challenge.
Collective memory vs. collective remembering. It may be prudent to pause here to distinguish between two potentially confusing terms. Collective memory is the static base of knowledge shared by members of a group. Collective remembering, on the other hand, is the process I have already referred to without naming: that of repeatedly reconstructing representations of the past (Wertsch & Roediger, 2008).
While memories are reconstructed each time they’re retrieved from long-term storage in the brain and re-encoded, collective remembering goes farther. It is a mostly conscious process through which the past is intentionally viewed through the lens of the present.
It’s important to understand from the outset that collective remembering and history are not the same thing. While they both share the same focus on past events, they’re actually in direct conflict in many ways.
For its part, history aspires to provide an accurate account of the past, even if it
18 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
means we must give up favoured and often self-serving narratives. In contrast,
collective remembering invariably involves some identity project—
remembering in the service of constructing what kind of people we are—and
hence is resistant to change even in the face of contradictory evidence.
(Wertsch & Roediger, 2008, p. 320)
Or as Wertsch and Roediger (2008) put it more bluntly, “History is willing to change a narrative in order to be loyal to facts, whereas collective remembering is willing to change information (even facts) in order to be loyal to a narrative” (p. 324).
But if a truthful, nonfiction narrative can be equally as transportive and enjoyable to audiences as a fictional narrative, and can just as effectively share the desired information, what is to be gained by changing the story? The answer is one that may irk historians: In collective remembering, the past is not as important as the present. That is, in the same way that readers transport themselves into a story to learn about themselves, contemporary viewers can reconstruct historical events to better suit their needs and understandings as contemporarily situated individuals. As Assmann
(1997) says, this is when history is turned into myth – when it is remembered, narrated, and woven into the fabric of the present. “Memory is not simply the storage of past ‘facts’ but the ongoing work of reconstructive imagination, [mediated through] the semantic frames and needs of a given individual or society within a given present”
(p. 14).
Fortunately, for historians, collective remembering is easy to recognize because of its simplicity. The consolidation of many different stories and events over time may contribute to these simplified, collectively remembered versions, so any
19 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 narrative of past events that doesn’t include the complicated, probably messy context in which it occurred is a prime candidate for collective remembering.
To understand something historically is to be aware of its complexity, to have
sufficient detachment to see it from multiple perspectives, to see the
ambiguities, including moral ambiguities, of protagonists’ motives and
behavior. Collective memory simplifies; sees events from a single, committed
perspective; is impatient with ambiguities of any kind; [and] reduces events to
mythic archetypes. (Novick, 1999, pp. 3-4)
Framing
To further complicate matters, collective remembering is only part of how a story evolves over time. Arguably just as important, if not more so, is how the story is framed at certain points in time. While collective remembering itself can be considered a frame, “within which people locate and find meaning for their present experience” (Schwartz, 2003, p. 245), it is certainly not the only frame. As a key part of news coverage – and, indeed, any storytelling – framing is the selection of a few aspects of a perceived reality, making them more salient, and connecting them in a narrative that promotes a particular interpretation (Entman, 1993; Entman, 2010). This often serves to define a problem, interpret its cause, evaluate a situation morally and possibly even recommend a treatment. A frame analysis, then, is the process through which elements of texts are examined and interpreted based on their depictions of the broader cultural context they represent (Matthes & Kohring, 2008).
This often happens organically in news coverage, since a journalist’s job is to construct meaning out of an issue or event by presenting additional layers of
20 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 interpretation in a news story (Van Gorp, 2010). Sharing a story effectively requires journalists to have preconceived notions about how to order story elements and what meanings they could or should assign to those elements. However, the frames used when telling a story can readily affect how the audience perceives that news, assuming the audience is able to correctly interpret it. Readers’ previous understanding of the issue, and how well the new information fits into that understanding, also play a role in their acceptance of, and attitudes toward, the information (Entman, 2010).
Framing allows a text to define a situation, define the issues, and set the terms of a debate, while adding the possibilities of additional, more complex emotional responses and beliefs. Tankard (2001) uses abortion as an example. Defining abortion as an issue about the life of an unborn child carries strongly held values and powerful emotions; defining it as an issue about the mother’s freedom of choice carries a drastically different set of strongly held values and powerful emotions. The journalist’s assignment of roles to actors (good-bad, advocate-opponent, etc.) and specification of a problem and who is responsible often contribute to the dramatization and emotional appeal of news (Van Os, Van Gorp, & Wester, 2008). Van Gorp (2010) suggests that frames could “overproblematize” an event, inherently adding to its endurance, but the reverse is also true – a particular frame could contribute to the perception that an ongoing problem has been solved, which could decrease media attention to an issue prematurely.
When discussing journalistic frames, it is important to remember that journalists are not omniscient and, as such, sometimes they are not aware of all details and background of a particular topic when they initially begin covering it. Likely for
21 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 that reason, Van Gorp (2005) noted that journalists tend to adopt the frames from their sources with regard to unfamiliar and unexpected topics. Soon after the first coverage, however, news media introduced their own frames and apparently neglected the frames offered by their sources.
News frames express culturally shared notions with symbolic significance, such as stereotypes, values, archetypes, myths, and narratives, which are interwoven but refer to different aspects of a news story (Van Gorp, 2010). Myths and narratives are related, but whereas a myth deals with “the deep truth of human experience”
(Silverblatt, Ferry, & Finan, 1999, p. 144; italics in original), a narrative is simply a script structure that develops in stages, from problem to resolution. As examples of myths, Van Gorp (2010) lists Oedipus, the Tower of Babel, Pandora’s Box and the
American dream, whereas he lists “Cinderella,” “Frankenstein,” “Beauty and the
Beast” and “Faust” as narratives. Values (e.g., free speech, sanctity of life) are reproduced in myths and embodied by archetypes. Archetypes are motifs and characters that help to structure stories (e.g., the victim, the villain, the hero, the angry wife, the good mother); stereotypes refer to the simplified characteristics of a group of actors (e.g., foreigners are barbarians, women are helpless, children are innocent).
Examining the frames through which news was produced and shared with the public is important in order to understand how the public received that news, however, conducting a frame analysis is not a simple matter. In part, this is because the person conducting the analysis frequently belongs to the same culture in which the news is produced, meaning that even the most obvious frames could be overlooked (Van
Gorp, 2010). For this reason, Van Gorp recommends students begin with framing
22 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 analyses of the past. Frames serve to reproduce cultural values and norms, so frames will be more obvious to an observer for whom those cultural values and norms have changed. However, just as the journalist uses frames in telling a story, the person conducting an analysis – like the audience member reading the news – is also subject to their own interpretive frames (Van Gorp, 2010). That said, it is difficult to achieve a frame analysis that is not subjective to some degree.
History and Memory
As should now be apparent, most major news stories are subject to framing.
Some may also be subject to collective remembering, especially as they transition from news story to historical narratives. At the end of that transition process, or somewhere along the way, most historical narratives are forgotten. Some, for whatever reason, are maintained in collective memory. This has led to a relatively new field of history known as “mnemohistory,” that is, the history of collective memory.
“Mnemohistory is concerned not with the past as such, but only with the past as it is remembered. … The present is haunted by the past and the past is modeled, invented, reinvented, and reconstructed by the present” (Assmann, 1997, pp. 8-9). Framing is a key part of how collective memory can change over time.
For the purposes of this study, I focus on the evolution in collective memory of one historical news event in particular: the Johnstown flood of 1889. In future work, I intend to expand upon this research with similar examinations of the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 and the sinking of the Titanic in 1912.
Johnstown Flood
The city of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, lays at the bottom of a valley, at the
23 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 confluence of several rivers and streams that flow down from the surrounding
Allegheny mountains. Eighteen miles upstream from Johnstown, outside the town of
South Fork, was the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, an exclusive mountain lake resort for millionaires and celebrities. The South Fork Dam spanning the
Conemaugh River created the club’s signature feature, the two-and-a-half-mile-long, half-mile-wide, 60-feet-deep Lake Conemaugh. In catering to the desires of club members, several potentially dangerous changes had been made to the dam. An outlet pipe designed to regulate lake levels in times of flooding was allowing the stocked fish out of the lake, so a screen was placed over it. The clubhouse and cottages were reached by driving across the top of the dam, but because only one carriage could initially cross at a time, the top of the dam was cut down closer to the lake level so two carriages could pass.
On the morning of May 31, 1889, after days of torrential rain, the streets of
Johnstown were already flooded. Lake Conemaugh was at its breaking point. Trees and other debris washing down from the mountains into the lake had blocked the fish screens, and the water was rising faster than the sluiceway at one end of the dam could account for. Despite efforts to cut a second sluiceway at the other end, by midafternoon there was no saving the dam. It burst, unleashing a wall of water 30 to
40 feet high down the narrow valley of the Conemaugh River. After roaring through the suburbs of South Fork, Mineral Point, Conemaugh, Woodvale, Cambria City,
Conemaugh Borough and Prospect – sweeping away homes, businesses, people, animals and trees indiscriminately – the wall of water hit Johnstown, nearly washing it off the map.
24 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
At the far end of the town, the debris piled up against the stone bridge of the
Pennsylvania Railroad, where, later that night, it caught fire – burning alive all those caught in the wreckage who had not drowned. Clara Barton oversaw American Red
Cross relief efforts in the aftermath, but ultimately, the disaster resulted in the deaths of 2,208 people. It prompted an investigation and led to changes in American liability laws. To this day, it remains the deadliest flood in American history.
Uses. In addition to historical accounts (Connelly & Jenks, 1889; Johnson,
1889; McMaster, 1933; McCullough, 1968), the Johnstown flood has appeared in scholarly literature on civil engineering (Coleman, Kaktins, & Wojno, 2016; Frank,
1988), wave physics (Ward, 2011), disaster tourism (Godbey, 2006; Kerstetter,
Confer, & Bricker, 1998), political economy (Williams, 2009), nursing (D’Antonio &
Whelan, 2004), and sensationalism in news coverage (Wharton-Michael, 2019). These topics seem to make sense as they are directly related to certain elements of the event itself.
San Francisco Earthquake
Before dawn on the morning of April 18, 1906, a large earthquake hit just offshore of San Francisco, California. A strong foreshock lasted for about 20-25 seconds, and the main shock followed for about 42 seconds. Although it predated the development of the Richter scale by several decades, it is now estimated to have been about a 7.9-magnitude quake. Shaking was felt from Oregon to Los Angeles and as far inland as central Nevada.
More than 30 fires soon broke out in the city as a result of ruptured gas mains.
Spread over too wide of an area for local fire crews to contend with, the fires lasted for
25 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 four days and nights. The city’s fire chief, Dennis T. Sullivan, would have been responsible for coordinating firefighting efforts, but he died from injuries sustained in the earthquake. As a last-ditch effort to stop the spread of the fires, the city resorted to demolishing some of its surviving buildings to reduce the amount of fuel in the fires’ path. Thus, in some cases, firefighters, untrained in the use of dynamite, actually caused additional fires.
The event remains to this day one of the worst and deadliest earthquakes in the history of the United States. Over 80% of the city was destroyed. Out of a population of 410,000, between 227,000 and 300,000 were left homeless. At the time, only 375 deaths were reported, but many fatalities in Chinatown went ignored and unrecorded.
The total number of deaths is still uncertain, but today’s estimates are around 3,000. A
United States Geological Survey (1907) the following year led to changes in building code regulations.
Uses. In addition to historical accounts (Bronson, 2006; Thomas & Morgan-
Witts, 1971), the San Francisco earthquake has appeared in scholarly literature on geology and seismic activity (Ellsworth, Lindh, Prescott & Herd, 1981; Kircher,
Seligson, Bouabid, & Morrow, 2006; Thatcher, 1975), building materials (Hamburger
& Meyer, 2006), urban redevelopment (Siodla, 2013) and economics (Odell &
Weidenmier, 2004). As with the Johnstown flood, these topics make sense according to the specifics of the event, whereas that cannot always be said for the next event.
Titanic
Whether from history class or representations in popular culture, most people today are aware of the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912. Ahead of its maiden
26 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 voyage, the Titanic was advertised as one of “the largest steamers in the world” and
“The Queen of the Ocean,” boasting the pinnacle of comfort and luxury for its first- class passengers, including a gymnasium, swimming pool, libraries, Turkish bath and fine dining. Thanks to its state-of-the-art Marconi telegraph and watertight compartments, it was seen as the safest ship afloat. Indeed, White Star Line itself promoted the Titanic and its sister ship, the Olympic, as “designed to be unsinkable.”
At full capacity, it could have carried nearly 3,550 people, but on this first crossing, it had an estimated 2,224 on board. It had enough lifeboat space for 1,178 people – only half of those on board but actually in excess of the lifeboat regulations of the time.
On April 10, the Titanic departed from Southampton. It stopped to pick up more passengers at Cherbourg, France, and Queenstown, Ireland, and headed toward
New York City. Over the next few days, it received numerous ice warnings from other ships. At 11:40 p.m. April 14 – a very calm, clear night – the Titanic hit an iceberg and began to sink. After telegraph operators began signaling other vessels for help, the
RMS Carpathia changed course and headed at full speed to the Titanic’s aid.
Meanwhile, women and children were ordered into the lifeboats first, an order that almost certainly meant the deaths of most male passengers because of the lifeboat capacity, but the problem was compounded when many boats were launched at less than full capacity. The Titanic sank at 2:20 a.m. April 15, sending all those not in lifeboats into the freezing water. When the Carpathia arrived two hours later, it picked up only 705 survivors.
Afterward, public inquiries in both Britain and the United States led to major regulatory improvements in maritime safety. Among these were changes in wireless
27 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 communication and lifeboat requirements.
Uses. In addition to historical accounts (Beesley, 1912; Biel, 2012; Eaton &
Haas, 1998), as I previously alluded to, the name Titanic has become synonymous with the struggle of mankind against God, or fate. In many ways, its “spectacle of technological disaster” (Boone, 2003, p. 5) has become a modern-day myth comparable to the Tower of Babel. Perhaps obviously, it was used as evidence that lifeboat regulations needed to be updated (Nixon, 1912). It also appeared in scholarly literature on maritime disasters (Moyer, 2014; Schröder-Hinrichs, Hollnagel, &
Baldauf, 2012) and regulations (Bijwaard & Knapp, 2008), ship travel (Simpson,
1999), ice navigation (Kjerstad & Bjoerneseth, 2003), iceberg risk (Bigg & Billings,
2014), survival rates (Hall, 1986; Frey, Savage, & Torgler, 2009), broadcasting
(Douglas, 1987), metallurgy (Felkins, Leighly, & Jankovic, 1998; Woodward, 1997), and disaster relief (Gregson, 2012). These topics appear to come straight from the historical accounts.
Other elements of the Titanic story have also been applied to scholarly literature on topics that are not too much of a mental stretch from the original story, such as rich white male supremacy and elitism (Gregson, 2008), risk analysis (Labib
& Read, 2012), and human behavior (Frey, Savage, & Torgler, 2010; Frey, Savage, &
Torgler, 2011). But it has also been applied in scholarly literature in quite unexpected topics as well: premonitions (Goldstein, 2009), labor unrest and women’s suffrage
(Larabee, 1990), anesthesia (Horlocker & Wedel, 1998), and linguistics (Kim, 1969).
Many of these topics – ship travel and maritime disasters, for instance – make sense, given the specifics of the event itself. But it is the application of elements of the
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Titanic story to unexpected topics – e.g., women’s suffrage, anesthesia, and linguistics
– that jumps out. Wells (2013) suggested that the story’s flexibility ensured its ongoing importance. “Such a wide range of cultural applications meant … that broad cultural changes would be manifested in representations of the disaster” (p. 467).
Historical comparisons
The single fact that the Titanic myth has been retold generation after generation as a warning against excessive pride stands as evidence its story is likely the result of collective remembering, and the fact that it has been used to support so many varied topics suggests reframing. In its perpetuation, it is among a tiny minority of historical events that have been remembered past their original audience and, even more uniquely, its fame seemingly has increased in the century since its occurrence.
My long-term plan is to examine how cultural representations of the Titanic evolved over time, following what almost immediately became a myth and has only grown in the decades since. I assert that, while staying essentially true to the story, each subsequent retelling was framed differently according to the audience that received it, making the original story repeatedly new and relevant to a new audience.
As Simpson (1999) put it, “This is a past that refuses to go away. It wants to be part of the future, to remain perpetually in facsimile” (p. 683). Beyond a framing analysis, I will compare the empathic language in news coverage from the Titanic’s sinking with retellings around its 1st, 25th, 50th and 100th anniversaries to determine how, or if, the story changed in audience members’ ability to put themselves in the story.
The research reported in this article lays the groundwork for this larger body of research to come by examining the Johnstown flood. I have chosen these three events
29 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 because (1) they were all essentially natural disasters that were exacerbated by human activity, (2) they all resulted in a substantial loss of life, (3) they all unfolded over multiple days, garnering significant nationwide news coverage at the time of their occurrence, (4) they all occurred within a similar period such that news coverage should be comparable between them, and (5) most importantly, they all achieved different outcomes. The Titanic – immortalized in numerous books and films, TV shows, board games, video games, and more – has become an ingrained part of our culture, its very name an allusion to excessive pride and mankind’s struggle to dominate nature. The San Francisco earthquake is probably recognizable in name, although most people would not be able to give many significant details about the event itself. The Johnstown flood, on the other hand, is now all but forgotten, except in the region of Central Pennsylvania it almost wiped off the map.
Hertzog and McLeod (2001) assert that blockbuster films, such as the 1997 movie “Titanic,” can influence frames. “Those who do not see it in the theater are exposed to its publicity and discussion of it through other media. Professionals with great skill produce popular culture artifacts in the form of mythic narratives that provide a powerful common experience for vast audiences” (p. 148). Considering that the Titanic has appeared in books, films, TV and radio broadcasts, music, theater, poetry, games and more, it’s perhaps easy, and convenient, to merely assume that repeated public exposure to the story in these various media is partly responsible for the Titanic story’s perpetuation over time. However, all three of these events have been represented in various popular media: the Johnstown flood in books, films, TV, music, theater, and poetry, and the San Francisco earthquake in books, films, TV, and
30 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 theater. If story perpetuation was simply a function of the number of appearances in popular media, the Johnstown flood should be far better known than the San Francisco earthquake, which does not appear to be the case. Similarly, if story perpetuation was simply due to death toll, the San Francisco earthquake and Johnstown flood should both be better known than the Titanic. And if it was due simply to the presence of celebrities and millionaires, the Titanic and the Johnstown flood should be better known than the San Francisco earthquake.
In addition to examining how each story changes over time, I will eventually compare how news coverage of each event compares to coverage of the other events to determine whether differences in media representations of the Titanic story might be partially responsible for its perpetuation over time. I believe the Titanic story’s unusual longevity in cultural memory is a combined result of two factors: (1) reframing that has made the story continually relevant to new audiences, and (2) the continual usage of empathy-invoking language and narratives in its news coverage that have allowed those new audiences to perpetually put themselves into the story.
For this initial study of the Johnstown flood, however, I hypothesized that reframing over time has changed the story from its initial focus as a human tragedy into a sort of morality tale, focusing on the lessons we can learn from it and how we can and should apply those lessons; and hand-in-hand with this altered focus is a reduction in the empathic language that could bring readers inside the story.
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CHAPTER II
ANALYSIS
Because my hypothesis is two-fold, I conducted two types of analyses. To examine the effects of reframing, I conducted a frame analysis using a set of categories into which the texts can be sorted. To evaluate the language, I conducted a computer-assisted textual analysis comparing the text within and between these categories. I hypothesized that the empathic language would differ over time.
Materials
I analyzed articles from one specific Pittsburgh newspaper, a major daily newspaper close to the scene of the flood in Johnstown and the only one that existed from the time of the event in 1889 through its centennial in 1989. Over time, as it merged with other Pittsburgh newspapers, its name changed: it was the Pittsburgh
Commercial Gazette in 1889 and 1890; the Gazette Times in 1914; and the Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette in 1939 and 1989.
I transcribed 498 articles published in this paper within a certain time frame of the initial event on May 31, 1889 and its subsequent major anniversaries (one year
[1890], 25 years [1914], 50 years [1939] and 100 years [1989]). These 498 texts are included as Appendix 1. I included every article published within the specified time frames, each in their entirety with one exception. In the case of articles that included a list of names – victims, donors, etc. – I omitted the list of names, as these would produce no effect in either of my analyses. I also corrected typographical errors, as these could have affected the analyses.
32 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
Within that time limitation and with only that exception, I examined all stories on the topic of the Johnstown flood in their entirety. I considered this a necessary step for a comprehensive look at what the reading public at the time would have seen. To limit the stories by word count or location in the newspaper or some other consideration might be more methodologically palatable for researchers, but I doubt it would return a realistic assessment of how the audience received the information.
Omitting name lists, as described above, I calculated the mean (average) and median word count within each time period – the mean by adding together the word count of each article at each time point and then dividing that sum by the total number of articles, and the median by listing the word counts in numerical order and selecting the word count of the article in the middle. For 1914, which had an even number of total articles, the median was calculated by averaging the two articles in the middle.
In the seven days following the initial event – June 1-7, 1889 – the Pittsburgh
Commercial Gazette published 477 articles about the flood with a mean word count of
318.6 words and a median of 167.5 words. For anniversaries, I used a seven-day time frame extending three days before and three days after the date of the anniversary:
May 28-June 3 of each year. In 1890, the paper published 9 articles with a mean word count of 730.2 words and a median of 303. In 1914, the paper published 6 articles with a mean of 944.5 words and a median of 307. In 1939, the paper published 3 articles with a mean of 195.3 words and a median of 143; and in 1989, it published 3 articles with a mean of 207 words and a median of 86. At all time points, the mean and median differ substantially; a few very high word-count articles can skew the mean upward, while the lower median indicates a greater number of shorter articles.
33 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
Procedures
I conducted a frame analysis and a text analysis using the above materials.
Frame analysis
Content analyses of media frames have ranged from completely qualitative interpretive approaches to purely automated device-oriented methods, such as semantic network analyses (David, Atun, Fille, & Monterola, 2011). Quantitative analyses, which usually involve merely counting the number of times a particular frame is employed, can be flawed in that very powerful concepts may not need to be repeated often in order to have a large impact (Hertzog & McLeod, 2001). In a study comparing two qualitative coding methods, one based on Matthes and Kohring (2008) and one a holistic frame coding method, in which every article was assigned to a single dominant frame, David et al. (2011) validated the Matthes and Kohring procedure’s ability to extract frames based on the coding of elements that constitute a frame. Furthermore, they showed that similar frames emerged from both processes, suggesting that both forms of frame analysis are valid. My method is similar to
Matthes and Kohring’s, but not exactly. I coded elements within the texts that comprised a frame, but I analyzed articles in their entirety, not just the coded elements.
For the purposes of this study, I identified a set of content-focused subcategories1 – essentially, frames – into which I divided the 498 articles: Action of disaster, Anniversary commemorations, Application of lessons, Economic impacts,
Relief efforts, Scene, South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, Survivors, Transportation
1 Some of the subcategories are hereafter referred to by an abbreviated form of their names: Action, Commemorations, Lessons, Economic, Relief, Scene, SFFHC, Survivors, Transportation, and Victims. 34 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 issues, and Victims (Table 1). These subcategories can be thought of as storylines that emerged in the initial 1889 coverage, which I followed through subsequent coverage to analyze how each storyline evolved and if it survived over time. As each article could – and often did – include more than one storyline, I incorporated each article in all relevant subcategories for the purposes of this analysis. Also, there are 13 articles that did not contain any of the 10 storylines, and therefore did not fit into any of the above subcategories, so they have been included in the studies by time period, but not in the categorical studies.
In principle, this method could lend itself to a statistical analysis applying a
Chi-squared text to a 10-by-5 contingency table, 10 being the number of frames and 5 the number of time periods. However, the presence of zeros in many of the cells, particularly at later time periods, eliminated the possibility of this analysis.
Expectations. As Van Gorp (2005) noted, journalists tend to adopt the frames from their sources with regard to unfamiliar and unexpected topics but soon replace these with their own frames. Thus, I expected the frames for anniversary coverage of the flood to show a significant departure from that of the initial coverage. At later times, I expected to see a transition from the immediate-focused categories like Relief and Victims to bigger-picture categories, like South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club and Application of lessons.
Text analysis
For my textual analysis, I used the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) software, the Categorical-Dynamic Index (CDI) and the language style matching
(LSM) technique.
35 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
LIWC. LIWC (Tausczik & Pennebaker, 2010) is a transparent text analysis program that counts words in psychologically meaningful categories, enabling it to show attentional focus, emotionality, social relationships, thinking styles, and individual differences, for example. I used the LIWC software to analyze the emotionality – specifically, the empathic quality – of the language in the newspaper articles. By comparing the various categories within each time period, I determined which frames were more and less empathic. By grouping the articles according to their date and then comparing these groupings (i.e., 1889 vs. 1890 vs. 1914 vs. 1939 vs.
1989), I determined whether initial news coverage of the Johnstown flood was inherently more empathy-invoking than later coverage.
LIWC does not deliver a specific measure of empathy, so empathy must be inferred through a combination of types of information LIWC does measure: the use of emotion words, which can show immersion in a traumatic event (Holmes et al.,
2007), and personal pronouns, affective processes and social processes (Salminen et al., 2021). Otterbacher et al. (2017) found that third-person pronouns were negatively correlated with empathy on the IRI, while punctuation use and the use of present tense were positively correlated with empathy. News coverage typically employs the third person and past tense, so Otterbacher’s findings may suggest that news coverage, by its very nature, should be somewhat less empathic. Because the use of punctuation is standardized through the news editing process, and therefore does not change over time or between categories, I have not included that in my analysis.
As Green et. al (2004) noted, the presence of rich details can influence transportation, and accordingly, the emotional change necessary for longer retention in
36 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 memory. As such, in addition to the frames mentioned above, I also divided the 498 articles based on craftmanship. I categorized articles as either “Showing” or “Telling,” which is how journalism and creative writing fields often conceptualize the difference between descriptive and nondescriptive writing. For clarity’s sake, here is an actual example from the June 1, 1889 coverage.
Telling/Nondescriptive. “At 11 o’clock a railroad man says the loss of life will reach hundreds and possibly over a thousand” (Course of the torrent, 1889).
Showing/Descriptive. “There was no escape, the horrors of the situation may be inferred from the appended accounts obtained from all accessible points along the course of the Conemaugh, which is now strewn with dead bodies, fragments of houses and debris, representing millions of money, and hundreds and possibly thousands of lives” (Scene of the disaster, 1889).
Expectations. I expected to find more empathic language in the initial coverage than coverage at later dates. I expected to find more empathic language in the person-focused categories, such as Action of disaster, Survivors and Victims, than in categories such as Application of lessons, Economic impacts and Transportation issues. Presuming that these bigger-picture categories are more likely to endure over time, this also could contribute to the diminution of empathic language over time.
I expected to find more empathic language used in descriptive than nondescriptive articles. If, in fact, it is found to be so, this also could play a role in the story’s gradual fade over time. That is, less descriptive, less empathic news coverage on anniversaries could contribute to the story’s decline by failing to enable audiences to put themselves into the story and create more, longer-lasting memories of it.
37 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
CDI. The CDI assesses the degree to which a person relies on analytic thinking or narrative thinking (Pennebaker et al., 2014; Nalabandian et al., 2020). The categorical component of the CDI – as defined by higher frequencies of articles and prepositions – represents analytic thinking, reflection and logic-based reasoning, while the dynamic component of the CDI – as defined by higher frequencies of pronouns, adverbs, auxiliary verbs, negations, and conjunctions – represents narrative thinking
(Pennebaker et al., 2014; Jordan & Pennebaker, 2017). So, Because Green et al.
(2004) proposed that transportation – and presumably, transformation as well – may be limited to narrative communications, I used the CDI to determine whether the narrative quality of the Johnstown flood effectively decreased over time.
Expectations. By comparing the articles in the aforementioned date groupings
(i.e., 1889 vs. 1890 vs. 1914 vs. 1939 vs. 1989), I determined whether initial news coverage of the Johnstown flood was inherently more dynamic (narrative) than those written later. I expected to find a gradual shift over time from dynamic to categorical as the event passed further into history and was repeatedly analyzed and consolidated.
LSM. Whereas LIWC measures the words used, LSM measures how words are used. Whereas language content includes nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs, language style includes the function words – pronouns, prepositions, articles, conjunctions, etc. – that are virtually meaningless on their own. LSM (Ireland &
Pennebaker, 2010) is a measure of the synchronized usage of function words between different texts. Close mimicry in language style between texts shows a high degree of engagement between them (Nalabandian, Taraban, Pittman, & Maliepaard, 2020).
Thus, LSM is one way to measure the similarity between texts regardless of content or
38 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 framing. Empathy is positively related to LSM (Lord et al., 2015; Meinecke &
Kauffeld, 2018), and, interestingly, LSM magnifies the tone of an interaction, both positively and negatively (Bowen et al., 2017). Thus, when language style matches closely, good news seems better and bad news seems worse – and the reader may feel both more acutely.
Expectations. By comparing the articles in the aforementioned date groupings
(i.e., 1889 vs. 1890 vs. 1914 vs. 1939 vs. 1989), I determined whether initial news coverage of the Johnstown flood was inherently different in style than those written later. I expected to find a high degree of LSM between the 1889, 1890 and 1914 articles and between 1939 and 1989, but I also expected to find a significant difference between those two groupings.
Hypotheses. In accordance with the aforementioned expectations, I tested seven hypotheses:
H1. Frames should change from the initial coverage to later time points, transitioning from an emphasis on Relief and Victims to an emphasis on the South
Fork Fishing and Hunting Club and Application of lessons.
H2. The big-picture categories (Application of lessons, Economic impacts and
Transportation) should be more lasting over time than the person-focused categories
(Action of disaster, Survivors and Victims).
H3. Empathic language should decrease from initial coverage to coverage at later time points.
H4. Descriptive texts should contain more empathic language than
Nondescriptive texts.
39 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
H5. Later time points should include more Nondescriptive than Descriptive language.
H6. Texts should show a gradual transition from dynamic to categorical thinking over time.
H7. Texts from the initial coverage through the 25th anniversary (1889, 1890 and 1914) should show a high degree of LSM, as should texts from the 50th and 100th anniversaries (1939 and 1989). However, there should be a low degree of LSM between those two groups (i.e., 1889/1890/1914 vs. 1939/1989).
The next chapter reports my findings on these seven hypotheses.
40 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
Table 1
Frames Within Johnstown Flood Coverage
Action of disaster The timeline of the flood, either partly or in its entirety. Note, this category applies only to action happening during the flood and subsequent fire. This can include rescue efforts happening at the time, but should not include action in the aftermath, such as relief efforts. Examples: (1) “The famous dam, over 1,000 feet in length and 75 feet high, broke, thereby loosing a body of water about three miles long, nearly a mile in width and about 60 feet in depth. This vast body of water rushed down the narrow South Fork into the Conemaugh, which passes directly through Johnstown. Its banks were lined with dwelling and business houses, which were carried before the rushing mountain of water as chips before a miniature torrent dashing along the course of a break” (Scene of the disaster, 1889). (2) “The first sill of the door was covered, and then the first story, and by the time it covered the railroad bridge, the entire mill and yard was submerged. At this time there were over 1,000 men at work in the mill and yard, but how many got out alive is not known. The molten steel flew in all directions from the converters when the water ran into them, and flashes of death-dealing hot metal could be seen on all sides” (Cambria mills submerged, 1889). (3) “With the slimy mud clinging to that tender little body, with its baby clothes torn and drenched, there is still something so sweet and peaceful about the pretty face and the dimpled hands crossed on the river-stained bosom, that one can hardly realize that the baby form had been the toy of the waves for miles down through the gorges of the mountains” (A ghastly journey, 1889).
Anniversary commemorations Commemorations of the flood, both in advance and in covering such events. Examples: (1) “Many deep scars remain to show the wounds Johnstown suffered a year ago. Unsightly ruined cellars between rows of cheap frame structures mark where streets of handsome dwellings or busy stores once lined the thoroughfares. There is plenty of this to remind the people of Johnstown of the disaster of a year ago” (A new Johnstown, 1890). (2) “The twenty-fifth anniversary of the Johnstown Newspaper Correspondents’ Association will be celebrated Monday evening with a dinner in the Hotel Schenley, with President Charles S. Howell presiding” (Annual reunion dinner, 1914). Application of lessons Decisions or discussions that resulted from the flood, such as if/where to rebuild and changes in liability laws. Examples: (1) “Some gentlemen, including some of the capitalists in the Cambria iron-works, propose that a land and improvement company be formed to divert the channel of Stony creek so that it shall run through Kernville, dividing it into two unequal parts, the larger of which shall be joined to Johnstown physically as the whole is
41 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
Table 1 Continued municipally. ... They say their proposition to change the course of the creek is intended not to enrich those who may engage in the enterprise, but to furnish a way by which the town may be protected from floods” (A new Johnstown, 1890). (2) “There was a great deal in connection with the Johnstown flood which can be recalled at this distance with pride—the fortitude of the survivors, the prompt assistance which poured in from all over the land, the staggering work of reclamation, the tremendous task of rehabilitation, etc. But not the least admirable was the spirit of the city’s stricken people as they set themselves to the formation of a new and larger city, more substantial, progressive and attractive, on the ruins of the old. Annexing suburbs, establishing a better government, and erecting modern buildings as rapidly as means would afford, the Johnstown of today has reason to be proud of the achievements a quarter of a century has witnessed” (Johnstown, 1914).
Economic impacts Financial costs of the flood. It is equally relevant to direct monetary and property losses, insurance matters and estimates of supposed value. Examples: (1) “The loss by the flood in the Kiskiminetas valley will reach several scores of lives and more than a quarter million dollars’ worth of property” (Below Johnstown, 1889). (2) “The owners of houses and buildings of Johnstown who had policies of insurance on their properties will lose all, as the fire-insurance agents all say their liability ceases when the property is carried away from its foundation and is destroyed elsewhere. They maintain that they insure a house against fire right where it is standing on a basis of the surrounding property” (No distinctions, 1889).
Relief efforts Efforts to relieve the suffering of flood survivors. This includes donation efforts, distribution of supplies and cleanup efforts in Johnstown. Examples: (1) “The Relief Committees in this city have done an enormous amount of work, and contributions are being made at many points” (The valley of death, 1889). (2) “Fifty-seven cases of clothing and bedding were filled by the relief corps and shipped to Johnstown yesterday” (The schools contributed, 1889).
Scene A focus on the setting specifically, not the action happening in the setting, or a broader view of the scene as a whole. Examples: (1) “Johnstown and Conemaugh is filled with buildings and drift forty feet high or more, which is on fire” (Supt. Pitcairn’s appeal, 1889). (2) “Four miles below the dam lay the town of South Fork, where the South Fork itself emptied into the Conemaugh river. The town contained about 2,000 inhabitants. It has not been heard from; but it is said that four-fifths of it have been swept 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 inhabitants” (Course of the torrent, 1889).
42 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
Table 1 Continued
South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club The South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, which owned the dam responsible for the flood. Examples: (1) “When the Sportsman Association of Western Pennsylvania concluded to buy this property, an organization was formed which is known as the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club. Its first work was to repair the break in the dam. … Owing to the fact that the level of this lake, which was the largest artificial reservoir in the United States, was nearly 300 feet above the level of the Conemaugh at Johnstown, there were fears that it might some time lead to disaster” (Scene of the disaster, 1889). (2) “Who is to blame? This is the question that is agitating the minds of a great many at present. The haste of a body of workingmen to pass a resolution censuring the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club was characteristic of those who are anxious to cast reflections on the rich, but it was none the less unseemly” (The quiet observer, 1889).
Survivors Individuals who survived the flood. It should be used not only for the personal stories and experiences of individual survivors, but also articles in which survivors are referred to collectively. Examples: (1) “The thrilling stories told of wonderful escapes make the only rift in the deep cloud of gloom that overshadows the city. The rescue of Miss Rose Clark from a fearful death, while nothing short of miraculous, yet showed the ingenuity of man to a wonderful degree. The poor girl was one of those fastened in the burning debris at the bridge. So securely was she fastened that after four hours of effort that men who sought to release her gave up in despair. The victim urged them to cut off one of her limbs, thinking that might facilitate release. A consultation of the men led to a long strap being tightly bound around and around her body, after the fashion in which a thread is wound around a finger for the removal of a ring. Each wind was made tighter and tighter. After the victim was thus costed the men began to gently pull upon the strap and in an hour Miss Clarke was taken out without a bruise in spite of her terrible squeezing” (Presence of mind, 1889). (2) “The physicians claim that several hundred cases of pneumonia exist. The children also are afflicted with measles and kindred complaints. The reaction, now that the greatest shock has in a measure passed, has left hundreds of survivors with their nervous forces badly shattered and broken” (Buried in trenches, 1889).
Transportation issues Transportation and communications issues that occurred as a result of the Johnstown flood: downed bridges, destroyed railroad tracks, inoperable telegraph lines, mail delivery delays, etc. Examples: (1) “In going to the trouble, with water west of Lilly’s, I could not get further than Table 1 Continued Sang Hollow. Our tracks west of this point are also obstructed” (Supt. Pitcairn’s appeal, 1889).
43 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
Table 1 Continued
(2) “The new iron bridge of the West Penn railroad, which spans the Allegheny river, has just been swept away by the flood debouching out of the Kiskiminetas” (Bridge swept away, 1889).
Victims Individuals who died in the flood. It should be used not only for the personal stories and experiences of individual victims, but also articles in which victims are referred to collectively. Examples: (1) “So far there have been about 1,500 bodies found along the track of the deluge, and it is simply a matter of guess-work as to how many more dead bodies may be found. Estimates of the great loss of life run all the way from 1,500 to 10,000” (The valley of death, 1889). (2) “One poor mother there was who had been away visiting. She had left her husband and four little children but a few days before. She was now hurrying home, for what? As the train neared Sang Hollow, a gentleman got on board who had spent the night at Johnstown. The anxious mother grasped his coat and asked for her husband and children. The gentleman in a pitying whisper told her the fatal news. ‘My God in heaven, my four babies are drowned!’ She screamed and sank fainting into her seat” (A ghastly journey, 1889).
44 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
CHAPTER III
RESULTS
After transcribing the 498 articles, I listed each in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet with separate columns for publication date, page number, word count of the body of the text (not including the headline), headline and body text. I then created two additional columns for type (Descriptive or Nondescriptive) and subcategories. As
I re-read the body text, I categorized each article as either Descriptive or
Nondescriptive and I listed the subcategories I found within it. Two independent raters examined a subset of the text – 10% of the total articles – to verify my categorizations.
For analytical purposes, I later added individual columns for Descriptive,
Nondescriptive, Action, Commemoration, Economic, Lessons, Relief, Scene, SFFHC,
Survivors, Transportation and Victims. Each article was then assigned a basic binary
“0” or “1” under each category – “0” meaning that article did not match that categorization an “1” meaning it did. For instance, a Descriptive article which matched the subcategories Action, Survivors, and Victims would include a “1” in the
Descriptive, Action, Survivors, and Victims columns and a “0” in the Nondescriptive,
Commemoration, Economic, Lessons, Relief, Scene, SFFHC, and Transportation columns.
I then divided the 498 articles into separate Microsoft Word documents according to year and subcategory so that individual documents represented each subcategory at each time point, across all time points, and each year (Table 2). This resulted in 68 documents available for individual analyses. In LIWC, I then utilized the correct Word document for the present analysis.
45 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
Table 2
Documents Used for LIWC Analyses
Documents Created Action Action 1889 Action 1890 Action 1914 Action 1939 Action 1989 Commemorations Commemorations 1889 Commemorations 1890 Commemorations 1914 Commemorations 1939 Commemorations 1989 Economic Economic 1889 Economic 1890 Economic 1914 Lessons Lessons 1889 Lessons 1890 Lessons 1914 Lessons 1989 Relief Relief 1889 Relief 1890 Relief 1914 Scene Scene 1889 Scene 1890 Scene 1914 SFFHC SFFHC 1889 SFFHC 1914 SFFHC 1989 Survivors Survivors 1889 Survivors 1890 Survivors 1914 Survivors 1939 Survivors 1989 Transportation Transportation 1889 Transportation 1890 Transportation 1914 Transportation 1939 Uncategorized Victims Victims 1889 Victims 1890 Victims 1914 Victims 1939 Victims 1989 Showing Showing 1889 Showing 1890 Showing 1914 Showing 1939 Showing 1989 Telling Telling 1889 Telling 1890 Telling 1914 Telling 1939 Telling 1989 1889 1890 1914 1939 1989
LIWC uses predetermined dictionaries to identify words within categories, then divides those frequencies by the total word count of each article to give a percentage. I thus determined the percentages in each article of personal pronouns (I, we, you, she/he, and they), impersonal pronouns, articles, prepositions, auxiliary verbs, adverbs, conjunctions, negations, quantifiers; positive and negative emotion; social terms, particularly those representing the subsets for family, friend, female and male; and past, present and future tense. Then I used those percentages for statistical analyses in SPSS, such as aggregations and means, where such analyses could be
46 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 done. If that method was not feasible – for instance, with the aforementioned Chi- squared analysis of subcategory frequency – I opted for more correlational analyses only.
Hypotheses 1 and 2
Based on Van Gorp’s (2005) finding that frames should change from the initial coverage to later time points, I hypothesized (H1) that I would find a transition from an emphasis on Relief and Victims in early coverage to an emphasis on the SFFHC and Lessons on subsequent anniversaries. I also hypothesized (H2) that the big-picture categories touching on the effects of the flood (e.g., Economic, Lessons, and
Transportation) should be more lasting over time than the person-focused categories
(e.g., Action, Survivors and Victims).
For this analysis, I examined the transition of subcategories over time. I began with a basic count of the numbers of articles that contain each categorization at each time point (Table 3). I attempted a to conduct a Chi-squared analysis for H1 and H2, but the frequencies at later time points were less than 5, which violated the assumptions for the Chi-squared test. The raw numbers are high at the initial time point and drastically lower at all subsequent times due in large part to expected consolidation of coverage over time. Therefore, for a fairer analysis, I converted the number of articles in each category at each time point into a percentage of the total number of articles at each time point: 477 in 1889, 9 articles in 1890, 6 articles in
1914, 3 articles in 1939, and 3 articles in 1989 (Table 4, Figure 1).
As seen in Figure 1, the Relief subcategory decreased in relevance from 1889 to 1914, then died out completely, which partly supported H1, however, the
47 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 appearance of the Victims category actually increased over time. The SFFHC increased, too, but at a much smaller percentage and with gaps in coverage – that storyline was notably missing in 1890 and 1939.
I also hypothesized a transition toward the lessons that could be learned from the disaster. In fact, while there was an increase in the Lessons category, it seemed to happen more quickly, peaking at the 25th anniversary. It was noticeably absent in
1939 but returned for the centennial.
These findings provide partial support for H1.
I then conducted an analysis using SPSS to compare the combined categories.
Using the binary “1”s and “0”s as previously described, I calculated the score for each story using the following equations, then aggregated across time periods.
RelVic = Relief + Victims LesSF = Lessons + SFFHC
Table 3
Articles Per Subcategory Over Time, 1889-1989
1889 1890 1914 1939 1989 Action 78 1 2 2 2 Commemoration 1 8 6 2 3 Economic 76 2 1 0 0 Lessons 17 3 3 0 1 Relief 312 4 2 0 0 Scene 178 3 2 0 0 SFFHC 28 0 1 0 1 Survivors 158 3 3 2 3 Transportation 96 3 3 1 0 Uncategorized 13 0 0 0 0 Victims 208 7 4 2 3
48 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
Table 4
Article Percentage Per Subcategory Over Time, 1889-1989
1889 (%) 1890 (%) 1914 (%) 1939 (%) 1989 (%) Action 16.35 11.11 33.33 66.67 66.67 Commemoration 0.21 88.89 100.00 66.67 100.00 Economic 15.93 22.22 16.67 0 0 Lessons 3.56 33.33 50.00 0 33.33 Relief 65.41 44.44 33.33 0 0 Scene 37.32 33.33 33.33 0 0 SFFHC 5.87 0 16.67 0 33.33 Survivors 33.12 33.33 50.00 66.67 100.00 Transportation 20.13 33.33 50.00 33.33 0 Uncategorized 2.73 0 0 0 0 Victims 43.61 77.78 66.67 66.67 100.00
Figure 1
Subcategory by Percentage of Coverage Over Time, 1889-1989
49 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
The combination of Relief and Victims declined over time, but also rebounded at the centennial, while the combination of Lessons and SFFHC increased over time, despite a drop in 1939. However, the decline in Relief and Victims and the increase in
Lessons and SFFHC do not necessarily indicate a transition from one to the other
(Table 5, Figure 2). Therefore, H1 was only partially supported.
Table 5
Category Transitions, 1889-1989
1889 (%) 1890 (%) 1914 (%) 1939 (%) 1989 (%) RelVic 1.09 1.22 1.00 0.67 1.00 LesSF 0.09 0.33 0.67 0.00 0.67
Figure 2
Category Transitions, 1889-1989
50 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
I also hypothesized (H2) that the Economic, Lessons, and Transportation categories – which emphasize the big picture, more tangible effects of the disaster – should be more lasting over time than Action, Survivors and Victims – which emphasize the people involved. While Economic, Lessons, and Transportation all garnered a larger share of the coverage on later anniversaries than in 1889, Economic peaked in 1890, then declined before dying out. Lessons and Transportation both peaked in 1914, then Transportation declined and died out. Lessons, interestingly, was not represented in the 1939 coverage but returned at the centennial.
Action, Survivors and Victims all increased in representation over time and were strongly represented at the centennial. The focus on the in-the-moment action of the flood decreased in 1890, but increased after that, plateauing in 1939 and 1989. The focus on Victims rose sharply from 1889 to 1890, fell slightly for 1914 and 1939, and then returned strongly in 1989. The storyline of Survivors, on the other hand, increased steadily from 1889 to 1989.
I then conducted an SPSS analysis, similar to that in H1, to compare the combined categories, by calculating the score for each story using the following equations, then aggregating across time periods.
Person = Action + Survivors + Victims BigPic = Economic + Lessons + Transportation
The combination of Action, Survivors, and Victims increased steadily over time, whereas the combination of Economic, Lessons, and Transportation increased through 1914, then declined through the centennial (Table 6, Figure 3). Therefore, H2 was not supported.
51 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
Table 6
Category Transitions, 1889-1989
1889 (%) 1890 (%) 1914 (%) 1939 (%) 1989 (%) Person 0.93 1.22 1.50 2.00 2.67 BigPic 0.39 0.89 1.17 0.33 0.33
Figure 3
Category Transitions, 1889-1989
Hypothesis 3
I hypothesized (H3) that empathic language should decrease from initial coverage to coverage at later time points. As previously noted, using LIWC to determine empathy in language requires some inference from various data, specifically the usage of emotion words, personal pronouns, social processes and present tense. To examine the following hypotheses, therefore, I address each of these data sets
52 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 individually and then present some conclusions drawn through the incorporation of each set.
Emotion Words
The use of emotion words, both positive and negative, has been shown to increase empathy (Holmes et al., 2007; Salminen et al., 2021). Using the LIWC- derived percentages of positive and negative emotion for each article, I then used
SPSS to aggregate the means of positive and negative emotion at each time period2
(Table 7, Figure 4). While negative emotion changed slightly over time, positive emotion saw much larger shifts, including a large decline from 1890 to 1939. The sum of positive and negative emotion at each time point gives a measure of total emotionality (Table 8, Figure 5), which also shows this decline. However, both positive, negative and total emotion increased at the centennial.
Table 7
Positive v. Negative Emotion, 1889-1989
1889 (%) 1890 (%) 1914 (%) 1939 (%) 1989 (%) Positive emotion 1.94 2.57 1.56 0.64 1.68 Negative emotion 2.06 1.97 2.26 1.69 2.01
Table 8
Total Emotionality, 1889-1989
1889 (%) 1890 (%) 1914 (%) 1939 (%) 1989 (%) Total emotion 4.00 4.54 3.82 2.33 3.69
2 See Appendix B for a supplemental analysis using subcategories. 53 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
Figure 4
Positive v. Negative Emotion, 1889-1989
Figure 5
Total Emotionality, 1889-1989
54 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
Taken together, the decline in emotionality of language over time lent itself to the predicted decline in empathy and suggested at least partial support for the hypothesis that empathic language declined over time.
Personal Pronouns
Salminen et al. (2021) showed that empathy was associated with the use of personal pronouns, while Otterbacher et al. (2017) specified that the use of third- person pronouns is negatively correlated with empathy. Using LIWC and SPSS, I calculated the weighted mean percentage of personal pronouns (Table 9) at each time point. By dividing that percentage by the sum at that time point, I calculated the percentage of pronouns each personal pronoun represents (Table 10, Figure 6). I then added the percentages of “I” and “We” to create a “First-person” measure and the percentages of “She/He” and “They” to create a “Third-person” measure (Table 11,
Figure 7). To support the hypothesis that empathic language declines over time, I expected to see a decrease in first-person pronouns (I and we), and possibly an increase in third-person pronouns (she/he and they).
1889. The first-person singular pronoun “I” already represented a very small percentage of the text at the first time point, coming in just over one-sixth of 1% of the total words in the 1889 texts. Combined, “I,” the first-person plural “we”, and second person “you” represented just over half of 1% of the words in the text. Even when compared only to the other pronouns, these first- and second-person pronouns represented only a little over one-fifth of the total. The third-person pronouns, however, as expected by the very nature of news coverage, comprised the largest percentage, a combined 1.95% of the text and 78.95% of the personal pronouns.
55 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
Table 9
Personal Pronouns as a Percentage of Text, 1889-1989
I (%) We (%) You (%) She/He (%) They (%) Sum (%) 1889 0.17 0.22 0.13 0.99 0.96 2.47 1890 0.02 0.16 0.00 0.44 0.68 1.30 1914 0.04 0.12 0.16 0.39 0.58 1.29 1939 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.54 0.55 2.09 1989 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.15 0.39 0.54
Table 10
Personal Pronouns as a Percentage of Pronouns, 1889-1989
I (%) We (%) You (%) She/He (%) They (%) 1889 6.88 8.91 5.26 40.08 38.87 1890 1.54 12.31 0.00 33.85 52.31 1914 3.10 9.30 12.40 30.23 44.96 1939 0.00 0.00 0.00 73.68 26.32 1989 0.00 0.00 0.00 27.78 72.22
Table 11
Personal Pronouns as a Percentage of Pronouns, 1889-1989
First-person (%) Second-person (%) Third-person (%) 1889 15.79 5.26 78.95 1890 13.85 0.00 86.15 1914 12.40 12.40 75.19 1939 0.00 0.00 100.00 1989 0.00 0.00 100.00
1890. One year after the disaster, the usage of all personal pronouns had decreased: first-person pronouns to a combined 0.18% and third-person pronouns to a combined 1.12% of the text. Within that smaller overall usage, first-person pronouns comprised 13.85% and third-person percentage increased to 86.16%.
56 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
Figure 6
Personal Pronouns as a Percentage of Pronouns, 1889-1989
Figure 7
Personal Pronouns as a Percentage of Pronouns, 1889-1989
57 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
1914. Twenty-five years after the event, the first-person pronouns combined to just one-sixth of 1% of the text, while third-person pronouns’ representation combined to just under 1%. Among the pronouns only, first-person usage continued its downward trend, representing a combined 12.40%; second person saw a surprising rebound, equaling the first-person; and third-person usage decreased but remained on top with a combined 75.19%3.
1939. By the 50th anniversary, the first- and second-person pronouns died out entirely, which was to be expected as the generation who experienced the event died out. But that could correlate with a significant decline in empathy as readers no longer had a personal experience of the event in which to mentally transport themselves. The use of third-person pronouns increased to 2.09%. The transition to all third-person accounts, however, could likewise correlate with a decline in empathy, based on
Otterbacher et al. (2017)’s findings.
1989. One century after the flood, even the proportion of third-person pronouns dropped significantly, representing together just over half of 1% of the text.
Results. The observed decline in first-person pronouns was consistent with my expectations. There was also an overall decrease in the use of third-person pronouns as a percentage of the text, which I did not anticipate, even considering the progressive shift from first- and second-person pronouns to third person over time. The total use of personal pronouns in the texts also decreased over time. But it was not a constant decline in any of these groupings. In all cases, there was a decline from 1889 to 1890,
3 Rounding to two decimal points results in percentages that may not add to exactly 100%. 58 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 then the usage of all personal pronouns increased slightly in 1914. But after 1914, usage declined through 1989.
Thus, the usage of personal pronouns provides partial support to the hypothesis that empathic language declines over time.
Social Processes
Salminen et al. (2021) showed that expressions of social processes can indicate empathy because the terms relate to an individual’s roles in society (i.e., mother, son, friend, husband, woman, etc.). Mentally putting oneself into another’s place requires first understanding that other person’s situation. Thus, I anticipated finding a decrease in the expression of social processes, which would suggest a decrease in empathy.
Accordingly, because females use social and emotive words more often than males do
(Tausczik & Pennebaker, 2010; Lin et al., 2016), I anticipated a decline in female terms over time as well.
LIWC determined the percentage of all social process terms in each article, then I used SPSS to aggregate the means at each time point (Table 12, Figure 8). By dividing the numbers in each subset by the total (Social) at each time point, I calculated the percentage of social process terms represented by each subset (Table 13,
Figure 9).
I found an overall decrease in all terms as a percentage of text over time, even considering an uptick at 1939, when family, male and female terms all saw resurgences. Friend terms saw a small increase in 1989, but it was not enough to counteract the decline in all other categories. Female terms followed the trend of the overall category, dipping from 1889-1914, then peaking in 1939 before declining
59 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 again. These same trends were represented in the subsets’ percentage among all social processes. Therefore, the expression of social processes in texts from 1889 to 1989 also provides support for the hypothesis that empathic language decreases over time.
Table 12
Social Process Subsets as a Percentage of Text, 1889-1989
Family (%) Friend (%) Female (%) Male (%) All social (%) 1889 0.70 0.20 0.52 1.55 7.28 1890 0.47 0.14 0.13 1.04 5.79 1914 0.25 0.04 0.07 0.60 4.53 1939 0.95 0.00 0.26 2.16 5.66 1989 0.07 0.39 0.00 0.22 2.25
Table 13
Social Process Subsets as a Percentage of All Social Terms, 1889-1989
Family (%) Friend (%) Female (%) Male (%) Sum (%) 1889 9.62 2.75 7.14 21.29 40.80 1890 8.12 2.42 2.25 17.96 30.74 1914 5.52 0.88 1.55 13.25 21.19 1939 16.78 0.00 4.59 38.16 59.54 1989 3.11 17.33 0.00 9.78 30.22
Note: The sum of the subsets is significantly less than 100%, meaning a large portion of the social processes present in the texts are not represented in these subsets.
60 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
Figure 8
Social Process Subsets as a Percentage of Text, 1889-1989
Figure 9
Social Process Subsets as a Percentage of All Social Terms, 1889-1989
61 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
Tense
In line with Otterbacher et al. (2017)’s finding that use of present tense was most likely to foster empathy in readers, I predicted that a decreased used of present tense over time would support the hypothesis of a decrease in empathy over time.
And, to a certain extent, that’s what SPSS found in the texts (Table 14, Figure 10).
At all time points, the texts were highly past-tense focused, as expected by the nature of news coverage. Within that context, however, the use of present tense declined from 1889 to 1939, then made a tiny resurgence at the centennial. After converting the percentages to proportions (Table 15; Figure 11) by dividing the percentages in Table 14 by their sum at each time point, it became clear that not only the raw percentage of present-tense verbs in the text declined, but also the proportion of present-tense verbs in comparison to the past- and future-tense verbs. The proportion of present-tense verbs declined over time even as the proportion of past- and future-tense verbs increased. This data supports, in part, the hypothesis of a decline in empathy over time.
Table 14
Percentage of Past, Present and Future Tense, 1889-1989
Past (%) Present (%) Future (%) Sum (%) 1889 6.10 5.70 1.14 12.94 1890 6.86 4.38 1.43 12.67 1914 7.29 3.93 1.62 12.84 1939 5.36 3.00 1.34 9.70 1989 5.35 3.17 1.84 10.36
Note: These numbers represent percentages of the whole text.
62 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
Figure 10
Percentage of Past, Present and Future Tense, 1889-1989
Table 15
Proportion of Past, Present and Future Tense, 1889-1989
Past (%) Present (%) Future (%) 1889 47.14 44.05 8.81 1890 54.14 34.57 11.29 1914 56.78 30.61 12.62 1939 55.26 30.93 13.81 1989 51.64 30.60 17.76
Note: These numbers represent percentages of the past-, present- and future-tense words.
63 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
Figure 11
Proportion of Past, Present and Future Tense, 1889-1989
Results
In summary, my analysis of the emotionality of language suggested a decline of both positive emotion and total emotionality from 1890-1939, then rebounding for the centennial. Negative emotion proved more lasting over time, but it had also decreased by 1939, and it saw a much smaller boost in 1989 than positive emotion and total emotionality did. My analysis of personal pronouns found a decline in the use of first-person and third-person pronouns, as well as the total use of personal pronouns over time. There was a peak in that general overall decline in 1939. Expressions of social processes decreased similarly over time, with the same peak at 1939 in the midst of the overall decline. However, the use of present tense verbs did not follow
64 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 that trend, decreasing steadily from 1890 to 1939, then rebounding at the centennial in the same way the emotionality of language did.
All combined, this data suggested support for the hypothesis that empathic language decreased over time.
Hypothesis 4
Based upon the idea that the presence of rich details can allow a reader to become more thoroughly immersed in a narrative world (Green et al., 2004), I hypothesized (H4) that Descriptive (“Showing”) texts should contain more empathic language than Nondescriptive (“Telling”) texts. I therefore conducted the same analysis as with H3, this time using the texts in the Showing and Telling subcategories.
Emotion Words
With the LIWC-derived percentages of positive- and negative-emotion words in each article, I used SPSS to aggregate the means of positive and negative emotion at each time period in Descriptive and Nondescriptive texts, separately (Table 16, Figure
12). I then added together (1) the Descriptive positive and Descriptive negative categories to create a total Descriptive measure, (2) the Nondescriptive positive and
Nondescriptive negative categories to create a total Nondescriptive measure, (3) the
Descriptive positive and Nondescriptive positive categories to create a total Positive measure, and (4) the Descriptive negative and Nondescriptive negative categories to create a total Negative measure (Table 17, Figure 13).
1889. In initial coverage, there was a virtual tie between positive and negative emotion in the Nondescriptive texts. Among Descriptive texts, the level of positive
65 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 emotion was only slightly lower than the emotion levels for the Nondescriptive texts, while the level of negative emotion was significantly higher. Total emotion was greater for Descriptive texts.
1890. A year after the disaster, both Descriptive and Nondescriptive texts skewed more positive than negative. Again, there was a larger discrepancy between positive and negative in the Descriptive than the Nondescriptive texts. Total emotion fell slightly among the Descriptive, but increased in the Nondescriptive, texts.
1914. On the 25th anniversary, the Nondescriptive and Descriptive texts both skewed significantly toward negative emotion, but Descriptive texts showed greater levels of both positive and negative emotions than the Nondescriptive texts.
Descriptive texts also showed greater levels of total emotion, nearly doubling the total emotionality of the Nondescriptive texts.
1939. By the 50th anniversary, levels of total emotion had fallen significantly, due in part to the shortage of positive emotion in both Descriptive and Nondescriptive texts. Even negative emotion had decreased substantially, but the effects were most obvious in the Descriptive texts. The smallest decrease was seen among negative emotion in the Nondescriptive texts, perhaps suggesting a base level of negative emotion that may fade more slowly than positive emotion over time. After the 1914 spike, the total levels of both emotions resumed their gradual decline.
1989. By the centennial, the aforementioned trend of more lasting negative emotion in Nondescriptive texts continues and becomes even stronger, combining the full elimination of positive emotion with a greater total level of emotion. Both
Descriptive and Nondescriptive texts showed greater total levels of emotion, but
66 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 among Descriptive texts, positive emotion increased more than four-fold over 1939 whereas negative emotion decreased.
Over time. Taken together, these results suggest that the emotionality of
Descriptive texts allows greater variability in emotion over time, both positively and negatively, while Nondescriptive texts less easily affect emotion. As expected,
Nondescriptive texts saw much smoother curves over time. By contrast, Descriptive texts saw much greater variability in emotion, which suggested that, indeed, the
Descriptive texts did contain more empathic language than Nondescriptive texts. One intriguing finding was the close match of the Descriptive and Negative totals, and the
Nondescriptive and Positive totals. These findings provide partial support for H4.
Table 16
Changes in Affective Processes By Craftsmanship, 1889-1989
1889 1890 1914 1939 1989 (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) Showing positive emotion 1.71 2.58 2.23 0.55 2.52 Showing negative emotion 2.57 1.25 3.98 1.38 1.02 Telling positive emotion 1.98 2.57 1.43 0.69 0.00 Telling negative emotion 1.97 2.17 1.91 1.84 4.00
Table 17
Total Affective Processes By Craftsmanship, 1889-1989
1889 1890 1914 1939 1989 (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) Showing emotion 4.28 3.83 6.21 1.93 3.54 Telling emotion 3.95 4.74 3.34 2.53 4.00 Negative emotion 4.54 3.42 5.89 3.22 5.02 Positive emotion 3.69 5.15 3.66 1.24 2.52
67 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
Figure 12
Changes in Affective Processes By Craftsmanship, 1889-1989
Figure 13
Total Affective Processes By Craftsmanship, 1889-1989
68 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
Personal Pronouns
To further determine whether H4 is supported, I examined personal pronouns in Descriptive and Nondescriptive texts. I anticipated finding a higher percentage of first- and second-person pronouns in Descriptive than Nondescriptive texts. I anticipated Nondescriptive texts would include largely third-person pronouns.
Using SPSS, I aggregated the means of personal pronouns in Descriptive and
Nondescriptive texts at each time period (Table 18, Table 19). Then, I divided each mean by the sum of the means to determine its percentage among only the personal pronouns (Table 20, Table 21). I then combined the percentages of “I” and “We” into a first-person measure and the percentages of “She/He” and “They” into a third-person measure and combined the separate Descriptive and Nondescriptive tables into one
(Table 22, Figure 14). Considering the higher percentage of third-person pronouns at all times I found in H3, as well as the transition to exclusively third-person pronouns over time, it is unsurprising that the percentages of third-person pronouns are significantly higher than the percentages of first- and second-person pronouns in this analysis.
As expected, I found a higher percentage of first- and second-person pronouns
– and total pronoun use – in Descriptive than Nondescriptive texts. First- and second- person pronouns accounted for 28.95% of pronoun usage in Descriptive texts, as compared to 24.45% in Nondescriptive texts. I anticipated Nondescriptive texts would include largely third-person pronouns. While this was true – third-person pronouns accounted for 75.56% of the personal pronouns in those texts – it’s also true for
Descriptive texts, in which third-person pronouns represented 71.05% of the pronouns.
69 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
While these findings suggest at least initial support of the hypothesis that
Descriptive texts should contain more empathic language than Nondescriptive texts, the shift to exclusively third-person pronouns over time might have skewed these results, so I broke them down into separate time point analyses.
1889. In initial coverage, personal pronouns represented a larger percentage of the total text in Descriptive than Nondescriptive texts. The first- and second-person pronouns combined to 27.43% of pronoun use in Descriptive texts and 19.13. Again, third-person pronouns comprised the vast majority – 72.57% of pronouns in
Descriptive and 80.87% in Nondescriptive texts – consistent with my expectations.
1890. Again, the total percentage of personal pronouns was higher in
Descriptive than Nondescriptive texts. But of those, first- and second-person pronouns combined to 22.96% of pronouns in Descriptive and only 9.82% of Nondescriptive texts, consistent with my expectations. Also as anticipated, Nondescriptive texts included a larger percentage of third-person pronouns (90.18%) than Descriptive texts
(77.04%). These results suggest a decrease in empathic quality from 1889 to 1890, consistent with the findings for H3, as well as less empathic quality in Nondescriptive than Descriptive texts.
1914. The 25th anniversary showed an interesting decline in the overall use of personal pronouns among Descriptive texts. Contrary to expectations, 1914 did not show a higher percentage of first- and second-person pronouns in Descriptive texts
(Table 31, Figure 22). In fact, first- and second-person pronouns appeared only in
Nondescriptive texts, where they comprised more than one-fourth (28.06%) of
70 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 pronouns used – the greatest amount of any time point. Simultaneously,
Nondescriptive texts still showed a majority (71.95%) of third-person pronouns.
1939. By the 50th anniversary, the use of first- and second-person pronouns had died out, leaving only third person in both Descriptive and Nondescriptive texts.
This event should correlate with a decline in empathy over time, consistent with H3.
The total percentage of pronouns used increased among Nondescriptive texts, whereas the percentage in Descriptive texts continued to decline. Among the third-person pronouns, Descriptive texts used exclusively “they” whereas Nondescriptive texts employed “she/he” by a more than 3:1 ratio.
1989. The centennial coverage contained no first- or second-person pronouns.
However, the transition in total pronoun use from primarily Nondescriptive texts in
1939 to entirely Descriptive texts in 1989 was unexpected, considering that both
Descriptive and Nondescriptive texts were identified at the centennial. However, it should be noted that the overall decline in pronoun usage in Descriptive texts continued, with a barely noticeable increase from 1939 to 1989. The pronoun use in
Nondescriptive texts, which had held fairly steady to that point, disappeared entirely.
Table 18
Personal Pronouns as a Percentage of Descriptive Texts, 1889-1989
I (%) We (%) You (%) She/He (%) They (%) Sum (%) 1889 0.53 0.29 0.11 1.4 1.06 3.39 1890 0.1 0.35 0 0.41 1.1 1.96 1914 0 0 0 0.16 0.64 0.8 1939 0 0 0 0 0.28 0.28 1989 0 0 0 0.22 0.58 0.8
71 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
Table 19
Personal Pronouns as a Percentage of Nondescriptive Texts, 1889-1989
I (%) We (%) You (%) She/He (%) They (%) Sum (%) 1889 0.11 0.2 0.13 0.92 0.94 2.3 1890 0 0.11 0 0.45 0.56 1.12 1914 0.05 0.14 0.2 0.43 0.57 1.39 1939 0 0 0 2.31 0.69 3 1989 0 0 0 0 0 0
Table 20
Personal Pronouns as a Percentage of Pronouns in Descriptive Texts, 1889-1989
I (%) We (%) You (%) She/He (%) They (%) 1889 15.63 8.55 3.24 41.30 31.27 1890 5.10 17.86 0.00 20.92 56.12 1914 0.00 0.00 0.00 20.00 80.00 1939 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 100.00 1989 0.00 0.00 0.00 27.50 72.50
Table 21
Personal Pronouns as a Percentage of Pronouns in Nondescriptive Texts, 1889-1989
I (%) We (%) You (%) She/He (%) They (%) 1889 4.78 8.70 5.65 40.00 40.87 1890 0.00 9.82 0.00 40.18 50.00 1914 3.60 10.07 14.39 30.94 41.01 1939 0.00 0.00 0.00 77.00 23.00 1989 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
I hypothesized (H4) that Descriptive texts should contain more empathic language than Nondescriptive texts. The decline in first- and second-person texts coincides with the decline in empathy as seen in H3. However, the presence of only
72 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
Descriptive texts in 1989 also coincides with the resurgence of empathy at the centennial. These findings provide additional partial support for H4.
Table 22
Personal Pronouns as a Percentage of Pronouns in All Texts, 1889-1989
Desc. Nondesc. Desc. Nondesc. Desc. Nondesc. First First Second Second Third Third (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) 1889 24.19 13.48 3.24 5.65 72.57 80.87 1890 22.96 9.82 0.00 0.00 77.04 90.18 1914 0.00 13.67 0.00 14.39 100.00 71.94 1939 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 100.00 100.00 1989 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 100.00 0.00
Figure 14
Personal Pronouns as a Percentage of Pronouns in All Texts, 1889-1989
73 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
Social Processes
I anticipated finding a greater expression of social processes in Descriptive than Nondescriptive texts, which would suggest a greater empathic quality.
Accordingly, because females use social and emotive words more often than males do,
I anticipated Descriptive texts would contain more female terms than Nondescriptive texts.
Using SPSS, I aggregated the means of social subsets across all time periods, divided only by Descriptive and Nondescriptive categorization. While I did not find a greater expression of social processes in Descriptive than Nondescriptive texts – in fact, total social expressions and all other categories were virtually equal – the only significant difference was in female terms (Table 23). I then aggregated the means for the social subsets at each time period for a deeper analysis (Table 24, Table 25). I then divided those means by the total social measure to determine their percentage among social terms (Table 26, Table 27, Figure 15). Descriptive texts claim a greater percentage than Nondescriptive in the initial coverage, but as the Descriptive texts decline more quickly than the Nondescriptive, Nondescriptive claim a greater percentage for the next three time periods. However, by the centennial, the only social representation remaining is in Descriptive texts.
Table 23
Social Process Subsets as a Percentage of All Texts, 1889-1989
Family (%) Friend (%) Female (%) Male (%) All social (%) Showing 0.68 0.18 0.91 1.58 7.02 Telling 0.69 0.20 0.42 1.51 7.21
74 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
Table 24
Social Process Subsets as a Percentage of Descriptive Texts, 1889-1989
Family (%) Friend (%) Female (%) Male (%) All social (%) 1889 0.72 0.17 0.99 1.67 7.27 1890 0.15 0.15 0.17 0.63 5.14 1914 0.32 0.16 0.00 0.16 5.25 1939 0.55 0.00 0.00 1.10 3.03 1989 0.11 0.58 0.00 0.33 2.71
Table 25
Social Process Subsets as a Percentage of Nondescriptive Texts, 1889-1989
Family (%) Friend (%) Female (%) Male (%) All social (%) 1889 0.70 0.20 0.43 1.52 7.28 1890 0.56 0.14 0.12 1.15 5.97 1914 0.24 0.01 0.08 0.69 4.39 1939 1.16 0.00 0.39 2.69 6.97 1989 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.33
Table 26
Social Process Subsets as a Percentage of Social Terms in Descriptive Texts
Family (%) Friend (%) Female (%) Male (%) Sum (%) 1889 9.90 2.34 13.62 22.97 48.83 1890 2.92 2.92 3.31 12.26 21.40 1914 6.10 3.05 0.00 3.05 12.19 1939 18.15 0.00 0.00 36.30 54.46 1989 4.06 21.40 0.00 12.18 37.64
Note: In Table 26 and Table 27, the sum of the subsets is significantly less than 100%, meaning a large portion of the social processes present in the texts are not represented in these subsets.
75 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
Table 27
Social Process Subsets as a Percentage of Social Terms in Nondescriptive Texts
Family (%) Friend (%) Female (%) Male (%) Sum (%) 1889 9.62 2.75 5.91 20.88 39.15 1890 9.38 2.35 2.01 19.26 33.00 1914 5.47 0.23 1.82 15.72 23.23 1939 16.64 0.00 5.60 38.59 60.83 1989 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Figure 15
Social Process Subsets as a Percentage of All Social Terms, 1889-1989
While this suggests that Descriptive texts may be more lasting over time than
Nondescriptive texts, it does not necessarily support the hypothesis that Descriptive texts are more empathic in nature than the Nondescriptive texts. Thus, this analysis of social terms does not provide support for H4.
76 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
Tense
Because present tense had been shown as most likely to foster empathy in readers, I predicted that Descriptive texts would contain a greater percentage of present tense words than Nondescriptive texts. However, I expected past tense to be most prominent in both categories.
Using the aggregated mean percentages of past-, present-, and future-tense words provided by SPSS, I calculated the sums within Descriptive and Nondescriptive texts (Table 28), then divided each metric by that sum to determine their percentages among just those terms (Table 29, Figure 16). As expected, the past tense was best represented in both Descriptive and Nondescriptive texts. However, contrary to my hypothesis, Nondescriptive texts contained a larger proportion of the present-tense terms than the Descriptive texts. Thus, this analysis fails to support the hypothesis that
Descriptive texts contain more empathic language than Nondescriptive texts.
Table 28
Percentage of Past, Present and Future Tense in Descriptive v. Nondescriptive Texts
Past (%) Present (%) Future (%) Sum (%) Showing 6.77 4.70 0.88 12.35 Telling 6.00 5.80 1.21 13.01
Note: These numbers represent percentages of the whole text.
77 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
Table 29
Proportion of Past, Present and Future Tense in Descriptive v. Nondescriptive Texts
Past (%) Present (%) Future (%) Showing 54.82 38.06 7.13 Telling 46.12 44.58 9.30
Note: These numbers represent percentages as a proportion of the sum of past-, present- and future-tense words.
Figure 16
Proportion of Past, Present and Future Tense in Descriptive v. Nondescriptive Texts
Results
As noted previously, some inference must be made from these various measures in determining their indication – or lack thereof – of empathic quality in
78 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 texts. The analysis of positive and negative emotion suggested that the greater emotionality in Descriptive texts coincide with greater emotional variability. The examination of personal pronouns suggested the possible role Descriptive texts could have played in the resurgence of empathy at the centennial. The analysis of social processes found no difference between Descriptive and Nondescriptive categories except in the metric most associated with social, emotive connection. While there is certainly room for debate, these three points make an argument in favor of Descriptive texts containing more empathic language than Nondescriptive texts.
The one measure that failed to support the hypothesis was the use of present tense. However, because of the very nature of news coverage – inherently past- focused – I did not consider this a fatal flaw to the hypothesis. The results are not irrefutable, but taken together, they suggest that Descriptive texts likely contain more empathic language than Nondescriptive texts.
Hypothesis 5
Based on the supposition that greater levels of empathic language in
Descriptive texts should have facilitated a greater amount of personal connection and yet the apparent decline in empathy over time, I hypothesized (H5) that later time points should include more Nondescriptive than Descriptive language.
Using SPSS as previously described, each article was categorized as either
Descriptive or Nondescriptive. I then aggregated the means of Descriptive and
Nondescriptive texts at each time point. As shown in Table 30 and Figure 17, the percentage of Nondescriptive articles was greatest in 1889 and remained fairly stable through 1914, then declined sharply each successive time point. The Descriptive
79 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 articles showed the opposite pattern – lowest at 1889, stable through 1914, then increasing at each time point. Thus, the percentages of Descriptive and Nondescriptive texts were not in line with my hypothesis. Rather, the percentage of Descriptive texts increased over time, and as the inverse of Descriptive texts, Nondescriptive texts decreased.
Thus, H5 was not supported.
Table 30
Percentage of Descriptive v. Nondescriptive Texts, 1889-1989
1889 (%) 1890 (%) 1914 (%) 1939 (%) 1989 (%) Showing 15.00 22.00 17.00 33.00 67.00 Telling 85.00 78.00 83.00 67.00 33.00
Figure 17
Percentage of Descriptive v. Nondescriptive Texts, 1889-1989
80 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
Hypothesis 6
Based on the assumption that a stronger narrative breeds greater empathy, I hypothesized (H6) that the texts should show a gradual transition from dynamic
(narrative) to categorical (analytical) thinking over time.
Using SPSS, I calculated the aggregated means of each individual component of the CDI at each time point (Table 31), then the categorical and dynamic scores for the full texts at each time point. The categorical component is a simple average of the frequencies of articles and prepositions, while the dynamic component is an average of the frequencies of personal and impersonal pronouns, auxiliary verbs, conjunctions, adverbs, and negations, all of which LIWC provides (Nalabandian et al. 2020).
Table 31
CDI Component Measures, 1889-1989
ppron ipron auxverb conj adverb negate article prep (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) 1889 2.47 3.71 7.80 4.75 2.50 0.69 10.38 16.32 1890 1.30 3.85 7.75 4.97 2.86 0.72 12.60 16.98 1914 1.30 4.13 8.14 5.93 3.27 1.01 12.17 15.85 1939 2.09 2.42 3.39 2.39 0.88 0.00 10.57 16.39 1989 0.53 4.73 4.85 5.09 0.66 0.07 10.94 15.55
I used the following equations for my calculations:
Categorical = (articles + prep) / 2 Dynamic = (ppron + ipron + auxverb + conj + adverb + negate) / 6
As shown in Table 32 and Figure 18, the Categorical score was greater than the
Dynamic score across all time points, and both remained relatively steady over time, although the Dynamic score saw a greater variability than the Categorical score. This 81 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 suggests mixed support for the hypothesis because the Dynamic score did decrease, but it also rebounded somewhat for the centennial. The Categorical score, meanwhile, was consistently higher, which I did not anticipate.
Thus, H6 is not supported.
Table 32
CDI Scores, 1889-1989
Categorical Dynamic 1889 13.35 3.66 1890 14.79 3.58 1914 14.01 3.96 1939 13.48 1.86 1989 13.25 2.66
Figure 18
CDI Scores, 1889-1989
82 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
Hypothesis 7
Because of the finding that close mimicry in language style between texts shows a high degree of engagement between them (Nalabandian et al., 2020), I expected to find a high degree of LSM between the 1889, 1890 and 1914 articles as well as a high degree between 1939 and 1989. However, I also anticipated finding a low degree of LSM between those two groups.
Like CDI, LSM is calculated using a formula based on the LIWC-derived frequencies of function word categories in texts, specifically personal and impersonal pronouns, articles, prepositions, auxiliary verbs, adverbs, conjunctions, negations, and quantifiers. The difference from CDI, however, is that LSM uses the difference in frequencies between two texts or two groups of texts to determine their level of similarity. Each function category is calculated separately, then the category scores are averaged (added together and divided by 9). The following formula uses the adverb category as an example:
LSMadverb = 1 – [(| adverbtext 1 – adverbtext 2|) / (adverbtext 1 + adverbtext 2 + .0001) LSM = Σ LSMcategories / 9
LSM scores range from 0 to 1, with higher values indicating a greater degree of similarity between texts. The .0001 is added to ensure a nonzero denominator.
For this analysis, I used LIWC and SPSS to analyze the mean frequencies of the function categories in the full body of text from each time point (Table 33). Then, I calculated the LSM scores between each group of texts (Table 34). As anticipated, there was a high degree of similarity between texts at 1889, 1890, and 1914. Text from
83 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
1939 in general has the lowest degree of similarity with texts from the other time points; 1989’s similarity to the other time points is slightly higher than 1939’s.
Thus, H7 is mostly supported. There is a high degree of LSM between the
1889, 1890, and 1914 texts. There also is a substantial difference between those texts and the texts from 1939 and 1989. However, there is not the high degree of similarity between 1939 and 1989 that I expected to find. It appears that 1939 and 1989 are both functionally different from texts written within the first 25 years and functionally different from each other. The greater similarity between 1989 and the first three time points is an intriguing finding that may correlate with the increases in narrativity, descriptiveness and emotionality found in prior hypotheses.
Table 33
Function Word Frequencies, 1889-1989
ppron ipron auxverb conj adverb negate article prep quant (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) 1889 2.47 3.71 7.80 4.75 2.50 0.69 10.38 16.32 1.86 1890 1.30 3.85 7.75 4.97 2.86 0.72 12.60 16.98 2.35 1914 1.30 4.13 8.14 5.93 3.27 1.01 12.17 15.85 2.03 1939 2.09 2.42 3.39 2.39 0.88 0.00 10.57 16.39 0.64 1989 0.53 4.73 4.85 5.09 0.66 0.07 10.94 15.55 0.81
Table 34
LSM Scores, 1889-1989
1889 (%) 1890 (%) 1914 (%) 1939 (%) 1989 (%) 1889 100.00 92.49 89.39 66.70 68.03 1890 92.49 100.00 94.37 62.12 68.72 1914 89.39 94.37 100.00 60.94 68.39 1939 66.70 62.12 60.94 100.00 69.35 1989 68.03 68.72 68.39 69.35 100.00
84 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
Table 35
Hypotheses Results
Hypothesis Outcome H1. Frames should change from the initial coverage Partially supported to later time points, transitioning from an emphasis on Relief and Victims to an emphasis on the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club and Application of lessons. H2. The big-picture categories (Application of Not supported lessons, Economic impacts and Transportation) should be more lasting over time than the person-focused categories (Action of disaster, Survivors and Victims). H3. Empathic language should decrease from initial Supported coverage to coverage at later time points. H4. Descriptive texts should contain more empathic Likely supported language than Nondescriptive texts. H5. Later time points should include more Not supported Nondescriptive than Descriptive language. H6. Texts should show a gradual transition from Not supported dynamic to categorical thinking over time. H7. Texts from the initial coverage through the 25th Mostly supported anniversary (1889, 1890 and 1914) should show a high degree of LSM, as should texts from the 50th and 100th anniversaries (1939 and 1989). There should be a low degree of LSM between those two groups.
85 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
Discussion
I found it striking that the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club storyline was more subtle and piecemeal than I would have expected it to be, even omitted entirely on some major anniversaries. However, perhaps this is not altogether surprising, since the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club categorization, in many ways, embodies the idea of blame, and assigning blame to any group of people – particularly those who are wealthy and/or powerful – can be political and dangerous to do. It makes sense, then, that this storyline may have been more of an undercurrent for many years until those responsible had died or moved away. Another supposition is that perhaps the newspapers were initially hesitant to assign blame, but once the culture and media environment had changed sufficiently, that became less of a concern.
Seeing that the focus on economic impacts died out after 1914, and the focus on the effects on transportation died out after 1939, my supposition is that this is part of the story’s decline, where the details and the tangible impacts begin to fade out.
Even the lessons learned began to die out after 1914. In 1939, the coverage focused largely on what happened (Action of disaster), who it happened to (Survivors and
Victims), and how we remember it (Commemoration). Perhaps this is when we see the generational shift – enough time had passed that the lessons initially imparted to the survivors’ children and grandchildren had begun to fade out of mind.
But then something happened that is not included in any of this news coverage.
The National Park Service opened the Johnstown Flood National Memorial on the site of the dam and the former South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club in the 1960s, and the
Johnstown Area Heritage Association opened the Johnstown Flood Museum for the
86 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 centennial. The addition of these two resources could have impacted how the
Johnstown flood is remembered: both by reinforcing the lessons learned as a result and by reintroducing the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club into the narrative – both of which I found in the 1989 coverage, alongside an increase in the narrative quality of the text. In addition to these memorials’ abilities to shape the narrative, the fact that the National Park Service and a local historical association found the events and sites worthy of marking also could have reinforced the cultural significance of the
Johnstown flood. This, in itself, could have affected the story’s resurgence in 1989.
However, it’s important to note that centennial coverage may be inherently different than coverage on preceding anniversaries. For one thing, by that point, the only surviving sources are likely the original newspaper clippings and any memorials that have been created, and journalists writing the stories in 1989 likely would have referred to the 1889 coverage in doing so. If I were to have eliminated the 1989 articles from this analysis, the increases in empathic language, narrativity and LSM seen at the centennial would not have appeared and, instead, trends would have shown only declines.
Perhaps the most striking thing to me was that only three categories were represented in 100% of the coverage in 1989: Commemoration, Survivors and
Victims. In a way, that’s a very fitting summation of any disaster and probably has a lot to do with what is passed down from generation to generation: Who lived, who died, and whose frame do we remember it through?
In general, I have tried to avoid any direct one-to-one comparisons between subcategories, choosing instead to look at trends over time. The main reason for this is
87 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 that the categorizations along storyline are not pure representations of that one subcategory. The Limitations and Future Directions section presents a deeper explanation of this. However, categorizing by craftsmanship, rather than that the storyline-based subcategories, does present pure categorizations because each story appeared in only one category: either Descriptive or Nondescriptive. In this way, the analyses should more accurately represent the trends in the text. As such, I conducted more direct analyses between Descriptive and Nondescriptive categories.
One of the difficulties in this analysis is that I am trying to explain a phenomenon that seems to occur despite all efforts to prevent it: the fading out of the story of the Johnstown flood. My hypotheses attempted to predict why the story faded out: a decrease in the categories most likely to foster audience connection, a decrease in empathic language, descriptiveness, or narrativity.
There was some transition in categories, but the categories that were most lasting over time were those that should have fostered empathy. Empathic language did decrease over time, but it rebounded somewhat at the centennial. Descriptive texts contained more empathic language, but the percentage of Descriptive texts did not decrease over time – it actually increased. Narrativity followed the same curve as empathic language, generally decreasing but with peaks in 1914 and 1989, and even style matching showed greater connection between initial texts and texts at those time points. I expected to find differences in the way the Johnstown flood story was told that could have contributed to its decline. What I found, instead, is that journalists continued to tell the story in what they believed was the most effective way – using descriptive language and emotion to create reader connection to the events. And the
88 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 story declines regardless. In short, there’s no simple answer for why the story of the
Johnstown flood decreased over time.
Perhaps my future expansion of this research to include coverage of the San
Francisco earthquake and the sinking of the Titanic will unveil some possibilities I have not yet imagined.
Limitations and Future Directions
One limitation of this study is that it examined only one newspaper, so any behind-the-scenes politics that could have limited coverage in that one newspaper could have affected this analysis. The wide range of n (477 at the first time period and only three at each of the last two), also severely limited my ability to apply standard statistical analyses. Another limitation is that the one newspaper I used was near the scene of the disaster, and as such, it did not adequately represent how the story of the
Johnstown flood was shared nation- and worldwide. In the future, I could expand this analysis to other newspapers to address this potential problem.
However, another point to consider is that the media landscape changed over the course of this study. While newspapers and news magazines were the primary sources for information in 1889, the development of radio, photojournalism, film, and television over the next few decades changed the way stories were shared. Finding that pictures really were worth 1,000 words, newspapers of the 20th century evolved away from the descriptive narrative reporting that might have enabled reader transportation, and visual media filled the gaps in coverage. This change could have contributed substantially to the declines seen in this analysis, since it considered only newspaper coverage.
89 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
That said, newspapers probably are not the best media through which to examine the process of transportation. News magazines, which maintained a more narrative, descriptive focus over time, may hold greater promise for the types of analyses conducted in this paper. Although examining the transportiveness of film and other visual media would undoubtedly yield interesting results, they could not be achieved through the types of textual analyses used in this paper, and so would require a completely different methodology.
Another limitation is related to the categorization according to storylines.
Because each article could apply to more than one subcategory and I included each article in all relevant subcategories for the purposes of this analysis, it should be noted that the subcategories are not a pure representation of only that categorization. That is, because I did not segment out the portions of an article that only fit the subcategory to be studied, there are parts of articles within each subcategory that represent other subcategories. For clarity’s sake, here is an example: Assume Article 1 contains the subcategories A, B, and C. Article 2 contains subcategories B, D, and E. A study of subcategory B would therefore include both Article 1 and Article 2, and portions of the text studied to examine subcategory B would inherently also represent subcategories A, C, D, and E. This fact undoubtedly muddies the categorical analyses, but any other way to complete the frame analysis – selecting specific passages or sentences within an article that apply to the subcategory – would be almost purely subjective. As such, it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to achieve interrater reliability, let alone replicate the results using this method.
90 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
Bearing in mind the above limitations, I avoided, for the most part, any direct one-to-one comparisons between subcategories, but I believe that a great deal could be learned from such a comparison, once an acceptable method of doing so can be found.
I believe, for instance, that the person-focused categories (i.e., Action of disaster,
Survivors and Victims) include more empathic language than the big-picture categories (i.e., Application of lessons, Economic impacts and Transportation).
Appendix B contains a tentative comparison of subcategories. In the future, I hope to find a methodologically acceptable way to expand this analysis and include those insights.
As previously noted, the creation of the Johnstown Flood National Memorial in the 1960s and the Johnstown Flood Museum in 1989 could have impacted the resurgence of the lessons of the Johnstown flood. As such, I would be interested to expand this study to see how the data shifted for coverage on the 125th anniversary in
2014.
91 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
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Tulving, E. (2002). Episodic memory: From mind to brain. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 1-25. Retrieved from https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev.psych.53.100901.135 114?url_ver=Z39.88- 2003&rfr_id=ori%3Arid%3Acrossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%3Dpubmed
United States Geological Survey. (1907). The San Francisco earthquake and fire of April 18, 1906 and their effects on structures and structural materials (Department of the Interior Publication, Series R, Structural Materials 1, Bulletin No. 324) Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Van Gorp, B. (2005). Where is the frame? Victims and intruders in the Belgian press coverage of the asylum issue. European Journal of Communication, 20, 485- 508.
Van Gorp, B. (2010) Strategies to take subjectivity out of framing analysis. In P. D’Angelo & J. A. Kuypers (Eds.), Doing news framing analysis: Empirical and theoretical perspectives (pp. 84-109). New York, New York: Routledge.
Van Os, R., Van Gorp, B., & Wester, F. (2008) Successful joint venture or out of control? Framing Europe on French and Dutch websites. The Electronic Journal of Communication 18(1). http://www.cios.org/EJCPUBLIC/018/1/01812.HTML
Walker, W. R., Vogl, R. J., & Thompson, C. P. (1997). Autobiographical memory: Unpleasantness fades faster than pleasantness over time. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 11, 399-413.
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Wertsch, J. V., & Roediger, H. L., III. (2008). Collective memory: Conceptual foundations and theoretical approaches. Memory, 16(3), 318-326. http://doi.org/10.1080/09658210701801434
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APPENDIX A
BOLIVAR, PA., June 1.—5 a.m.—A courier to this point from the scene of the flood at Johnstown reports 1,500 lives lost. "The crowning disaster in the history of Western Pennsylvania occurred at Johnstown about 5 o’clock yesterday afternoon, which resulted in the utter destruction of the greater portion of the Iron City of the Mountains, and the death of an unknown number of men, women and children—the list may run into the thousands. It was an unexpected and unheralded deluge, such as has never occurred before in this country. The famous dam, over 1,000 feet in length and 75 feet high, broke, thereby loosing a body of water about three miles long, nearly a mile in width and about 60 feet in depth. This vast body of water rushed down the narrow South Fork into the Conemaugh, which passes directly through Johnstown. Its banks were lined with dwelling and business houses, which were carried before the rushing mountain of water as chips before a miniature torrent dashing along the course of a break. BUT LITTLE WARNING. The report that the dam had broken was confirmed by the immediate appearance of the flood. The people knew not whither to fly because it was sweeping the low grounds from hill to hill. Strong men were paralyzed with fright and women ran screaming through the streets. Their children were swallowed up before their eyes and they too were borne down by the relentless torrent. Those who had sought shelter in the upper stories of their houses felt them raise from their foundation, then topple and fall. There was no escape, the horrors of the situation may be inferred from the appended accounts obtained from all accessible points along the course of the Conemaugh, which is now strewn with dead bodies, fragments of houses and debris, representing millions of money, and hundreds and possibly thousands of lives. DANGERS AND DIFFICULTIES. The news reached this city about 7 o’clock, but owing to the obstruction of bridges, and of washouts, no trains were sent out. The COMMERCIAL GAZETTE, not to be outdone, dispatched some of its ablest and most intrepid reporters on a chartered locomotive. While it was impossible to get into the drowned city by rail, other means were resorted to for the purpose of covering the ground between Bolivar and the scene of the disaster. The darkness of night and the miserable condition of the roads, and, above all, the lack of telegraphic facilities rendered it impossible to get more than an outline of the disaster. Accurate, or even approximate, estimates of the loss of life and property are out of the question. THE FATAL DAM. The dam that led to this fearful and horrible catastrophe was originally built by Gen. J. K. Morehead when the canal was being constructed through the state. It was to constitute a feeder for this water-way during dry seasons. It was built across South Fork, about two miles from the point where this stream empties into the Conemaugh River. The dam was about 1,000 feet in length and 75 feet high at the highest point, and 60 feet thick at the base. A sluice-way was cut through solid rock at one side and several feet below the top of the dam, by which surplus water could escape without running over the top. Some time after the canal had been abandoned, a break occurred near the center of the dam, which was gradually increased in size until the entire lake was drained. When the Sportsman Association of Western Pennsylvania concluded to buy this property, an organization was formed which is known as the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club. Its first work was to repair the break in the dam. The lake thus formed was two miles and half long, and averaged something over half a mile in width, with a varying depth of from five to sixty feet. It was one of the largest and most beautiful inland bodies of water in the State, being located in the mountains and surrounded by unbroken forests and rock-faced hills. PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES Owing to the fact that the level of this lake, which was the largest artificial reservoir in the United States, was nearly 300 feet above the level of the Conemaugh at Johnstown, there were fears that it might some time lead to disaster.
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In order to prevent such a calamity, the club has had the dam inspected monthly by the engineers connected with the Pennsylvania railroad. These experts have uniformly reported that nothing short of a great co-division could break the barrier that held this vast body of water in check. The rains of the last forty-eight hours increased the volume of water in all the small mountain streams, which were already swelled by the lesser rains earlier in the week. From the best information obtained at this time it is evident that something in the nature of a cloud burst must have been the culminator of the struggle of the water against the embankment. South Fork station is nine miles east of Johnstown, and the lake was two and a half miles south of this point. THE CLUB GROUNDS. In addition to an elegant and commodious club-house there are a number of charming cottages built by members for the accommodation of their families during the summer months. Among those who own cottages are … .
To the Editor of the Commercial Gazette: NEW FLORENCE, May 31, 10:56 P. M. – In going to the trouble, with water west of Lilly’s, I could not get further than Sang Hollow. Our tracks west of this point are also obstructed. While at Sang Hollow over 100 people, men, women and children, passed there on debris; seven were recovered at Sang Hollow, two at Conemaugh Furnace and two here. Only forty-seven of the 100 and over passed here. From my supervisor, who was at Johnstown, I learn that Johnstown is literally wiped out. Our track between Johnstown and Conemaugh is filled with buildings and drift forty feet high or more, which is on fire. All our tracks, as I have said, are badly blocked between Sang Hollow and Johnstown. I fear there will be terrible suffering among those saved, which should be relieved as soon as possible. In the interest of humanity I think a public meeting should be called early to-morrow to send food, clothing, etc., to these poor people, which we will be glad to forward to Johnstown and neighborhood as soon as we get a clear track there. ROBERT PITCAIRN.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. BOLIVAR, PA., May 31. – The special train bearing the representatives of the COMMERCIAL GAZETTE pulled out of Union station at 9:15 with Engineer Winters at the throttle. A careful run was made to Brinton, owing to blockades on account of wrecks on the Conemaugh. On the train were several Pittsburghers in a high state of anxiety about relatives who had been enjoying the retreat at South Fork, the scene of the terrible disaster, and from whom no word had been received since the night before. Among them was Mr. Horne, the junior member of the firm of Joseph Horne & Co., who was interested in three relatives, Messrs. J. B. and G. E. Shea and J. B. Lawrence, Jr. Mr. Horne was thoroughly conversant with the location of the South Fork dam and could appreciate the horror of the accident. This terrible force of the flood could be appreciated when it is known that the breast of the dam was wide enough for a wagon to drive over and was nearly forty feet in height. THE TIDINGS OF DISASTER. About 1 o’clock white-faced messengers pushed through the streets of Johnstown and screamed a warning to the inhabitants of the doomed city to flee to the highest grounds, that the dam some nine miles above had broken down. Through the valley of Conemaugh spread the warning by wire and messengers. People rushed from their houses seeking safety on the higher grounds, but all were not able to get there. Horrible scenes ensued when the hill of water came rolling with irresistible strength, overwhelming the lower parts of the town and sweeping away houses in vast mass of wreckage in which were hundreds of helpless human beings. At points below, the bodies of families and the debris of their homes came floating down in full view of the affrighted people along the banks. Telegraphic advices were received from Johnstown from Miss Hortele, a lady operator there. At 6 o’clock she wired: “Must leave, the water is coming in. Good bye.” The was the last word received from the doomed city. Our train was unable to get beyond Bolivar, about twenty miles below Johnstown. The railroad bridge at Bolivar has been washed away. HOUSES HEAPED IN RUINS.
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The latest news from Johnstown is that houses are backed up against the Johnstown bridge for three- quarters of a mile, and heaped forty feet high in the air. The mass has taken fire, probably from stoves and lamps, and although the bridge had not yet taken fire at the time of the report, the train men think it will not be long before it does. Although the bridge is sixty feet high the water was running over the floor. The water was entirely over the railroad telegraph station. Before it was abandoned the operator saw about a hundred bodies float by. Twenty-five persons were rescued between Johnstown and New Florence. The Cambria Iron-Works were entirely under water. At midnight the water was falling at Johnstown and rising at New Florence. The whole Conemaugh Valley from South Fork down is swept clear. Johnstown is wiped out. APPALLING SCENES. At Derry a group of railway officials were gathered who had come from Bolivar, the end of the passable portion of the road westward. They had seen but a small portion of the awful flood, but enough to allow them to imagine the rest. Down through the Packsaddle came the rushing waters. The wooded heights of the Alleghenies looked down in solemn wonder at the scene of the most terrible destruction that ever struck the romantic valley of the Conemaugh. The water was rising when the men left at 6 o’clock at the rate of 5 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 onlookers. 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 damp to her cheek, a mother was seen grasping a floating timber, while in the other arm she held her babe, already drowned. With a death grip on a plank, a strong man just giving up hope cast an imploring look to those on the banks. An instant later and he had sunk beneath the waves. Prayers to their God, cries to those in safety rang above the roaring waves. The special train pulled in at Bolivar at 11:30 and trainmen were there notified that further progress was impossible. STRUGGLING TO SAVE LIVES. The greatest excitement prevailed at this place, and parties of citizens are out all the time endeavoring to save the poor unfortunates that are being hurled to eternity on the rushing torrent. The tidal wave struck Bolivar just after dark and in five minutes the Conemaugh rose from 6 to 40 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 on the opposite side of the river. 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 a shingle roof managed to catch hold of one of the ropes. THE RESCUED LAD’S STORY. He caught it under his left arm and was thrown violently against an abutment, but managed to keep hold and was successfully pulled on to the bridge amid the cheers of the onlookers. His name was Hessler and his rescuer was a train-hand named Carney. The lad was at once taken to the town of Garfield and was cared for in the house of J. P. Robinson. The boy’s name is Edward Hessler, his age 16. 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 Kintz and John Kintz Jr., Miss Mary Kintz, Mrs. Mary Kintz, wife of John Kintz Jr., Miss Treacy 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 of 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 I 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 close and the house was moving. Still the bed kept rising and pressed the plaster. It yielded and a section of the roof gave. Then suddenly I found myself on the roof and was being carried downstream. FIVE RESCUED AT LOCKPORT.
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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. 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 had her hands clasped as if in prayer. Every effort was made to save her, but they all proved futile. A 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 the bridges which had been swept away at Bolivar. THE ONSET OF THE FLOOD. The water rushed past with a roar, carrying with it parts of homes, 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 of the stream until daybreak, when the first view of the awful devastation of the flood was witnessed. Along the banks lay the remnants of what had once been dwelling houses and stores. Here and there was an uprooted tree. Piles of drift lay about, in some of which bodies of the victims of the flood will be found. Rescuing parties are being formed in all the towns along the railroad. Homes have been thrown open to refugees and every possible means is being used to protect the homeless. WRECKING TRAINS MAKING PROGRESS. The wrecking crews of the Pennsylvania railroad are slowly making their way east to the unfortunate city. At 2 o‘clock this morning they were held at Bolivar. No effort was then being made to repair the wrecks and the crews of the trains were organized into rescuing parties, and an effort will be made to send out a mail train this morning. The chances are they will get no further east than Florence. There is absolutely no news from Johnstown. This 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 Co.’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 this 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 eagerly seized upon and circulated. If favorable they have a moment of relief. It not their faces become more gloomy. A TELEGRAPH OPERATOR’S EXPERIENCES. 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 rise 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. The wreckage was floating by for a long time before the first living person passed. Fifteen people that I saw were carried down by the river. One of these, a boy, was saved, and three of them were drowned just directly below the town. It was an awful sight and one that I will not soon forget.” Hundreds of animals lost their lives. The bodies of horses, dogs and chickens floated past. The little boy, who was rescued at Bolivar, had two dogs as companions during his fearful ride. The dogs were drowned just before reaching the bridge. One old male swam past, its shoulders all torn, but it was alive when swept past the town. HENRY.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. NEW FLORENCE, PA., June 1—4 A.M.—After a long, weary ride of eight or nine miles over the worst of country roads your correspondent arrived in New Florence, six miles nearer to Johnstown and along the scene of the awful disaster. The details at this hour are rather limited. Everybody seems dazed, the calamity seeming to overwhelm the natives. The road bed between this and Bolivar is washed out in many places the trackmen and the wreck crews are working all night in the most dangerous portions of the road. Reports at this point substantiate the wildest that have yet gone West. SCARCELY A HOUSE LEFT. The last man from Johnstown brings the information that scarcely a house remains in the city. The upper portion above the railroad bridge has been completely submerged. The water drummed up
106 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 against the viaduct, the wreckage and debris finishing the work that the torrent had failed to accomplish. The bridge at Johnstown proved too staunch for the fury of the water. It is a heavy piece of masonry and was used as a viaduct by the old Pennsylvania canal. Some of the top stones were displaced. The story reached here a short time ago that a family consisting of a father and mother and nine children were washed away in a creek at Leekport. The mother managed to reach the shore, but the husband and children were carried out into the Conemaugh to drown. The woman is crazed over the terrible event. CRIES OF PITEOUS DISTRESS. After night settled down upon the mountains, the horror of the scenes was enhanced. Along above the roar of the water could be heard the piteous appeals from the unfortunates as they were carried by. To add also to the terror of the night a brilliant illumination lit up the sky. It can be plainly seen from this place. A message received from Sang Hollow a few moments ago states that this light comes from a hundred burning wrecks of houses that are piled up on the Johnstown bridge. A supervisor from up the road brings the information that the wreckage at Johnstown is piled forty feet above the bridge. The startling news also comes in that more than a thousand lives have been lost. This cannot be sustained. It is known by actual count 110 people were seen floating past Sang Hollow before dark. Forty-seven were counted passing 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 all further count and it was only by the agonizing cries that rang out above the rush of the waters, that it was known a human being was carried to his death. HENRY.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. DERRY, PA., May 31—An eye-witness at Bolivar block station tells a story of unparalleled terrorism which occurred at the lower bridge which crosses the Conemaugh at this point. A young man with two women were seen coming down the river on a part of a floor. At the upper bridge a rope was thrown down to them. This they all failed to catch. Between the two bridges he was pressed to point toward the elder woman, which it is supposed was his mother. He was then seen to instruct the women how to catch the rope which was being lowered from the other bridge. Down came the raft with a rush. The brave man stood with his arms 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 on down the river. The current washed their frail craft in towards the bank. The young man was enabled to seize hold of a branch of a tree. The young man aided the two women 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 insecure footing. Up the river there was a sudden crash and a section of the bridge was swept 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. Early in the evening a woman with her two children were seen to pass under the bridges 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. It was rumored that all three were saved at Cokeville, a few miles below Bolivar.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. DERRY, PA., May 31.—The course of the torrent from the broken dam at the foot of the lake to Johnstown is almost eighteen miles, and with the exception of at one point the water passed through a narrow V-shaped valley. Four miles below the dam lay the town of South Fork, where the South Fork itself emptied into the Conemaugh river. The town contained about 2,000 inhabitants. It has not been heard from; but it is said that four-fifths of it have been swept 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 inhabitants. Ninety per cent of the houses were on a flat and close to the river. It seems impossible at this time to hope that any of them have escaped. Six miles further down
107 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 was the town of Conemaugh, and here alone was there a topographical possibility for the spreading of the flood and the breaking of the force. It contained 2,500 inhabitants, and must be almost wholly devastated. Woodvale, with 2,000 people, lay a mile below Conemaugh, on the flat, and one mile further down were Johnstown and its cluster of outer towns—Cambria City, Conemaugh borough and Prospect—with a total population of 30,000. On made ground and stretched along right at the river’s verge were the immense iron-works of 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 of the river. How badly they are damaged cannot be estimated. At 11 o’clock a railroad man says the loss of life will reach hundreds and possibly over a thousand. The report of loss of these towns above cannot yet be confirmed.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. SALTSBURG, PA., May 31.—The flood here at 12:30 A.M. almost equals that of last August, the water being within two feet of the mark reached at that time. Great excitement prevails, as the railroad and county bridges at Cokeville and the county bridge at Livermore east of here are reported as washed away, also two homes at the latter place probably with one or more of the occupants, who could not be rescued. The men have thrown gas lights out over the river in hopes of rescuing some of the unfortunates reported passing Clairsville and other points east clinging to boards, but as yet none have been seen. None of the dwelling houses here are flooded, but the water is still rising and there is no telling what may be the outlook by morning. The large flouring-mill owned by Petterson & Hershey is in danger, the lower story being partly burst in by the flood. The water is almost up to the floor of the county bridge, the debris striking against the side with great force. No one is allowed to cross it and it is feared it will not stand if the water continues to rise. The water is over the railroad tracks a mile west of here to the depth of five feet and all trains are being held.
Special by Telephone. LEECHBURG, PA., June 1—3:30 A.M.—The new iron bridge of the West Penn railroad, which spans the Allegheny river, has just been swept away by the flood debouching out of the Kiskiminetas. This is the first here of the Johnstown flood, and houses, bedding, household utensils, chicken-coops and all manner of debris is being carried on by the resistless torrent. The river here is now higher than ever recorded in the history of the place. Word from Saltsburg is to the same effect. By the washaway of the bridge all telegraphic communication east of this has been cut off.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. BLAIRSVILLE, PA., May 31.—The river was never known to be as high as it is now at this point. Islands are flooded and the inhabitants have fled. This evening at 6 o’clock the bell was rung and the announcement was made that seventy-five men were afloat in the river from Johnstown. Men filled car bridges with ropes and preparations were made for their rescue. About 7:30 a woman and a dog were seen floating from the railroad bridge above the Coketown bridge, but she was soon lost sight of and it is supposed she was drifted ashore. The dog was caught. The water at 6 o’clock was running up to within two feet of the Coketown bridge and kept steadily rising, and about 8 o’clock it gave a loud creak and swung off the piers and floated away. The bridge cost $18,000. The bridge at the foot of the town is threatened. Ten carloads of coal were run on the railroad bridge to keep it down, and it all went down with the bridge. All manner of things are floating down the river---furniture, doors, window-sash, etc. The town bridge has just succumbed to the seething cauldron, whose maddening roar can be heard a long distance. The water is still rising, and it is thought the West Penn railroad will be without a single bridge in the morning. The cries of the woman who went down were heartrending. She was floating on something not discernible, and her cries were heard until lost in the deafening roar. It is reported that a man went down with the Blairsville bridge while he was adjusting a headlight.
PHILADELPHIA, May 31.—All the wires of the Pennsylvania railroad, west of Wilmore, a section of the Pittsburgh division, twenty-five miles west of Altoona, have been down since morning, and
108 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 consequently the information in regard to the destruction at that place is very meager. Enough has been learned, however, to indicate that the rush of water is the worst ever known in that section. At Broad Street station the following bulletin for the information of travelers was posted about 8 o’clock: “On account of the unprecedented storm prevailing in the western part of the State, the lines west of Altoona have been damaged; to what extent cannot be ascertained until the water subsides. The storm is still raging, and it is thought no trains will be passed until Sunday.” The Chicago Limited Express, which left New York at 9 o’clock this morning; the Fast Line, leaving there at the same hour, and the train leaving that city at 8 o’clock last night, are all laid up at Altoona. At 10:30 tonight a dispatch was received by General Manager Pugh, dated at Wilmore, from the conductor of the eastbound New York and Chicago Limited, which left Pittsburgh at 7 o’clock this morning, saying the train was safe and that all were well on board. Mr. Pugh inferred from this that the Limited was laid up somewhere west of Lilleys. The conductor reported that the bridge at South Fork was washed away and expressed the opinion that all the bridges between South Fork and Johnstown would be swept away. The Chicago and New York Express and all other eastbound trains are supposed to be laid up between Cresson and Pittsburgh. When Dr. Pugh was shown a copy of the Associated Press dispatch from Pittsburgh, announcing the breaking of the dam near Johnstown, he said that this report confirmed a dispatch received from Wilmore tonight, which stated that a man had reported to the Pennsylvania railroad operator there that the South Fork dam had broken, and the water had carried away the coal tipple and telegraph tower at South Fork station, and also a portion of an eastbound freight train. The telegraph operator who was in the tower managed to escape, but several of the train hands are reported to have been drowned. The reservoir or dam at South Fork, which is said to have burst with such terrible results, is described by a gentleman acquainted with the locality 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 Pittsburgh 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 dispatches. The conductor of the eastbound New York Limited Express, who reported the safety of his trains, also said that a report had reached him of the breaking of the dam. He said nothing about the damage caused thereby. General Manager Pugh was out of town early in the day, and he said tonight that he could not understand what was meant when he received dispatches announcing damage to the tracks at Lilleys. “Such a thing has never been heard of before,” said he tonight, “and nothing short of a waterspout could have caused such damage. Lilleys is a little mining town of about 300 or 400 inhabitants. For the water to rise high enough to obstruct the passage of trains is unprecedented. A dispatch just received by us says that the water is rushing over the tracks at a height of a least five feet above the road bed, and this, I say, could be brought about by nothing short of a waterspout. I have no doubt, if our operator at Sang Hollow said he saw the bodies from Johnstown floating down the river, as reported in the Associated Press bulletin, that it is true, as his tower is located right on the bank of the river.”
The stories told by trainmen and the unsatisfactory bit of news flashed over the railroad telegraph lines were the only sources of information regarding the disaster at Johnstown to be obtained in this city last night. The reports could not have been worse. The city of Johnstown, they said, was entirely destroyed. The houses were washed away, and the bodies of the inhabitants scattered along the banks of the Conemaugh, Kiskiminetas and Allegheny. The reports were meager owing to the distinction of telegraph wires and the blocking of railroads by the deluge of water, which rushed down the narrow valley of the South Fork, between the mountains. The rainfall of Thursday night in Pittsburgh was the greatest for the time it was falling, but in the mountains it must have exceeded all historical record. Nine miles above the city the great reservoir of the South Fork Club, which dams the water back for two and a half miles, gave way and the vast volume of water broke forth, carrying everything in its path with it. Nothing could resist it. The stone bridge of the Pennsylvania railroad acted as a dam for a moment, the arches being choked by the swollen stream. In a few minutes the streets of the fair city was a raging torrent. Men, women and children were drowned in their homes. The railroad tracks are thirty-five feet above the river at low water and the telegraph tower thirty feet above the tracks. The operator, like a sentinel, sat at his post and watched the dead bodies which floated passed his window.
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Immediately when notice was received in this city, Assistant Superintendent Trump, of the Pennsylvania railroad, started for the scene, followed on the next train by Superintendent Pitcairn. Mr. Pitcairn reached Bolivar junction and could go no further, the swollen Conemaugh having spread over the narrow defile between the mountains and covering the railroad tracks with fifteen feet of water. He then dispatched five men across the mountains to search for Mr. Trump and they came back in two and one-half hours with no tidings of him and stated that but two houses could be seen above the water in the entire city.
High water may be expected here early this forenoon. All the streams detaching from the Allegheny along the entire length from mouth to source are swollen to unusual proportions. Along the Red Bank the storage dam of John DuBois, above the town of the same name, broke and a great tide rushed madly on, overflowing the banks and doing great damage to property, although no lives are reported lost. Traffic along the Allegheny Valley railroad was stopped, several washouts being reported along the road. At Brookville the water overflowed the flat below the town, carrying away thousands of feet of lumber in the yards of Brant & Sons, doing great damage to the saw-mill and threatening to sweep the mill and other buildings along with it. Several houses are along this bottom, but the inmates were warned to get to a place of safety before the torrent reached the town. The Clarion river is also very high, and thousands of logs and a number of rafts lying in the stream have been carried away and broken up. French creek, which empties in the Allegheny at Franklin, is also very high and vomits its vast accumulation into the Allegheny. From Warren to Pittsburgh, the Allegheny river’s watershed covers hundreds of square miles and throughout this vast area the rainfall was exceptionally heavy. The ground being already saturated from the recent rains this vast volume of water ran off of the surface swelling the streams much more rapidly than if the ground had been dry and had absorbed a part of it. The streams emptying into the Kiskiminetas and thence into the Allegheny are Stony creek, at Johnstown, the Conemaugh, the Loyalhauna, and several mountain brooks, which, in time of a freshet, form the sluice-ways for the mountain slopes. The drainage from this vast extent of territory finds its way to the gulf through the Allegheny and Ohio and Mississippi. The flood will be here to-day. In the upper Monongahela and Youghiogheny river valleys the rainfall during the last twenty-four hours was a fraction over two inches. This is phenomenal, and as the ground was already saturated the water ran off of the ground as off a roof, swelling the streams with wonderous rapidity. At Confluence early in the day the “Yough” was reported at sixteen feet and rising, and the great rainfall gives promise of a flood unparalleled in history.
About 10:30 o’clock last night word was received at the Union depot that houses had floated over the railroad bridge at Johnstown about 9 o’clock. At the hour stayed the water was at a standstill, but it was then several feet above the railroad bridge. Below Johnstown and down in Sang Hollow the river was still rising; at upper points it was not receding any. AT THE CAMBRIA WORKS. From the bits of news that could be gathered the most heart-rending scenes in any part of the town were at the works of the Cambria Iron Company and the little town adjoining it called Canada. There was a full force of men on when the death knell of the town was sounded, by the bursting of the great dam. It came down through the valley in which the town is located with such speed that the iron- workers could not realize what was coming on them. The Conemaugh river, already swollen by the rains, soon began to overflow its banks, but as this is no unfrequent occurrence in the spring, little heed was paid to the rising water. Once the flood got fairly started, the men in the works had but little or no time to consider their situation. They stuck to their molten steel for a few moments longer, but the water soon reached the mill, and when it did, few if any, who were within its walls escaped. THE ENTIRE MILL SUBMERGED. The first sill of the door was covered, and then the first story, and by the time it covered the railroad bridge, the entire mill and yard was submerged. At this time there were over 1,000 men at work in the mill and yard, but how many got out alive is not known. The molten steel flew in all directions from the converters when the water ran into them, and flashes of death-dealing hot metal could be seen on all sides. Aside from the loss of life, the loss of the Cambria Iron Company will be immense. Their
110 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 entire building, which was built of brick, is ruined, and their engines, cars and appliances shifted about in all directions. NOT A HOUSE LEFT. In the town known as Canada, which is near the steel-works, there is not a house left. The buildings were nearly all frame and were raised off their foundations as soon as the water reached the lower sill. One after the other they went down the Conemaugh, until at last there was not a house left. A most pitiful scene is described as happening in this place. A lady who occupied one of the houses near the river, and whose husband was at the mill working, did not notice the water until the water was at her door. Then with her five children, she ran to the garret , and from there out on the roof, thinking she could thus escape from the rising waters. In her fright she was mistaken, for no sooner had she reached the roof than the house began to move, and the next instant it was floating down the river with its load of living freight.
Johnstown was a beautiful manufacturing town, situated in the valley of the Conemaugh, surrounded on every side by immense hills. The population of the borough proper was about 9,000, but the population of the city was in reality close to 25,000, spreading along all the valleys and hillsides in the neighborhood. The Pennsylvania and Baltimore & Ohio railroads reached the town, the main line of the Pennsylvania passing through it. The great manufacturing establishment of Johnstown was the Cambria Iron and Steel-Works. It was built in 1853 and is an immense establishment. Its capacity of finished steel per annum was 180,000 net tons of steel rails and 20,000 net tons of steel in other shapes. The mill turned out steel rails, splice bars, angles, flats, rounds, axles, billets and wire rods. There were nine Siemens and forty-two reverbatory heating furnaces, one 7-ton and two 6,000-pound hammers, and the follows trains of rolls: two 21-inch rail mills, three sets each; two 21-inch bar mills, three sets each; one 12-inch splice-bar mill, three sets; one 16-inch merchant mill, three sets; one 22-inch puddle-mill, six sets; two rod trains of nine sets; one 48-inch blooming mill, one set; one 40-inch blooming mill, one set. The Bessemer Steel-Works made their first blow July 10, 1871, and contained nine gross ton converters, with an annual capacity of 200,000 net tons of ingots. In 1878 two fifteen-gross-ton Siemens open-hearth steel furnaces were built, with an annual capacity of 20,000 net tons of ingots. The Cambria Iron Company also owns the Gautier Steel-Works, at Johnstown, which were erected in 1878. The rolling mill produced annually 80,000 net tons of merchant bar steel of every size and for every purpose. The wire-mill had a capacity alone of 30,000 tons of fence wire. The blast-furnaces of the Cambria Iron Company had six stacks at Johnstown, four built in 1853, one in 1876 and on 1879. Their total annual capacity was 325,000 net tons. The Cambria Iron Company employed about 5,000 men in its various mills. The total number of its employees, including miners, was 8,000. There are numerous bituminous coal mines near Johnstown operated by the Cambrian Iron Company, the Kuelid Coal Company and private persons. There were three woolen-mills, employing over 300 hands and producing an annual product valued at $300,000. There were in the town several large tanneries, the breweries and other manufacturing establishments. There was one daily paper, the Evening Tribune, a Democratic and a German weekly. In 1858 the assessed valuation of real property in the borough was something over $1,000,000. This really represents about one-fourth of the actual value.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. GREENSBURG, PA., May 31.—Johnstown is completely submerged and the loss of life is inestimable. Houses are going down the river by the dozens and people can be seen clinging to the roofs. At Coketown, a village of several inhabitants, the houses are almost entirely covered and a great many dwellings at Blairsville are submerged. Scarcely a dwelling in the vicinity of Sang Hollow can be seen. The bridges at Bolivar and Nineveh, it is reported, have given away, and the one at Saltsburg it is feared will be carried away. People here who have friends in the flooded districts are eagerly waiting for news at the telegraph office. Great uneasiness prevails, the river at Livermore is rising and great destruction will follow.
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NEW FLORENCE, PA., June 1—5 A.M.—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 on the shore. As pieces of houses and wreckage strikes these boomers it carries with it vividly the idea that another poor unfortunate has met his fate. The towns all along the line of the railroad from Johnstown west have received their visitation. Many of the houses in New Florence were partially under water, while at Bolivar the whole lower part of the town is submerged. The ride to-night over the mountain road gave one a good idea of the cause of this waterspout. Every creek is a rushing river and every rivulet a raging torrent. The ground is water-soaked, and when the immense mountain district that drains into the Conemaugh above South Fork is taken into consideration the terrible volume of water that must have accumulated can be realized. Gathering as it did within a few minutes it came against the breast of the South Fork dam with irresistible force. The frightened natives along the Conemaugh describe the flood as something awful. The first rise came almost without warning, and the torrent came roaring down the mountain passes in one huge wave, several feet in height. After the first swell the water continued to rise at a fearful rate. At this hour the farmers in the country about are coming into the village. The first shock is over and all preparations are being made for the relief of the homeless and the recovery of the bodies of those who went down in the flood. HENRY.
The reservoir, which has created such havoc, was originally constructed by the State of Pennsylvania as a storage basin for the old Pennsylvania canal. Along with the canal, it was sold by the State to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. After the canal had been abandoned or several years, the sluice had rolled away and the South Fork ran through without obstruction. Some years ago the property was purchased by the South Fork Club, composed of a number of Pittsburgh gentlemen. The dam was reconstructed and a large summer hotel and a number of cottages were erected. The Conemaugh lake, as the reservoir is called, is a beautiful body of water, and was used for boating and fishing by the guests of the hotel and cottagers. The dam is twenty feet through at the base and tapers gradually from both sides with a water-shed twenty feet in width. At the west end there was an overflow-shed chiseled out of the rocks, through which the stream below the dam fed at low-water mark, and during the time of a freshet the water ran over the dam along its entire length. The water behind or above the dam was from seventy to eighty feet deep and dammed up the stream for a distance of about two and a half miles, just as the Allegheny and Monongahela are dammed from the dam at Davis Island. The hotel and cottages are above the dam and are therefore uninjured. Col. E. J. Unger, late of the Seventh Avenue Hotel, has a farm and cottage nearby, and is there at present fitting up for his summer guests." Although communications with Johnstown have been re-established, the work of exploring the ruins and collecting the dead has not more than fairly begun. So far there have been about 1,500 bodies found along the track of the deluge, and it is simply a matter of guess-work as to how many more dead bodies may be found. Estimates of the great loss of life run all the way from 1,500 to 10,000. The jam of wrecked buildings at the Johnstown bridge is still burning, although the Pittsburgh Fire Department is at work upon it. The wreck will be blown up with dynamite, and the removal of this obstruction will greatly facilitate the search for bodies. Tents and provisions for the survivors have arrived. There has been some rifling of abandoned houses and pillaging of corpses. A Hungarian who was caught cutting off a lady’s finger to get her ring came near being lynched. Measures have been taken to preserve order and will be enforced so firmly that there is no chance for any dangerous outbreak of scoundrelism. Great anxiety exists in regard to the fate of some trains that were caught in the torrents. The names of a number of the dead who have been identified are published this morning. The Relief Committees in this city have done an enormous amount of work, and contributions are being made at many points. "By a Staff Correspondent. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 2.—Now that communications have been restored and the place where Johnstown stood can be explored, a better idea can be formed of the character and magnitude of the cataclysm which has engulfed the city. At every step horrors accumulate, and with each new discovery come fresh reasons for expanding estimates of loss of life and ruin of property.
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The hills of this region are rocky and densely wooded. Storm-water drains off the slopes as rapidly as from a roof, filling the rivers with impetuous torrents. The rains of the last two weeks had swollen all the usually calm streams, but few had any fears of more than an ordinary flood flooding cellars and damaging property in low, exposed locations. At a point nine miles from Johnston by air and sixteen miles by the winding course of the river was the dam across the South Fork of the Conemaugh river. This massive dam across the narrow valley was 75 feet high and 1,000 feet long, making a lake about two and one-half miles long and sixty feet deep at the dam. THE BREAKING OF THE DAM. At this writing South Fork has not yet been visited since the disaster. Reports here vary as to the time it gave way, but it seems to have been about half past 2 in the afternoon. The immense volume of water in the artificial lake went rushing down a water course already brimming. Four miles below the dam is the town of South Fork, with 200 inhabitants, at the junction of the tributary with the Conemaugh river. Four miles further down was the village of Mineral Point, with 800 inhabitants, with most of the houses on the river shore; six miles lower down was Conemaugh, with 2,000 inhabitants; a mile below was Woodvale, with 2,000 people, and one mile further down the river was Johnstown and its cluster of settlements at the junction of Stony creek with the Conemaugh river. Just at Conemaugh, where the valley thins, the stream has a narrow channel, so that the hill of water issuing from South Fork lake rolled down as in a badly sloping trough, falling with irresistible violence against every obstacle and rolling before it massive stones, ponderous rails and structural iron, and a wreck of homes, buildings, lumber, bridges and all matter of debris, peak among which there is sad reason to know were hundreds, perhaps thousands, of human beings. At fifteen minutes past 3 this terrible avalanche was hurled against the massive stone viaduct by which the four tracks of the Pennsylvania railroad cross the Conemaugh just below Johnstown. AN OVERWHELMING DELUGE. The viaduct was too well built to budge even under that tremendous impact. The wreckage packed its arches, constructing it into a dam, and the reflux of the mighty waters rushed over the town. The site of the town is the bottom lands between Stony creek and Conemaugh river, and its area of sixty acres is girt about by the mountains, and this area was suddenly converted into an artificial lake, engulfed in whose depths were the homes of 10,000 people. And then after this deluge, as if the stupendous calamity should not lack any element of horror, fire broke out in the wreckage heaped against the bridge, and the smoke settled like a pall over the valley of desolation. The force with which that mountain of water came tearing down the river valley is simply inconceivable. The coal-tipple and round-house of the Pennsylvania railroad at Conemaugh, in which there were forty-one locomotives, were tossed up like corks. The engines were dismantled and wrecked; some were turned over on their sides, others had their tenders torn away and rolled down the stream. The Gautier Steel-Works, the buildings of which were formed of heavy iron beams, iron roofs and sides, were swept down along with other wreckage and is lying in the mass of ruin now above the viaduct. NO TIME TO ESCAPE. The sixteen miles of the river course from South Fork lake to Johnstown was rapidly traversed by the avalanche of water. The descent is rapid. The lake was 300 feet above the level of the Conemaugh and the mass went with frightful velocity. Messages were sent ahead to warn the people to flee to the hills and the whistle of the Cambria mills blew shrill danger-signals. The people rushed into the streets; the men in the mills fled to warn their families, and all was panic and confusion when down came the wave, overwhelming the struggling people, rending apart their houses, whirling human beings around like chips. THE WRECK TAKES FIRE. The mass of wreckage packed against the bridge covered acres. In it were locomotives and tenders, cars of merchandise, bridges, lumber, bedding, drift and no one can tell how many human bodies. To add to the terror of the forlorn onlookers on the hillsides, the mass took fire. Then began a scene which language is inadequate to depict. The flames, fed on the splintered houses, flared and crackling in the wind. Every now and then a barrel of oil or whisky would burst and send the flames up with a roar, adding fresh agony to the survivors, who looked on vainly trying to discover the whereabouts of missing friends.
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Agonized cries and shrieks rent the air as bodies were seen in the midst of the fiery mass, and were being burned to ashes so that no recognition of friends could be possible. To have them drowned was bad enough, to have them burned after they were dead thus depriving friends of the sad consolation of decent sepulchers was unbearable. Strong men broke down utterly with grief, others were paralyzed with the sight until sensation was benumbed and they joked and jested as if it was an everyday sight. They could no longer realize the horrors of the scene. THE AVALANCHE ARRESTED. When the great wave had passed on down below the bridge the damage was not so extensive, the viaduct having acted as a breakwater, upon which it had spent much of its force, and its waters were largely stored in the lake formed over the site of Johnstown. Houses below were swept away and many persons were drowned, but the movement of the waters was that of a flood and not an avalanche. One mill of the Cambria works was crushed in and the company’s water-works further down the stream was similarly damaged. THE DROWNED CITY. In the great basin formed by the mountains around the town is where the chief damage was done. In the district covered by the great lake of water, men who were familiar with the town compute that there were over 1,500 buildings in which were housed about 20,000 people. Today they ask where are those people. They cannot be in the houses, for the water submerged them to their cornices, and many of them are crushed and broken, others are upside down, some on their sides, and some of the brick houses were crushed in by the jamming of logs and floating frame houses and lie in heaps of ruins. In the entire district there are but four buildings which seem to be resting on their foundations. These are the Morrell Library, the company store, the Johnstown school-house and the Alma Hall. In the hall and school-house several women and children found shelter. Late Saturday evening women and children were seen at the upper windows of the schoolhouse signaling for aid, but no aid could reach them. They had neither food, fuel nor dry clothing, as natural gas was used in the town and coal was not obtainable from the cellars. THE SCENE OF DESOLATION. When the water had receded and the scene of desolation was partly laid bare, there were not wanting heartless vandals, even at such a time, who began to pillage houses and plunder dead bodies. A body which had been laid in St. Columbia’s Catholic Church was robbed, it was asserted, of $72 and a watch. These vandals were mostly Huns, and in numerous instances were seen purloining garments from dead bodies. The St. Cloud Hotel, Morrellville, one of the little boroughs, was found filled with dead bodies, chiefly of women and children. Four little children, one of whom had been born after the frantic mother had reached this place of refuge, were lying side by side. In St. Columbia’s Church there were forty bodies which Father Davin and a few of his parishioners had recovered along the stream, and to which number they are making additions rapidly. This worthy priest spent all of Friday night in ministering to his terror-stricken people. In addition to quieting their fears, he went around from house to house, wading through water up to his waist, to get women and children to places of safety. In the accumulations of debris along the river could be seen furniture, bedding, garments, human bodies, carcasses of hogs, cows and horses. At one place a piano stands out in the middle of a field. Railroad tracks are twisted like pieces of copper wire and plaited together, ties and all. Great boulders of rock, heavy pieces of machinery and billets of iron seem to have been carried on the maddened current like corks. EXTENT OF THE LOSS. No estimate can be places on the amount of the damage done or the number of lives lost. The most conservative is that certainly 5,000 lives have been lost, and it may be more. The actual loss of life cannot be ascertained until those known to be there are heard from, or their absence or their bodies disclose their fate. No tidings have been heard from some of the leading citizens. Hon. Cyrus Elder, wife and daughter are missing. John Dively, the venerable banker, daughter and two grandchildren are known to have been lost. Robert Murphy, son of Francis Murphy, was also drowned. In the Hotel Hulburt sixty-three people were crushed to death by the falling of the upper floors consequent upon the destruction of the foundation of the building.
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Special from a Staff Correspondent. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 2.—The tale will never be told; the black nights of horror, the days of hunger, woe and death; the ruined homes, wrecked fortunes and all the fearful detail of horror of the Conemaugh can never be told in print or portrayed by the artist. Your correspondent was among the first to make the trip up the Conemaugh from New Florence to Johnstown. The ride was taken Saturday morning and will ever be memorable on account of the revelations each mile produced. Right in that train were enacted scenes that were a presage of what was to come further up the valley where friends were hunting friends, and where the cries of the children and the heart-breaking wail of the mother arose to high heaven. In the car were several people who were making all haste to Johnstown. With pale cheek and tearful eye, they glanced out of the windows at each stopping place. One poor mother there was who had been away visiting. She had left her husband and four little children but a few days before. She was now hurrying home, for what? As the train neared Sang Hollow, a gentleman got on board who had spent the night at Johnstown. HER FAMILY ALL GONE. The anxious mother grasped his coat and asked for her husband and children. The gentleman in a pitying whisper told her the fatal news. “My God in heaven, my four babies are drowned!” She screamed and sank fainting into her seat. Strong, stalwart men turned away not able to keep back the tears that filled their eyes. In another seat sat a quiet-looking man, evidently a well-to-do mechanic. Ashamed to show his feelings in public, he could nevertheless not hide the terrible woe that was eating into his heart. He knew that up there in that deluged city there remained not a vestige of his little home, that had been built and paid for by his labor. There were two little children in that home when he left it. Where were they? He would bow his head upon his hands, and the hot tears streamed down his cheek. These are just two of the many affecting incidents that took place. THE WORK OF DEVASTATION. The marks on the banks high above the then swollen stream showed where the wave had struck. Immense trees, sycamore, oak and hickory, had been torn violently from the earth and tossed about like chips. The many islands in the river were covered with these lords of the forest, twisted and torn and left lying in all conceivable shapes and places. The meadows and wheatfields along the fertile river bottoms were swept of their promise of rich harvests. Nothing but rank, slimy mud and ooze where had smiled the blossoming clover or waved the deep green fields of wheat. But what is that object lying out there in the middle of what had been an oats field, just west of Nineveh. That is surely not one of the victims of last night’s flood. Yes, it is. Look at it lying there bloated, foul and horrid, with arms twisted in wild distortion as though still battling with the relentless waves. It will battle no more. Rough but kind hands have already begun the Christian work of preparing it for burial—one of the thousands. Look, there is another lying near that pile of driftwood. It might at this distance be taken for a bundle of water-soaked clothes, but as the hands of the workers lift it up, the long dark hair, matted together with sand and gravel, falls away and reveals the distorted, agonized face of a woman. Within half a mile of Nineveh the train without signal or whistle slowed up and stopped. To the left of the track was a narrow green lane bordered with brambles and small trees that arched overhead. Up that sylvan aisle came a sad procession. In the lead were four men, tired and wet, carrying between them a stretcher on which rested the body of a man. A newspaper laid across the form hid the features from the gaze of the people. Following came another party bearing on a wide plank all that was left of a woman. The feet were encased in a pair of fine shoes and their shape and small size, together with the material of the dress, seemed to indicate one who had been torn from a wealthy home. Like the preceding corpse, a paper mercifully hid the picture of death-struggle and agony from sight. The hair had fallen loose, however, and hung down almost touching the ground. Then came another party bearing the body of a man. The corpses were taken aboard the train and carried to Nineveh. On the opposite side of the river were a group of men who had rescued two or three bodies from the stream. They shouted and waved their hats to call attention to the bodies, but no one could reach them. ROWS OF CORPSES. At Nineveh, the ghastly burdens that had been gathered as the train passed along were taken off and added to the number that had already been collected in the station wareroom. There was a sight to make the stoutest shudder. Ranged according to size, from the stalwart man to the helpless babe, were
115 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 over ninety bodies. There lay the grizzled, horny-handed laborer, his working clothes soaked and sodden, clinging to his bruised and broken limbs. There lay the form of a careworn mother, the scant hair drawn back from the pale brow and the work-worn hands folded over the breast, a plain homely dress, with a gingham apron tied about the waist, a pair of coarse shoes showed the house wife and that the flood had taken her away almost in the midst of household work. But saddest of all, away down at the foot of that ghastly row lay a golden-haired angel, whose infant spirit, far above the wreck and fury of the flood, sleeps on the bosom of the Great Shepherd. With the slimy mud clinging to that tender little body, with its baby clothes torn and drenched, there is still something so sweet and peaceful about the pretty face and the dimpled hands crossed on the river-stained bosom, that one can hardly realize that the baby form had been the toy of the waves for miles down through the gorges of the mountains. The train pushed on, forcing its way as near the center of the devastation as possible. The scenes witnessed in the meadows below Nineveh were repeated. At each little village the signs of the fury of the deluge increased. Here was a house overturned and there was the wreck of a stable. Scattered along the shore until the latter was lined with wreckage, were piled the ruins of hundreds of houses. Where they came from could only be guessed. There would be seen the whole side of a two-story frame house, windows, doors and all. Another place would be seen large carpets strung on the limbs of trees, bedclothing strewn among the bushes, and every evidence that houses had been broken and their contents whirled a dozen miles from where they had rested. THE PLAY OF TITANIC FORCES. Sang Hollow was reached about 11 o’clock. The passengers had to leave the train at this point as the railroad tracks were so washed away that if connections are made within the next month wonders will have to be worked. It was a sad company that disembarked from that train. The nearer the poor people approached to their former houses, the more forcibly did their misfortunes strike them. Each object along the wreck-strewn banks brought to their minds some article belonging to their own household. The heart weary mechanic spoken of above was seen to rush to a pile of rubbish and pull out a coat and other garments, thinking that he recognized them as his own or those belonging to some member of his family. Just above the upper tower, “Sz” at Sang Hollow, is shown the mightiest work of the flood. Around a bend in the river, along the foot of the mountain, and just where the full weight of that destructive wave could strike with the most terrible force, the tracks of the Pennsylvania railroad were picked up and twisted like willow withes. Pieces of the track, the trails held together by the cross-ties, were bent double as easily as broom wire is twisted in the hands of a boy. Not only were tracks thus dealt with, but the superb road-bed, with its depth of crushed stone that had been beaten down as solid as rock with years of travel over it, was completely washed away and nothing left but the native rock, and even that the insatiable water-fiend had attempted to rip up and wash away from its parent mountain. Struggling along through the wreck of steel rails, cross-ties, and litter of all description, for a distance of over a quarter of a mile, not a particle of the track was in proper position. Some of it lay in the river, some of it turned on its edge lay along the embankment like a mammoth picket fence, bound together with steel girders. Passing this, the next obstruction reached was the body of an immense sycamore tree lying across the tracks. A hundred men were behind the log trying to roll it over, but the united strength of three-hundred men could scarcely budge it a foot. MORE BODIES FOUND. With this work going on, the object being to clear the way for a wreck train that was standing on the track, there lay not twenty feet away from the track the body of an old man, evidently a laborer. His wrinkled face, covered with a few days’ growth of beard, was upturned to the waves from whence had come the deluge that had swept him and thousands more into eternity. The body had been picked up in an adjacent swamp, where a rescuing party were in search of other unfortunates. As your correspondent passed the body with an ejaculation motion of horror and pity, a big, burly railroader, whose water-soaked garments testified to the faithful work he had been doing all night, said: “That’s nothin’; you will find hundreds of such in the swamp above that cannot be reached until the water goes down.” The swamp referred to was reached in a few minutes, and standing on the bank a woeful sight met the eyes. There lay a swamp several acres in extent, about half a miles west of Morrellville, and in its noisome bosom had been deposited the wrecks of hundreds of dwellings, piled from twenty to fifty feet high. There could be seen in all its details the ruin of happy homes. Kitchen utensils, fine Brussels carpets, easy-chairs, broken sofas, stoves, bedsteads, babies’ cradles, were all mixed together. Parlor
116 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 organs and in one place what had been a grand piano, now lying broken with its cover gone. A little brat had crawled out to where the instrument lay and was pounding on its silver strings with a stone, making a queer discord. A few bodies had been recovered from this swamp, but it was known that many more had been swept into it with the houses, and the eddies of the torrent had whirled others from the main current and deposited them to be torn and mangled among the timbers and mud. The village of Morrellville was next reached and a short stop was made to gaze on the ravages, in that quiet town. Here most of the buildings were standing, although many of them were broken and damaged. In the little hotel near the railroad was an improvised morgue, and the floors of the lower rooms were covered with dead bodies. Over forty had been taken in before noon on Saturday. MEETING THE REFUGEES. After leaving Morrellville little groups of refugees were met walking down the railroad track. They were mostly women. There was no wild demonstration of grief, but sobs and moans mingled with prayers for friends not heard from made a constant doleful refrain to the roar of the river, which still ran bank full through the valley. Poor old mothers and grandmothers, with their white locks escaping from shawls and handkerchiefs – the only head covering they had saved – tottered along heart-sick, weary and homeless; son, husband and father gone down in the waters; hunger already gripping their wretched bodies; the infernal scenes of the previous night still before their eyes, they struggled along, not knowing whither they went and seemingly little caring what became of them. Here would come a wretched father bearing in his arms a few little trinkets or articles of furniture he had been able to save from the wreck; by his side toddled his little girl, all that had been left of a family of six. He was past weeping, but the look of utter despondency and woe that was fixed upon his face was too expressive for description. On the banks above the railroad, huddled together upon quilts and blankets, were the remnants of scores of families. Down among a pile of railroad ties sat a despairing group. A mother with a babe but a few months old in her arms sat rocking to and fro in an agony of grief. At her side was her gray- headed mother, who sat dazed and stupefied, too heart-sick to make a sign or utter a groan. At their feet lay a teakettle, a little trunk and two or three tin pans. No artist who ever used a brush could depict the anguish, terror and woe of that group, and still it was but the counterpart of hundreds of others scattered along the hillsides surrounding the town. THE DOOM OF JOHNSTOWN. As the bridge was reached the full horror of the scene broke in upon the party. To the left across the river lay Cambria City, with the immense plant of the Cambria Iron-Works. Scarcely a house remained standing, and the iron-works, whose buildings and machinery represented millions and millions of capital, stood there useless and wrecked. The ends of the large furnaces and mills that received the first shock of the torrent were completely wrecked. Huge iron beams were snapped off like pipe-stems; heavy machinery, engines, boilers, etc., were tossed about like dry-goods boxes; flat-cars, which had been loaded with finished stock, were overturned and many of them carried down the river. Heavy brick buttresses and walls were shattered like egg-shells. There was nothing but ruin, the extent of which cannot by realized even when seen. Down the main street of Cambria City, where had run a railway line, nothing was to be seen but a stream of muddy water. The houses had all been razed to the ground or carried off by the current. Turning to the right a hell on earth greeted the sight. When the dam-burst had reached the city it swept thousands of frame buildings before it, which were piled up against the railroad bridge and reached forty feet above the structure. Backing up the stream this debris extended fully 1,000 yards. Those who witnessed this part of the catastrophe described it as the most horrible that imagination could conceive. More rapidly than the eye could count them the buildings came crashing into those which had already lodged against the bridge. High above the noise of the roaring torrent and the crash of houses as they went to pieces in the general wreck, could be heard the shrieks and cries of the doomed occupants of the buildings. Prayers arose to heaven for aid; curses mingled with these appeals, while the pain of woe was swelled with the wails and cries of the friends who stood on the bridge and on the banks powerless to save. Many were rescued, more acts of bravery being done than history can chronicle; but there was but a small proportion of them that reached a place of safety. THE WRECK TAKES FIRE. Along in the night fire added to the terrors of the flood. This immense pile of timber began burning and the scene became too horrible to look at. It seems as though the priests of Moloch had lighted a funeral pile and offered the awful sacrifice of human bodies to their god. From the hillsides the paralyzed
117 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 populace looked down into that field of fire where brother and neighbor lay dead, either crushed or drowned, and with the certainty that the flames would soon finish the work of the flood and consume all that was mortal of their loved ones. Nothing more tragic was ever conceived and never can the horrors of that night be described. Imagine yourself on the top of the mountain at whose base lay the city and around whose foot had curved the Conemaugh. Sweeping around in a graceful circle of three or four miles the mountain range formed a huge bowl in which was the whirlpool of destruction and death. Looking down in the immediate foreground you see the burning field of houses. A way up to the northeast, through a narrow valley, touching the mountains on either side, comes the Conemaugh, its bosom covered with houses, mills and workshops, rolling and tumbling in the wildest confusion. Many of the houses are filled with human beings, the whole being borne down into the huge bowl, more victims for Moloch, more food for the flood and fire fiends. Rising from this world of misery comes the music that devils love. No battlefield ever furnished more horrible sounds. THE ASPECT OF THE RUINS. Yesterday this pile of wreckage was still burning. The flames were eating their way slowly but surely upstream. Right at the eastern extremity of the bridge was a broad gap through which ran the river, turned out of its old course. The gap was caused by the washing away of a portion of the railroad embankment that was weaker than the old bridge. Here was another horror enacted. The embankment was filled with people endeavoring to rescue those in the buildings. The water had backed up to a fearful depth and the weight was such that something must give way. It was this bank which without warning crumbled before that mighty volume of water, carrying with it from forty to fifty human beings, whose yell of fear was smothered in an instant beneath the waters. The bridge itself is a sight. It is a massive piece of masonry, and strong enough it proved to stand a shock before which a mountain might give way. The fire has warped and cracked the stones until it is a ruin with the rest. The tracks across it were ripped loose by the water and hang twisted and torn along its side. After gazing on these sights until heart-sick, the correspondent passed along the south bank of Stony creek, along the foot of the mountain south of Johnstown. A coal railway extends for some distance along the mountain side, right above the river and creek, in which is this mass of wreckage. Here were presented scenes of a different character from those in any other portion of the valley. Down among the splintered houses were dozens of wreckers busy tearing open chests, gathering up the flotsam and jetsam where the buildings had gone to pieces; forcing their way into the upper stories of houses and carrying away everything moveable they could lay their hands on. Rolls of carpet were dragged up the steep embankment. Chairs were brought up and set along the railroad track. Quarrels would ensue every once in awhile as to the ownership of some article. VANDALS HUNTING FOR LIQUOR. The principal object of search, however, appeared to be liquor and large bands of hard-looking foreigners were exploring the whole field for whisky and brandy. Several barrels of the former liquor were captured, the heads broken in, buckets, cans and glass jars filled, and toward evening the bank was lines with wretches who had filled their stomachs with the worst of the liquor, stupidly drunk or quarrelsome. A short stay sufficed for this portion of the scene. Climbing along the mountain side for the distance of a mile a view was obtained of the whole valley wherein laid the city of Johnstown and its many suburbs. To the northeast ran the valley of the Conemaugh, scarcely more than a quarter of a mile wide, yet it had been built up solidly. Now for a distance of two or three miles nothing remained except the flouring mill at Woodvale, standing alone in a desert of mud and water. Not a vestige of another building was to be seen. Not even a foundation- stone appeared, the cellars all being filled up level with the surrounding plain. Up there had been the extensive Gautier iron-mills of the Cambria Iron Company. Nothing remained to denote their ever having existed. Right in the foreground lay the city, or what was left of it. On the western side, skirting the Conemaugh and lying between that and the railroad, had been the portion of the city called Millvale, now nothing remains but the three-storied school-house. East of the old bed of the Conemaugh the river had cut a new channel and laid waste the most populous portion of the town. A swath fully a quarter of a mile in width had swept clear of all houses and buildings with the single exception of those belonging to the Cambria Iron Company, the streets named below: Portage, Center, Railroad, Main, Locust and Washington. There is then still standing a sort of island containing many of the larger buildings of the city and two or three churches. East of this island and running north and south is another swath cut by the river. The latter space is about 1,000 feet in width and embraced the
118 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 district traversed by Upton, Cinder or Iron street, Stony Creek street, Napoleon, Somerset and Monroe streets. ONE-HALF SWEPT AWAY. From a distinct recollection of the city before the flood, the present appearance indicates that fully one- half of it has been swept away. A large portion of the houses that remain have been so wrecked and twisted as to be uninhabitable. Along Stony creek, up in Johnstown borough, great damage had been done, and many houses from that end of the city went down to join the great majority at the bridge. While seated upon a rock overlooking the fatal valley the question naturally arose, What has become of the inhabitants of all that devastated district? If they have been saved, where are they? They are not here on the hillside; two or three hundred at the most being the number resting there. The half of the remaining houses are filled with water and they cannot be there. Where are the thousands, then, that lived in those districts? This question was asked of an old but active man who had saved himself by swimming from his floating home as he passed along the hillside. “Where are they, you ask? There they are!” he said, as he pointed to the burning wreck, and “There they are,” he said, pointing to the basin formed above the Cambria Iron-Works, and “There they are,” he said, as he pointed to the back- water of Stony creek. “Thousands and thousands of them have gone down with that first rush of water. Hundreds of them lodged in that hell at the bridge; hundreds of others went over the embankment when the water burst through, and hundreds have gone, the good Lord only knows where.” DISTRESS OF THE SURVIVORS. An hour’s stay upon that rock showed to some degree the distress that has followed the flood. The homeless were lying around on the ground trying to make themselves comfortable. Little parties passed backward and forward hailing each other when acquainted. It was seldom that the question, “Where are your people?” was answered without the sad tale accompanying the answer that one, two or three of the family were lost or not heard from. Here again were seen the little group wandering listlessly along, too stupefied to appreciate what had happened. One couple in particular was noticed, evidently a brother and sister of a well-to-do family. The brother had his arm around the girl’s waist and supported her as she picked her way through the marshy ground. Her face was pale and gave evidence of great suffering. Her weakness showed that she had been taken from a sick bed and was now exposed to all the wet and inclemencies of the weather. Neither had a covering for their heads. Soon after another group was noticed. They had just come across from the city in a skiff and bore on a chair improvised from a plank an old lady who was so ill and weak that she could not stand upright. They were carrying her carefully as possible but at each step the poor creature would groan aloud. She seemed to be dying as they were trying to get her to a place of shelter. She had passed the night in the city in a house surrounded by water and which tottered in its foundations. While looking at this party passing, a shout on the opposite side of the stream attracted attention. A group of men were seen standing in front of a building waving their hats and shouting, “Send us a preacher, send him at once!” No call for a doctor there. No hope. A soul that had escaped the ravages of the storm was about to leave the body on that desolate island where the water had reached the second-story windows. These incidents could be multiplied a hundred-fold, yes, a thousand-fold, and still one-tenth of the history of the catastrophe would not be told. The scene and facts beggar description and cannot be exaggerated. The large St. John’s Cathedral was burned on Friday night. A corpse which had been prepared for burial, and which lay in the chancel, was consumed with it. Yesterday the smoking walls alone remained. Across the stream from this stands the English Lutheran Church, its tall steeple overlooking the whole city. With dead silence reigning over the half-submerged city, the chimes suddenly rang out, concluding with two deep notes telling the hour. The effect was very solemn – the death knell of a prosperous city. HENRY.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 2.—From the fatal dam at South Fork to Nineveh, on the Conemaugh, the corpses of the young and the old lie scattered along the shore in neighboring houses waiting for the last sad rites. Many have been identified at all points. Undertaker Williams, of Pittsburgh, is looking after bodies at Morrellville. Three carloads of coffins have just been received at the stone bridge and are to be sent to Woodville. The provision cars are stationed at various points along the track between the bridge and Morrellville. All who ask are being supplied. Many well-to-do ladies lost their entire stock of clothing, except that
119 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 on their backs, and being thoroughly drenched are now walking about Cambria City endeavoring to dry the wet and mudstained garments with the heat of the sun. Seven hundred of those who escaped are quartered at Brownsville, on the hillside above Sheridan station. None of these have food and committees have been sent to aid them. While the flood was at its height Rev. Mr. Beam, Episcopal minister, and 205 others took refuge in Alma Hall, on Main street, Johnstown. The water began to rise about this building and dash about its side with awful fury. When Mr. Beam called all to prayer everyone responded, and while the waters rolled the voices of all rose in supplication to the God of storms. Alma Hall was saved and all in it. Rev. J. C. Grier, Presbyterian minister, held services in Morrell Institute Hall this afternoon, another building which stood the fury of the storm. Relief committees from all points are arriving here all afternoon. The railroad company is working hard to build a trestle, but no trains will get through for two days at least. Rev. Mr. Devlin’s father and sister were saved. It was reported they were lost. Every effort is now being made to dress the bodies of the dead. The preparations for burial have already begun. Many persons fear that Huns and tramps will begin depredations at dusk, and citizens are arming themselves with shotguns, rifles and revolvers to meet the emergency. A portion of the Pittsburgh Fire Department have arrived here and have one stemmer at work playing on the burning debris near the bridge. The fire is spreading among the debris which lines the shores of Stony creek at Currentsville. The force under Gen. Hastings is on duty in all parts of Johnstown, and good order so far prevails. Capt. Kurals shot and wounded two “Huns” whom he saw pilfering bodies on the shores of Stony creek. Neither was seriously hurt. The demands for aid and sleeping quarters grow as the night wears on. Women are begging the relief committee to find some place of shelter for them and their little children. The committee is using every effort to stay their misery, but a scarcity of homes will leave many homeless to-night. Gov. Foraker has donated a large number of tents, which have been accepted. They will arrive in the morning. Hundreds of telegrams from all points have been received here, all inquiring about missing friends. BURNS.
Chief Dispatcher Culp has remained at his post night and day. The little sleep he has secured has been when the Superintendent positively insisted he must take it. “The horror grows worse,” said Dispatcher Culp last night, “but I cannot sleep until I hear from three passenger trains that are in the mountains.
One is the train that left this city at 3:30 Friday morning; another is the Limited, and the third a local passenger train. I know one is at Wilmore, another at Lillys, and still another further along. They were not in the flooded district but the country from Lillys west to Johnstown is absolutely an unknown quantity. We have no telegraphic communication, and no one can tell what new horrors may be disclosed. I would give much and feel like I had been relieved of a great weight, if I could move those three trains from our division. THE LOST TRAINS. “All these are well-filled with passengers and I don’t think it possible that any of them could have been lost, but when we can’t hear anything and can’t get to them, a person can imagine everything. We are pushing forward as rapidly as possible, but can’t venture a guess even as to when we can move these trains. “As to the Day Express, the crew of the first section report that one day coach and the baggage car was swept away, but they don’t know how many were lost. The second section, which contained only sleeping cars, don’t think but one was lost. “The trains, which cannot be reached at all, have been in the mountains since Friday morning.” SEARCHING FOR SISTERS. While Mr. Culp was racked with anxiety, in his office upstairs at the same time working hard, four gentlemen, not one known to the other, were downstairs, all eagerly searching for information. Mr. J. W. Murray, the well-known bill poster; Frank Paulson, the hatter; and Mr. G.W. Starr, of the Opera- house, all had sisters on the Day Express that left this city at 8 o’clock Friday morning. The Misses Starr and Paulson were in the parlor car of the first section, and Mrs. J. W. Brady, Mr. Murray’s sister, on the Washington sleeper of the second section. Miss Margaret Patrick, daughter of
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Mr. W. W. Patrick, the banker, was also so the second section. All the gentlemen eagerly interviewed the conductors and brakemen who had returned to this city. They could only say that they felt sanguine all who remained in the parlor car were saved, and that but one lady was lost from the sleepers. NO INFORMATION GAINED. Mr. Patrick’s son had gone to Johnstown, searching for his sister, but the father had heard nothing. Mrs. Brady passed through this city Friday and that was the last seen of her by her brother. The lady’s husband had telegraphed Mr. Murray asking for news of his wife. Mr. Paulson could get no information except that Mrs. Moffatt, of Swissvale, was on the Day Express and reached home last evening; that the pocketbook and bible belonging to his sister had been found and turned over to Mrs. Moffatt, who said she would give them to the owner. His sister was in company with a Miss Brandt, and both were in charge of a gentleman who had his two children with him, and who was seen searching Conemaugh for them after the rescue. Mr. Paulson went to Swissvale to see Mrs. Moffatt. Mr. Murray took the Allegheny Valley to Kittanning, and concluded to drive about thirty-eight miles to Ebensburg. The following Associated Press dispatch, received late last night, gives information of a good character to some of these gentlemen. THE IMPEDED TRAINS. PHILADELPHIA, June 2.—For the first time in forty-eight hours communication was held inadvertently with Altoona at 6 o’clock this evening at the Pennsylvania Railroad offices in this city. The superintendent at Altoona says that the Atlantic Express, leaving Pittsburgh at 3 a.m. Friday, the Chicago & New York Limited (east-bound), which left Pittsburgh at 7:10 Friday morning, and the Seashore Express, which left Johnstown early Friday morning, arrived at Altoona Saturday afternoon. All the passengers on these 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: … The following persons, passengers on the day express, are said to have been drowned at Conemaugh: … CAUGHT IN THE FLOOD. The following list of persons at Altoona 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 a duplicate of those who reached Altoona by other trains: … The above list of names were received by telegraph direct from Bedford, Pa. Bedford got them from Cessna, Pa., by telephone; Cessna received from over the telephone from Martinsburg, the latter place having a telegraph wire to Altoona. The list does not comprise all of those on the Day Express as some are known to be still at Conemaugh, and in view of the devious route by which the names reached here, their absolute correctness cannot be relied upon. It will be seen that the train leaving at 5:30 A.M. has been confounded with the train leaving at 3:20 A.M. A dispatch this afternoon states that three unidentified persons, supposed to be passengers on the ill- fated Day Express, are at Conemaugh. They are described as follows: A man 5 feet 8 inches in height, weighing probably 160 pounds, full grey beard, bald head, supposed to be Cyrus Sherry. A woman aged about 65 had on an abdominal truss. A woman aged 65 supposed to be Mrs. Rev. Raney. Rev. J.H. Pershing, of Conemaugh, has three bodies in charge. The railroad officials state to-night that they have information which leads them to believe that not over seven of the passengers on the trains flooded at Conemaugh were drowned. The first report sent last night placed the number of dead at 15.
All day yesterday and far into the night the Union depot presented a busy scene and more than one sad sight. Early in the morning people besieged the railroad officials for news of friends and relatives. Miss Mary Foster begged, with tears in her eyes, to be taken to the scene of the disaster. “I lived in Woodvale,” she said, “and came here last week with an invalid sister, leaving my mother and another sister at home. I suppose I have no home and both are lost.” No one had the hardihood to tell her that not a house was left in Woodvale. A regular train left at 1 p.m. for Sang Hollow and she got aboard of that train. Mr. A.F. Keating got aboard of the physician’s train in quest of Col. E.J. Unger, formerly proprietor of the Seventh Avenue Hotel. He was last heard from at South Fork. At 11:30 in the morning a train pulled out, carrying fire engines Nos. 2 and 15, their hose carriages and crews and eight horses.
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A CORPS OF PHYSICIANS. On the same train was a corps of thirty-five physicians, all well supplied with all needed requirements for the sick and injured. On this train was Lieut. Brown and ten members of Battery B, who will set up the tents, Mayor McCallin, Chief J.O. Brown, of the Department of Public Safety, Inspector McAleese and another squad of police, Chief Evans and Assistant Chief Coate were on hand. Four boxcars were loaded with clothing and provisions. Three trains preceded this one, carrying tents and boats. Another laden with coffins and a third filled with building timbers. On the police and fire train was a passenger about which little was said. It was 1,500 pounds of dynamite. It is the intention to have the engines play on the wreckage above the bridge at Johnstown, and when the fire is out rescue as many bodies as possible and then blow the bridge to pieces. This is the only way in which the gorge can be broken and the immense body of water that still immerses Johnstown released. About 1 o’clock yesterday morning Conductor Easton, of the second section train which left Pittsburgh at 8 o’clock Friday morning, arrived home with his crew. His train consisted of two postal cars, one express car and three Pullman sleepers and engine 1094. Engineer W. Henry, Fireman Miller, Brakemen Miller and Smith. In front of him was the first section of the same train, comprising one parlor car, one baggage and five coaches drawn by engine 1031, the crew consisting of ... These two trains, together with the mail leaving Pittsburgh at 5:40 in the morning, were at Conemaugh when the rush of water came. THE CONDUCTOR’S STORY. The scene is best described in the language of Conductor Easton. “I had thirty-two passengers on board,” he said, “nineteen from the West, two from Pittsburgh and thirteen on passes. The first section was also well filled with passengers, largely local. The water came on us thirty feet high. It was a roar like muffled artillery. The brakemen ran to the car doors and shouted for the people to get out. Everybody made a rush for the hills. Some of the women screamed, and one, a Miss Blaisdell, from Minneapolis, fell to the ground in fear as she got out of the car. Brakeman Brody pulled her up and again did she fall shrieking to the ground. The brakeman half carried half dragged her to a safe spot with but a moment to spare. It was a race for life, and her rescue had both man and woman in danger for full twenty minutes. One man and two women refused to leave the sleeper. Another woman tried to reach the hillside, but her strength failed her and she was drowned. “This, I think, was the only life lost on my train. I say I think, because I could not be sure, as the Pullman conductor had not lifted all the tickets. The lady who was lost is from the West. NOT SO FORTUNATE. “On the first section they were not so fortunate. At least fifteen were lost, if not more. The singular thing about it all is if every soul had remained on the train none would have been lost. The two women who clung to the sleeper were put in an upper berth. The man got on the seat and none of them got wet. This may be attributed to the fact that the engineer let on all the air he could, and had it not been for a strange circumstance, I could have had the train as I left it when the waters receded. A shifter locomotive was pulling some freight cars. One car was loaded with lime another with slack. They caught fire by the time the water had flooded the entire town of Conemaugh. The burning cars floated about like barks carrying destruction everywhere. They drifted against the sleepers and soon the Pullmans were ablaze. The men and women were taken out and in a little while the charred embers floating away was all that was left of my three vestibule palaces. We carried water, formed a bucket brigade and saved the rest of the trains. “One big engine flopped over several times like a paper box and then anchored herself. The water struck us about 3:30 in the afternoon, and we remained at the town until 3 o’clock in the morning. The passengers of the two sections of the limited and the mail were carried to Ebensburg by wagon part of the way, though they had to walk part of the distance. In this way they to Altoona and on East. We started at 3 in the morning to walk to Sang Hollow. We kept at the edge of the water while dead bodies by the score swept past us. In the darkness and rain we could hear the shrieks of the drowning. We got to the burning wreck at Johnstown and over to the railway station. People told us many might have been saved had they believed the dam was coming. They laughed at the story. Still thousands would have been saved had the wires stayed up. We tramped 9 miles through mud and slush, reaching Sang Hollow during the afternoon, and Pittsburgh early this morning. I shall never forget the horrors of that scene. There were no lives lost either on the limited or the mail trains.”
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Chief Dispatcher Culp said: “We have no positive information that any lives were lost on the trains. All the crews are safe. Still I am not positive that all passengers escaped. Several miles immediately east of Johnstown are yet a mystery to us. We got one track open to Johnstown at 8:30 this (Sunday) morning. Beyond that we can say nothing; what new horrors that section will unfold, heaven alone can tell.” It is known that tomorrow through travel will be rearranged East by way of the Allegheny Valley railway to Driftwood, and thence over the Philadelphia & Lake Erie line. Engineer A. L. McCue lived at Conemaugh. Friday morning he kissed his sick wife good-bye and waved his hand to his three daughters as his big engine puffed by. Friday night he was wifeless and childless. But the manner of their death will go down in history a companion to Spartan deeds. The young girls were warned in time to save themselves if they would run to the hills, but there was no time to save their invalid mother. “Tell father good-bye,” said one. “We can’t leave mother.” Then they entered the house, locked the door and went to their mother’s room. A moment later the water was on them. It struck the house, but the building floated until it came in contact with a brick structure, then its timbers came up and engulfed those loving hearts that went down to death so bravely. REGULAR TRAINS RUNNING. All regular scheduled trains on the Pennsylvania railroad between Pittsburgh and Johnstown were running yesterday, but through travel was blocked except by way of Erie and the Lake Shore. At 2 o’clock yesterday afternoon a train arrived from the scene of the flood. On board was Mr. James Fullerton, the undertaker. He reported that dead bodies were being brought by the carload, ten at a time, and was sure the death-toll would reach 5,000. He had laid out over one hundred and thirty-five bodies at Nineveh, and the strongest trial he had to bear was in observing the identifications of the dead. Mothers seeking children; husbands looking for wives; friends and relatives all seeking the face of a loved one. As he left arrangements were being made to send 400 of the dead to Pittsburgh. Every train that left the depot carried supplies out. Superintendent Pitcairn said as long as supplies came in they would be sent out without delay. Great crowds hung about the station all day, many from curiosity, but not a few seeking news of friends. BATTERY TO THE RESCUE. At 4:30 Battery B departed for the scene. About sixty members were on board the train. The Allegheny County Electric Light Company sent a dynamo sufficient to supply eight arc lights and a corps of men to put the lights in operation. Four hundred coffins also went and more will follow to-night. On the supply train was a carload of tobacco contributed by Mr. Charles Baer. During the afternoon Superintendent Pitcairn was besieged with ladies who desired to lend any aid in their power. Superintendent McCargo, of the Allegheny Valley railroad, reported his line in very good condition, and said he would be able to handle the through business of the Pennsylvania railroad as soon as the Pennsylvania folks were ready. MOTHER AND SISTER DROWNED. Conductor Wilson, who was reported as missing, turned up all right yesterday, although his mother and sister were both drowned. Mr. Smith, for years a salesman of the Cambria Iron-Works, was in the West at the time of the accident and arrived in Pittsburgh Saturday morning. He had a wife and three children. Pushing on to Nineveh he rushed out at that station to scan the faces of the dead that had been recovered. Almost the first face he saw in the dead-house was that of the servant girl employed in the family. He is a big strong man, but at this sight cried out, “They are gone,” and fell fainting to the floor.
The streets of the central part of the city yesterday were thronged with people anxious to learn the latest news from the scene of the disaster. All day long a continuous throng passed up and down past the newspaper bulletins. At the Casino Museum vast crowds pushed their way in and many walked up to the ticket window, purchased tickets, handed them to the door-keeper and walked away, desiring only that the fund might be swollen for the relief of the living and the call of the dead. At 2 o’clock a bulletin calling out the Eighteenth Regiment was posted at the newspaper offices, and at a few minutes after 5, or in the remarkable short time of 2 ½ hours, the regiment, with 487 men, in uniform and heavy-marching order, marched down Fifth avenue, ready to start for the scene of the disaster to preserve order and to protect property from the heartless vandals who were making the scene of havoc a place of pillage and outlawry.
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When news reached the city that a “Hun” had been lynched for cutting off the fingers of the dead to get finger-rings and pillaging houses intense excitement prevailed and the general verdict was “served him right, the wretch.” The Chamber of Commerce was in session nearly all day yesterday to consider ways and means of affording relief to the stricken people of our sister city. They had two members on the ground acting in their behalf, and were advised of the needs of those there. When news had been received of pillaging the Chamber telegraphed the Governor to order the local military out to preserve order and ere a response to the telegram had been received, Lieut. Kimmel and a platoon of Battery B were on their way to the scene. Part of the Washington Infantry left over the Baltimore & Ohio railroad at 4 o’clock and the rest of the battalion are ordered to go out to relieve them this morning. The Eighteenth received orders from Adjt. Gen. Hastings from Johnstown that their services would not be needed and the boys returned to their quarters, but are ready to go as soon as the orders come. A Baby’s Miraculous Escape. Mr. John Grimes, of Verona, rescue a baby from a cradle wedged tightly among floating debris. It had come all the way down from Johnstown it is supposed. The child is a 6-months-old boy and is being cared for at Verona. It is apparently none the worse for its long and dangerous ride on water.
The Relief Committee, at the Chamber of Commerce, had a telegraph instrument put in at 1 o’clock, and Operator George Brooks put in charge. Direct communication with Johnstown was had from that time out. A message from the Relief Committee on the ground asked the home committee to request Gov. Beaver to order out the Fourteenth Regiment for protection. Supt. Pitcairn said the dead and living were being robbed. The Governor could not be reached. A message from Saltsburg said they had $180 for Johnstown and asked to whom to send it. J.B. Scott, at Johnstown, send word for medicines and also that the proper eases of women and children would be sent to the city. Mayor Gardner, of Cleveland, said the city would remit $3,000 to-day to this city and $2,000 and clothing direct to Johnstown to-day. Contributions were received from .... KEPT BUSY. The committee was kept busy all night receiving reports. The first man to come in was Grant Hubley, who had been sent up as a courier yesterday morning to see Mr. J.B. Scott, return and report. Mr. Hubley said: “The first thing to be done is to stop the rush of sight-seers; they are flooding the place, eating up all they can get their hands on. Troops are needed, and needed badly. They are warned to watch the Hungarians who are stealing and robbing everywhere. We took a lot of medicine with us and it had to be wagoned about four miles around. The driver refused to let us go with the wagon unless we had revolvers, as our presence would attract the Hungarians’ attention, and he was afraid of them. Mr. Scott sent word that he was getting along nicely. He didn’t report last night because his men were scattered along the track at work. The Americus Club boys backed the provisions they took for four miles, distributing it to the people. Mr. Scott has plenty of men, but some of them will have to be relieved. He wants troops to guard his trains, and patrol the roads.” STAB AT BEAVER. Mr. McCreery interrupted with: “If the Governor had let us alone we could have had the Eighteenth there by this time. If these reports continue we’ll send to Foraker, and then we’ll get protection.” Mr. Hubley continued: “They need undertakers. I saw twenty-five bodies laid out in the Catholic Church and several laboring men were trying to wash them. They did their best, but didn’t understand the work. Another thing needed is wagons. Mr. Cain, of Cain & Veiner, tried to buy a team to haul provisions, and couldn’t. All the teams are needed to haul corpses.” J.J. Flanery came in while Mr. Hubley was talking. He had with him a delegation of undertakers. He reported that they had held a meeting and had fifty-five undertakers ready to go out this morning. Some go at 5:30 and some at 8 A.M. He also said that livery men offer 100 carriages to haul the injured if they are brought to Pittsburgh. R.G. McGonigle, of the Pennsylvania railroad, reported that he had started three undertakers for Johnstown and three carloads of provisions. This morning the stockyards will send a car of beef cattle and men to kill and cut them on the ground. Sheriff McCandless, James S. McKean and N.S. Brown came in from Johnstown. They were dirty, tired and hungry. Mr. McCreery said, as he shook hands with the Sheriff, “What do they want there?”
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THEY WANT TROOPS. “They want troops, four or five regiments,” was the answer, “and they want them to-night.
We had 487 men armed and equipped on the street before this building,” Mr. McCreery answered, “and we had to send them home.” The Sheriff also said that the sanitary condition of the country must be watched and Pittsburgh must do it in self-protection. The bodies are beginning to putrefy, and in another day will be terrible. He thought that four or five contractors will 500 men each should be put to work in a systematic manner, to clear the ground. Mr. Brown thought that many might be saved. Then the talk went back to the necessity of troops. Mr. McKean said that the presence of one regiment would be better than a $20,000 subscription; the Hungarians were drinking and no one was safe. Mr. Brown said a man’s life was not safe for a night in that country. If one spoke to the riotous crowds he was likely to get shot. The Sheriff corroborated all this and finally at the suggestion of William McCallery an Reuben Miller he send the following telegram: TO THE GOVERNOR. PITTSBURGH, June 2, 1889. To James A. Beaver, Governor, Harrisburg. I have just returned from Johnstown. The situation is such that in my judgment it is imperatively necessary to send at least four or five regiments of the National guard there to prevent pillaging, robbery and murder. The Fourteenth and Eighteenth regiments were ready to-day with cars, but no orders came. A.E. MCCANDLESS, Sheriff of Allegheny County. Mr. McKean in speaking of the outages committed by the Hungarians, said that he had helped to throw four of them into the river. He was emphatic in declaring that the troops should be send out. Sheriff McCandless said he had talked to the Adjutant General and the latter had said that it might be necessary to call on the Guard. Mr. Miller, Mr. McCreery and other of the Relief Committee were inclined to be severe in speaking of the refusal to accept the Eighteenth Regiment as volunteers, after the regiment had assembled ready for duty. The committee received a dispatch last night from Boston, asking what to send. The answer was send money. A like query was received from Cincinnati and a similar answer sent. The committee has issued the following circular: NOTICE. Thanks to the prompt action of the people of Pittsburgh and Allegheny and neighborhood, we find that the sufferers at Johnstown are so far well supplied with provisions and clothes. We have information that other cities are promptly sending forward provisions and clothing so that we are satisfied that for the present sufficient provisions and clothing are at Johnstown or en route to fully satisfy present necessities. The Executive Committee recommend that further contributions be made in the shape of money, of which too much cannot be subscribed. WM. M. MCCALLERY, Chairman. Muslin, flannel, medicines, etc. are being pushed forward rapidly. These are the articles most badly needed. Mr. N.S. Brown said that on the Baltimore & Ohio train on which he left Johnstown there were ladies of wealthy families wearing men’s coats and trousers. Light is also needed, but the committee has tried to help in this. On the train that took Engine Companies Nos. 2 and 15, an electric- light plant of the Allegheny County Light Company and fifty barrels of oil were forwarded.
Last evening five trains crowded with people arrived at Union station between 8 o’clock and midnight. Most of the passengers were Pittsburghers, but as each train arrived the great crowd in waiting surged towards the gates and eagerly scanned every face, finally compelling the sending for officers to keep the crowd back. Many in that throng were prompted by curiosity, but some watched and waited for relatives. One gentleman, a Pittsburgher, stepped off the train leading a little boy and girl, one about 8 and the other 10 years of age. Both were bareheaded and were the children of Charles and Mary Humbert. The parents were not lost but were homeless and had given the children to the care of friends, while they remained on the spot seeking to identify the bodies of neighbors and relatives who were lost. WHAT DAVIS SAW.
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Assistant City Controller Davis came on the same train. “The worst has not been told,” he said “The newspapers don’t begin to describe the horrors, and 5,000 will not exaggerate the number of dead. Chief of Police J. Hondes, of Johnstown, was not lost, but all his family was drowned. Col. Linton, at first reported among the missing, was rescued with all his family. They climbed to the cupola of his residence. The house flooded away, but the family were taken off the roof sometime Saturday morning. “Dead, dead, nothing but dead everywhere,” said the Controller, “and the amount of suffering among the living is something terrible. The Relief Committee is doing nobly, but who can alleviate the pain of those who go through the streets crying aloud, some even maniacal in their grief?” MEETING OF FRIENDS. Two ladies who had escaped stepped from the train, one young, the other elderly. They were grabbed by two ladies and a gentleman in waiting, evidently relatives. They hugged and kissed and cried as if the welcome was a greeting to those who had come back from the dead. An attempt was made to ascertain their names, but it appeared as if their happiness prevented a coherent answer, and in a few moments, they all crowded into a carriage, laughing crying and hugging. HUMAN GHOULS. Conductor Hemmerick, of the Panhandle railway, spent the day in Johnstown. He came in last night carrying the leg of a table he had picked up as a relic. “I walked all over the town,” he said. “It was crowded with excursionists and for that reason it was hard to determine who were homeless and who were visitors. The place was fairly well protected by police, but, from what I understood, a great deal of thieving was going on. “One rogue was detected trying to burglarize the safe of the First National Bank. He was shot down by a Pittsburgh officer, I was told, and died in his tracks. Another man was killed who was found with two hands of a woman in his pockets, the fingers covered with rings. Two men who carried permits to identify the dead, told me they had shot at least six robbers of the dead during Saturday night. “Ten miles down the river every imaginable household artifact could be found scattered along the banks. Piano legs, tables, dry goods, kitchen utensils and thousands of articles he couldn’t begin to enumerate.” STORY OF A SUFFERER. Mr. Charles Blair, son of Conductor Blair, was at Cooperstown, a suburb of Johnstown, all through the flood. He was a strong, able-bodied young fellow, but he looked jaded when he stepped off the train. “I was visiting my uncle, Mr. Bryant,” he said, “And there never was such a day as that Friday. We heard the dam was coming and everybody went to work. By 10 o’clock at night every soul in Cooperstown had been rescued. I carried out the last little girl myself and the water was up to my waist. We lost ten houses but not one life, although some of the escapes would make your hair turn gray.” Mr. Blair’s father had been searching for him all along the line, looking in the faces of the dead, trying to get news, but it was not until late last night that he heard the glad tidings and I returned his son. A Mrs. Cooper of Twenty-sixth street, near Liberty, was at the depot inquiring for friends. She said that she had fifty-six connections in and about Johnstown. Some were the Coopers, others the Mennheimers. She had not heard a word from any of them and was fearful that all were lost. THE LAST TRAIN. The last relief train departed at 8:30, carrying with it a Battery B company and supplies from this city and from points on the Pittsburgh, Virginia and Charleston and from the Panhandle. Another will start early this morning and as many will go as are necessary during the day. Superintendent Pitcairn says there will be no delay and provisions will be forwarded as rapidly as possible. All trains will run on the regular schedules, but there will be but one section, and every car will be taken to keep away sight-seers and all who desire to visit the scene from mere curiosity.
The scene at Old City Hall yesterday was one of the greatest activity. Boxes and barrels were piled on top of each other, while about the floor was scattered bundles of clothing. Two dozen men were hard at work packing the boxes, and in many cases the bundles were packed in unopened, owing to a lack of time. The bundles contained almost everything that could be mentioned in the line of clothing. All day long Market street was lined with men, women and children carrying large bundles, and in some instances the packs being carried were almost too heavy for the bearer, but they trudged along under them, and only stopped when City Hall was reached and the goods deposited on the floor.
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At 3 o’clock thirty-five large boxes of clothing, four barrels of shoes and one trunk filled with bonnets had been packed and shipped. The men in charge worked with a will and they had plenty of help, for all day long the place was crowded with visitors, who gave a helping hand in nailing up boxes and carrying them down to the wagons and the street. No attempt was made to take a list of the names of the people who left bundles, but among the heaviest contributors were Arnfield & Son, three boxes of underwear; C.W. Kraus, one box of clothing, 200 pair of shoes; J.W. Carnahan & Son, two boxes of hats, one bundle of shoes; one trunk full of clothing from H.C. Frick. At 3 o’clock the church donations began piling in so thick and fast that the men could hardly handle the stuff. They were taken care of however, and were soon packed in boxes ready for shipment. OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS. Mayor Pearson, of Allegheny, reports the following contributions: …. A.D. Miller & Son reported the contribution of one car of petroleum, which will be used for illuminating purposes. Two carloads of provisions from Meyersdale, two from Somerset and two from Cumberland, Md., arrived yesterday afternoon. Huben, the hatter, has delivered to the Pennsylvania railroad for the sufferers $250 worth of men’s, youths’ and boys hats, woolen shirts and underwear.
A possibility of a very serious trouble in the nature of an epidemic of contagious diseases arising in Pittsburgh from the Johnstown flood is suggested by Dr. Wylie, of Penn avenue: “This is a very serious matter,” said the doctor, “and one that demands the immediate attention of the Board of Health officials. The flood of water that swept through Johnstown has cleaned out hundreds of cess-pools. All these were filled with filth, the accumulation of years. The barn-yards, manure, dirt from henneries, and swamps that were swept by the waters has all been carried down into the Allegheny river. In addition to this there are the bodies of persons drowned. Some of these will in all likelihood be secreted among the debris and never found. Hundreds of carcasses of animals of various kinds are also in the river. These will putrefy and decay, throwing out an animal poison that is the most injurious to the health of the community. “As I said before, all this filth and poisonous matter is being carried into the Allegheny. It will be pumped up into the reservoir and distributed throughout the city. In such a case the result most probably will be the breeding of infectious and contagious diseases. Take for example the town of Hazelton, Pa., I think it was. There the filth from some outhouse was carried into the reservoir and distributed through the town. The result was a typhoid-fever epidemic and hundreds of people lost their lives. “There is of course another side to this question. The rapid current cause by the high water may sweep this matter all down the river. So if the water remains high for a few days longer the danger may pass over; but if it subsides rapidly and the current becomes sluggish the danger of an epidemic will be very great. On the other hand, the rapid current may set in just the opposite manner. This filth will come down the river more rapidly, be drawn up into the reservoir, and fill it with the germs of the very worst class of disease. There have been serious floods before, and epidemics have not followed. Still this does not kill my argument. These floods did not carry away the filth of a whole city. Nor were there hundreds of dead bodies floating around in the water in different stages of decomposition. All this will count in the long run. Take the water that we are drinking to-day. It is something fearful to behold. To think of a person having to drink such filth is terrible. It is like taking so much poison into your system. “Of course it will take some little time to allow the germs to get in their fatal work. But two to three weeks will be sufficient. Then if there is not something done in the matter at once, there is a possibility and very serious one that we will have an epidemic in this city. “Some of this water should be placed in the hands of an analytical chemist to be given a thorough examination. Take the time the typhoid fever was so prevalent on the South Side. This was traced to the water the poisonous matter that had been thrown out from the various mills and houses along the river bank had contaminated it. Just such stuff as this is being carried into the Allegheny to-day and is bound to have its results. “Another danger to the inhabitants along the river bank is malaria, in places through the two cities where the river overflowed its banks and has receded. Here there has been a filthy sediment deposited, which will stagnate and probably make a large portion of the inhabitants shake and sweat for some
127 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 time to come. I sincerely hope that the matter will not come to such a serious crisis, but there certainly is a good chance for it.”
Mr. John M. Pardee, of the East End, traveling salesman for Logan, Gregg & Co., gives a graphic picture of the flood. Mr. Pardee was at Conemaugh when the flood swept that place away and is one of the four men who have reached Pittsburgh from points east of Johnstown. His story is best told in his own words: “I was at Johnstown Friday morning,” he said, “and at 8 o’clock started east. I stopped at Conemaugh in the morning and took several orders from houses which were that same afternoon swept away. At noon there was no suspicion of danger. I had some lunch and went to the station. When I arrived there I found the train on which I had come over, the Mail, still lying there, and beside three other trains. They were there waiting for some repairs on the track east. “There were very few passengers on the Mail, but the other trains had more. While we were waiting there we heard that there was a possibility of the reservoir breaking. It was, however, discredited. The passengers were little alarmed. The train lay very near the river and the passengers were putting in their time watching the rise of the stream. I saw one iron bridge go down with two boys on it, and almost immediately afterwards I heard the yardmaster order the Day Express to move forward so as to be near the hills in case of an emergency. I began to feel uneasy then. The water began to rush under the railroad tracks, and I watched two tracks drop into the river. One by one the telegraph poles were washed away and telegraphic communications were cut off. It was raining hard then and the passengers were compelled to remain in the car. Among the passengers was a Mr. Himmelwright, of Wildwood Park, Cambria county and also a New York theatrical troupe, the “A Night Off” company. The passengers were by this time thoroughly alarmed, but it was pouring down rain and there was no place to go. About 4 o’clock we heard a succession of shrill locomotive whistles, and one man in the car said that means business and we had better get out. Everybody grabbed their hand-satchels and what wrap they could and started to run for the hills. “The scene is almost beyond description. The water was almost on us before we started for the hills. Mr. Himmelwright, who was returning from a hunting expedition in Idaho, attempted to get a valuable dog from the baggage-car and was all but caught by the flood. The water rushed down the narrow gorge a rolling mass, thirty feet in height. Everybody rushed for the hills. Some were helping along old men. In several places I noticed sick persons being carried, and children were crying and running about without anyone to see to them, and very many were caught by the waters. “Every train but one was carried away and that stood close to the hills facing up stream. After I got up onto the hillside, I looked back and saw this one train with the water almost halfway up the side of the engine on either side and one man on the engine blowing the whistle. “In the eddy just back of the train I saw a car floating about with a man on top of it. It was, however, soon caught by the current and carried out of sight. The hillside was a scene of terrible confusion. Mothers were hunting their children and lost children were crying for their parents. The rain was still pouring down and it was almost impossible to obtain shelter. With three others I got a wagon and drove eighteen miles to Ebensburg, and the next morning drove thirty-one miles to Blairsville. There we got a train on the West Penn that took us to Bow station, where we found a bridge down and were compelled to walk around the loop there, about six miles, when we got another train and landed in Allegheny about 10 o’clock on Saturday night.”
On the Day Express East on Friday morning, the train to which Superintendent Pitcairn’s car was attached, was an 18-year-old boy, of East Liberty, who distinguished himself. His name is Charles Hepenthal, and he was on his way to Belletonte, Pa., where he is attending school. When the train was stopped at Sang Hollow by the flood the passengers all left the cars to view the rushing water. They saw countless dead bodies floating by and were utterly powerless to bring them to shore. While they were standing there a small frame house came down stream and floated into an eddy nearly opposite the train. The passengers got as close to the house as possible, and as they did so they could hear the faint crying of a babe. Young Hepenthal at once expressed his determination to rescue the child and began preparing to do so. An attempt was made to dissuade him from what seemed to be a foolhardy act, but he persisted in going ahead. Finally the bell cord was cut from the cars and tied around the body of the venturesome youth and he swam to the house. He entered it and in a few minutes later he emerged with the babe in his arms and brought it to shore amid the cheers of the crowd. He told them that the child’s mother was still in there and he was going to get her out also. He
128 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 procured a railroad tie and made another trip to the house, and after much difficulty he brought the woman safely to land. They had scarcely left the house until a sudden surge of the water swept the house into the stream and it was soon out of sight. The mother and babe were well cared for and their rescuer was the hero of the hour.
The generosity of the people of Pittsburgh and Allegheny was never more strikingly illustrated than on this occasion. Immediately upon the receipt of intelligence that a great calamity had fallen upon the inhabitants of a sister city Friday night and that relief was needed, measures to afford relief were set on foot. All day Saturday and all day yesterday busy brains were devising and busy hands were preparing means of succor. By noon of Saturday a train with provisions was on the ground, and by midnight three trains had deposited food, clothing and bedding for the homeless people. From all parts of the country came assistance with equal promptitude. TENTS FROM OHIO. Ohio sent 900 tents to shelter the homeless of her stricken sister State, and from East and Western States came offerings of money and assistance of every kind. The people cannot go back to the place of their homes, for homes there are not. For weeks, therefore, they need everything. Houseless, homeless, many of them friendless, it is impossible to say just what they do not or will not need. There are plenty of families who have no providers, children that are without parents and parents without children. Many had little, but that little was all they had in the world and it is gone, and those that had competency are no better off than their neighbors. THE HEPTASOPHS. A very large meeting of the Improved Order of Heptasophs was held in G.A.R. Hall, on Fourth avenue, yesterday afternoon, which was presided over by S.A. Duncan. The object of the meeting was to devise ways and means to assist members of the order who are located in Johnstown or its vicinity. A subscription list was immediately opened and in a short time $71.50 was subscribed. An executive committee consisting of ... were appointed to take charge of the entire matter. M.G. Koen, Esq., was elected Treasurer and can be found at 520 Grant street. The idea is to look up the members of the order who are located in the flooded district and help them in every way possible. Another meeting will be held at the same place Tuesday evening next. A subscription was placed in the hands of a number of members, who will report the amount of their collections at Tuesday’s meeting. An open letter was addressed to every council in the United States calling on them for voluntary subscriptions. OTHER ORGANIZATIONS. At its regular meeting yesterday Typographical Union No. 7 ordered that the Chairman of all offices within its jurisdiction take up collections immediately for the benefit of the sufferers by the flood. The money is to be turned in to President Hope, who will place it with Daniel McWilliams, Esq., Treasurer of the Trades Council of Western Pennsylvania. The G.A.R. Executive Committee have called a meeting for to-night in Common Council chamber to make arrangements for extending help, especially to Grand Army victims of the disaster. A general meeting of the Odd Fellows of Pittsburgh, Allegheny and the South Side was held at 67 Fourth avenue yesterday and organized a relief corps from all lodges and encampments. A committee has been sent to the flooded district. A general meeting of all subordinate Rebekah Degree Encampments is called for this evening at 8 o’clock at 67 Fourth avenue. The G.U.O. of A.T., Colored Odd Fellows, will meet tonight at 102 Fourth avenue at 7 o’clock to take action in regard to the Johnstown sufferers. The regular meeting of Encampment No. Union Veteran Legion will be held this (Monday) evening, and it is desired that all of its members. The matter of relief for the Johnstown sufferers will be taken up and steps taken to render aid. The Knights and Ladies of Honor will meet at Lovely Hall, Allegheny, to-morrow night to raise funds for the sufferers. The members of the Masonic fraternity of the Twenty-eighth and Thirty-second districts will assemble in Freemasons’ Hall, Fifth avenue, Monday morning at 10:30, to take active steps for the relief of the suffering brethren of Johnstown. GETER C. SHIDLE, Dep. for Twenty-eighth district.
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JAMES MCKEAN, Dep. for Thirty-second district. At a special meeting of Bricklayers’ International Union No. 2 of Pennsylvania, held last night the sum of $500 was donated to the Johnstown sufferers.
The Birmingham Turners held a special meeting at their hall, on Jane street, South ave., yesterday to take action for the relief of the sufferers. A committee was appointed to solicit subscriptions of money, clothing, etc., and a collection was taken up at the hall and about $300 raised. They will keep their hall open all day to-morrow for the reception of contributions of provisions and clothing and will make arrangements to have the goods shipped at once. They have also called a public meeting of masons of the South Side, to be held to-night, for the purpose of securing further contributions. The Columbus Club held a meeting Saturday night and raised over $1,000, which was turned over to the General Relief Committee. The club also organized a relief corps and its services were tendered to the committee. The Junior Order of United American Mechanics met on Saturday night and organized a relief corps and donated $500 from the State fund for the relief of members of the order and their families. Another meeting will be held this evening and further arrangements made for raising funds. Lodge No. 11, B. P. O. Elks, gave $100 to the Relief Committee, and M. Saxby, of the Social Session, the organ of the Elks, published in Cincinnati, gave $100 also. The Diamond Market butchers sent over 1,000 pounds of meat to Johnstown on Saturday. The Executive Board of D. A. S., K. of L., will hold a meeting this evening and take steps to raise money for the flood victims. The post office employees subscribed $141 on Saturday.
The American Mechanics of the South Side met at Salisbury Hall yesterday afternoon to formulate a plan of relief for their suffering brethren at Johnstown. The meeting organized into a general committee, electing …. It was decided to hold a general meeting of the organization at Salisbury Hall at 8 o’clock to-night. Each council will hold a special meeting at its own hall at 7 o’clock and take action on the matter and report to the general meeting. … were appointed a committee to go to Johnstown and see what is best to be done in the way of relieving the suffering Mechanics and their families. A committee was also appointed to remain at the hall to receive contributions to-day and to-morrow. The Randall Club Raises $300. At a meeting of the Randall Club yesterday afternoon the individual members present subscribed $300 to the relief fund. The President appointed committees to wait on all members not present and the subscription list will be kept open until all have contributed. The club will add a donation from the club treasurer.
The collection for the sufferers from the Johnstown disaster at the Sandusky Street Baptist Church amounted to $152.59. The Sunday school raised $8.13. The collection at the Smithfield Street M. E. Church was $250. The members of the Eighth Street Reformed Presbyterian Sunday school contributed $55 for the relief of the flood sufferers. The Newsboys’ Home Sunday school yesterday took up a collection of over $6 for the flood sufferers. The Jefferson, Allegheny county collection for the flood sufferers amounted to $60.33, and the mission band raised $4.20 for the same purpose. The collection at the Fourth Presbyterian Church for the relief fund amounted to $209. The Fourth U.P. Church, Rev. Fulton, Allegheny, reported yesterday afternoon to the Relief Committee the collection of $368; also ten barrels and four boxes of clothing, shoes, hats, etc.
The following general order No. 3 has been issued from the headquarters of the ladies of the G.A.R. at Altoona by Carrie V. Sheriff, Department President, and Clara G. Brewer, Department Secretary. “SISTERS---As is well known to all one of the saddest calamities that has ever fallen upon a community has come upon the residents of the Conemaugh valley. In many instances whole families
130 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 have perished, together with all their worldly possessions, leaving those who survive them homeless and penniless. It will require tens of thousands of dollars and quantities of clothing to relieve their wants. Let the ladies of the G.A.R. respond promptly and liberally to the call for aid. Many soldiers’ families need out assistance. Donations of money or clothing can be sent to your Department President, Allegheny, Pa., who, together with a committee to be appointed, will distribute it in conjunction with like committee of comrades of G.A.R.” Contribution Boxes. A contribution box for the sufferers was opened at the drug store of W.J. Morris, Woods Run, Saturday night. Yesterday afternoon $40 had been collected. A similar box has been placed in J.P. Urban’s drug store, on Franklin street, Allegheny, and $15 has been received so far. The Mayors’ Appeal. The following was sent to a number of cities on Saturday: To the Mayor: Owing to a terrible disaster by water, hundreds of lives are lost and thousands of people rendered homeless at Johnstown, Pa. Have your administers take up a collection for their aid and forward to W.R. Thompson, Treasurer, Pittsburgh, WILLIAM MCCALLIN, Mayor Pittsburgh, R.T. PEARSON, Mayor Allegheny.
Rev. David S. Kennedy, of the Third Presbyterian Church, of Allegheny, preached a sermon yesterday morning bearing on the flood. He spoke of the prevalence of storms as related in the Bible, dwelling particularly on scene of Christ and His disciples on the Sea of Galilee. “Storms,” said the Speaker, “are foreordained of God and are a part of His great plan. To Him they are not unexpected nor accidental, but are wholly under his control.” He told of the necessity for faith in Christ during calamities of this kind, and said it was the only refuge, as human provision could not avoid them nor human strength resist them. This is a world of storms, he said, and as it is impossible to avoid them, we should prepare for them by seeking a refuge. “When Christ took his place in the ship with his disciples in the storm on the Sea of Galilee,” continued the reverend gentleman, “the storm became calm and the ship sailed to land, and every disciple was saved. So in this Johnstown flood, Christ was in it. He was the refuge of his saints and not a disciple was lost. He reached forth His hand and lifted some on solid ground that they might bear witness to His mercy. The souls of others He lifted above the storm and guided them to a home of peace and eternal rest.” Mr. Kennedy concluded by naming the blessings that come from storms. He said the helplessness of mankind is appreciated and the glory of God is revealed. The disciples are confirmed in their faith and the sinners are converted.
The Baltimore & Ohio railroad started a train to go through to the section east of Johnstown yesterday afternoon. It left at a quarter past 3 o’clock. They carried a force of police officers to protect the living and dead from the thieves, and also a gang of 300 laborers send from the chamber of Commerce, a number of doctors and newspaper men. A whole truck-load of coffee was sent out on the Baltimore & Ohio by Messrs. Dilworth Bros. The Central Hotel sent out several large cans of boiled coffee and huge baskets of cooked provisions. This last will be most acceptable. The cry came down here that the provisions are arriving, but there are no cooks or stoves to prepare them. A large hardware firm on Liberty street sent out four new stoves to the city. 500 MEN READY. Among the new members of the party were Judge John Gripp, Mayor’s Clerk McCleary, Coroner McDowell, H. Grant Miller and others. The train also took out the members of the Washington Infantry under Capt. A. P. Shannon. Casper Leff, a Hebrew lawyer, also on the train, was going to look after the Hebrew people who are victims of the disaster. At the Baltimore & Ohio depot Judge Gripp had considerable trouble in sorting out the laborers. There was a crowd of 500 men about the depot. Some of them were intoxicated and insisted on going on the train, and were only kept off after considerable trouble.
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The train will take on four cars of provisions at Braddock and one car of coffins. Cars filled with provisions will be picked up at different points along the route. AT THE MORGUE. A constant stream of people were going in and out of the morgue yesterday. Some of them were attracted by morbid curiosity to see if any bodies had been brought there. Others came to look for friends and relatives who had lived in the stricken city. These last could be easily told. They would come in hesitatingly, as if afraid to ask the fatal question, and would pass out with a deep sigh of relief when told there was no bodies there. The only one received was that of Mary Myers. She was taken to her relatives in Allegheny, and the funeral held yesterday afternoon. She was 70 years of age. A rumor was circulated that twenty-six bodies had been washed ashore at Twenty-eighth street, and were lying at the Morgue. A rush was made for that place, and the polite official had hard work convincing people that there was no one there. People would go away muttering that it was a lie, and that he did not wish them inside. TRACKS UNDER WATER. The Pittsburgh & Western depot presented a lively scene yesterday afternoon. Thousands of people lined the platform, watching the raging waters. Their tracks at this point were entirely under water yesterday afternoon. Below the Ninth street bridge they are not covered. The water at this point has fallen at least six feet. Yesterday morning it covered the pavements above and below the railroad bridge. The cellars in all the houses along River avenue in this district, were flooded, and great damage was done to household effects. In many instances, the families had to remove their goods from the ground floor to the upper stories. Six large rafts of logs are at the Ninth street bridge. They were upon the Pittsburgh & Western tracks, and a steam-tug was engaged all the afternoon towing them to a place of safety. ALONG THE RIVER. Above the railroad bridge on the Pittsburgh side very little damage has been done. The shanty-boats are all crowded together. Their occupants were busy fishing out the debris as it floated past The bank is lined with all kind of truck, from wheelbarrows up to chairs, tables and bedsteads. The children are having a perfect gala day making rafts out of the boards and paddling around close to the shore. The tracks of the Valley road at this point are covered with water in some places. It is rapidly going down and they will be clear to-day.
Never in history has there been a more generous and prompt response than is being given to the Johnstown sufferers. The COMMERCIAL GAZETTE announced in Saturday’s issue that it would receive subscriptions to this fund, and by 9 o’clock over five hundred dollars had been left at our counting-room, and by evening it amounted to over nine hundred dollars. Yesterday’s mails increased it to over one thousand dollars, and no doubt more is coming. A daily announcement will be given of this fund, with the name of the donator, as this is the only receipt that will be given, and we request that in every instance the name be given us, so that proper credit can be given by the general treasurer. Do not hesitate to give your name even if the amount given is small, as the donation of 15 cents in to- day’s list was all the poor fellow had who handed it in and left it with the remark that “he had been given it by a friend to buy a lunch, but as he was not real hungry he would give all he had to, perhaps, some poor widow or orphan who was hungrier than he.” The following is the list of subscriptions so far: …
The COMMERCIAL GAZETTE would urge upon the attention of the Relief Committee, the railway authorities, and all others interested, the propriety of removing the sufferers at once from Johnstown and vicinity to Pittsburgh. There are potent reasons why this should be done. There is plenty of room here, while the accommodations at Johnstown are wholly inadequate. Here we cannot only provide quarters for all the sick and wounded, but supply medical and surgical aid and nurses in abundance— all which are essential to prompt and thorough recovery. As to those who are simply houseless but not disabled, we would urge their removal likewise for the reason that they can be kept here for a week or two at little or no expense to the relief associations. There are thousands of families here who would be only too glad to open their houses to the reception of the unfortunates, especially the women and children, who have lost their homes and have suffered such terrible bereavements. Furthermore, it would be much easier and more economical to bring the sufferers to the place of supplies than to carry the supplies to them.
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The strongest reason of all is a sanitary one. The Johnstown basin must in a short time, become a very unhealthy place to live. The warm sun will soon generate malaria, and an epidemic would not be improbable. The work of gathering up and burying the dead will occupy many days, and all whose presence is not absolutely required there should be removed. There are hundreds of women and children whose health and whose lives may depend on the change. There is not a home in Allegheny county that would not extend a hearty welcome to the sufferers. Let our citizens but know they are coming, and in an hour’s time they will be comfortably housed, clothed and fed.
The Conemaugh river, along whose valley such fearful havoc has been wrought, traverses a large portion of Cambria county, and, after crossing the line on the west, divides the adjacent counties of Westmoreland an Indiana. After its union with Loyalhanna creek in Indiana county, it takes the name of the Kiskiminetas, which falls into the Allegheny river at Freeport, thirty miles above Pittsburgh, at which point the four counties of Allegheny, Westmoreland, Armstrong and Butler corner. The Conemaugh is a mountain stream, and is rapid and destructive when swollen by rains or the sudden melting of snow and ice. Johnstown is situated in a pocket or basin near where the tracks of the Pennsylvania railroad Company cross the Conemaugh, and from that point on to where the South Fork joins the main branch of the river the valley is very narrow. The distance from Johnstown to South Fork is about six and a half miles, and the terrible rush of waters from the artificial lake on South Fork had no room to spread until it reached the circumscribed basin in which the doomed city was situated. This accounts for the terrible destruction of life and property which followed. The disaster came upon the town like a cloud-burst. It was irresistible in volume and force, and death and ruin marked its path. All the railway bridges and embankments from Johnstown to South Fork, some seven miles, save the one at Johnstown, are reported gone. Among these were two fine iron bridges and one immense stone arch bridge built by the State for the old Portage road. The masonry in this structure was considered wonderful in its day, and has never failed to excite the admiration of all engineers who have had occasion to examine it. Like the dam at South Fork lake, it was deemed indestructible by any elemental force which it was likely to encounter. But even it went down under the fearful pressure of the overwhelming torrent. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company has been noted for the strength and durability of the bridges and culverts erected by it of late years. The new stone bridge at Johnstown is a fine specimen of architecture. It was built for four tracks and rests on a succession of seven arches spanning the Conemaugh. It withstood the assault of the deluge, but, unfortunately, its very stability helped to augment the work of death and devastation in the town. The flood hurled the wrecked houses against the masonry with terrible suddenness, choking up the arches and retarding the flow. Broken buildings were piled up in a dense mass, and in this situation fire broke out and added a new horror to the scene, scores of persons who were yet safe from the waves having been slowly consumed by the flames. This obstruction threw such an immense pressure upon the embankment that a new channel was cut through near the Cambria Iron-Works and left thar immense concern in partial ruins. The towns below were swept as with the bosom of destruction, and the fair valley of the Conemaugh, bedecked with all the beauties of spring, never before witnessed such cruel and pitiless devastation. The maddened waters carried in their embrace millions of dollars worth of property, thousands of precious lives, and left a legacy of perpetual sorrow to tens of thousands who were linked to the departed by the most tender ties of kindred. The almost resistless force of the torrent may be inferred from the fact that the round-house at Conemaugh station, with sixteen of the largest freight engines in the service of the company, was swept away. These engines weigh about 114,000 pounds each, or fifty-seven tons, and yet they were shoved from the rails on which they stood at rest, forced into the angry current, tumbled about and left in various positions along the valley after the fury of the waters had ceased. No idea can yet be formed of the amount of destruction done in the valley below Johnstown. It will unquestionably be very great, as the manufacturing interests are very considerable, to say nothing of the agricultural. The products are coal, coke, lime, salt, lumber, iron, etc., and many large concerns are situated along the Conemaugh and the Kiskiminetas. The probability is that hundreds of bodies are still afloat, and notwithstanding the high water will be picked up for days to come in the Ohio, as well as in the Allegheny, the Kiskiminetas and the Conemaugh.
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Never in the history of Pittsburgh, not even when one-third of the town was in ruins and hundreds of families were left houseless, was there such pressing need for assistance as is occasioned by the unparalleled calamity at Johnstown. The response to the cries for relief has been prompt and generous, and will continue to be met by kindly sympathy and personal ministrations so long as a single sufferer may be found. The people of the stricken town were closely identified in a business way with these two cities, and many of the families were connected not only socially, but by the ties of kindred. There are thousands of aching hearts in this community by reason of the personal bereavements which they have sustained in the loss of those who were near and dear to them. But in the presence of such an awful dispensation, and with regard to naught else save the instincts of a common humanity, our citizens have opened their hands most liberally because it was their duty and their instinction to give. Too often have they felt the chastening band themselves to be indifferent – too often have they experienced success in the hour of dire distress to prove ungrateful. The utmost that has been or can yet be done will fall far short of meeting every demand, but where there is a sick or suffering survivor – a helpless orphan or a brokenhearted or dependent widow – there should be the dispensers of our bounty be found. The dead, alas, are beyond our power to help. The living should be made the objects of our most tender care and solicitude. ONE of the most shocking features connected with the calamity at Johnstown was the capacity of the brutes in human form who gathered like so many buzzards to feast on the carcasses of the dead. The foreign element was conspicuous in this ghastly business. Stripping the dead of their valuables, and pillaging houses and stores under such circumstances is a return to the deepest depths of savagery. THE resolution passed by the Central Trades Assembly of Western Pennsylvania, questioning the legal right of any association to interfere to a dangerous degree with the free movement of the waters of the State, is an issue which is likely to attract wide attention. Should it turn out that the Johnstown calamity was the result of the damming of the waters of South Fork, and not attributable to an extraordinary cloudburst, the question of legal responsibility might be raised. Whether a Court and jury would ever be able to reach a satisfactory conclusion is another matter. There is force in the suggestion that encroachments upon the channels of our larger water-courses by the process known as “making ground” should be forbidden by law. It should certainly not be tolerated in populous communities, where both life and health are endangered by streams overflowing their banks. It is one thing, too, to obstruct a stream in the prosecution of a great private or public enterprise, and quite another thing to incur risks in the maintenance of a resort for mere pleasure or sport. DR. TALMAGE evidently had not heard of the Johnstown disaster, but his discourse on to-day’s seventh page will be interesting to young men who delight in gadding around and living out of their parents’ meal-barrel. THE storm covered a much larger area than was at first supposed, and the rainfall must have been unusually heavy. The center seems to have been over the areas of the Alleghenies. The eastern slope filled the tributaries to the Juniata and the Susquehanna, while the western turned into torrents the numerous little mountain streams which constitute the headwaters of the Conemaugh, the Youghiogheny and the Allegheny. The destruction from the floods extended to Harrisburg and beyond in the east, and as far northward as Southwestern New York. There was no material damage done in the region south of Cambria county. THE Law and Order Society did well in not permitting theatrical performances yesterday for the benefit of the sufferers. It is not necessary to take that indirect way to reach the popular heart at a time like this. PITTSBURGH during the past forty-eight hours has revived the memories of 1862-3, when committees were at work day and night preparing for the shock of battle, or for the relief of those who had been wounded in action. There was the same spirit of self-sacrifice; the same impulse to rush to the scene of suffering, whether on the field or in the hospital, and the same nervous anxiety to know the worst which the people of a quarter of a century ago manifested after each great battle. THE physicians and surgeons of Allegheny county have nobly sustained their reputation for personal self-sacrifice and professional liberality in responding to the claims of humanity. THE Pennsylvania Railroad Company, always thoughtful, prompt and generous in time of need, has acted most nobly in its efforts to relieve the distressed at Johnstown. Its own losses, which have been enormous, were secondary when viewed in the light of the great public calamity. Superintendent PITCAIRN, Assistant TRUMP, and their associates, have won the warmest commendations.
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THE business men of Pittsburgh and Allegheny have again demonstrated their capacity for prompt action, liberal giving and systematic organization in dispensing their liberality. THE destruction of lumber in the Allegheny and its tributaries by the floods has been unusually heavy.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. HARRISBURG, PA., June 2.—Maj. John Lockhart, executive clerk to Gov. Beaver, on learning the true condition of affairs at Johnstown, to-day telegraphed Gov. Beaver, at Annapolis, Md., where the Governor had gone as a United States Visiting Commissioner. Gov. Beaver at once replied that he would leave Annapolis on a special at 4 o’clock this afternoon and go to Philadelphia, thence by the Reading road to Harrisburg. It was learned here by a telegram received to-day that Gen. Hastings is in Johnstown. He was at his coal-mines in Hastings, Cambria county, when the disaster occurred, and made his way to Johnstown as soon as possible. The telegram received here from Gen. Hastings was to the Governor and said that there is much pilfering and robbing of the dead, and that one of the ghouls was caught and lynched. The militia was called for, but Gen. Hastings discouraged this. If he must have troops Gen. Hastings will notify the Governor at once. Another telegram received from Gen. Hastings states that 1,500 dead bodies have been found, and between the flood and fire he cannot estimate the loss of life. He states that the tents sent by Gov. Foraker from Ohio have arrived and the people are doing as well as they can. Capt. Maloney, keeper of the State arsenal at Harrisburg, has been on duty all day with a large force of men packing tents ready to send them to Johnstown, but as it looks now it will be impossible to send them. A dispatch was received here to-night from Gov. Foraker, of Ohio, asking Gov. Beaver to name some person to whom supplies and clothing could be sent. Maj. Lockhart, in the Governor’s absence, named Adj. Gen. Hastings, who will receive all supplies at Johnstown. Gov. Foraker also wants Gov. Beaver to designate somebody to receive the Ohio financial contributions. A dispatch from York stated that the Governor reached there at 8:30 P.M. He was advised that owing to the water and washouts he could not get here and he should take an engine at York, go to Wrightsville, cross the river to Columbia, then taking a train for Reading and thence to Harrisburg. He will not reach here before midnight.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 2.—A rope bridge is being utilized for the passage of people to and from the abutment of the stone bridge to Johnstown. This bridge gave way this afternoon when Col. Norman M. Smith and Charles Clayton, of Johnstown, were in the act of crossing. Both were hurled into the water. Col. Smith was carried down stream and was rescued after great difficulty and amidst the wildest excitement. Clayton fell into the water but managed to catch a guy-line. He was rescued after a hard half-hour’s fight on the part of the lookers-on. Ex-Burgess Story and his entire family have just crossed the temporary bridge. They have all been saved, but lost everything they owned in the world. Dr. Phillips is alive, but his mother, sister and two brothers-in-law were drowned. The scenes in and about the bridge and on the site of the old city are of the saddest description. Strong men can be seen either standing or walking to and fro weeping, while women are almost frenzied. The reaction has set in with terrible reality. The lingering hope that some dear one might have escaped the fury of the raging torrents has been dispelled. Wives who thought their husbands, torn from their side when the deluge came, might have been saved at some point below, gave up in despair. Fathers who searched for news of lost ones have at last found their worst fears realized. BURNS.
These things are beyond all use, And I do fear them. – Shakespeare. No calamity more terrible has even befallen any section of this country than that of Friday last at Johnstown. Butcher’s Run pales into insignificance before it. The flood of ’84, which swept the Allegheny, Ohio and Mississippi valleys, did not approach it in dreadful, harrowing details.
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Peter’s Creek, with its train load of crushed, mangled and burning humanity, was but a dark spot compared with this cloud. Even the greatest and bloodiest battle of the late war scarcely provides such a formidable death toll. The death toll is sad enough in all conscience, but the fact that it includes women and helpless children tenders it singularly and terribly distressing. Whole families were gathered into the same cold embrace. War, cruel and bloody as it is, always respects the aged, the helpless, and, above all, women and children. The storm god—an insatiate Moloch—respects neither age nor condition. The innocent babe strangles and drowns in its mother’s arms. A fond, strong husband’s strength is exhausted in his efforts to support his wife, and the last sounds he hears are the soul-harrowing cries of his children to save them from the monster. The happy home, ringing with the cheery prattle of children, songs of merriment, and pervaded by a spirit of sweet contentment, is almost instantly converted into a dismal, dreadful, horrible charnel- house.
Why dwell upon the dark side of the subject. The calamity is past, and this is an hour for work. The dead are dead, and our tears will not bring them back. The living are suffering. These we can aid and assist. We can mourn the loss of those who have been vanquished by death as we minister to the wants of the living. There are thousands of men, women and children who are homeless, hungry and naked. We have millions in money, and storehouses full of provisions and clothing. These sufferers are our brothers. Is our duty not clear? Philanthropy, the universal religion of mankind, will suggest the line of action. Wait not for obligations, nor for solicitors to call upon you, but go forth and do whatsoever your heart prompts.
The American people are prompt, if not impetuous. They have never yet failed to meet an emergency, no matter how great. Money is no object; willing hands are numerous, and facilities are plentiful. Where there are demands for heroes, there will they be. Brave men and brave women were at every point where heroic action was demanded. But where hundreds of wrecked houses and angry, surging, seething waters combine against the efforts of puny men and women, the latter must suffer. Here they were held in the grasp of the elements as firmly and helplessly as if they were blades of grass. As the water recede the debris arises, but hope again fades. Fire and smoke hovers around the drift. The men and women not already drowned are being burned to death.
Miss Minnie Ogle’s name will go down to posterity among those of true heroines. She was a telegraph operator, employed by the railroad company at Johnstown. The floods rose threateningly into the tower but she knew that in times of greatest danger the telegraph is most needed, and like the heroine she was she remained at her post until swept out by the flood. Other lady operators posted in these tall, lonesome towers remained until all the wires were grounded, or until they were borne bodily from their places. Such heroes cannot be rewarded in this life, nor can the memories of those who sacrificed their lives rather than neglect duty be held too sacred. Their acts should be found recorded on the fairest page of our history, because they show what manner of people we are.
The scenes about Johnstown and along the course of the Conemaugh are simply indescribable. Just think of all the villages, clusters of houses and single dwellings located on either side of the bend of the Conemaugh being literally swept away, with scarcely a sign left to indicate that houses ever stood there. Then conceive, if you can, of these houses, crushed and jammed into such a close mass against the stone arch bridge until it formed a dam that caused the water to rise to the height of forty feet, and spread over the city of Johnstown until only the tops of the highest houses were visible. Then think for a moment that the bodies of nine-tenths of those who occupied the houses forming the jam are confined in that mass of debris. Hundreds of human bodies helping to form a dam to flood and drown their neighbors!
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This will be a great field for the sentimentalist, but at present there is no time for sentiment. We may stop and give these things a passing thought, but when life is at stake there is nothing like practical work. After the immediate wants of all have been met, we can then listen to the stories of those who passed through the ordeal worse than death. Then it will be time to show practical sympathy to the orphans, the widows, the maimed and the helpless. To those who have lost the savings of a lifetime we can extend a helping hand, or open a door through which they may return to profitable employment. We should not forget that these people contributed largely to our prosperity. They bought the great bulk of their supplies in this city, and this was the shopping place for the ladies of the Mountain City; besides nearly every family there had relatives and acquaintances here.
The stories of horror, death and destruction move us to tears of sympathy; but the sight of carloads of provision and clothing, the offer of vast sums of money and the tender of personal services touch the heart, and cause us to feel thankful that we live in a land in which generous and humane impulses predominate. Not only have our wealthy citizens contributed from their surplus of riches but our working men and women, and even those who have to struggle to live, have given freely and with a hearty good will. These have given more, according to their capital, than those to whose names appended sums reaching three and four figures. Ohio people have always been noted for magnificent generosity. Scarcely had the news of the disaster reached Columbus until Gov. Foraker tendered the use of all the tents belonging to the militia. This was a happy thought, because of all things else the people needed shelter.
Who is to blame? This is the question that is agitating the minds of a great many at present. The haste of a body of workingmen to pass a resolution censuring the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club was characteristic of those who are anxious to cast reflections on the rich, but it was none the less unseemly. The dam had, in the estimation of competent engineers, a greater margin of safety than the most substantial buildings in this city. No one had ever seen such a flood in South Fork, and it is probably that another such will not be seen during the next century. It was simply a freak of Nature. Had the dam not been there the accident would not have happened. Neither would there have been such a calamity had Johnstown not been where it was. Any one who has ever seen the place will say that it was a very bad place for a town. In fact there is not a more exposed town site in the whole mountain region, nor less attractive. It so happened that an iron mill was built there, and as it grew the town increased in size. Houses were built down to the very edge of a narrow mountain stream that was noted for its ferocious floods. The people took their chances of living there, and they lost. The mill owners had often considered the advisability to removing their works because they were subject to overflow, and the citizens had more than once been driven out of their houses. They failed to heed these warnings, and suffered the consequences.
It matters not whose fault it was. These people are our brothers, and it will do them no good to discuss the causes that led to their sufferings. We must consider the effects first, and when they have been disposed of we can then amuse ourselves discussing the causes. Some of our good preachers tell us that it was a visitation of Providence on account of the sins of the people. This doctrine is so obnoxious, so unphilosophical, and so at variance with the accepted idea of God that only the most confirmed sticklers for the Westminster Confession of Faith will even pretend to believe it. It was the result of the operation of natural laws relating to meteorology, combined with certain unfavorable local conditions.
Early on Saturday morning contributions began coming into the newspaper offices, and before 9 o’clock notices were posted calling for a meeting to be held in Old City Hall at 1 o’clock to take measures for procuring aid for the sufferers.
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This meeting, which was largely attended, was called to order by Mr. William McCreery. Mayor McCallin was chosen Chairman and Mr. W.R. Thompson, Treasurer. Scarcely had he accepted the trust until check and crisp bank notes began to flutter around his desk. When the meeting adjourned he had about $50,000 in hand, equal to about $1,000 a minute for the time the meeting had been in session. An Executive Committee was appointed, consisting of ... The committee held a meeting and appointed the following working committees: Committee on Distribution and Arrangement of Persons and Property Committee to Purchase Supplies Committee on Second-Hand Clothing Committee to Notify All Churches to Take Up Subscriptions Clothing Railroads Jewelers White Lead Newspapers Distillers and Wholesale Liquor Dealers Brewers Retail Liquor Dealers Petroleum East End Stockyards Retail Butchers Retail Shoe Dealers City Government of Pittsburgh and Allegheny Attorneys Window Glass Table Glassware Retail Grocers Drygoods Hardware Produce and Commission Insurance Banks Grocers Iron and Steel Foundry and Machinists NAMES AND AMOUNTS. Following are the contributors and amounts reported at the close of the City Hall meeting: … THE AMERICUS CLUB. This popular organization called a meeting which resulted in the subscription of something over $1,000. The following committee was appointed to cooperate with the Citizens’ Committee: … The following are the subscribers and the amounts: … DOCTORS CONTRIBUTE. A large meeting of physicians was held on Saturday evening, at which they tendered their professional services and contributed to the relief fund as follows: … FROM VARIOUS SOURCES. …. The hospitals sent word that they would all be open for the reception of sick and wounded. Complete lists of contributors and the amounts will be published as fast as received. Among the cash contributions received by the Citizens’ Relief Committee on Saturday night were: Glass globes were placed at a number of places on the principal streets in the city on Saturday to receive donations. In five hours’ time they collected $102.31. Yesterday the globes were put out again and were well patronized by the public. There is no means of learning the amount contributed by churches yesterday, but the bulk of it is such as to warrant the statement that the numerous collections will aggregate $2,000.
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The churches all took up collections yesterday for the relief fund. In most of them plans were laid to call on members who failed to attend the service and so increase the fund. For this reason no reports were made to the Executive Committee and at many churches here calls were made they refused to announced their contributions until to-day. The following were secured: … In all the churches clothing is being gathered up by the wagonload. The ladies of the Bellefield Presbyterian Church are asked to meet at 9 o’clock this morning to work for the sufferers, and they want all the ladies of the neighborhood to meet with them. At St. Augustine’s R.C. Church solemn high mass will be celebrated for the dead to-morrow morning. Up to 10 o’clock last night Treasurer W.R. Thompson had received during the day the following subscriptions: …
A general meeting of the Turners of Pittsburgh and Allegheny was held at the Central Turner Hall on Forbes street last evening. Addresses were made by different members of the societies in regard to the calamity at Johnstown and the quickest way they could send aid to the sufferers of their societies located there. A committee volunteered to go to Johnstown on the first train this morning free of charge. Several members said they would turn in their subscription, which was raised yesterday afternoon, and put it at the disposal of the committee for the relief of the Turners at Johnstown. The following amounts were subscribed by the different societies: …
Special to the Commercial Gazette. MCKEESPORT, PA., June 2.—The Johnstown calamity has a very visible effect here, as many men who are employed in works here reside in Johnstown, and as a general thing they fear that a wife and family of children or parents and a brother or sister has perished. Many telegrams from Johnstown came here announcing that grave fears are entertained for many missing persons whose relatives reside here. Many men left for the place, among them Drs. H.W. Hitzro and W.H. Kern, who go to look after the safety of relatives of the former, while John and Henry Hocker, Frank Gallagher, the Laghiner brothers, Adam Fanman and James Davis are almost positive that either an entire family or at least some of them are drowned, as the telegraphic advices they received before starting cause them to entertain fears that they will find the dead bodies of their families. The wife and three children of Joseph Logan, of this place, were visiting Johnstown and he fears they have been carried away by the flood. McKeesport has a large delegation of Johnstown people who generally look for the worst.
LIMA, OH., June 2. – Alf C. Baxter, Jr., a prominent young business man of this city, Secretary of the Lima Natural Gas Company, is supposed to be lost in the flood. He left Pittsburgh east-bound on Tuesday and promised to write his wife upon his arrival at Harrisburg, and as no word has reached his family the fear the worst. Amon Keller, another Lima man, is supposed to be in the wreck. STEUBENVILLE, OH, June 2. – Mr. Scott Salzdale, of this city, with his 12-year-old son, left here on Monday, May 27, to drive to South Fork, Pa., and as nothing has been heard from him, excepting that he was at Greensburg on the 29th, it is feared that they were lost in the Johnstown flood.
SANG HOLLOW, PA., June 2. – The provision train that started from Pittsburgh at 4:30 P.M. yesterday arrived here shortly before midnight. The night was intensely dark, rain falling and track in an impassable condition to Sheridan. At Bolivar, the Mayor of Johnstown was wired to the effect that the train was coming, and had on board a relief committee to act in conjunction with the local committee at that point. At first, owing to the lateness of the hour and the intense darkness, it was thought that but little could be one in the way of appeasing the hunger of the people. But a relay of the Pittsburgh Relief Committee, each bearing a supply of food, pushed boldly forward in the darkness and accomplished considerable work before the day began to dawn. The real work of systematic distribution, however, could not be managed until morning. THE LIFE-GIVING TRAIN. The run of the provision train was a thrilling one from the time of its departure from the city to the arrival at Sang Hollow. A position in the cab of the locomotive, for a portion of the run, afforded me an opportunity of witnessing many of the details of the trip. Several hours were taken in loading the long line of freight cars stationed on the Liberty street tracks below Sixth street. The cars were adorned with long stretches of canvas, labeled: “For the Sufferers,” and toward these continuously came
139 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 vehicles of all descriptions, wheel-barrows, carts, express wagons, and even elegant private equipages filled with bedding, generous boxes, bags and bundles of all sizes and shapes, containing everything from nourishing food to rough-boxes and coffins. One car was filled with the latter, and adjoined another that contained cots and mattresses for the homeless and suffering. At last the command was given to start. The engine slowly puffed along Liberty street with its heavy line of freight, almost reluctantly, for all along the line frantic appeals were made from belated vehicles and generous friends that a stop should be made for their contributions, while the commission merchants along Liberty pointed with consternation at the boxes and barrels in front of their establishments heaped from curb far out into the street and expected to be taken aboard. To all the reply was given that the train was too long already and a wait mut be made until another train could be made up. Everybody wanted to contribute to the first train, and its passage to the Union station was extremely slow and was witnessed by hundreds of people congregated on the curbs and sidewalks. There was no attempt at cheering, but saddened faces and the occasional flutter of a white handkerchief, which the next moment was suspiciously near the owner’s eyes, were more eloquent than noise. At the Union station a coach and caboose were added. Into these entered a posse of police and the seventy-five relief volunteers who were to act under and with the Committee on Transportation and Distribution, appointed at the meeting of the citizens. These and the seventy-five volunteers were designated by badges of yellow ribbon. Every man was recorded and the police given instructions to take position on the platforms at every stop and allow no further passengers or the escape of any on hand. Correspondents from the different papers completed the party. ALONG THE ROUTE. At East Liberty the services of the police were called into requisition to quell disorderly conduct in the private baggage car, occasioned by the entrance of roughs, who endeavored to help themselves to some of the clothing for the sufferers, which had been piled up in one end of that coach. Further contributions were received at East Liberty, and then no stop was made until Braddock was reached. At each of the intervening stations were gathered shivering, sorrowful groups of people, many signaling for the train to stop to take on board their offerings, which in little heaps mutely appealed from the platform. These sights touched everyone on board, and throughout the entire trip there was not the slightest attempt at levity or merry-making, but instead the earnest consultation and discussion of the best methods and plans of work. At Braddock the services of the police were again called into requisition to prevent a crowd of men from boarding the train. The next stop was Irwin. At this point quite a promiscuous quantity of donations was taken aboard, and occasioned some delay. Again in motion, and a command was given for attention while the announcement was made that the company had been divided into two divisions, one party under the leadership of H.E. Collins, to direct distribution of supplies at Johnstown, and the other under Capt. A.J. Logan, to direct operations at all points of distress between Sheridan and Johnstown. Each of the two captains was given four lieutenants; those of Mr. Collins being Samuel D. Hubley, who by the way was leader in the Relief Committee sent out by Pittsburgh to Chicago at the time of the distress of that city; .... The four lieutenants under Mr. Logan were .... These in turn selected their men and the appointment results in the following names enrolled: … SYSTEMIZING THE WORK. As the car in which the Relief Committee traveled was to furnish the only shelter they would have during their three or four days’ stay at the scene of the disaster, E.W. Babist was appointed custodian of effects and placed on guard duty. J.D. Littell and A.J. Edwards were appointed to the private commissary department, with the duty of providing sustenance for the Relief Committee and all on board. After the appointments had been read a lunch, consisting of cheese and ham sandwiches, was served. At Greensburg and Latrobe stops were made and contributions received. At the latter places dozens of XXXX and boxes of matches were added to the train supplies. After Latrobe had been passed indications of the disaster bean to be more apparent. Hitherto the swollen muddy streams, broken fences and storm-bent trees were the principal indications. At Derry the suspended animation of traffic, the dozens of silent engines and blockaded cars, have a deeper significance. Steadily the run was made to Blairsville Intersection. Fences were down and great gutters furrowed in the high clay banks along the tracks. The train slowed up and came to a halt in front of the station. There on the platform, stretched upon a board, was the body of a man, one of ten that had been brought to that station during the day by the workers on the shore. From the train a coffin was taken, in it the body was tenderly placed, and the ghastly burden added to those on the provision train. From Blairsville the
140 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 point of observation for all within the train was on the side of the Conemaugh. The river was a roaring, rushing torrent, yellow, turbulent and towed upon its angry surface almost every conceivable object. It had receded somewhat from its first mad rushing, but the scars were left in a track of devastation that extended beyond the railroad tracks of the West Penn. The train moved very slowly from this point, and on to Bolivar. Here a halt was made for ten minutes and although the darkness was creeping on yet there was light enough to not that the brick yards were submerged , many of the houses on the lower edge of the town surrounded by water, and mud and debris everywhere. It was at this point that a realizing sense of what might be expected in the lieu of mud began to dawn upon the relief committees, and those who had not provided themselves with rubber boots began at once to do so. Overalls were also in demand and the train began to slowly push forward. NEARING THE DESTINATION. The darkness came quickly and soon there was nothing to be seen but the glimmer of window lights from homes stationed along the hillsides and the gleam of torches and lanterns from the workers along the shore. New Florence was passed and when the train pulled into Nineveh the scene without was particularly weird. People were huddled together on the platform, shivering with the wet and cold. The only illumination came from torches and lanterns, and the roar of the angry waters painfully smote the stillness. A demand was made for coffins and willing hands went quickly to work and the burden of the train was lightened of one hundred caskets and rough boxes of all sizes, a sight of the tiny ones causing tears to freely flow down the white faces of the few women in the group. While the ghastly unloading was going on a visit was paid by a party of the Relief Committee to the little saw mill where ninety-five bodies lay. Twelve men were busy washing them. The faces were plastered with mud and the hair filled with sand. Most of the bodies were badly bruised. Sixteen people had been taken out alive at this point and were being taken care of by the villagers. One of these, a woman, was desperate with exposure and fright and frantically demanded to be taken to Johnstown. From Nineveh, at a walking pace, the train moved forward; the darkness was intense and the rain falling. At Sang Hollow no further move was made. At this point the railroad tracks hung like festoons over an embankment of debris. The reporters were gathered thickly here waiting turns over the wires. Poor fellows, thirty hours of hard work without sleep and with but little food, had left its mark upon them and they hailed the relief corps sent out by their several papers with a tired look of pleasure and warm clasp of the hand. Some of them had rode for miles through the mountain passes, fording stream and risking life in the darkness and fury of the raging waters, they had fought and grapples with their best friends in the effort to hold the wires exclusively and deemed no risk and no expense to great to accomplish their purposes. With the meager means at command the representatives of the Pittsburgh papers here accomplished an almost herculean task in publishing to the world of readers the details of the fearful horror. At this point those who were not on the midnight distribution force composed themselves as best they could for a few hours of enforced idleness, the darkness and perilous condition of the roads rendering it unwise to proceed until dawn. At the point at which the provision train was stationed the glare from the burning debris at the Johnstown bride could be clearly seen. CARA.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. MCKEESPORT, PA., June 2.—The Johnstown sufferers will receive considerable succor from McKeesport. The Relief Committee, organized yesterday, has been active to-day and will do the same to-morrow. A carload of provisions was shipped by the committee on the Baltimore & Ohio railroad at 5 o’clock this evening, $200 was sent this morning, and not less than $2,000 will be sent to-morrow. The National Tube-Works employees will be asked to give a half of the pay of a day. This will amount to $5,000. The employees of the W.D. Wood Company will be asked to donate something also. Two more carloads of goods will be sent to-morrow, consisting of clothes, shoes, food, etc. Company I, Eighteenth Regiment, will go to-morrow. The company was to start this evening, but received orders to be ready to leave in the morning. Six members of the city police force in uniform left to-night and as many physicians. A store-room near the Baltimore & Ohio railroad depot is kept open and express- wagons have been in use constantly this afternoon storing food, clothing, etc. donated, preparatory to shipping it. The city has been distracted, and the committees, in conjunction with the ladies of the different churches, will canvass thoroughly to-morrow for aid. The people are coming forward
141 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 promptly with assistance, and if all that is expected comes forward the outlook is good for the city to contribute at least $10,000 in funds and necessaries. The musical talent of the city, assisted by that of Pittsburgh, will conduct a concert in White’s Opera- house Wednesday evening for the relief fund. An unannounced meeting was held in White’s Opera- house this afternoon, and in a few minutes $1,150 was subscribed and will be sent to Johnstown to- morrow. The banks each donate $100, while the merchants donate shoes, groceries, dry goods, etc., and as a general thing give not less than $50. The operatives of iron-works are expected to contribute. The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company furnishes cars free for transporting the relief and those who are sent to assist in looking after the sufferers at ill-fated Johnstown. Subscription lists have been started at the office of the Times and at various other places, while many lodges and organizations will take up collections. In many of the churches collections were taken up to-day, while the pastor of each called on the congregations to-night to give and extend all the aid possible. The families and relatives of many Johnstown people who reside here were drowned by the flood and a big delegation of McKeesporters left for the unfortunate city to-night. KITTANNING, June 2.—A meeting was held at the Reynolds House in response to a call signed by Burgess Marshall in behalf of the Johnstown sufferers, at which over $200 was subscribed in a short time, and committee appointed to solicit subscriptions from the citizens. BEDFORD, June 2.—Subscription papers are being circulated through the town for the benefit of the Johnstown sufferers, and $200 have already been subscribed. Persons are leaving here in all kinds of vehicles in search of friends who are thought to be among the lost. SHARON, PA., June 2.—At a meeting called by Burgess Willis to raise money for the Johnstown sufferers, about $1,000 was quickly subscribed. TROY, N.Y., June 2.—Great interest is taken here in the Johnstown disaster , there being so many Troy men there. A subscription list has been started for the sufferers and it is being rapidly filled. Special to the Commercial Gazette. CONFLUENCE, PA., June 2.—Collections were taken at citizens’ meetings and churches here to-day and quite a large amount was raised. A large amount of provisions and clothing was forwarded to- night. NEW CASTLE, PA., June 2.—Collections were taken up in the churches here to-day for the Johnstown sufferers. The Mayor has called a town meeting for to-morrow to take steps towards raising money. MOUNDSVILLE, W. VA., June 2.—Five hundred and eighty-six dollars were contributed here to-day for the Johnstown sufferers. KANSAS CITY, MO., June 2.—Mayor Davenport issued a proclamation to-day calling a mass- meeting for to-morrow night to enable citizens of Kansas City to unite in a plan for sending relief to the stricken section of Pennsylvania.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 2.—Charles Kraus, proprietor of the tavern at the South Fork Fishing Grounds, is here and reports that he saw the Conemaugh Lake dam burst and that the entire body of water rushed into the Conemaugh river causing the big overflow. This statement has settled all debate here in regard to the destruction of that structure. He also reports that a portion of South Fork has been swept away, but he does not know whether or not any lives were lost. This confirmation of the previous rumors has caused intense excitement here, as the residents all attribute the bursting of the dam as the cause of the calamity. Adjutant Gen. Hastings has sworn in the Pittsburgh police officers here and a number of volunteers as special State police. BURNS.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. LEECHBURG, PA., June 2.—The loss by the flood in the Kiskiminetas valley will reach several scores of lives and more than a quarter million dollars worth of property. The lives were mostly those of people living in the valley, but who were in Johnstown at the time of the great disaster. Only the breaking of several of the largest bridges prevented the loss of many more lives, as there were almost the same opportunities for disastrous gorges and avalanches of water as at Johnstown. The valley is
142 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 strewn with driftwood to-day, which, when removed, will likely disclose considerable more bodies washed down from Johnstown than have been found. This is the condition of developments to-night. Lost by Johnstown flood reported from Leechburg: ... Lost by flood reported from Freeport: ... AT FREEPORT. There is only one sufferer in Freeport, but he has woe heaped upon him. The wife, young daughter and little baby of Maj. F.K. Patterson were on the second section of the Day Express that was submerged by the wave on the outskirts of Johnstown. Since then nothing has been heard of them, though their many friends and relatives have searchers at Johnstown and have telegraphed to all points near it. They are given up for lost. Maj. Patterson is at Franklin too ill to go to Johnstown himself to look for his wife and children and is almost crazed with grief. The night of the flood three bodies were seen floating by Freeport on some driftwood, those of a woman and two children. A poor coal miner named Robert Gamble, living near Freeport, noticed a jewel-box among some logs near the shore the morning after the flood. He hooked it in with a pole, and upon opening it found a gold watch and gold chain, with this inscription upon the watch: To C. Schoff from his parents, On his 21st birthday, September 12, 1883. The watch and chain are now at a jeweler’s in Freeport, to be claimed by their owner, should he have survived the flood, or his surviving relatives. Folded under the watch was a deed for a farm in Conemaugh Township, Cambria County, for which $20,000 had been paid when will was dated, 1865. DIED TO SAVE OTHERS. John Stitt is the hero of the flood in the Kiskiminetas valley, but his heroism cost him his life. He was the brakeman on the coal train that the West Penn Railroad Company ran upon the Coketown bridge to save it. He had brought the cars to a standstill where they were needed over the seething torrent and returned safely to shore when the drowning cry of one of the victims whirling by prompted him to carry out upon the bridge a headlight that would enable the spectators to make some attempt at rescuing any more persons carried along by the flood. He ran out on the bridge and was in the act of fastening the second light to one of its girders, when the bridge plunged down into the raging torrent. It was thought he drowned at once, but a half-mile below he was seen floating upon some drift-wood and hailed by the people on the shore. He said he was John Stitt, and had gone down into the flood with the Coketown bridge. Those on the shore could do nothing for him, and he was rushed quickly off into the darkness by the swift current. This afternoon his body was found badly bruised in the roots of a tree partly grounded in the bottomland three miles east of Saltsburg. A GHASTLY FACE. Sometime before the bridge at Leechburg went down Friday night, the spectators saw float by on the dark waters a woman and two children. They were in a tree-top, and the woman’s arms were about the children. The woman was alive, as those on shore could see her white face turned agonizingly towards them for assistance they could not give. If she called for aid the roar of the flood drowned her voice, as those on shore heard no sound from her. She and the children are supposed to be the same three persons seen below at Freeport, but all were then dead. At Appollo, some of the spectators late in the evening of the flood saw a cradle float by in the gloom, and distinctly heard the cry of a child in it. About 9 o’clock Saturday morning a baby’s cradle was noticed out in the Allegheny near Verona, and a skiff put out and brought it in. It contained a fat baby boy, who is now at Verona, the pet of the people there, a dozen of whom want to adopt it. The baby in the cradle at Appollo and that at Verona are doubtless the same. Who its parents are is not known nor will they likely ever be. It doubtless floated all the way from Johnstown and escaped the dangers that overtook so many thousands of older people. FINDING BODIES. The sight-seers at the Saltsburg bridge found the body of a young woman and child 3 years old this afternoon in poking about the drift. They were taken to Saltsburg. Of the three bodies found a couple of miles above Leechburg Saturday morning one is at Leechburg yet and will be buried if not claimed on Tuesday, and the other two were buried today at Schearer’s Crossroads, two miles back in the country from Leechburg. A singular and very sad coincidence happened a couple of miles above Leechburg this morning. Young Hill and some other boy companions were poking among the driftwood for valuables when young Hill found a baby doll carriage with his sister Joy’s name upon it. He immediately recognized it
143 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 and hurried with it to this grandfather’s in Leechburg and arrived almost at the exact moment when a telegram was received from his father in Johnstown saying that his sister Joy and two others of the household had been lost. WEST PENN BRIDGES LOST. The loss in bridges to the West Penn railroad will reach a quarter of a million dollars. Between Allegheny Junction and Blairsville four are completely wrecked and two others damaged to some extent. The individual losses are: The one at Bolivar, $60,000; the one at Saltsburg, $40,000; at Leechburg, $60,000; and the one at Coketown, $70,000. The wholesale destruction of the bridges was the result of the enormous amount of drift in the Kiskiminetas, combined with the rapid current rather than to high water. The houses, logs, etc., from Johnstown, coming in an almost compact mass against the bridges, staggered them at the first blow, packed in against them for a short time, when the great mass of water and debris accumulating swept them off their piers, one after another. The big bridge at Coketown was seen to be in danger by the railroad company at early Friday evening and fourteen coal- cars loaded with slack were run out on it in hopes of holding it in its place, but in two hours afterwards it was knocked off its piers with the coal-cars into the river. A similar attempt was made to save the Leechburg bridge, but also failed. Six stock-cars were run onto it and held it down for several hours, but about 3 in the morning a great jam of houses and logs threw it into the river, cars and all. Had the bridge not given away when it did the lower part of Leechburg would have shared the fate of Johnstown. The West Penn railroad sent out a special train yesterday to Saltsburg carrying implements for rebuilding the bridge at that place and work on the other bridges will begin at once but it will be a month before the West Penn will be able to replace the bridges even with temporary structures that will enable them to make a continuous run to Blairsville intersection with the Pennsylvania railroad. RELIEF FROM UP THE KISKIMINETAS. From collections made in the churches at Leechburg to-day, and from individual subscription, that town will send $500 and considerable provisions and clothing to Johnstown to-day. From the same sources Appollo will send $1,000, Saltsburg $500 and provisions and clothing, and Freeport $500 and provisions and clothing." The revenue officers seized seven or eight barrels of whisky which had been taken from the river by different parties. There was, however, one barrel which they did not get, and that was caught near Lindsay & McCutcheon’s mill. It was tapped and liberal quantities distributed among a crowd of men and boys who had collected. Word was sent to the Allegheny Mayor’s office, but when the officers arrived the crowd was gloriously drunk and the whisky barrel was empty. Some of the boys were so intoxicated that the services of physicians were necessary. On the question of the responsibility of the South Fork club for the accident, Thomas Marshall, Esq., said yesterday that from a legal standpoint the club was in no wise responsible. The best engineers inspected the dam every month and reported it safe. This made the club innocent parties and they could not be made to suffer for acting on the advice of those who ought to know. This was a point that had already been decided in law and he cited an instance of where the Supreme Bench had reversed a lower court for having taken a different position. Last evening the bridges and river front were crowded with sight-seekers who spent hours watching the slowly receding waters and the occasional bits of floating debris that were passing down. The falling water has left a deposit of yellow, slimy mud on the wharves and an offensive odor arises therefrom. The drift has nearly ceased running, and what is now coming down consists mainly of small pieces of wood and old logs and roots. "The Children’s Aid Society of Western Pennsylvania, through their officers, Mrs. A. Alston and Mrs. H.C. Campbell, report that they will gladly take care of all the children suffering from the disaster. The society’s rooms are in the Penn building. The managers of the Home of the Friendless will meet this morning at 9 o’clock to sew for the sufferers. They report having accommodations for forty children, which they are ready to take care of. The United Presbyterian Memorial Hospital for Children, corned of West Jefferson and Monterey streets, Allegheny City, will gladly receive and care for sick and injured children from the Johnstown field of disaster. The United Presbyterian Orphans’ Home, at the same location, will cordially receive and give shelter to children made homeless by the flood. " A milk-dealer at the Point sold milk all day yesterday, and he announces that the gross proceeds will be turned over to the Relief Committee.
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"Special to the Commercial Gazette. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 2.—A large number of bodies were dressed and placed in coffins on the Johnstown station platform. Some have been identified but others are unknown. Great crowds flocked to the station and the people passed in line by the coffins. As the bodies were identified by the friends the scenes were heartrending in the extreme. The bodies of the entire family of Chief Harris are lying in the Presbyterian church. The burial of dead will take place to-morrow. Thirty-five physicians from Pittsburgh have arrived and are attending to the wounded. A list of the dead so far identified is as follows: The following are reported dead and missing: …
Special to the Commercial Gazette. SOMERSET, PA., June 2.—Your correspondent has spent the day gathering names of the dead. The following have been recovered or are known to have been swept down the river: … MANY OTHERS UNRECOGNIABLE. This list represents about half of the number of bodies recovered at Johnstown. Dozens of unrecognized bodies lie in the school-house here, in buildings on the South Side and on boards and stones in various parts of the suburbs. There have been at least 250 bodies recovered down the river at Morrellville, Sang Hollow, Nineveh and other points. All persons here agree that scores of bodies are buried in the deep deposits of mud along the river and will not be found. No estimate can be made of the number of bodies consumed in the burned wreckage lodged south of the stone railroad bridge. This morning your correspondent stood up on the bank and counted six bodies in the mass either burned black or in process of burning. The sight was a ghastly one. There is accumulated here the wreckage of at least 200 frame houses, forming an immense floe solid from the bed of the ruin to twenty and thirty feet above the surface. This has been burning fiercely since Friday evening, filling the valley with smoke. There can be no doubt that two or three hundred bodies are in this solid mass. Those under water cannot be burned and may be recovered alter when they will be scarcely recognizable. There are about fifty dead bodies buried under and immense heap of rubbish in Wair street in front of the store of Woir, Son & Thomas which have just been reached this evening. Most of them will not be extricated till morning. There are undoubtedly scores of bodies buried in the ruins in all parts of the city. HASSLER.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 2.—A good footbridge across the gap between the bridge and Johnstown is now open. Numbers of men have been engaged during the day in leveling the ground so that wagons can pass. The after-night scenes of distress have commenced. Seated among the ruins in all parts of the fatal city and its suburbs are the mourning survivors. The entire scene is lighted by the great funeral pyre of which the bodies of so many loved ones form a part. Great clouds of smoke arise from the burning heap and float upwards among the trees on the mountain slopes. Mothers, wives and daughters are seated on the surrounding embankments forlorn and heart-sore, gazing with woe-begone countenances on the scene of desolation on every side. The torches of the firemen and the noble men and women who have volunteered to aid the afflicted ones move hither and thither marking the whereabouts of the missionaries of love. Pallbearers move slowly to and fro bearing their ghastly burdens, followed by weeping eyes of loving friends. The Pittsburgh Fire Department is doing excellent work, but still the great lake of flames keeps burning fiercely. The telegraph operators are working like beavers and handling with remarkable promptness the hundreds of messages proffered them. Nine hundred tents, which Gov. Foraker donated, have arrived and are being erected under direction of Adjt.-Gen. Axline, of Ohio. About 100 family tents are already in position. Their advent was hailed with delight by the many homeless families. Ministers of various denominations have reached here. They will conduct the funeral services to- morrow. A number of drunken tramps attempted to break into some of the provision cars lying near Cambria City to-night, but were fired upon by the train guards. They will give no quarters to scoundrels of this kind. Prompt punishment will be carried out by the Vigilance Committee. A large number of special deputies have been sworn in by the Sheriff of Cambria county.
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BURNS.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 2.—A rumor that a Hungarian man was hanged this afternoon for despoiling the bodies of the dead was without foundation. An angry crowd of citizens in the heart of devastated Johnstown caught one of the fiends in the act of stealing jewelry from the body of a dead girl. The ruffian was taken charge of by the avengers, who stretched a rope across a telegraph pole and fastened one end around the neck of the man. He begged off and escaped a just vengeance. This despoliation of the dead was practiced by Hungarians at various points and has caused a thrill of horror almost equal to that of the calamity. The corpse of a young girl which was lodged in the drift near Cambria City was the body attacked by these fiends. Around the finger of the dead girl a beautiful ring was clasped which attracted the inhuman cupidity of two Huns, who cut the dead girl’s finger off in order to obtain the ring. The bodies of other females were robbed of bracelets and other articles of jewelry. VIGILANCE COMMITTEES ORGANIZED. At noon to-day a Vigilance Committee was organized to establish a lookout for these brutes, and bad feeling against the Huns is growing severely, and if any are caught in similar acts the hanging will begin before sunset. This class of foreigners has also been robbing numerous houses at Morrellville and Cambria City, and boldly walked into buildings and threatened women with revolvers in case the latter objected to their depredations. I have just come from Johnstown proper, over a rope bridge which was completed this afternoon. Scenes in that once-thriving town beggar description. The robber fiends are also at work there and in Conventville. Louis Lessinger’s house was robbed of $60. Many other deserted residences have been entered and articles not destroyed by the flood taken by these marauders. Some are from Pittsburgh, others from Bolivar and surrounding towns. Bodies are being taken out at all points where Johnstown once stood. In the debris at the Cambria Mill and Atwood many hundreds of bodies have been found. Adj. Gen. Hastings is on duty in Johnstown and has charge of section of the Relief Committee.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. SOMERSET, PA., June 2.—The provisions and clothing sent on the relief train from Pittsburgh to Johnstown did not reach the south side of the Conemaugh river until daylight. The train got only to Sang Hollow, and all night the volunteers from Pittsburgh were busy carrying goods across a washout a quarter mile long to an engine on the other side. At daylight they got some to the stone bridge and there ran them across on a rope ferry to the north side of the Conemaugh. The rest were hauled over the hills from Morrellville to Kernville, on the south side. They were all sorely needed. Saturday evening citizens of Johnstown organized a local relief committee with A.J. Moxham, President. This morning it took charge of the stores sent from Somerset and other neighboring places, and distributed them from headquarters at the Fourth Ward House. This committee also took charge of police arrangements and brought some order out of the chaos which had ruled since Friday evening. John Harris, Chief of Police, has lost his wife and family and was unfitted for work. Alex Hart was appointed temporary chief. He appointed fifty special deputies and guarded the ruins. MILITIA ON DUTY. This afternoon the Johnstown militia company was called out to assist in keeping order. They had lost all their uniforms and had recovered their water-soaked muskets from their armory, but their bayonets kept the crowd back. The work of removing the debris was begun in earnest by a large force of men. Main street was attacked first. Both ends of it were solidly filled with ruins while the center for a space of 200 yards was swept clear to the cobblestones and cellars. This was in the path of the wave center, which coming down the Conemaugh valley fifteen feet high swept a clear path through the town a furlong wide. About twenty bodies were recovered in the block on the east end of Main street. They were taken to the school house and laid out for identification. WHERE MANY MET DEATH. The first ruin on the west side of the clear space was the Hulburt House. It was a substantial looking brick building and when the flood was seen coming many persons rushed to it for shelter. It collapsed like an egg-shell and the slaughter was awful. There were fifty-three persons in it. Only seven were
146 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 rescued. These were .... When the debris were cleared ghastly sights were discovered. The bodies, cut and bruised and coated with mud, were packed close together among the timbers and brick. SOME OF THE VICTIMS. Among the bodies taken out there were .... West of the Hulburt House the street was filled with wreckage ten feet high, but many of the large business blocks were standing. A hundred and fifty people were saved on the roof of the big block of John Thomas & Sons. They remained there all Friday night, and when rescued Saturday morning, were chilled with exposure. All the employees of Wolf, Son & Thomas, twelve in number, escaped to the roof and the building stood. The first floor was gutted, and the firm estimates its loss at $65,000. Up to 5 o’clock this evening about eight bodies had been recovered along Main street and taken to the school-house. Few have been recognized. About thirty bodies were recovered to-day on the South Side and nearly all recognized. HASSLER.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 2.—The intense excitement of the past forty-eight hours has proved too much for many of the sufferers who escaped death in the flood. Many cases of nervous prostration, some of a very serious nature, have been reported to the attending physicians to-night. Brain fever has developed in half a dozen instances, while some are threatened with pneumonia and kindred ills. Mrs. John Connelly, of Morrellsville, who lost her husband and three children, is very low and her chances of recovery are meager. A number of little children who suffered from exposure are not expected to live. These, together with those who are wounded beyond recovery, are expected to swell the rate at least 100 more. The devastation is far-reaching, as it was learned to-night that between 150 and 200 persons who resided in the six-mile-long gap between South Fork and Woodvale have fallen victims to the fury of the deluge. Scarcely a building has been left standing along this entire route. The loss in property has been simply terrible, and what makes it more so is the uncertainty of recovering one dollar of insurance. A number of buildings, it is true, was burned up, but that was in the bridge conflagration after the other element against which there was no insurance had almost completely ruined the structure. Many workmen who had invested the savings for a lifetime in real estate can now scarcely designate the sites of their homes. The buildings have gone; all their household goods and wearing apparel are lost. Scores who were in comfortable circumstances on last Memorial Day do not own the clothing they wear. The safes in the banking establishments of Johnstown remain intact, but thousands of dollars in money and large quantities of valuable jewelry were swept down the river. The police reported at 11 o’clock that a number of well-dressed but suspicious-looking strangers are wandering through the ruins. They are supposed to be professional crooks and a close watch is being kept on them. Late to-night a man was caught trying to break into a private residence in Prospect, a hamlet on the hillside. When discovered he ran toward the river, followed by a large crowd bent on summary vengeance. The burglar escaped in the darkness. Mrs. David Lewis, of Sheridan station, who was in the water for three hours on Friday before being rescued, died to-night from exhaustion. The question of rebuilding is now being discussed. It is generally conceded that property in the flat has greatly fallen in value, and if an effort at rebuilding is made the hill lots will get the preference. Twenty-two officers from Pittsburgh and ten policemen from Allegheny have been sworn in as special deputies. Gen. Hastings told me to-night that he would not order out the Eighteenth Regiment. Since then rumor has reached here that the command named is now at Sang Hollow, 3½ miles away, and that it is coming here in the morning. BURNS.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 2.—The developments here only add tenfold to the horrors already disclosed. I have just returned from where Woodvale once stood. Nothing is left to mark the spot but the woolen-mill of Wood, Morrell & Co. The entire place is covered with an inextricable mass of wood, lumber, bricks and stone. Beneath this, all crushed out of human shape, the bodies of hundreds of men, women and children lie. The scene here is particularly appalling. Many dwellings were built of
147 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 brick, and when the mighty rush of waters came against these buildings they did not, like those made of wood, float away, but collapsed, and those who escaped being drowned were crushed in a horrible manner. A walk through the courses which once marked the streets of this prosperous suburb of poor, ill-fated Johnstown, discloses sights which the most vivid fiction writer could scarce conceive, and which brought tears to the eyes of sturdy men and caused wailings among the hundreds of poor homeless souls, who wandered aimlessly about the spot that once had been their bright, happy home. Those who peered through the debris of Woodvale saw at every point the distorted bodies of the poor victims. Little children crushed and disfigured lay side by side with grown men. Where the school- house once stood a temporary morgue had been filled up. In this spot scores upon scores of bodies were placed. The evening mists on the mountains began to move about and the sun glistening on the rain-drops of the leaves conveyed the fancy that the great forests wept at the sad sight. “Here comes a load of coffins,” said some one, and at that moment a wagon loaded with burial cases came winding round the hillside. Then another wagon hove in sight also loaded down with this furniture of death and dire calamity. The exact number who died in Woodvale on Friday last is not yet known, but that the entire population was swept out in a chapter of this terrible history. BURNS.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 2.—At midnight three men were discovered by the police in the act of breaking open a safe in the cellar of a wrecked building. They made an attempt to capture the would-be safe-crackers, but the latter showed fight and began throwing stones at the police. The latter rallied in superior numbers and surrounded the cellar, but the thieves had escaped in the darkness. Thomas Mertz, a special deputy, was struck on the head with a stone and was sustained a severe scalp wound. Three drunken men while crossing the toe-bridge to-night got into a wrangle, when one either fell or was pushed into the stream. He was rescued with considerable difficulty. BURNS.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. SOMERSET, PA., June 2.—The weather was clear to-day and for several hours the sun shone warm. The water was out of the town by morning, but the mud was from two inches to three feet deep over everything. This mud has been drying slowly and by means of boards, doors and shutters laid over the debris persons were able to get into the greater part of the ruin. All day men and women have been visiting their ruined homes, trying to save something from the devastation or discover the bodies of relatives and friends within the houses still standing. The confusion is indescribable. The water reached nearly to the ceiling of the second story in all the houses, and families were driven to the attics and roofs. Furniture and clothing are covered with mud and almost entirely ruined. In the business part of the city hardly anything will be saved except goods in the third floors of a few of the blocks on Main street. The business men of the city are ruined and two-thirds of the families have lost all they have. Those who survive rarely complain of their property loss, being thankful for the preservation of their lives. Sad scenes are at every hand. Parents are weeping for lost children and children for missing parents. Husbands are wild with anxiety for wives, and wives are frantic for dead husbands and babies. Numerous men and women from Pittsburgh and other towns have come in to-day, asking every person they meet for news of relations. When a body covered with mud, perhaps gashed and torn, is carried on a slab out of the ruin a great crowd of anxious people gather around it. Water is poured upon the face and as the features are cleared some person utters a shriek and calls out the name of a loved one, with four or five weeping and moaning around a corpse. At about 10 o’clock this forenoon a sad find was made in a mass of timbers and furniture on the south side. A foot was seen sticking out of the mud. Half a dozen men set to work to tear the wreckage and in a few minutes nine dead bodies, swollen and contorted, were laid side by side on a flat roof near by. There was a bear-sized man, a woman of middle age with a baby in her arms, five young women from age 10 to 20, and a lad of about 12 years. They were the family of ‘Squire John Fisher. They had lived in a brick house on the north side of the river and were found over a quarter of a mile from the site of their home. Two children, Edward and Louisa, were rescued on Friday evening.
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About noon the corpse of a handsome woman was found on the south side, and soon afterward the bodies of two pretty little girls. In the crowd pressing around them was Walter J. Davis. The woman was his wife. As he recognized her features he cried like a child and was finally led away by friends. A moment later Neff J. Swank came up to the group. The two little girls were his daughters. His grief was heartrending, and he repeated their names fondly and cried aloud. Turning to look at the body of the woman he beheld his dead sister, who had been Cora Swank before marriage. His grief broke out anew, and he turned pitifully from one side to the other, wringing his hands and sobbing. He lost his wife and two other children, whose bodies have not been found. HASSLER.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. SOMERSET, PA., June 2.—The Pennsylvania railroad is in terrible shape. The new stone bridge across the Conemaugh from the south to the north side still stands, but the river has formed a new channel, cutting away the roadbed for three hundred yards at the east end of the bridge. Over this boiling torrent a set of ropes has been rigged and provisions and people carried over to the north side. Thence to get into the city it is necessary to cross the Conemaugh again and few have been able to do this. East of Johnstown no vestige of the Pennsylvania road remains for nine miles up the Conemaugh valley, and beyond that the road is washed out and impracticable as far as Altoona. It will be a week at least before trains will be run. The Baltimore & Ohio is in better shape. Its Somerset and Cambria branch in the valley of the foaming Stony creek suffered little damage. For about a mile south of Johnstown the road-bed is washed out in various places, but a large force of men were put to work Saturday noon, and trains were run in the southern end of town this morning. They brought sadly-needed food and many seeking after information. The south-bound trains out to-day, three in number, were heavy ones and were overcrowded with persons flying from the stricken city. Many rumors were in circulation here about an additional catastrophe on Friday evening. It is said that the Mail Express which left Pittsburgh at 1 o’clock Friday afternoon and was due at Johnstown just about the time the dam broke, has not been heard of since. The opinion is expressed that it was utterly demolished in the Conemaugh valley. The report cannot be substantiated here. HASSLER.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 2.—One hundred pounds of dynamite have arrived at this point accompanied by experts, who will place the cartridges in the great mass of the wood and charred human flesh which forms the share above the stone bridge. When this pile is broken up and floats away the Conemaugh may go back to its regular course. There is no longer any doubt but what the South Fork dam gave way. Messengers who have arrived here from that point confirm the previous reports. Adjt.-Gen. Hastings will organize a home guard in Johnstown proper to-night, and picked men will patrol the streets on the lookout for thugs and robbers. The men working on the trestle which is to connect inundated Johnstown with the west shore expect to complete the work by morning. BURNS.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. HARRISBURG, PA., June 2.—Trains over the Philadelphia railroad for Harrisburg were sent from Conewango to Lebanon, and thence by the Reading road to this city. The passenger trains are being run, and the three trains that arrived contained bridge-builders and prepared lumber for bridges to replace the two swept away between here and Lock Haven. These trains were sent up the North branch as quickly as possible with an electric-light car, it being the intention to build the two bridges by working night and day. It is said that all attempts to repair the main line west of Harrisburg and east of Altoona will be abandoned, and that through trains west will be run by the Philadelphia & Erie to Lock Haven, thence to Tyrone and thence over the main line west. Vice-President Thompson and Superintendent A.E. McClellan have gone towards Lock Haven to superintend matters and will push the thing. It is estimated that it will take ten days or two weeks before the main line can be put in condition for the manning of trains. The Cumberland Valley road is running as far as Kingstown, the first train going out this morning. The Northern Central road between here and Baltimore is practically
149 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 abandoned, as no trains have been run since yesterday morning. The fact that the water is receding gives hope that the Pennsylvania track between Harrisburg and Middletown will be ready for travel by to-morrow afternoon. They are covered with four feet of water and piled high with saw-logs from the Lock Haven boom.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. SOMERSET, PA., June 1.—On every side indignation is expressed at the South Fork Fishing Club, as the people lay the blame at their door in constructing and maintaining such an immense body of water above the helpless city. A great deal of pillage has been committed, in most cases by Hungarians, who are employed as laborers at iron-mills and mines. They have ventured into all parts of the ruins, ruthlessly robbing the dead bodies of money and jewelry and rifling the houses. Fifteen of them have been arrested and are in the lockup at Grubtown, two miles up the Stony creek. This forenoon some men saw a Hungarian among the ruins on the South Side chapping with a hatchet. They went after him and found that he had cut a finger from a woman’s hand to obtain a gold ring. He was seized and carried to the hillside. Two hundred angry men and women surrounded him and demanded that he be hung. For a few moments a lynching was imminent, but officers hurried him away before the threats could take form, and he was locked up at Grubtown. Friends of Emanuel Goldenberg say that he had $400 in his pocket. When his body was found his pockets were empty, his watch was gone and even the studs had been taken from his shirt. A woman who was washed down by the flood had with her a baby and a satchel containing $4,000. In catching at a tree she lost her satchel. She and her child were rescued several miles down the river. It was learned this evening that Mr. Ogle, Western Union telegraph operator, her daughter and her sister-in-law, Mrs. Hurst, with five children, are all missing. Rumors are abroad to-night that two Hungarians caught looting on the South Side had been shot, but the story is not believed. HASSLER.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. SOMERSET, PA., June 2.—The scenes at the morgue in the school-house on Adams street were distressing. The two gates to the yard were guarded by special police and two militiamen. Several hundred people filled the street and clamored for admission. They were compelled to form in long lines and enter the yard slowly one by one. The school-house door was guarded by two other officers, who let the mend and women into the room of corpses one by one. The large room was crowded with long rows of bodies lying upon elevated slabs. The faces were covered by white cloths. There was continual sobbing in that ghastly chamber. As now and then a corpse was recognized it was carried away by friends. Much of the anguish seen here is exhibited by those who have not found the bodies of their missing relatives. They do not know whether their loved ones are drowned, burned at the bridge, crushed to death in some fallen building or safe and well on some other side of the river. It has been until this afternoon almost impossible to get across the rivers which divide this city into three parts. The Citizens’ Committee finally secured half a dozen skiffs and began taking people and provisions over the stream from the west. Only those were carried who were looking for relatives or friends. HASSLER.
JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 2.—Matters in Johnstown are as follows: The unruly element has been put down and the order is perfect. The Citizens Committee is in charge and have matters well organized. A proclamation has just been issued that all who are able to work must report for work or leave the place. We have too much to do to support idlers and will not abuse the generous help being sent by doing so. From to-morrow all will be at work. Money is now greatly needed to meet the heavy payrolls that will be incurred for the next two weeks. W.C. Lewis, chairman of the Finances Committee, is ready to receive the same. A.J. MOXHAM, Chairman, Citizens’ Committee.
Special to the Commercial Gazette.
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JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 2.—It is now certain that five of the passengers on the Day Express, which was wrecked by the flood at Conemaugh on Friday night, were drowned. William Henry Smith, General Manager of the Associated Press, was a passenger on this train. Conductor Bel, of that train, in an interview at this place this evening said that the train was delayed at Conemaugh by a washout. While waiting there he saw a great wall of water come rushing toward the train from the direction of Lilly’s station. He sounded the alarm and the passengers ran to the hills, but five were caught and drowned. He does not know their names, but thinks Mr. Smith escaped. The water set fire to a lime bed alongside the track, which spread to two Pullman cars, completely destroying the latter. No passengers were on board at the time. BURNS.
The Baldwin and Millvale Dramatic Company which was playing in Johnstown last week is missing and nothing has been heard from any of the members. Among them was the mother of Miss Melville, the leading lady of “My Partner,” and that young lady made a trip to the devastated city yesterday. She learned nothing of her mother and she is nearly crazed. The “Little Tycoon,” which was billed for Philadelphia this week could find no agent willing to ship them to that city and they will probably have to remain here for a day or so.
JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 2.—Please announce that Drexel & Co. and the Girard National Bank, of Philadelphia, are depositories for the Johnstown relief fund. Drafts will be signed by W.C. Lewis, treasurer, or John D. Roberts, assistant treasurer. JOHN D. ROBERTS.
JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 3.—A meeting will be held to-day to make arrangements for a general memorial service this week. BURNS.
TERRE HAUTE, IND., June 2.—The following call was issued the morning: Office of the Grand Master of Masons: “To the Subordinate Lodges of Indiana—You are urgently requested to raise suitable contributions and make such appropriations as are possible for the immediate relief of Masonic sufferers from the great flood disaster at and around Johnstown, Pa., and send the fund so raised promptly to William H. Smith, Grand Secretary, at Indianapolis, for proper distribution. “THOMAS B. LONG, Grand Master.”" Rev. Father Iremans, President of St. Augustine’s Literary Society, Thirty-seventh street, has called a meeting of the society of this evening to take such action as they deem advisable to raise funds for the sufferers at Johnstown. The mayors of Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Nashville, and other cities have called for contributions in aid of the sufferers at Johnstown. "LANCASTER, PA., June 2.—The Susquehanna at Columbia is still slowly rising. An enormous quantity of boom-logs have gone down the river and are now gorged at Turkey Hill, below Columbia. The Pennsylvania road bridge, it is believed, however, is in no immediate peril. At Marietta all of Front street is under water and the Pennsylvania railroad bridge at Chickies is under four feet of water. The Pennsylvania canal at and above Columbia is greatly damaged and all the rolling-mills and plaining-mills are submerged. Serious damage is threatened at Washington borough. Two men passed Columbia on a raft this morning and were carried over the dam, and are believed to have been drowned. The lumber yards at Marietta are all swept away. The intent advices are to the effect that a big flood and much higher water may be expected tonight. MOUNT CARMEL, PA., June 2.—The terrible floods will cause the indefinite suspension of ten large mines in this valley, employing 6,000 hands. Nearly all the pumps are under water, which continues to pour into the mines.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. GREENSBURG, PA., June 2.—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. It is likely that a plot of ground will be selected just across the river in Cambria county and
151 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 that the same will be purchased by the three counties and one or two long graves will be made and the unfortunate dead will be buried there. Poor Board Attorney Spiegel, of this county, states that expense will be saved in this regard. Immediate action will have to be taken, as the dead are rapidly decomposing." WASHINGTON, D.C., June 1.—The President has sent a telegram to the Mayor at Johnstown, Pa., extending his sympathy for the people of that city in their recent calamity, and saying that the Secretary of War is considering options for their relief. He also made a contribution to the relief fund. "Special to the Commercial Gazette. SOMERSET, PA., June 2.—There were many marvelous escapes. It seems strange that so many people living or doing business in the city were saved at all. The whole business portion of the city and over half the resident portion were swept into chaos, as if by a titanic besom of destruction, and many who escaped, especially women, cannot remember experiences. They were perfectly dazed from the moment the flood struck the town until they were landed on the bank, perhaps a half a mile away. P.H. Weaver, of Jamestown, N.Y., was stopping at the Mansion House. “At 1 o’clock,” he says, “word was brought to the hotel that there was danger of a flood and that the dam was threatening to break. The women and children were sent to the high grounds, but all the men remained in the hotel. I did not know where the dam was, and thought I could stay if the landlord, Jas. Mulligan, could. The flood picked up the frame hotel and carried it away like a chicken coop. I was lying down. There were twelve men in the house. We were carried over the railroad and three miles down the river. Everybody got on the roof. When we floated close to shore at Morrellville I jumped on some driftwood and got to shore. Six of the twelve men in the house were saved.” Mr. Weaver has taken charge of the hospital at Morrellville and is doing good work. Eight wounded persons are there, among them Aunty McCormick, who has both legs broken and is otherwise injured. She will scarcely survive. Samuel Ambrose has several fractured limbs, and Benjamin Hoffman is suffering with a severe injury to his back, which may be fatal. Benjamin Lloyd who boarded with Mrs. Stick on River street, says there were three houses together in one row. The first was occupied by David Dickson with a family of seven. He is dead, but his family escaped. In Mrs. Stick’s house there were five persons and in David Harbury’s three, all saved. HASSLER.
Capt. W.R. Jones reports that Braddock is about out of provisions, but that the steel works would send $5,000 to purchase more. Miss Ida Fahnestock, of the East End, who had her leg broken in the flood at Johnstown, was brought home to this city last night. Mrs. James Boyd and her grand-daughters, Miss Carrie and Annie McLean, left Thursday evening for New York, and have not been heard from since. Jack Little, of Sewickley, a salesman for L.H. Smith & Co., was found dead in the ruins of the Hulburt House at Johnstown yesterday morning. A telegram was received at the Chamber of Commerce yesterday that the passengers on a Lake Shore train had raised $316, which will be forwarded at once. Chief Elliott, of the Department of Charities, notified the committee that seventy-five could be accommodated at the Poor Farm, and that their ambulance was ready for them. Rev. Father Gallagher, of the South Fourteenth Street Catholic Church, has gone to Johnstown to try and find some relatives who it is feared are victims of the flood. It is feared that Andrew Alcord, who was boss butcher at Jones & Langhlia’s general store on the South Side, together with his wife and two children, are victims of the Johnstown flood. The Tentonic Singing Society, of Allegheny, donated $100 from their treasury and collected $104 from members yesterday. They will give their hall free any night this week for a public concert for the benefit of the relief fund. The Children’s Aid Society of Western Pennsylvania will gladly take charge of all children suffering from the late disaster at Johnstown and vicinity. Treasurer Thompson on Saturday afternoon received by a representative of Boggs & Buhl’s employees a donation of $80 in cash." WASHINGTON, D.C., June 2.—President Harrison did not attend church to-day, but spent his time in communicating with people in the flood-stricken districts, with a view to granting them such succor as lay in the power of the Government. About 9 o’clock in the morning Gen. Schofield, Acting Secretary of War, came to the White House, and he and the President repaired to the telegraph-room, where they
152 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 were put in communication with as many points and as many persons near the flooded districts as possible. The President offered to extend to the people in distress any succor which the Government could give. He said that the Government would supply as many tents and rations and soldiers to assist in the work of reclamation as possible. Gov. Beaver, of Pennsylvania, who was at Annapolis, Md., as a member of the Board of Visitors to the Naval Academy, was communicated with and was informed of the Government’s willingness to grant succor and relief. The Governor secured a special and left Annapolis for York, Pa., for the purpose of placing these offers on the part of the Government before the people of the flooded districts. Yesterday morning the Society of Spiritualists held a meeting at their hall on Sixth street. Although but few were present, $50 was raised for the flood sufferers. Mrs. Helen Stuart Richings, a medium, who happened to be present as a spectator, when she made her donation said that many spirits of those who had been lost in the flood were present. She said among them were .... Also a mother whose first name, “Hannah,” was only revealed. She had four children. Mrs. Richings is an entire stranger and it will be interesting to note if they are among the missing. Mrs. Richings will give a benefit for the sufferers at the hall Tuesday evening next, at which 25 cents admission will be charged. "GREENSBURG, PA., June 2.—John Dorsey, the famous tobacco man who was reported drowned, is alive but badly crippled, and is under the care of a physician in a house at Johnstown. He will be brought here. Taylor Gallagher, with his wife and five children, and his brother James, wife and three children, and Superintendent Hatch, of the Johnstown electric-light plant, and his wife were rescued from the flood and are quartered here.
The prohibition amendment meeting was well attended. The collection taken up, amounting to about $25, will go to the Johnstown sufferers. The announcement was made that no word had yet been received about ex-Attorney-General Bradford, of Kansas, who was to have addressed the meeting, and who it is feared has been lost in the disaster. The meeting was opened with a short speech from Capt. Barbour. Mr. Thomas Cowan, of Cleveland, followed with an address in behalf of the amendment. The speaker said that he was an American, though of foreign birth. He was an American by choice because he liked America and was proud of her. He added: “And I will say to any foreign-born if they don’t like the customs and usages of this country let them go back home.” He concluded with an earnest appeal to vote for home against the devil on June 18. The Moorhead Union, W.C.T.U., held an open-air meeting last night on the South Side. It was addressed by Mrs. R.H. Jones. A meeting was also held in the afternoon by the Moorhead Union, in their hall on Grant street. Mrs. Allen presided. Addresses were made by ...
The Western Union was the first telegraph company to establish communication between Pittsburgh and Johnstown. They had a large force of men at work and succeeded in getting a line in working order early yesterday morning. Six operators were at once sent to the office, which is situated on the side of the hill away from the flooded district. Their office at Fifth avenue and Wood street was a scene of confusion all day Saturday and Sunday, and hundreds of people, who had friends and relatives in the stricken city were crowding around the windows. The clerks were nearly crazed answering the oft-repeated questions: “Have you a wire yet? Can’t you send a message?” and thousands of other queries. Fifteen hundred messages are laying at the office for parties in the flooded town. No effort is being made to send them, and the company will not receive any more messages. It would be a matter of impossibility to deliver them. The operators sent on are entire strangers, and even if there was a chance to find parties, would not know any of them. The refusal to send messages caused a great deal of weeping on the part of the grief-stricken people. One instance in particular of an old lady was particularly distressing. Her name was Mrs. Hughes of Pittsburgh. She had a daughter who had gone to Johnstown on Tuesday. She came in and asked to have a message sent to Miss Jennie Hughes, Johnstown. When told they could not deliver it, her grief was terrible. She fell on her knees and implored them to do something to relieve her anxiety. She was finally quieted and taken out of the office.
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The Postal Company have not yet got a wire through. Chief Operator Hughes stated yesterday that he expected to have one by to-night. They have also been besieged by relatives of parties in Johnstown, anxious to send messages to the place. All have to be refused. Yesterday morning Mr. Samuel Hawthorne, of Webster street, Allegheny, who is Deputy United State Internal Revenue Collector, received a telegram from Johnstown conveying the sad intelligence that his four brothers, two sisters and seventeen nieces and nephews were all victims of the flood. Mr. Hawthorne is almost prostrated over the sad news. Mr. Charles J. Clark and Mr. Shea have received word that their sons, whom it was feared had been lost at Johnstown, are safe, and are at Ebensburg. Rev. Dr. Thomas H. Robinson, of the Western Theological Seminary, who was on one of the trains caught in the flood and about whose safety many grave fears were entertained, has been heard from and he escaped unharmed. He is now at Ebensburg awaiting some means of transportation to this city.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. BEAVER, PA., June 2.—A child about 3 years of age was found here last evening floating in the Ohio river. It will be photographed in the morning and interred at 4 p.m. from the M.E. church. The panel of a new door was taken from the river this morning on which was written: “My time has come. Have been in the water 14 hours and cannot stand the angry waves any longer. I give up all hope. Saw my wife and children all go down. Good-bye to all. John Morril, Cambria City.” About one thousand dollars has been subscribed for the relief of the Johnstown sufferers. The churches took up collections this morning and a citizens’ meeting held at 3 p.m. to-day at which committees were appointed to canvass the town for subscriptions of money and clothes.
We give this morning the first exact and authentic statement of the giving way of the dam which was the cause of the awful calamity at Johnstown. The river towns below had full three hours’ warning, and the citizens of South Fork were able to save not only themselves, but their furniture. About 2,000 bodies have now been recovered, and Gen. Hastings estimates the total number of dead will reach 7,000. The survivors are furnished with food and tolerable shelter, but there is such urgent need for additional supplies of various sorts that the National Government has been appealed to. There is a good deal of indignation at Johnstown over sensational reports of lynchings sent out by unscrupulous correspondents. It is a civilized community that has been overtaken by this disaster, and the citizens maintain their law-abiding habits. All sorts of preposterous stories are being set afloat by sensation- mongers, but the public may depend upon the COMMERCIAL GAZETTE giving the facts of what takes place, as it has done from the first, without insulting the tragic dignity of such events by tawdry rhetoric or fictitious stories.
From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 3.—The only practicable way to reach South Fork dam is by a circuitous route over the hills, but at intervals one can see the river valley. And what a sight it is! Where before was a pretty mountain stream, whose banks were tufted with thickets and shaded by groves of beech and maple, there is now a bare trough about one-quarter of a mile wide, in the center of which a muddy stream leaps and plunges. Trees and underbrush along the course of the great rush of the escaped lake are quite gone; even the soil is scoured away and the bare faces of rock strata are exposed. The villages of Woodvale, Conemaugh, Mineral Point and South Fork have been literally wiped off the face of the earth. THE SOUTH FORK CLUB GROUNDS. No harm was done to the club-house and cottages of the South Fork Club, but the transformation worked by the flood is even more striking there than anywhere else. The houses formerly stood by the shores of a beautiful lake, whose little bays laved a verdant expanse of country. Now the cottages are on a bluff above a wide ravine, seventy-five feet deep, at the bottom of which rolls a muddy stream. The picturesque beauty of the place was extracted when the waters rushed out that curious gap in the great embankment that formerly pent in its waters. When one examines the breach in the dam the feeling is one of great surprise. There is none of the laceration of the edges that one would expect from a resulting force, but, on the contrary, the aperture has a symmetry that suggests art rather than accident. The middle of the dam has been neatly scooped out for about two-thirds of its height; the
154 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 lower portion of this is again scooped out, and this latter excavation extends to the bottom of the dam, making an opening that affords ample space for the stream now running through it. A NEAT JOB. The edges of the gap have been smoothed off by the rush of the waters so that there is nothing jagged in the outlines. The dam itself is nothing but a great embankment of earth faced on both sides with loose stone in the style called by engineers “rip-rapping.” It is still intact for about 300 feet on each side of the gap. On the east end close to the shore the dam is grooved by a wier over seventy-five feet wide and about ten feet deep, which was the outlet by which the stream below was fed from the lake. The bridge across this wier is intact. The road to the club-house crossed this bridge and went along the top of the dam to the west side. The house is about three-quarters of a mile above the dam. On the west end of the dam is now a sluice-way about twenty feet wide and three feet deep. This was hastily dug on Friday to relieve the pressure on the dam, but failed to save it. RESIDENT ENGINEER PARKE’S STORY. It so happened that at the time of the flood there was a civil engineer present in charge of the construction of a sewer and water-works on the club grounds. This gentleman, Mr. John G. Parke, Jr., saw the catastrophe from first to last. Here is his account of it as taken from his own lips: “On Thursday night the dam was in perfect condition, and the water was not within seven feet of the top. At that stage the lake is nearly three miles long. It rained very hard Thursday night I am told, for I slept too soundly myself to hear it, but when I got up Friday morning, I could see there was a flood, for the water was over the drive in front of the club-house, and the level of the water in the lake had risen until it was only four feet below the top of the dam. I rode up to the head of the lake and saw that the woods were boiling full of water. South Fork and Muddy Run, which emptied into the lake, were fetching down trees, logs, cut timber, and stuff from a saw-mill that was up in the woods in that direction. This was about 7:30 o’clock. When I returned Col. Unger, the President of the club, hired twenty-two Italians and a number of farmers joined in to work on the dam. Altogether thirty men were at work. A plow was run along the top of the dam and earth was thrown in the face of the dam to strengthen it. At the same time a channel was dug on the west end of the dam to make a sluice-way there. There was about three feet of shale rock through which it was possible to cut, but then we struck bed-rock that it was impossible to get into without blasting. When we got the channel opened the water soon scoured down to the bed-rock, and a stream twenty feet wide and three feet deep rushed out on that end of the dam while the wier was letting an enormous quantity on the other end. Notwithstanding these outlets, the water kept rising at the rate of about ten inches an hour. SENDING OUT WARNING. “By 11:30, I had made up my mind that it was impossible to save the dam and getting on my horse I galloped down the road to South Fork to warn the people of their danger. The telegraph tower is a mile from the town, and I sent two men there to have messages sent to Johnstown and other points below. I heard that the lady operator fainted when she had send off the news and had to be carried off. The people at South Fork have ample time to get to high ground and they were able to move their furniture, too. In fact only one person was drowned at South Fork and he while attempting to fish something from the flood as it rolled by. It was just twelve o’clock when the telegraph messages were sent out, so that the people at Johnstown had over three hours’ warning. “As I rode back to the dam I expected almost every moment to meet the lake coming down on me, but the dam was still intact, although the water had reached the top. At about 1 o’clock I walked over the dam; at that time the water was three inches deep on it and was gradually eating away the earth on the outer face. As the stream rolled down the outer face it kept wearing down the edge of the embankment and I saw it was merely a question of time. I then went up to the club-house and got dinner, and when I returned I saw that a good deal more of the outer edge of the dam had crumbled away. The dam did not give way yet. At a rough guess I should say that there were sixty million tons of water in the lake and the pressure of that mass of water was increased by floods from two streams pouring into it, but the dam would have stood it could the level of the lake have been kept below the top of the dam. But the friction of the water pouring over the dam gradually wore it away from the outer face until the top became so thin that it gave way. THE BREAK COMES. “The break took place at 3 o’clock. It was about ten feet wide at first and shallow, but now that the flood had made a gap, it grew wider with increasing rapidity, and the lake went roaring down the valley. That three miles of water was drained out in forty-five minutes. The downfall of those millions
155 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 of tons was simply irresistible. Stones from the dam and boulders in the river bed were carried for miles. Trees went down like you might cut a mullen stalk with a swish of your cane. It was a terrible sight to see that avalanche of water go down that valley already choked with floods. Col. Unger was completely prostrated by it and was laid up at the club-house sick from his experiences.” THE PARTY AT SOUTH FORK. Mr. Parke is a blonde young man of pleasant address, and barring the mud on his clothes, dd not appear the worse for his experience nor did his nerve seem to have been in the least shaken by his dangerous ride, although aware that death might at any moment swoop upon him. Besides Col. Unger and himself those at the club house had been …. These gentlemen went to Cresson on Sunday.
From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 3.—The Woodvale Valley is strewn with wrecks of railroad cars and tenders, which protrude from the sand just below the narrow defile. There are four tenders here, two of which are numbered 9 and 437. The other two are buried so deeply that their numbers cannot be seen. Four cabooses are in the woods near the defile ten feet above the old track. Eighteen sets of car trucks were counted there alone, more than half covered with sand. Again the valley narrows and the way over rock and across gullies is painful. If the reader has perused “Dante’s Hell,” he will remember some of the poet’s most arduous toilings in torturous and labored ways. Such are the passages up this valley of death. Above the defile there is another wide valley circular in form. Three days ago it was green and fertile, but now it is a waste desert and sandy. It is strewn with rocks and the wheels and timbers of cars. On its northern side stand some of the furnaces of the Cambria Company. The walls are erect, but the machinery and great pipes and wheels are scattered along the slope below. Five engine tenders peep from the sand. Here are there are bent steel rails often decorated with tattered pieces of raiment. Near the upper end of this valley is the wreck of an extra freight-train of about forty cars. Twenty cars still stand in line, broken and crooked. In front of the engine is a huge mass of logs and other debris. The engine is 1809, run by George Henderson. He and his crew saw the wave and escaped to the hills not far away. The valley again narrows and protected by the promontories of the northern hills is the village of Conemaugh. Its houses are standing and nearly all the people safe. The torrent was deflected by the promontory to the south side and the village got only the mild eddy of the current. No trace of Conemaugh station remains and where it stood there is a gully and a rivulet in the sand. Seven bodies were found in this valley and taken to the city. Not one has been identified. AN APPALLING SIGHT. Above this I reached the scene of what alone would have been a catastrophe to appall the world. A Pullman vestibule train caught in the fluid avalanche and then burned to the wheels would have been enough, but within one mile it was repeated thrice. First there was found in the sand the track of a parlor car marked Wilmington. This is all that remains of the Pullman car swept away and entirely lost with all its passengers. Close to it on a tangle of roots, is a woman’s black jacket. A few feet away I pulled out of the sand a girl’s white skirt and beside that a man’s coat. Fifty feet further is another truck and the smoke-stack of a locomotive. One hundred feet above there is a tender, number 76, upside down. Then I reached two engines so covered with wreckage that their numbers are indiscernible. Beyond that there is another engine, 437, on its side. Over two ravines and there lies all that remains of the section second of No. 8, the Day Express, which left Chicago at 1 o’clock Friday afternoon. It consisted of two mail cars, numbered 77 and 58, an express car and four vestibule cars. One of the latter is gone as stated. The other three caught fire and are burned to the wheels. Each is a skeleton of iron frames, rods and light fixtures. Underneath the tangle are heaps of ashes and melted glass. How many people drowned and were burned in this place no man knowns, and no one ever will know accurately. The mail cars are whole. The mails were yesterday packed across the mountains. This wreck has been visited by anxious people from East and West looking for lost friends. The engine in front is half covered with timbers. It was number 1094. One cannot look upon the remains of this once luxurious train without imagining the scenes which occurred in the elegant cars when the wall of water leaped upon it. I will not try to say it in words. Every man can think it for himself. HASSLER.
From the Commercial Gazette Bureau.
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JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 3.—Evan Jones, the contractor, and sixteen labor-foremen, of Pittsburgh, arrived here at midnight and will take charge of the 2,000 Pittsburgh men who will begin operations here to-morrow. BURNS.
From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., May 3.—Sheriff Slemmings, of Cambria county, who has been on active duty at Johnstown since Friday last, requests the COMMERCIAL GAZETTE to inform the public that the rumored hanging of negroes and Hungarians by lynchers on Sunday night was wholly without foundation. He is very much incensed at the persons who started these stories and declares emphatically that none but legal means will be sanctioned or resorted to in the punishment of crime in Johnstown. Gen. Hastings also denies the story in toto, and pronounces it false and sensational in the extreme. The General further says everything is moving along as well as could be expected. His principal effort during the day has been the thorough organization of the police force in Johnstown proper. He has placed several squads of Cambria iron police in charge of the officers of the Pittsburgh force. These are divided into squads of eight, which are assigned to duty in various districts formed yesterday. Garrett Clossan has charge of the district in which the morgue and provision headquarters are located. The men in this squad are kept exceedingly busy. These buildings are located on the hillside, above the site where Johnstown’s principal streets once were. Company H, Fifth Regiment, is also on duty here and the members have all they can do. Many inquiries have been made as to why the militia did not respond when ordered out by Adjt.-Gen. Hastings. In the first place it is beyond the General’s authority to order troops to a scene of this kind unless the Governor first issues a proclamation. Then it becomes his duty to issue orders. The General said that he noticed that the Pittsburgh troops, consisting of the Fourteenth and Eighteenth Regiments, had tendered their services, and no doubt they would have been of great service. The General consulted with the Chief Burgess of Johnstown and Sheriff of Cambria county in regard to calling the troops to the scene, but both officials strenuously objected, as they claimed the situation did not require anything of this kind. As a proof of this, not a breach of the peace was committed last night in Johnstown or vicinity. Adjt.-Gen. Hastings, in a long message to Gov. Beaver sent to-night, says that the locality is under good police protection; that there have been no acts of lynching, and that the chief need is shelter and provisions for the homeless. He thinks that at least 5,000 persons here have been lost, but that the best people of the late city fix the loss of life at from 8,000 to 10,000. General Hastings has been untiring in his labors since he arrived and is doing splendid work here. Stringent management of affairs is needed because so many of the brainy men of the city have been among the loss of life.
From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 3.—Gen. Hastings said he estimated the loss of human lives at not less than 7,000. It has not been generally believed that the district in the neighborhood of Kernville would be so extremely prolific of corpses as it has proven to be. Your correspondent visited that part of the town where both the river and Stony creek have done their worst. He found that within the past twenty-four hours almost one thousand bodies had been recovered or were in sight. The place is one great repository of dead. The following is an additional list of persons lost here, some few of which have been identified: … A hundred and seventy-five bodies were recovered to-day at Morrellville, four still alive, but severely injured. Grand View Cemetery has 300 buried in it. All met death in the flood. They have thirty-five men digging graves. Seven hundred dead bodies are in the hospital on Bedford street, Conneant; 150 dead bodies are in the school-house hospital, Adam street, Conneant; 300 bodies were found to-day in sand-banks along Stony creek and in the vicinity of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad; 182 bodies are at Nineveh. The bodies of James Murphy and Lillie Murphy were recovered here from the debris. Mrs. Murphy is still missing. Ex-Sheriff John Ryan and family are still missing. Parts of bodies were taken out at the railroad bridge. The hourly recovery of bodies at and near the vicinity of what was once the Baltimore & Ohio depot at Johnstown is increasing with frightful rapidity. Half of the unknown dead are mangled or burned or crushed beyond recognition. Ever since the recovery of the first body the populace have not had near
157 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 enough coffins for the dead, although hundreds arrive daily, and owing to the decomposed condition of most of the bodies they have to be and are boxed up in rough board boxes, merely store boxes, and buried at once. Bodies are now being brought in at lower Cambria at the rate of ten per hour. Since the last report, the following bodies have been recovered: …" NEW YORK, June 3.—Over 100 prominent men of New York to-day met Mayor Grant at City Hall at his invitation to take up aid to relieve the flood sufferers. Mayor Grant presided and a relief committee with Gen. W.T. Sherman at its head was formed. Isidore Wormser announced that the Stock Exchange had raised $15,000 in a few moments to-day. Alex. F. Orr announced that the Produce Exchange has $10,000 ready. On the spot over $50,000 was subscribed. The Mail and Express started a fund to-day, and has raised $13,000l $10,000 of which was to-day forwarded to the Mayor of Johnstown. The Maritime Exchange to-day raised $3,185. The several express and railroad companies represented here are offering free transit for relief goods or money. The firemen and police are to be provided by the city with blanks with authority to circulate them for contributions. "From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 3.—Thousands of persons visited the Fourth ward school-house during the day, in which building the bodies are placed for identification. The scenes about the building have already been described, but to-day they were sadder than ever. Long lines of women, men and children pass in and through the large rooms constantly. The thirty-five undertakers and assistants who arrived from Pittsburgh and Allegheny are nearly all at work. Some of the so-called assistants have scrupulously absented themselves from that locality and have spent the day in viewing the ruins and the dead—the latter from a distance. To every corpse that is identified and taken away six new ones arrive. The work of taking the dead from the ruins has commenced in earnest, and men with stretchers on which rest the remains of the poor victims are seen approaching the morgue from almost every part of the surrounding ruins. In this connection a singularly sad and striking feature is the weary and heart- rending vigil of those who stand about watching for the fresh arrival of victims. These comprise the many hundreds of worrying friends who have not yet received the bodies of the lost ones. As each corpse is carried through the gate leading to the yard of the school-house the anxious watchers flock there in crowds, each hoping yet dreading that the form of the dear one is there. Then follows the search, the solemn search, of the long, silent line, which passes by the newly occupied slab, while each gazes with pent-up countenance on the cruelly bruised visage of him or her who lies there. If some near and dear relative is recognized and is identified by one of the marchers the wail of anguish follows and the air is filled with grief-stricken lamentations. These scenes were enacted during the entire day, and will continue all to-night and to-morrow and for weeks. No tongue can tell nor pen even faintly describe the appalling extent of this dire disaster. One man well-known to every resident of Johnstown, William Huffman, was drowned and so were twenty-nine of his relatives. These were himself, wife and ten children; his brother Gottlieb Huffman, wife and eight children; his sister-in-law, Mrs. C. Huffman, and five children, and Peter Huffman, another brother. Mrs. C. Huffman’s little daughter, aged 8 years, was spared, owing to her being absent from home at the time of the flood. This poor child was at the morgue to-day accompanied by two ladies. Seeing the badge on your correspondent’s coat lapel the child thought he was an official of the morgue and said: “Oh, Mister, do please tell me if my mother is here. I want to see her. I am Lizzie Huffman, and all my brothers and sisters are gone down the river.” The remains of poor little Lizzie’s mother have not yet been found, and I could not grant her request. The work at the other morgues in Woodvale, on the North side and at the stone bridge is equally as brisk. The flames in portions of the debris have been extinguished and twenty-five charred bodies have been taken out. There are hundreds more at this point, but none taken out can be identified so far owing to their frightfully disfigured condition. Bodies are being taken from the ruins of Woodvale at the rate of one every ten minutes, while the number disinterred from the main streets of Johnstown is simply appalling. The German Catholic Church, Cambria City, a short distance west of Johnstown, is almost a complete wreck. Rather a singular coincidence in connection with the destruction of the above is that the Conception that stood in the northwest corner of the lecture room stands just as it was when last seen. The figure, which was wax, was not even scratched, and the clothes, which are made of white silk and
158 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 deep Duchess lace, were spotless. This seems strange, when the raging water destroyed everything else in the building. Hundreds of persons visited this place during the day.
From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 3.—Dr. Ben Lee, the State Board of Health, and Dr. Graff arrived here to- day and are making preparations to disinfect the entire devastated region. Dr. Lee has made arrangements for receiving a large quantity of copperas here and will get 5,000 pounds of chloride of lime in Pittsburgh. Dr. Lee said to your correspondent there is a great danger of an epidemic of some form breaking out in case great precautions are not used. There are hundreds of piles of debris scattered everywhere, and under each and every one of these bodies lay buried. It will take weeks to remove the debris and in the meantime the putrification of these bodies will set in. In addition to this danger the decayed vegetable matter and dead animals of all descriptions are another menace. It is now thought by many that the attempt to quench the flames in the pile of debris at the bridge was a great mistake, as this gorge is massed so tightly against the arches as to require weeks of time and great labor to remove it. The mass is made up of driftwood of all descriptions, railroad engines, tenders, furniture, human bodies, and carcasses of animals. When the weather becomes warm this great pit will become almost a fetid mass of decayed bodies which will become unbearable to the residents of this region. Dr. Lee also dreads an epidemic of pneumonia, and asks that large contributions of medicines used in ordinary practice be made. The bodies of … have been recovered this evening. That of M.S. Maloy, a prominent shoe merchant, was buried this afternoon. The burial of the victims was in progress during the entire day. Many were removed to points both East and West. F.S. Maloy, dealer in musical instruments in Johnstown, in an interview to-day gave a graphic description of how his brother, the shoe dealer, met his death and he saved the lives of himself and son. “All day long,” said he, “the people had been warned that the water in the Conemaugh river and the creek was unprecedently high. This was in the morning. The full effects of heavy rainfall the night previous were not yet felt. People laughed when told that the dam at South Fork was likely to burst. ‘We have heard that before,’ said they: ‘Give us something new.’ Ten minutes before that dark, seething hissing monster reached here we got a telegram from above. It said: ‘The dam burst: take warning.’ The lady operator who received that message is no more. She died at her post, God bless her! Her last act probably saved the lives of myself and others. I began to prepare to move to the top of the store. My little boy was in the buggy in front of the door. I heard some distance up the valley a strange, angry roar, and looking in that direction saw a wall as black as night thundering down the valley. It was rolling, tossing and moaning, and buildings of all kinds were riding on its surface. These buildings, tossing hither and thither, over and out of the windows human heads and human arms protruded. I then knew all was up. Brother stood in the doorway of his store which adjoins mine. I called to him to run to the housetop. He started to do so, but forgetting the case in the till turned back to get it. I was just going in the door at that time carrying my boy. The water was on us, poor brother was thrown face downward and the room filled to the ceiling. The wave washed me up the stairway out of its angry reach and the boy and I were saved. I ran to the roof; the wave had reached the second story. At that moment the steeple on St. John’s Reformed Presbyterian Church just opposite began to topple, and in a moment fell into twenty feet of water. In less than thirty seconds every building opposite mine was crushed. There the terrible whirlpool of death which filled the spot where the buildings had just stood began to loose, the houses riding on its surface around. Twice these buildings passed my windows as they went around the race course of death. This incident was caused by waters of the Conemaugh being backed up at the bridge. As the buildings passed the many arms were stretched out in supplication, and hundreds of voices begged to be saved. There came the dreadful sound of thousands of timbers crashing, the sounds of supplicating voices were over, the tiny hands of children and blanched faces of mothers disappeared from the window openings and the hissing waters dashed all down toward the bridge. The sky became nearly as black as ink while the water rose nearly 20 feet high, and across this lake I saw the flames burst forth from the windows of St. James’ Catholic Church. All this time a Sister with a crucifix in her hand stood at the window of this partially wrecked convent directly opposite and prayed with terror most intense.” The City Hospital on Adams street is in charge of the following Pittsburgh physicians: … The patients now in the hospital suffering from wounds or exposure, are: … BURNS.
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From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 3.—The thrilling stories told of wonderful escapes make the only rift in the deep cloud of gloom that overshadows the city. The rescue of Miss Rose Clark from a fearful death, while nothing short of miraculous, yet showed the ingenuity of man to a wonderful degree. The poor girl was one of those fastened in the burning debris at the bridge. So securely was she fastened that after four hours of effort that men who sought to release her gave up in despair. The victim urged them to cut off one of her limbs, thinking that might facilitate release. A consultation of the men led to a long strap being tightly bound around and around her body, after the fashion in which a thread is wound around a finger for the removal of a ring. Each wind was made tighter and tighter. After the victim was thus costed the men began to gently pull upon the strap and in an hour Miss Clarke was taken out without a bruise in spite of her terrible squeezing. This plan was suggested by James Clark, a man of the same name but no relative. Clark was assistant conductor on a work train and his presence of mind previous to the flood, was, in the light of subsequent events, almost providential. WONDERFUL PRESENCE OF MIND. His train had made the run from Altoona on the day of the flood and was held for orders at Johnstown. Shortly after noon Clark was in the telegraph tower when the message came telling that the dam was weakening and warning the people. The message was sent out at once and the conductor said he thought the people would begin to pack and take to the hills. Instead of that they seemed to be totally unconcerned, some saying “it’s the same old chestnut.” After 3 o’clock the second dispatch came. Conductor Clarke took to his train and, to use his own words, said: “I had scarcely taken my place when I saw the water coming, bearing down on the city like a solid moving wall. In an instant it flashed over me that the bridge would be swept away, and that I would be worse needed on the other side of the river than here, which was surely doomed. I let the engine go, and as it crossed the bridge I felt that structure tremble from the mighty vibration of the coming volume of water. I just made the opposite side by a hair’s breadth. I never took my eyes from the water during the few seconds it took me to cross. As my engine got a foothold on the bank the water had lifted the houses from their foundations and floated them like chips backward and forward. Very few of them smashed as they struck the bridge, but the shock hurled them to the opposite shore and the force with which they struck broke them to pieces and hurled them back under the bridge, where the awful gorge was made. The fire was not occasioned from an upturned stove, but from the large quantity of lime that was washed in the debris.” The special providence, in Conductor Clarke’s train being stationed at that side of the river, was that it was the only conveyance of any kind into which the injured and rescued people could be placed and hauled to a place of safety. It has been utilized for its errand of mercy from the first hour of the flood. Before the rescue of Rose Clark was accomplished, a mother and her newborn babe were pulled from the debris, also a little girl and some half a dozen other people. SUSPENDED IN THE WATER. About midnight on Saturday evening Mr. Lindsay Grier and two other members of the Royal Arcanum started on a hunt for the body of Mr. Lane, a prominent member of the order, reported drowned. Instead of a dead man they found a live one, this latter quality resulting from supreme presence of mind. The water rushed into Mr. Lane’s residence, but did not strike it with force enough to wreck it. The family huddled together in the upper rooms, but Mr. Lane by some mischance lost his footing and fell down stairs into the water. His suspenders caught on a nail and held him with his head under water. Holding his breath Mr. Lane took his knife from his pocket, opened it and cut the suspenders, thus releasing himself. At the Morrell Institute the rooms are deserted and though many of them retain their comfortable furnishment it is a desolate place. Mr. Greer picked up a photo of two pretty girls which bear the name of a Pittston (Pa.) photographer. The picture has been sent to that place by Mr. Greer. Soaked photographs and crayon portraits hang here and there like dirty rags on the bushes. Much of the bedding and heavy pieces of clothing, such as coats and trousers, are drying in the sunshine. Women’s underwear lies in strings and shreds everywhere, and woman who will wade a mile or two among the debris will adjure rickrack trimming forever, for the dirty, tough strings withstand even the fury of the flood. THE CHILDREN SCARCE. I have heard but one baby cry within twenty-four hours. The scarcity of children is pitiful, even the few that are left seem more like old men and women than anything else. “Here, sonny,” said a member of the Relief Committee, “is a pair of shoes for you so you need not cut your feet so badly.” “I don’t want
160 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 them, sir,” replied the little lad. “I don’t want anything.” “Maybe you are hungry?” “No, not very,” and the little figure in patched trousers and torn checked shirt crept off to where a pile of coffins had been placed and sitting down on a big rough box moaned like some grown person in the deepest mental agony. The lack of animation in the little boys who survive is noticeable. They take no interest in the arrival of the trains, the unloading of provisions, or any of the exciting scenes which the disaster has occasioned. The little girls are scarce; there are not enough of them to be in anybody’s way or to attract the least bit of attention. “God help us,” said a minister as he moved among the people, “where are the children.” Aye, where! Little coffins are everywhere, little forms are tightly clasped in the embrace of dead mothers, tiny babes whose eyes have never seen the light of day lie stiff and cold with the rest. The children, God pity them. CARR.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. HARRISBURG, PA., June 3.—The first man to reach Harrisburg from Johnstown L.C. McGowen, of Mount Union, a postal clerk running between New York and Pittsburgh. He was one of the postal crew running on the second section of the Day Express east. Last Friday at Conemaugh borough, just east of Johnstown, the first and second sections of the Day Express and a local train for Altoona were tied up—stopped by the washout—about 10 o’clock in the morning. While lying there they heard that the reservoir was leaking and liable to burst at any moment and they were on the lookout. Between 2 and 3 o’clock that afternoon the engineer of a construction train further up the road saw the water coming and he tied his whistle open and started for Conemaugh to warn the people. The throttle was pulled wide open so the engine ran at fifty miles an hour, but when the engineer had reached a place of safety the flood had gained a hundred yards on him. The people of Conemaugh fled to the hills and only about thirty were lost. The passengers in the three trains also jumped from the cars and many of them reached the hills having but 150 yards to run. LAUGHED AT THE DANGER. Many of them remained in the cars, pooh poohing the danger. The last two cars in the first section of the Day Express were swept into the flood, an Mr. McGowen says that as they went down he saw passengers with their hands out of the windows begging for help. The round-house with twenty-eight immense (bog) engines, used for mountain traffic, was swept away like one board and the large engines went down like blocks. The engine of the first section of the Day Express was swept around in front of the second section and made a sort of blockade and this is what saved the train. It was, however, pushed down the track by the wave for the distance of a mile. EXCITING INCIDENTS. He related the above facts and was asked to tell some incidents of the horrible event. What follows is mainly his language: “In the second car of the second section of the Day Express that went down when the wave struck were two young men. They found a hole in the roof of the car, crawled outside then helped a woman to get out. The car rolled from side to side and the woman fell off and was drowned. The two men hung on until the car lodged on a small bank and in the morning they were taken off alive. “The people in Kernville above the creek must all be safe,” said Mr. McGowen, “because none of the houses are down; the flood did not get to them. It was on the other side of town and their houses were not struck with force. When our train was pushed down the flood to Woodvale we followed along the hill and got on Prospect Hill. We could see that the Kernville houses were all standing. The business center of Johnstown was all swept away just as if the flood has cut a gally through it or sliced away.” When Mr. McGowen jumped from his train to run for the hills he met a man crippled from the spine down. The men had been trying to save him, but when the waters came on they dropped him. McGowen picked him up and tried to get him to the hill, but he fell within thirty yards of safety and McGowen just made the hills as the water caught him. The cripple was swept away. THE WALL OF WATER. “It was frightful,” said McGowen. “Seven hundred acres of water ninety feet high, a roaring, seething, grinding mass, sweeping everything before it. I never knew what force was until I saw that.” When the flood moved the second section of the Day Express down the track, a car load of lime was forced against the middle sleeping car. The lime slacked and set fire to the car and for hours McGowen and his postal crew fought the fire. The Pullman men basely deserted the car and acted like cowards.
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The postal men stopped from sheer exhaustion and then went back to their car. In the morning the Pullman car again took fire and was burned. During Friday night hundreds of evil looking men, evidently foreigners, prowled about, watching for a chance to steal from the trains. The postal crew locked all of the car doors but one and guarded the mail with a couple of axes and one small revolver. McGowen says he saw hundreds of tough men break into freight cars and carry off meat, flour and other provisions. These human jackals seemed to be everywhere. They broke open a car load of whisky in the Johnstown yard, stole two barrels, and during Friday night had an orgie that was simply awful. He afterwards learned that one man who was lying on the track dead drunk had lost his wife and four children in the flood. The police, to prevent further flow of whisky and consequent riot, broke in the heads of thirty-five barrels. SAW HIS FAMILY PERISH. One of the saddest things he tells is about a brother postal clerk, Mark Bannon, who resided with his father in Woodvale. On the morning of the flood young Bannon had gone down town, to Johnstown proper, to see the rise in the river, caused by the rain. In the afternoon on his way back home he heard the warning and got to a place of safety, where he could overlook his home. He saw his father, mother, six brothers and two sisters on the roof of the magnificent big brick house they occupied, and then the house collapsed and the roof went down stream. His father saw him on the bank and waved farewell with his handkerchief as they disappeared in the rushing waters. McGowen says that after noon on Saturday he did not hear an estimate of the loss of life that was under 10,000. Old men who knew the size of the population said it could not be less than 10,000. McGowen and his party were on Prospect Hill, and he says that for the first twenty minutes the scene was appalling, and all of the lives were lost in that time. The current was as swift as the speed of the Chicago Limited train. Houses went by so fast that Woodvale was entirely wiped out before he could realize it. It was like the brushing away of a chalk mark on slate. When he left on Saturday afternoon at 4 o’clock he could not see any homes in the business portion of Johnstown. In all the horrors McGowen relates there is one glad XXXX. Engineer McClure, who lived in Conemaugh, hauled the Johnstown express to Pittsburgh and was in the latter city when the flood struck the town. His sick wife, one son and five daughters were swept away in his home and the building floated down stream until it reached Woodvale. Here it lodged against the flour mill, the only building left standing in Woodvale, and Mrs. McClure’s window was directly opposite the window of the mill. Her children quickly removed her into the mill, jumped in after her, and all were saved." Col. Perchment received a telegram from Gov. Beaver yesterday to have his regiment (Fourteenth) ready to move upon Adjt.-Gen. Hasting’s command with cooked rations. "The Union depot was crowded yesterday with people seeking to get to the scene of the disaster. In answer to the appeal of the Relief Committee, Superintendent Pitcairn issued an order, which was posted, explaining that no regular trains would run farther than Nineveh. This, Mr. Pitcairn found, in a very short time, worked much better in principle than in practice. Friends of missing people were arriving by the score, and they besieged his office with appeals to reach Johnstown. Fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers in an agony of doubt besought him to let them go on. No human heart could withstand such a pressure, and all were allowed to go out. Then the order was changed so that all could go as far as Sang Hollow. THREE BRIDGES GONE. Said Chief Dispatcher Culp: “We thought much of the pressure of travel East by this route but I am afraid it will have but little impact. We now have telegraphic communication with Altoona and have tracks ten miles east of Johnstown. Three bridges are gone above Conemaugh, the South Fork, Mineral Point and Viaduct. One of them is in the tops of trees. The Viaduct bridge is but in two sections. When they are in place we can soon fix up the ten miles of track so the connection is established.” Last evening both Superintendent Pitcairn and Chief Dispatcher Culp took a long sleep, both being worn out. Four day trains had been sent out and another will go at 6 o’clock. The first regular passenger train to leave will be the Mail at 7 this morning. A stream of people constantly besieged the Superintendent for transportation. They had various pretexts, but the prime motive is curiosity. Where there was any doubt gazers were sent to the Relief Committee. FROM MANY SOURCES. Culp sent a committee and fund with it. They were put on a supply train with the various Club Relief Corps. Supplies and money came in from a number of towns on the Panhandle and Fort Wayne
162 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 railroad. A dispatch was received from W. Smith of Tacoma, Washington Territory, pledging him for $500. He was formerly of Hulburt House, Altoona. A train that left at 4:30 in the afternoon held two coaches filled with relatives of the missing. In the same seat were two old men from Clarion county. Henry McClain was one and Robert Flack the other. McClain’s daughter was married to the son of Flack. Here were the fathers seeking their children, of whom not a word had been heard. They had got into town to-night, as they thought, for they were determined to walk to Johnstown. Superintendent Pitcairn said they had been carried through. Neither had seen their children for months. LOOKING FOR FRIENDS. Mrs. Mary Jane Reed, residing on Peters street, Johnstown, had left home last week to visit friends. Her husband Harry and daughter Sarah Reed were left at home, and she had not heard from them. In the same seat with her was Rev. S.M. Davis of Kansas. He was going to seek his brother, Dr. N.H. Davis. E.D. Wise, of Butler, went in quest of his brother, Elmer Wise. William Lightners was seeking Jacob Wise. Two ladies from Allegheny, who refused to give their names, said they had relatives missing, whose names they gave as Mrs. A. McCune and Mrs. Harriett Burke. Rev. T.M. Brukeny, of Lickingfield, Clarion county, was on boar with his wife and child. He went in quest of his wife’s brothers, George and Jacob Woolf, and families; also Fauny Hoover and Margaret Reisin, all relatives of his wife. Rev. Glanbard, of Oil City, was looking for a missing sister. THE LOST TRAINS. The first reliable information the railway officials received from the three passenger trains lost in the mountains was from John Alexander, an engineer, who started for this city from Altoona Friday. He walked down the mountain by a circuitous route to Sang Hollow and passed all the trains. He reported the passengers safe. Squire McSweeny, of the Eighteenth ward, left to seek the remains of his brother and family of children, all reported as lost. Richard Morgan, of the Tenth ward, reports his brothers, Thomas and Job, and their families, making a total of from eighteen to twenty, missing. A Mrs. Gordon of this city said her mother and sisters, residing in Cambria City, has not been heard from. A Mr. Shaffer, of Meyran avenue, had a dispatch from his son that three sisters and their families, a total of twenty-seven, had all been drowned. Miss Pike, of the Pittsburgh Female College, lost her only brother, Wim. N. Pike, and all his family. He was a well-known merchant. Yesterday afternoon Mr. William Flinn and W.R. Jones were at the depot, and with them twenty skilled sub-contractors. They shipped blocks, carts, ropes, tackle and everything needed to commence work on the big wreck via the Baltimore & Ohio. The men went upon a supply train. Said Mr. Flinn: “We expect to get the wreck cleared up in a few days. We will work with system and my idea would be to drive every man out of the town who wouldn’t work. We can get all the men we want and rapid progress can be made. Organization is the main thing, and Capt. Jones is the man for that.” INDIGNANT WORKERS. Duquesne fire engine No. 2 went up over the Baltimore & Ohio. About 200 people returned at midnight and many of them were quite indignant at the treatment they received at Johnstown. F.E. Davis, of Bacock street, Allegheny, was spokesman for some of these who came back. He said: “We worked like dogs and to-day my little party got twenty-seven dead bodies out of the wreck, but the citizens’ police of Johnstown termed us Pittsburgh bums, and seemed to look upon us as thieves. I could not take my coat from the peg where it was handing while I worked until a policeman looked in the pockets and identified it. We got disgusted and left. They tried to apologize when they discovered we were going, but it would not work.”
The following donations for the Johnstown sufferers were made yesterday by the boot and shoe men and leather dealers: … In merchandise: …
The Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners took motion yesterday toward doing their part for Johnstown. During the day Agent Schwartz called on the committee and offered the services of a number of skilled carpenters to be sent at the expense of the unions, as soon as men were needed to build or repair houses.
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In the evening, Local Union No. 142 met and contributed $100; No. 164, $50; No. 476, $50; and No 506, $25.
J.D. Boyce was among the first the reach South Fork after the flood subsided. He arrived in the city yesterday and tells his experience as follows: After narrating the difficulties he encountered in getting along through the mountains he reached the farm house of Abram Fyock. After telling his errand Mr. Fyock hooked up his buggy and they took a circuitous route, over old abandoned roads, to the Fork. Mr. Boyce continues his story in the following words: “We reached the bed of the lake—the fiend-like inspirator of the awful calamity. It was the quietest and most peaceful spot we had encountered for hours. The immense embankment of masonry had been rent in twain, and only a gentle stream, brooklike in appearance, was trickling along the pathway of death to the valley below. We pushed on to the cottages, three-quarters of a mile above, as our objective point. We reached there and found no traces of disaster worthy of notice. The pleasure resort had a deserted look. A matron of one of the cottages ran out to greet us. ‘They are all safe,’ were her first words of greeting. ‘They’ means the guests who had been staying at the Fork in the cottages. Further inquiry showed that after the bursting of the dam the guests left for Altoona by horseback and in conveyances. The list we got was … and others.” John Crouse, a resident of South Fork, who witnessed the disaster, states that the water rose up to a height of 100 feet, and looked like a wall of water. The great pressure upon the heavy masonry broke it as if an earthquake had shaken it. MISS FAHNESTOCK’S STORY. Miss Ida Fahnestock, of Homewood, tells the story of her escape in a graphic manner. She had been visiting the family of Mr. Boyd in Johnstown on Decoration day, and arrived home last night. She is badly cut in both sides, and one of her ankles is cut and twisted. She tells vividly though straightforwardly her experience in riding on a house-top where she and other inmates of a house had sought safety from the place of its foundation to the school-house, and their escape from death by crawling through the window into the third story, where they stood in water, waist-deep, for twenty- fours hours. Continuing, she said: “There we were, without food for all that time. Even that was not the worst of it. Through the windows we could see the whole scene of devastation. People floated past by hundreds and we heard many a dying shriek, and saw many a poor woman and child disappear after a short—awfully short—struggle. We could see men cutting off fingers for rings, and tearing out ear-rings with as little compunction as if they were savages. Fancy young girls falling into the hands of those wretches after death.”
The officials of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad received telegrams from the men in charge of the work of repairing the damage done along the line by the storm that the repairs had been completed and the road was ready for business. The fact was bulletined and the first train that has left here for Baltimore and Philadelphia since the flood pulled out of the Baltimore & Ohio depot at 9:20 last night. Last evening a special train of twenty cars were sent to Johnstown over the Baltimore & Ohio by the Chamber of Commerce. It was loaded as follows: Six carloads of carts, two of wheelbarrows, three of horses, one of lumber, two of lime, one of hay, one of straw, one of horse-feed, one of provisions, one of tents, and one coachload of driers and other workmen. There was a large number of people at the depot all day yesterday anxious to hear from eye-witnesses of the disaster the story of the deluge. But one train arrived bringing passengers from Johnstown and they were few. To those who made inquiry as to when they could get through to the death-stricken valley, the uniform answer was: “A train will go at 8 o’clock to-night, but we will not sell you a ticket unless you have a pass to get into the town.” This action was taken at the instance of Superintendent Patton, who telegraphed that the visitors there could do nothing and were only in the way of the workmen and should be discouraged from going. By the adoption of the pass system, parties who might go as curious idlers and thugs are kept out, as only those who are known to have friends there and members of relief committees are permitted to have such a privilege. To all who go on the latter errand the Baltimore & Ohio Company is furnishing free transportation, as well as for all supplies.
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The body of Mrs. Ogle, the telegrapher at Johnstown, who stuck to her post until the last, was found among the debris at the bridge yesterday. Right at her elbow was the telegraph instrument on which she sent her last message. The tale to which it was attached had floated there with the unfortunate lady. The bodies of Patrick Fagan and his wife and five children were found among the drift yesterday and all were lying close together. Mrs. Fagan was clasping her baby in her arms." Dr. H. Phillips, of the East End, returned from Johnstown yesterday. The doctor went to visit his mother at Johnstown last Thursday and was in her house when the flood came. There were, besides himself, in the house, his mother, his brother-in-law, Dr. L.T. Beam, and two nieces, one of whom was Miss Susie McWilliams, of Hilland avenue. Dr. Phillips was the only person in the house who escaped death, and he was only rescued after being in the water for seventeen hours. Mr. James Hoover yesterday received a message informing him that Dr. J. Cooper and his wife had both been drowned. The bodies were recovered. Dr. Cooper was one of the most prominent physicians of Johnstown. His wife was a sister of Mrs. James Hoover, of Pittsburgh. Her brothers, John and Malcolm McFarland, of Meadville, left on an early train yesterday morning for Johnstown, and will take the bodies to Meadville for burial. A meeting of the Jr. O.U.A.M. of Western Pennsylvania was held last night at the Moorhead building on Grant street and $3,000 was subscribed for the temporary relief of members of the order in Johnstown and vicinity. Superintendent of Mails Stephen Collins, who had been on the ground since Sunday morning, reported the suffering to be greatest from want of clothing and shelter. Prompt measures will be taken by the order and it is expected that $10,000 will be furnished within a week. "All day yesterday the people of Allegheny flocked to City Hall and left packages and bundles of all descriptions for the sufferers. The day’s contributions amounted to twenty-eight boxes, sixty-eight bundles, two barrels and five sacks containing clothing, hats, caps, shoes, potatoes, flour, bacon, tea, drugs, bread and bed-clothing." Tarentum citizens held a meeting yesterday at which R.S.P. McCall presided. After hearing the report of Rev. Mr. Mears who visited Johnstown, $2,500 were subscribed. "Yesterday afternoon the first carload of sufferers reached the city. Four day coaches were well filled. A majority were men, but there was about forty women and children. Some were going to stop in this city, others were given transportation to Wheeling, Oil City, and points West. Some of the ladies were hatless, and their dresses were bedraggled with mud. One party attracted much attention as they made a bee-line for the depot restaurant. It was Mrs. Fulton, wife of John Fulton, Superintendent of the Cambria Iron-Works, her daughter, a young lady; Mrs. W.A. Crawford and little daughter, Mr. W.A. Crawford, his aged father and Mr. William Fulton, Mr. John Fulton’s brother. WERE IN THE FLOOD. Said Mr. Crawford: “The four ladies were in the flood, but I only met my wife and child this morning for the first time in some weeks. I live at Cooperstown, near Franklin. My family were visiting the Fultons, and were to have started home last Saturday. I got to Pittsburgh last night and my father over there was close on my heels. I can assure you that I traveled to Johnstown this morning, it was not my conviction that I would ever see my loved ones again alive. “As I neared the fearful scene and gazed out upon the dead, I wondered if I would find the bodies of my wife and child together. Could I find either body and give it a Christian burial? We neared Sang Hollow. I looked out of the window and on the track I beheld my wife. She never knew I was near her until I had her in my arms.” THEIR FIRST SQUARE MEAL. As the party sat at breakfast, Mrs. Crawford related some of her horrible experience. “The Fulton mansion,” she said, “was one of the prettiest in Johnstown. It was a three-story brick with a mansard roof. When the flood came on the house there were five of us. The four women you see here and the servant girl. Mr. Fulton was absent from home. Mrs. Fulton said that they were never alarmed by the flood, as it didn’t get into their house. As the water continued raising she said it might be best to take up the carpets. Suddenly was heard a great shout that the dam was coming. We ran to the top of the house, taking my little girl from the second story. We climbed to the cupola and thence to the roof. Mrs. Fulton was the last to leave and the water was about her waist. “It seemed to me we had hardly reached the slate roof when the house crumbled to pieces beneath us. We were afloat on the roof. We drifted a short distance and struck against another house. As we were anchored there for a moment, all of us in a bunch clinging together, I saw a long house coming towards
165 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 us. I closed my eyes, feeling sure we would be crushed to pieces. When I opened them again the long house had vanished. THE RESCUE. “Two young men came to our rescue and walked us over the houses to the second story of Alma Hall. There we remained for some hours, and no tongue can tell of that night of horrors. The room was filled with dead, dying and living people, bewailing the loss of dear ones. One poor woman lost her mind from grief. Some moaned, other shrieked out maniacal laughter. “Then another great danger threatened us. There was fear that any moment the big hall would go. Our party was again transferred, this time to the bank building. We were in the second story It was dry, but we were all wringing wet. It was now Saturday. Wet and shivering with the cold the young banker, Mr. Steele, who was looking after us, found a pint of whisky and this was portioned out to the little crowd huddled in the room. We could hear people shrieking out; women cried: ‘Save us for God’s sake, save us!’ Then would come a great crash. Some one handed us hard crusts of bread, but we were not yet so starved that we could eat it. WALKING OVER THE DEAD. “With the shrieks and cries would come great crashed of houses falling. The men kept the worst from us always reassuring us and saying we were safe. So passed another day and night. Once something struck our building and made it rock like a cradle, and a portion of it was damaged. We gave up hope again and women sank on their knees to pray. Sunday we started out, walking over a bridge of houses, box-cars, trees and all sorts of drift. “It was a worse bridge than that. I could see we were walking over hundreds of dead. Arms were sticking up, then we could see heads protruding. Sometimes two hands stretched out as if appealing for aid in death. As I walked along I clung to the telegraph wire for support. I stopped or a moment in front of a big building and it seemed that only an instant later it went down, burying God knows how many poor souls. A temporary bridge had been thrown across the street. An overhanging building was above us as we waiting for our turn to cross the bridge. We stood there twenty minutes. We got across, and we had hardly landed on the other side when that big building came down, and we could hear the cries of the dying and already see the dead. I think fifty people were buried in that spot. “We finally got to the house of friends. One lady, a Mrs. Fenn, who had a husband in the furniture business, lost seven children. She described to me how her children were torn from her one at a time. She told me how they begged her to save them. ‘Mother,’ cried one, ‘Where is the God of whom you told us?’ She had to see the head of her little boy burst open by a piece of timber before he was drowned. One by one were they torn from her by the relentless torrent until all were gone. She was rescued only to learn that her husband has been drowned. HOW THEY DIED. “Another newly married lady lost her husband. He was on one side of the street and she on another. She called to him to come and join her. He made the attempt and was drowned before her eyes. “I met another poor girl who was about to be married. She was seeking her lover and he was lost. She went everywhere reaching out her arms and begging that he be given back to her. “This morning we all started to walk to Sang Hollow and get a train. Mr. Fulton had walked twenty- eight miles across the country and got to us. As we walked we saw hundreds and hundreds of corpses. I heard a train and then a great shout. I stood as one petrified and wondered what new horror awaited us The next thing I knew I was gathered in a man’s arms and that man was my husband.” As Mrs. Crawford told her story she shuddered at the noise of cars thundering by and lowered her head as if expecting to be crushed, every horror still fresh in her mind. Her husband is a well-known merchant of Cooperstown. The Fulton family is one of the most prominent in Johnstown. The entire party were on their way to Cooperstown, Mr. Fulton remaining behind to help his neighbors. HOW THEY WERE DRESSED. The ladies were attired in such habit as they could gather from contributions. Mrs. Crawford said, as she walked along, some lady stuck the hat she wore on her head. The young banker she had referred to, pulled off his shoes and made her put them on. Mrs. Fulton’s hair was white, she had no head covering, and, despite her grief, she smiled at her attire. Her pretty daughter came down into the city to purchase an outfit for her mother. All their possessions had been swept away." At 3 P.M., J.B. Scott telegraphed J.H. McCreery to send up no more supplies until further orders, as there were plenty of provisions at hand for the present.
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"The Masonic fraternity held a meeting yesterday morning at which $5,000 was subscribed. A train loaded with clothing was send out to Johnstown in charge of … in the afternoon. Before night contributions from outside lodges had swelled the subscription to nearly $10,000. A committee was also appointed to call the attention of the President of the United States to the sanitary conditions of the district washed by the flood between this point and Johnstown. The committee sent the following telegram to President Harrison: The situation at Johnstown is appalling in extreme, and unless immediate steps are taken to remove the dead from the water every river affected by waters of the Conemaugh will carry pestilence in its course. Can you not send a Government Sanitary corps to the scene without a moment’s delay? Every hour’s delay is serious. Two members of the committee have been on the scene for two days. No words can describe the terrible situation and the suffering. Houses and whole families are swept away by the flood and fire. The death and devastation is incomprehensible. A similar message was sent to Senator Quay. The following reply was received from the President: EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D.C., June 3, 1889. James S. McKean and others, Masonic Committee, Pittsburgh, Pa. Our only sanitary corps consists of a few medical officers. One, Dr. Carrington, is stationed at Pittsburgh. You have a State Board of Health, and unless the Governor should request it Surgeon- General Hamilton would not interfere. We are anxious to extend every possible help, but what you need is systematic work under proper authority. If the Governor and your State Board of Health make any call upon me in any matter in my discretion I will gladly respond. I will direct Dr. Carrington to report the situation and Dr. Hamilton will communicate at once with your State Board of Health. [Signed] BENJAMIN HARRISON. Senator Quay answered saying that he had wired the President.
Anthony Meyer, the well-known undertaker, came into the city from Johnstown last night in search of undertakers and more coffins. He said that the greatest difficulty undertakers had to contend with was the want of help. At times as high as fifteen bodies would be found in one place, and when on-lookers would be asked to assist in removing them to a suitable lace for preparing them for burial the first question they would ask was: “What are you going to pay us?” and would refuse to do anything until they were guaranteed pay. He says that fully 8,000 coffins will be needed. Mr. Meyers thinks that Gen. Hastings issued a good order when he prohibited idle persons from coming to the devastated district. Two carloads of coffins arrived from Cincinnati yesterday and were hurried through to Johnstown. J.J. Flannery, who is at Johnstown, telegraphed yesterday afternoon for 200 large-sized coffins. They were shipped at once. Hamilton, Lemon and Arnold sent 2,200 coffins to the scene and received an order from the Relief Committee for 2,000 more. The Brooklyn Casket Company have offered to ship two carloads of caskets and men necessary to handle them." Ed H. Jackson, a nephew of Col. A.W. Hart, whose residence before the flood was No. 58 Market street, Johnstown, came to this city yesterday. He tells an interesting story of how he and many others escaped. He says: “At noon I was helping D.B. Jones, the grocery man, to move his goods out of reach of the water, which was rising fast. About 2 o’clock it got up in the first story, where it remained stationary for a short time, but soon began to come up much faster than before. We got out on the roof and along about 5 o’clock a great swell of water, which was from the broken dam, lifted the house bodily off its foundation and started it rapidly down the current. A Pennsylvania railroad passenger locomotive came floating down the street just then and the family of Mr. Jones and myself jumped from the roof to the top of its cab and then on the roofs of the houses floating by near it until we reached the residence of Dr. S.M. Swan, on Vine street, a tall, strong, brick structure protected by a stone church on one side and a big brick building on the other that the avalanche of water had not moved. We manage to save some fifty other people by throwing out ropes to them from the windows as they floated by. We stayed all night in Dr. Swan’s, but Saturday morning the water had subsided enough to let us get out without danger of drowning. Col. Hart and all his family escaped by jumping from the roofs of the floating houses until they reached Alma Hall, which withstood the flood and which saved 200 or more lives.”
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E.M. Bigelow, Chief of the Department of Public Works, and Controller Morrow occupied a desk in the Chamber of Commerce rooms yesterday and issued permits to those wishing to enter Johnstown to seek relatives. All day long men and women with tear-stained faces kept applying for permits. Great care was exercised in the giving out of permits and each applicant was questioned closely on the matter. "The operator at the telegraph instrument in the Relief Committee-room at 8:45 last evening received the following message: JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 3, 1889. Reuben Miller, Pittsburgh: The Washington Infantry left for home at 3:10 this P.M. J.V. PATTON. There was no explanations of why the company was returning, and Mr. Miller laid the message down without comment." At noon yesterday the Relief Committee delegated ex-Sheriff Gray to secure a tow-boat and go up the Allegheny river as far as it was possible, and search for dead bodies. The ex-Sheriff took a party of men along and the river as well as all floating debris will be closely examined. Postmaster Larking and an assistant, acting under orders of the Postmaster General, left yesterday for Johnstown with the necessary supplies for re-establishing a postoffice there. A man from this office will be in charge until other arrangements can be made. A.J. Moxham, chairman of the Citizens’ Relief Committee, telegraphed the Relief Committee of this city yesterday afternoon for 5,000 pounds of chloride of lime and 2,000 pounds of copperas. The goods were shipped at once. President Darlington, of the Westmoreland & Cambria Natural Gas Company, received a telegram from Superintendent W.S. Steele saying that the Cambria officials would arrive yesterday from Philadelphia and that they expected to rebuild at once. The contribution from Homestead to the flood sufferers will amount to more than $1,500. The employees of Carnegie Phipps & Co., have each donated one day’s pay, making the sum of $7,000. The County Commissioners yesterday put a force of men at work cleaning up the old University building and putting it in shape for the purpose of turning it into a hospital for the Johnstown sufferers, if necessary. "Over $100,000 in cash was subscribed for the benefit of the Johnstown sufferers yesterday, and a quantity of provisions and clothing that could not fall far short of that amount in value. The greatest contribution yet received came in at 8 o’clock last night. It was from New York, and the message read as follows, NEW YORK, June 2, 1889. Wm. M. McCreery, Chairman, Pittsburgh. Gov. Beaver has been authorized to draw on J. Edward Simmions, President of the Fourth National Bank, for $50,000 at sight. HUGH J. GRANT, Mayor. The tired-out men who have been laboring on the Relief Committee since Saturday aroused themselves sufficiently to applaud as the message was read. An answer thanking Mayor Grant was sent at once. MORE OF THE SAME. Following this came a telegram from Dewitt C. Creiger, Mayor of Chicago, announcing that $5,000 would be forwarded last night. Many other similar telegrams were received. The Mayor of Allentown telegraphed that $2,000 had been sent. O.W. Potter, of Chicago, telegraphed that he had forwarded a check for $5,000. A check for $700 was sent from Oil City. Andrew Carnegie cabled from Paris tendering his personal draft for $5,000. Telegrams of a similar import were received from nearly every near town and many cities scattered al over the country. Lancaster sent a telegram last night stating that the collections there would reach over $8,000 and to draw at once for $4,000, making $8,000 in all from that town. This is greater, in proportion, than New York’s greatest contribution. Trenton, N.J.; Washington, D.C.; Gunneson, Col.; Lawrenceville, Ky.; and New Brunswick, N.J., telegraphed that they would remit to-day. Thomas Hackett and J.C. Morris, of the Oil Exchange Committee, received telegrams last night promising contributions from the Standard Oil Company, the Produce, the Cotton and the Coffee Exchanges and the Board of Trade of New York.
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Some of the individual contributions were very large, the Westinghouse industries alone giving $15,000. The contributions from the churches, from the societies, from every business poured in thick and fast. Besides the cash gifts there was a neverending succession of boxes of provisions, clothing, shoes, and everything that the flooded district could require. Carload after carload of provisions were sent on all day yesterday, and the supply showed no signs of exhaustion. Mayor Fitler, of Philadelphia, and Mayor Paine, of Oil City, promised more money, and W.J. Broades, Mayor of Omaha, telegraphed that committees were at work and the money would come to-day. THE ROLL OF HONOR. The following is the list of subscriptions sent in yesterday to Treasurer W.R. Thompson: … Last night Treasurer W.R. Thompson drew drafts as follows for the relief fund: …
J.S. Schoonmaker yesterday wired Treasurer of the Relief Fund Thompson, from Uniontown, to draw on him for $2,000, and at the same time sent a carload of provisions and clothing to be added to the COMMERCIAL GAZETTE relief fund. Shaw & Thomas, of New York, yesterday wired Thos. C. Jenkins to make a draft on them or $100 for the Johnstown sufferers. The Pittsburgh Salt Company shipped two cars of salt to the Johnstown sufferers, and will ship more if it is needed. The citizens of Millvale have raised $692.49 for the sufferers, and contributions are still coming in. A large box of clothing was shipped to Johnstown yesterday. The Herron Hill Gun Club has raised a fund of $150. Among the contributions yesterday were 200 shovels by Hussey and Bunns; 24 by Taylor & Co.; car of lime by the Pennsylvania Mining and Manufacturing Company; a large lot of clothing from Strausberger & Josephs, of Allegheny; $700 worth of clothing by A. Sailor, 20 barrels shy-moll disinfectant, J. Williams, Sharspburg. The Window-Glass Workers’ Association yesterday subscribed $2,000 to the relief fund. A meeting of the American Mechanics, of both the Senior and Junior order, was held at Salisbury Hall, South Side, last night, at which $500 was raised for the sufferers. The Bavarian Beneficial Society of the South Side met last night and donated $100 to the sufferers.
A general meeting of the Odd Fellows of Allegheny county, representing every branch of the order, met last night at Odd Fellows’ Hall, No. 67 Fourth avenue. A committee of eleven was appointed to notify all lodges, requesting a representation of three members from every lodge, Encampment, Canton and Rebekah degree lodges to meet at same place Wednesday evening, June 12, at which an Executive Committee of five will be appointed. J.H. Skelton has been appointed General Treasurer for the committee. Every lodge in the county was represented, and it is expected that $10,000 will be forthcoming at the meeting.
The Grand United Order of Odd Fellows, composed of the colored members of the order, met last night at No. 102 Fourth avenue to take action in regard to the Johnstown disaster. A subscription list was presented, showing that a relief fund of $400 had been subscribed. After the general meeting a meeting of Iron City Council No. 2, of Odd Fellows, was held and $100 subscribed for the sufferers.
At a meeting of the Board of Managers of the Woman’s Exchange held yesterday afternoon it was voted that the fines collected, amounting to over $11, be devoted to the relief fund of the Citizens’ Committee, and that a box be kept in the rooms to receive clothing, money, provisions, or material to be given to the committee. A number of ladies are sewing at their own homes for the sufferers. The following volunteer committee was appointed to hold themselves in readiness to be called on for any service when needed: …
The spiritualists will give a musical and literary entertainment this evening at their hall, No. 6 Sixth street, for the benefit of the Johnstown sufferers. Mrs. Stuart Richings and others will take part.
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The butchers of Allegheny county will meet at Old City Hall to-morrow night to devise means for the relief of the flood sufferers. The Knights and Ladies of Honor will hold a general meeting of the order to-night at the hall, 173 East street, Allegheny, to raise funds for the sufferers. The members of Allegheny Council, Daughters of Liberty, will meet at their hall to-night and arrange for their contribution to the sufferers. The Western Pennsylvania Agricultural Association will contribute to the relief fund the entire proceeds of the meeting to take place on their grounds at Washington, Pa., on Wednesday and Thursday of this week.
McKeesport has arranged to send several thousand dollars in money to the Johnstown sufferers as soon as money is needed. One carload of provisions and clothing was sent yesterday and another this morning. Preparations are in progress to send laborers in cars equipped as barracks. Word was received here by Mrs. Geo. H. Wyatt that her brother, Rev. H.L. Chapman, of the M.E. Church, is safe. S.C. Luckert, a former McKeesporter, lost his wife and father in the flood. Mrs. Morely and two daughters, mother and sisters of Mrs. Dr. H.W. Hitzrot, arrived here last night. They lost everything. The McKeesport and Scottdale clubs play here Thursday for the benefit of the sufferers. On Wednesday evening the Daily News gives a benefit in the opera house.
Contributions amounting to over $500 were received at the Allegheny Mayor’s office yesterday. The relief car of the Jr. O.U.A.M. will leave the Baltimore & Ohio depot at Water street at 12:30 to- day. Ex-State Senator J.P. Jones, of West Virginia, is en route to Johnstown in search of tidings of his brother and sisters. Machinery Molders’ Assembly No. 1030, K. of L., will meet to-night and take action in regard to the Johnstown sufferers. Council No. 7, Sovereigns of Industry, of the South Side, will meet Wednesday evening to donate money for the flood sufferers. The Birmingham Turner Society, besides handing in $450 to the Relief committee, sent in a carload of clothing and provisions. Representative Robison, of Allegheny, wants an extra session of the Legislature convened to take action for the relief of the flood sufferers. At a meeting of the school principals of the city, held yesterday, it was decided that a collection would be taken up to-day in the schools for the sufferers. Rev. Buoff, pastor of the Smithfield Street German Church, who has been in Johnstown since Friday last, returned yesterday and will start up again to-day. A. Edward Newton, of Philadelphia, passed through the city last night on his way to Johnstown to look for his friend, Henry C. Adams, who is supposed to be lost. St. Augustine’s Literary Society met last night and raised $40 for the relief fund. The society will also give a series of entertainments for the benefit of the same fund. The M.E. Ministerial Association at its meeting yesterday appointed a committee to inquire into the needs of the Johnstown sufferers and continue the solicitation of subscriptions. The Presbyterian Ministerial Association yesterday passed a resolution condemning the action of certain theatrical managers in attempting to throw open the doors of their houses on Sunday. The Presbyterian, United Presbyterian and Methodist Episcopal churches of the West End will give an entertainment at the West End Rink Wednesday evening for the benefit of the Johnstown sufferers. The wife and children of Maj. F.K. Patterson, of Freeport, who were reported among the lost in the submerged Day Express, arrived safely at her mother’s home in Clearfield yesterday morning, having driven over the mountains from the scene of the disaster.
C.B. Redmond, a merchant, who was a prosperous business man in Johnstown until the flood swept away his life’s savings, came down on the train with other sufferers yesterday afternoon. Mr. Redmond said: “When the flood came almost every person sought the house-tops as a place of refuge, and these were soon filled. One peculiar thing I noticed was that no person could tell when the house they were
170 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 on commenced to move. Right across the street from me was a neighbor on a roof. I saw his house going and I shouted to him and warned him. He replied that his house was all right, but that mine was going. Shortly after this we found that both houses were moving slowly down stream. By leaping from roof to roof I soon reached a place of uncertain safety, and there I stayed until I was rescued. “Before the house I was on commenced to float I witnessed a touching and heroic evidence of a father’s love which is but one of the many deeds of heroism that were enacted. A man named Hamilton had a married daughter living in a house in Honeymoon row. He lives not far from her. On Thursday she gave birth to a child, and when the rush of water came she was lying in bed with her babe, helpless. Mr. Hamilton was on the roof of his own house, and was keeping watch on the building wherein his daughter and her child were lying. Suddenly he saw it moving and waiting no longer than to divest himself of all surplus clothing he plunged into the water, and, being a good swimmer, he succeeded in reaching his daughter’s house. “He broke in the window of the room where the mother and babe were and entered, emerging soon again with his daughter in his arms and she holding the babe. With this heavy load he swam to another house-top and deposited his precious burden in safety thereon. All of them were rescued afterwards, and when I left the mother and babe, though very sick, were on a fair way to recovery.” Mr. Redmond said that when he left all the sufferers had plenty to eat but had no place to sleep, which is a serious thing, he thought, in view of the cold weather. He further stated that the property-owners would suffer a total loss as in nearly every case they held a fire-insurance policy only.
A stupendous undertaking now lies before the people of the two cities and those living in the valleys of the Conemaugh, the Kiskiminetas and the Allegheny. The duty of the hour is to succor the living and to bury the dead, but one not less important is to take all possible precautions against an epidemic, which, if it should come, would decimate the population of the three valleys and the cities like a plague. Prompt action is necessary. What ought to be done is a matter upon which the physicians called upon by a COMMERCIAL GAZETTE reporter for once all agreed. When the question, “How would you do it?” was asked the reporter was looked at with a quizzical glance, sometimes followed by a wink, sometimes by a low whistle. NO IMMEDIATE DANGER. Dr. McCann thought there was no immediate danger of an epidemic for a few weeks, or before the bodies of men and women and the carcasses of animals, which certainly are buried under the drift and debris along the rivers, will have decomposed and become putrid. Then, he said, there was danger, and that danger should be removed by prompt action. Dr. C.Q. Jackson thought that the method of averting evil consequences was a question upon which many physicians and sanitarians would differ, the need of a thorough removal and neutralization of all animal and vegetable deposits along the courses of the rivers was a question the importance of which no sane man would deny. “How would you do it if the work were entrusted to you?
Well, that is a matter for the State Board of Health to consider. I should not like to pit my opinion against those whose business it is to study up questions of sanitation.” WHAT TO DO. “The people need to be informed what to do to avert a pestilence,” said the reporter, “and you must help.
Yes,” was the response. He then continued: “The first thing I would do would be to request the officer in charge to lower all the wicket of the Davis Island dam so that the current of the rivers might not be impeded and that all possible decomposing matter buoyant on the water might be carried away. I would start out men to tear away all accumulations of driftwood and to build them into pyramids and set them on fire, at the same time instruct them to throw all clothing, bedding, etc., on these fires and burn it. I would instruct them to fire all the grass and weeds along the bottoms and river banks, having a sufficiency of men to guard against the fire doing damage to property. I would instruct them to carefully search for all dead animals and human bodies, and to bury the latter and to throw the former into a deep hole and fill it up two feet deep with unslacked lime. Lime should then be scattered
171 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 plentifully over the bottoms to facilitate decomposition, to neutralize odors and to render germs as innoxious as possible. “The precipitation of the ooze and slime of rivers is dangerous when subjected to the sun’s rays and is favorable for the proliferation of bacterial germs and a heavy coat of lime is about the best way to get rid of them. IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED. “This should be done all along the valleys. I would then have the waters drawn off the city reservoirs one at a time, have them washed out and subjected to a quantity of lime also. This would purify the water and be healthful for the people, who get too little lime in the cities. “The people must, if they would avoid danger, filter and boil all water used for domestic and potable purposes. When the water is turbid with mud, it can be made beautifully clear by allowing it to stand in a vessel and adding three or four drops of the tincture of chloride of iron to the gallon or a small amount of pulverized alum. These will cause all vegetable and animal matter, including bacteria, to precipitate to the bottom. The vessel ought to be covered tightly, because water is easily polluted from contact with air. Boiled water is insipid because of the evaporation of the air, a pinch of salt will give it a more pleasant taste.” TO THE PEOPLE. E.M. Bigelow, Chief of the Department of Public Works, has issued a notice of warning to the people. He advises that water be filtered and boiled. He suggests that a bag of duck or other like material be placed on the spigot of the water-pipe and the water, after being strained in this way, be boiled. Failure to observe those precautions may result in great sickness. This warning applies to Allegheny as well as Pittsburgh, as both cities draw their water supply from the Allegheny river. The following dispatch was received at the Sheriff’s office yesterday: NINEVEH, VIA NEW FLORENCE, PA., June 3. To the Sheriff of Allegheny county. The State Board of Health here desires and empowers you to immediately summon a posse to patrol the Allegheny river, tear down the drift heaps and remove the dead bodies both of human begins and domestic animals. This is absolutely necessary to protect your county from pestilence. BENJAMIN LEE, Secretary State Board Col. Joseph H. Gray was put in charge of the matter, and will have an effective patrol force in boats upon the river within the limits of the county to-day." A number of Hungarians from Johnstown and some others, who wanted to go there but who were refused admission to the town, called on Max Schamberg, Austro-Hungarian Consul, yesterday, complaining that a great injustice had been done their countrymen. They explained that their countrymen who were shot down, were simply seeking the dead bodies and the property of relatives and friends. Mr. Schamberg said to a reporter that while not claiming for the Hungarians any more virtues than possessed by other nationalities, it was certainly a sad mistake to swell the already sad and enormous list of the dead, and to create a feeling that the Hungarians, as a race, are guilty of the dark deeds charged. "Pension Agent Barcklay yesterday received the following telegram from Pension Commissioner Tanner: “Make special any current vouchers received from the towns in Pennsylvania ruined by floods and pay at once on their receipt. Where certificates have been lost in floods send permit to execute new voucher without presenting certificate to magistrate. Permits signed in blank forwarded to-day. Make special all original certificates of pensioners residing in these towns, and pay on receipt of vouchers, regardless of my instructions of May 13.”
Contributions to the COMMERCIAL GAZETTE’s relief fund continue to pour in, and as fast as received is placed at the disposal of the Relief Committee: Previously acknowledged: $1,055.30 Total: $3,576.18 SEND IN THE MONEY.
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The committees who have undertaken to raise funds for the relief of the Johnstown sufferers have given notice that provisions and clothing are no longer needed, but too much money cannot be collected. The donations in food and wearing apparel were prompt and generous, and far in excess of immediate wants. These can now be had as required through the ordinary channels, and to accumulate them in advance would result in waste and extravagance. Money can be used to much better advantage, and in view of the fact that the losses mount up into the millions there is no danger of making the relief fund too large. The citizens of Pittsburgh in particular, and those of Western Pennsylvania in general, should not weary in this good work. When the business portion of this town lay in ruins—when $10,000,000 worth of property had vanished in hours—money poured in upon us from all quarters of the country. Men who a few hours before stood dumbfounded in contemplation of what they regarded as irretrievable disaster, took heart when the tenders of assistance reached them. Hope and courage took the place of fear and despair, and crushing burdens were made tolerable by innumerable helping hands. The people of Johnstown and vicinity are our friends and neighbors, so to speak, and have every claim upon our kindly sympathy and generous aid. There is this great difference between their calamity and ours. Only two lives were sacrificed in the great conflagration of 1845. With this exception our loss was wholly a pecuniary one. An infinitely greater proportion of the wealth of Johnstown and its neighboring towns has not only been swept away, but with it more than half the lives of their citizens have been blotted out. We lost only the casket by the fierce flames, but the relentless flood took from them the greater part of their precious jewels. There are heavy burdens of sorrow that can never be lifted from their hearts, but the claims of humanity and the promptings of gratitude alike commend them to our fraternal care. Let the money continue to flow in for days and weeks to come.
The history of epidemics in this country confirms the view that there is great danger of a serious outbreak in the vicinity of Johnstown unless the survivors of the flood can be speedily removed to a more suitable place and the bodies of the dead promptly buried. Considerable sickness is already reported in the vicinity of the ruined town, and the sanitary condition cannot possibly be improved for some time to come, while there is every probability that it may become much worse. A change in the weather is likely to take place very soon, and before the warmth of June makes itself felt on the decaying animal and vegetable matter which now lies exposed over a large area the survivors should be removed out of the reach of danger. As the accounts from the scene of the disaster grow worse every hour, the citizens of Pittsburgh, no less than those of Johnstown and vicinity, are face to face with very grave dangers. The more conservative physicians have begun to raise the voice of warning. There is supposed to be many hundreds, and may be several thousands, of human and animal bodies in the Conemaugh and Kiskiminetas, and how long they may have to remain there no one can tell. We draw our water supply in part from those streams, and accepting the germ theory in regard to the origin and spread of certain classes of disease, the necessity of disposing of the dead as promptly as is consistent with the wishes of living representatives and the claims of humanity becomes apparent. Next to the relief of the pressing necessities of the living, the burial of the dead and the placing of the town in good sanitary condition should receive the unremitting attention of the relief committees and the local authorities. Every nerve should be strained to prevent the horror of an epidemic upon the heels of the crowning horror of the century. In this connection, it may be proper to suggest that the only safe way to avoid danger is to require all water used for cooking or drinking purposes to be boiled. After boiling it can be filtered and thus rendered free from all extraneous matter. Filtering along will not suffice to get rid of the disease germs, but water that had been boiled and not filtered will be healthful, though it may not be tempting to the eye.
Gov. Beaver’s tardiness in calling upon the National Guard to assist in preserving order and recovering the bodies still in the debris at Johnstown has been rather sharply criticized, but it must be borne in mind that Adjt.-Gen. HASTINGS is on the ground and is capable of judging whether such a step is necessary and to what extent the military should be called into service. In view of the large amount of pillaging that has been reported, and the summary manner in which some of the thieves have been dealt with, it is naturally inferred that an efficient body of troops might be used to good advantage.
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In no case should the military arm of the Government be invoked until the civil authorities find themselves unable to cope with the lawless and the riotous. It is not the duty of the National Guard to act as constabulary in the enforcement of order while the municipal officers are able to maintain the peace. The exact situation ought to be known to the Adjutant-General, and it is the duty of all to submit to his judgment in the matter. Certainly neither the Governor nor his Adjutant will shrink from the prompt discharge of any duty which may be devolved upon them, but they must judge when it is proper for them to act.
It is now no longer a matter of doubt that the dreadful calamity at Johnstown was caused by the giving way of the dam which supported the artificial lake on South Fork. From the beginning this was the only reasonable supposition, but there were not a few who clung to the belief that the dam would be found intact and that the flood was the result of a cloud-burst. Elsewhere we print an intelligible and reliable statement of the manner in which the breach started, how it progressed, and the time taken to empty the lake of its contents. The embankment was not of masonry, as has generally been supposed, but of broken stone, earth and timbers, such as are ordinarily used for such purposed. We have the positive statement that the dam did not burst or give way suddenly, but the water, having risen above the top of the wall as the result of the heavy rains, and all efforts to keep it down by making a new sluiceway at the end having failed, the danger became apparent, and immediate steps were taken to give warning to the inhabitants of the endangered towns. Hundreds of lives were saved as a result of this warning, but other hundreds, alas! were lost by failure to pay prompt attention to it. It makes little difference, however, whether the wall yielded at once to the pressure, or whether it was worn away at one end by erosion. The result was the same. The current ate the wall away so rapidly that in forty-five minutes the lake was emptied of its contents, letting loose upon the doomed towns below a body of water three miles long and an average of one mile wide, being seventy feet deep at the lower end. The insufficiency of the wall for the purpose intended was clearly demonstrated when it failed to meet what was required of it. The question of legal liability is now being discussed with considerable warmth, but nothing is to be gained by forming hasty opinions or expressing harsh judgments. The exact facts will all be got at in due time. Certainly no one will accuse the members of the association with intentional wrong-doing or willful negligence. If they have rendered themselves pecuniarily liable in any manner they can be reached in the ordinary way. None more fully comprehend or deeply regret the terrible consequences than they. It is not out of place to say that no matter what state of facts may be developed in the newspaper press or in the courts, the Legislature should hereafter positively prohibit the maintenance of any such death-dealing agencies under any pretext whatever. The dreadful lesson of South Fork will not be fully learned if it falls short in that respect.
Cambria county, of which Johnstown was the chief city, has long held the distinctive appellation of the “Mountain County.” It has been so called because it sits on the very summit of the Alleghenies. It was formed in 1804 out of portions of Huntingdon and Somerset, and received the name “Cambria” from the circumstance that it had been largely settled by the Welsh. It is thirty-five miles long and twenty- one miles broad, an area of 670 square miles. Being squarely on “the divide”—portions of its waters find their way to the Atlantic, while for the most part they flow to the Gulf of Mexico. There are important feeders to the Juniata on the east as well as the Ohio of the west. The county is celebrated for its altitude, its pure air, its magnificent scenery and its peaceful solitude. It is a great summer resort, and its easy reach from this city by the Pennsylvania railroad has caused it to grow steadily in popularity among seekers after health and recreation. To its salubrity we are indebted for the Mountain House, nestled among the primeval forests at Cresson, 2,800 feet above the tide- level. It was for the same reason that the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club was organized, and the lake and its surroundings converted into a sanitarium of surpassing attractiveness and beauty. Alas! indeed, that objects so worthy as rational health-seeking and recreation should have involved such fearful risks as attended the maintenance of that fatal dam! Ebensburg, the seat of justice, is a quiet mountain town and is largely resorted to during the summer months. Loretto is famous as the scene of the labors of Prince GALLITERN, who spent forty years of his life and a large fortune in advancing the interests of the Catholic Church in that section. JOSEPH JAHNS was the pioneer German settler at Johnstown, and his name, changed into English, is commemorated in the name of the ill-fated city. This was an important point in the days of the turnpike
174 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 and Conestoga wagon, and at a later period marked the connection between the canal and the Portage railroad, with its inclines for hauling goods up the mountain slopes. Engineering skill did away with the inclines and portages, and the horse-shoe viaduct, near where the South Fork falls into the Conemaugh, originally constructed by the State as part of the public works, was maintained by the Pennsylvania railroad, and forms one of the most interesting engineering studies in the country. The suburbs of Johnstown nestle close to the mother town. A bridge over the Conemaugh connected with the Pennsylvania railroad and the Cambria Iron-Works. The borough of Conemaugh joins Johnstown, and here are the shops of the railroad. Millville borough is opposite Johnstown, and here are the great iron-works. Cambria borough is opposite Millville, on the Conemaugh, while Franklin and East Conemaugh are on the same stream two miles above. At Woodvale were a woolen-mill, flour-mill and tannery, and at Prospect resided many persons employed at the iron-works. There were sixteen churches in Johnstown, and above the town is Sandy Vale Cemetery, soon to receive to its bosom hundreds of citizens who but a short time ago were so full or life and energy and hope. There was a town-hall, an opera-house and a market-place. There was large wealth centered in and about the town, which supported several banking institutions and business houses of all kinds. Five newspapers were printed, four weekly and one daily. These facts briefly outline the history and situation of the beautiful little “Mountain County” of Pennsylvania, whose erstwhile bust metropolis has been hushed as it were in the stillness of death." THE military organizations are to be complimented for their eagerness to aid in the relief work at Johnstown, though Adjt.-Gen. HASTINGS did censure them. There are times when red tape should be broken instead of unwound. This was one of the times. For some years back the State of Pennsylvania has been spending several hundred thousand dollars yearly in the support of citizen soldiers and getting little practical good from it, and now, when there is urgent need for work that they could do and wanted to do, their chief in command tells them to go home and mind their business. The people deserve better treatment. They ought to have had the services of the soldiers at Johnstown, no matter if they came at their chief’s command or on their own responsibility. That could have been settled afterwards. THE break in the South Fork dam is as graceful in its curves and as smooth in edge as if cut out by the hand of man. The part of the dam that remains looks as if it would last for hundreds of years—a monument to one of the greatest calamities that has befallen man in modern times. THE Sheriff of Cambria county, Adjt.-Gen. HASTINGS and others in authority at Johnstown deny in toto the lynching stories that have been sent from there all over the country. There have been several instances of mutilation of the dead by vandals in the theft of jewelry, but nobody has been killed for the crime, though it deserves death. The unscrupulous newspaper “fakir” is trying his hand at adding to the already far too many horrors of Johnstown. LIFE INSURANCE COMPANIES and insurances orders have never in their history received anything like as much damage as that given them by the Johnstown flood, while the property insurance companies suffered almost nothing. CONTRIBUTIONS to aid the Johnstown sufferers are coming in liberally from all over the country, but the need of them is still great. Until the last of the thousands drowned are buried and the survivors all furnished with a liberal supply of food, clothing and temporary shelter, which is far from being the case, there will be need of assistance. Be careful in your giving, though, that a responsible person takes charge of your money. THE name of the Paul Revere who rode down the Conemaugh Valley in front of the South Fork dam when it was threatening to give way and gave the alarm to the people of Johnstown to flee for their lives is JOHN G. PARKE, JR., the resident engineer of the dam. An account of that adventurous ride will be found in another column of this paper and no other. THE Baltimore & Ohio railroad is now open to Eastern points. We are beginning to see our way out of the storm’s wreck. PRESIDENT HARRISON says that the Sanitary Corps of the Government consists of only a few medical officers who will not render any assistance at Johnstown unless asked for by GOV. BEAVER. Individual and State aid will have to be depended upon entirely to prevent the great epidemic that is threatened. THE first carload of sufferers from Johnstown arrived in the city yesterday. It is not necessary to add that they were well treated.
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THE dogs that escaped the flood at Johnstown are starving and are feeding—but what they are doing is too horrible to talk about. The sooner they are killed the better. THE Cambria Iron Company will rebuild its works at once. Here’s pluck for you. Success is bound to attend its efforts in the future as it has in the past. THE Westinghouse industries contributed $15,000 to the Johnstown sufferers yesterday. TEN days will be required to open the Pennsylvania railroad past Johnstown east. "Special to the Commercial Gazette. APOLLO, PA., June 3.—So far no bodies have been recovered at this place. Two spans of the Cokeville bridge are lodged against the railroad bridge, and the drift is piled twenty feet high in front of the obstruction. The work of removing this drift went on all day yesterday, at least one hundred men being engaged in the work. There is little doubt that some bodies are buried beneath this rubbish, as the wrecks of several houses are piled about the piers, and many articles of wearing apparel have been found. In all about fifty houses were submerged at this place, but no loss of life has been reported and the damage is slight. The report that Mrs. Chambers, of Apollo, was found at Natrona is a mistake. No such woman was carried away from here. At the citizen’s meeting Saturday and Sunday nights apparel and goods of this nature have been arriving all day. A large consignment of clothing was forwarded this morning and more will follow shortly.
WASHINGTON, PA., June 3.—A mass meeting was held in the Opera-house this morning and it was decided to send 100 to Johnstown to aid in getting the bodies from the debris. The general fund has reached over $2,500 and by night it will probably be increased two-fold. The churches yesterday contributed liberally. Rev. James Meechem, of the M.E. Church, reports a collection of between $250 and $400 by his congregation; Rev. Mr. Cowper, of the Episcopal Church, $107; Rev. James Snowden, of the Second Presbyterian Church, $165; Rev. Mr. Brown, of the M.P. Church, $160; Rev. Mrs. Wenslick, of the German Lutheran Church, $33; Rev. Father Doyle, of the Catholic Church, received the appeal too late to announce it to his congregation, but donated $10 to the fund; Rev. Mr. White, of the Christian Church, $25. The Baptist Church, Rev. Mr. MacArthur, pastor, $36; Rev. Mr. Brownson, of the First Presbyterian, $391; Rev. Mr. Johnson, of the U.P. Church, $77. Mr. Samuel Hazlett gave $250. ALLIANCE, O. June 3.—Fifteen hundred in money and $300 worth of clothing and provisions have been collected in this city and forwarded to the Johnstown sufferers. Wagonload after wagonload of provisions are coming into town from the surrounding country, and by noon two more carloads of goods will be sent to the scene of the distress." PHILADELPHIA, PA., June 3.—In pursuance of a call issued by the Citizens’ Permanent Relief Association, a largely-attended meeting of citizens was held at the Mayor’s office to-day for the consideration of measures for the relief of Johnstown sufferers. Drexel & Co. were chosen as the Treasurers of the fund. The firm of Drexel & Co. started the fund with a contribution of $10,000, several subscriptions of $1,000 were announced and late this afternoon the fund had reached a total of $45,000. Many subscriptions were also sent direct to Drexel’s banking-house, including $10,000 from the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Company, $5,000 from the Philadelphia beer brewers, $5,000 from the Baldwin Locomotive-Works and other large individual contributions. Up to this evening the direct subscriptions to Drexel & Co. amounted to $103,705, making a total of the two funds of over $148,000. This is exclusive of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company’s subscription of $25,000 and that of the Cambria Iron Company of $20,000, which amount will be dispensed at Johnstown and vicinity by the officials of those corporations. Large quantities of provisions, clothing, etc., have been contributed and will be forwarded to Johnston as quickly as possible. "CHARLESTON, S.C., June 3.—At a meeting of the Charleston Cotton Exchange to-day $500 were subscribed for the relief of the flood sufferers of Pennsylvania. A dispatch was sent to the Mayor of Johnstown, requesting him to draw for that amount. A special meeting of the City Council will be held to-morrow to extend help to the sufferers. A general subscription will be started for the same purpose. The News and Courier to-day says: We have learned to know what timely help means in this section of disaster and distress, and we at least should give without waiting to be asked. HARTFORD, CONN., June 3.—The Fourth National Bank has subscribed through the Chamber of Commerce fund, $1,000 for the relief of the Johnstown sufferers.
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The United States Express Company announces that it will carry free of charge over its lines supplies donated for the relief of the sufferers by the floods in the Johnstown district. IRWIN, PA., June 3.—At a citizens’ meeting called by Sue Burgess the citizens of Irwin this afternoon started a subscription list to which $600 have already been subscribed. The committee forwarded on Saturday thirteen boxes of provisions, which will be followed to-day by another shipment consisting of clothing of all kinds and provisions. MANSFIELD, PA., June 3.—A union meeting of Mansfield Protestant churches was held last night at the First Presbyterian Church. $425 cash and a large box of provisions and clothing were subscribed for the Johnstown sufferers. Two hundred dollars was subscribed in Pittsburgh by Mansfielders. St. Luke’s and St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Churches will take up subscriptions which, it is expected, will amount to upwards of $200. GREENVILLE, PA., June 3.—Eight hundred dollars has been raised here by the churches and others for the Johnstown sufferers. BETHLEHEM, N.Y., June 3.—The Bethlehem Iron Company to-day contributed $5,000 for the relief of the Johnstown sufferers, and directed the Johnstown authorities to draw on the company for that amount. BUFFALO, N.Y., June 3.—A relief train on the Western New York & Pennsylvania railroad will leave here for Pittsburgh to-night with contributions of food, clothing, etc., for the flood sufferers. WASHINGTON, D.C., June 3.—A subscription for the relief of the sufferers by the Johnstown flood was started at the Postoffice Department to-day. First Assistant Postmaster General Clarkson signed the list by subscribing $100. The indications are that nearly $10,000 will be raised in the department. Postmaster-General Wanamaker has already subscribed $1,100 in Philadelphia. BOSTON, MASS., June 3.—The House this afternoon suspended its rules and admitted a bill appropriating $10,000 for the relief of the Pennsylvania sufferers. SHARON, PA., June 3.—Burgess Wollis left this afternoon for Johnstown with $1,200 raised by citizens of Sharon for the relief of the flood sufferers. The relief fund is growing rapidly and will aggregate over $2,000 to-morrow. Boxes of clothing and bedding were forwarded to-day over the Pennsylvania railroad. A number of people of Sharon have received telegrams announcing the safety of friends, but many others are waiting in vain for tidings. It is reported that B.F. Watkins, of the Sharon Steel Casting Company, with his family, are among the missing. AKRON, O., June 3.—Akron’s contribution to the Johnstown survivors was $1,000 and will probably run up to $2,000 to-morrow, canvassers being busy in all parts of the city. Quite a number of Johnstown iron-workers were imported by the Akron Iron-Company several years ago, so that several hundred Akronians have near relatives in the ill-fated city, and they are hungry for news. MARIETTA, O., June 3.—At a meeting of citizens to-night called by the Mayor $1,400 was secured for the Johnstown sufferers. IRWIN, PA., June 3.—In addition to the relief supplies already reported as having been sent to the Johnstown sufferers, there were forwarded to-day seventy packages of clothing, shoes, bread, meat, flour and sundry groceries. WHEELING, W.VA., June 3.—Up to to-night about $8,000 have been subscribed by Wheeling citizens for the relief fund of the Johnstown sufferers. $4,598 is paid in cash. WOOSTER, O., June 3.—A very large quantity of bed clothing and wearing apparel was shipped from here to-day for the Johnstown flood sufferers. At a public meeting of citizens at the City Hall last evening $1,000 was subscribed for their aid, and to-night an entertainment will be given by the Grand Army of the Republic, the entire proceeds of which will be send to the flood sufferers. BELLAIRE, O., June 3.—At a meeting to-day about $10,000 was subscribed for the Johnstown sufferers. This (Belmont) country sustained a loss of $20,000 in damage to crops, etc., by the freshet. CHICAGO, June 3.—Mayor Creader, after a meeting of citizens to-day, forwarded a draft of $5,000 for the relief of Johnstown sufferers. He wired: “Other sums will follow swiftly.” A telegram from San Francisco says similar action was taken there, Maj. Pond wiring $4,000 which had been subscribed in a few minutes. Dispatches from Denver and other points throughout the West tell of money having been subscribed. KANSAS CITY, MO., June 3.—The sum of $1,500 was subscribed for the relief of the Johnstown sufferers at a meeting of citizens to-night.
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PHILADELPHIA, PA., June 3. – The best information that can be obtained to-day at the Pennsylvania railroad office, in this city, is to the effect that a route will be patched up to Altoona within thirty-six hours, thus giving the 800 or more east and west-bound passengers laid up at that place an opportunity to get away from there. On the Middle division of the main line the road is clear from Altoona to Pittsburgh, and they hope to get from Petersburg to Huntingdon sometime to-day. From Huntingdon to Manayunk bridge there are several bad breaks. All but one span of the Manayunk bridge has been swept away. East of that point the Mays bridge is gone and but one span remains of the Granville bridge. From Lewistown to Harrisburg, a distance of sixty-five miles, the line is clear. The railroad people expect to get a dispatch wire through to Altoona by 3:30 this afternoon over the main-line route, when a correct list of the passengers on the Day Express and mail train who were left at Conemaugh will be obtained, as well as the whereabouts of those who did not go to Altoona. From the best information obtainable it can be stated that only seven of the passengers were lost. From Altoona westward the track is open to within a short distance of South Fork, where the bridge was washed away Friday evening. Between South Fork and Johnstown 1,000 men are busy putting the railroad in shape. At Johnstown and west of there several large gangs of workmen are employed. It is not believed that passengers can be conveyed from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh over the main line inside of a week or ten days. As to the transportation of freight and mails nothing definite can be learned. No direct intelligence of any sort has been received from Lock Haven since 9 o’clock Friday night. The dispatch then received stated that the lumber booms had broken and the town was flooded. The wildest kind of rumors are received in regard to the situation at that place, but they lack confirmation. It is believed, however, that the loss of property at that place will be enormous. Inquiry made at the Pennsylvania railroad office as to the probable amount of the loss to that company resulting from the washing away of bridges, tracks, cars, engines and other property and the stoppage of traffic elicited the information that at the proper time reliable data would be given as to the loss sustained.
JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 3.—Miss Mary Adams had a thrilling experience. She lived in a little house, and it, with hundreds of other houses, was whirled down on the rapidly-moving flood of water. Besides herself there were two boys about 10 years of age and an old man in the house. They were floating in the water, and with the assistance of Miss Adams they were pulled out and took refuge on the roof. The Adams house struck the whirl just opposite the club-house and was carried around by the current just like a top. “How I got out I never can tell, but when the house turned over I was on top of the roof. The river was so full of houses and wood that you could hardly see the water. I saw hundreds of people drown. Everyone was crying for help. Our house hit the corner of the Baltimore & Ohio office and we floated over into Main street, nothing being left of it but the roof. Everyone it in, expect myself, was washed off. Twice a man attempted to pull me off in his frantic endeavors to save himself. Just below the club- house I was jammed in among the mass of stuff and could not get out. Finally the part of the roof and the mass clinging to it was hit by a box-car and started down again. I jumped from the roof to the car, and then I felt pretty safe, until I saw where I was drifting to—down into the fire, that was roaring and cracking. Several times I was on the point of jumping into the river to avoid the fire; but at last the car turned toward the left-hand shore, and I thought I might get off safely. It was caught in the swirl, and lodged about twenty feet from the flames, which were burning furiously, boards and drift of all kinds were packed around me and I could not move anything but my hands and head, my legs were hanging down in the water The flames kept coming toward me and I became almost frantic. I could see the struggling victims through the smoke. Every one was screaming and crying. I thought I would go crazy. I called to some men on the bank to shoot me or stone me to death. The heat was intense and I was almost blinded by the smoke. Two men walked out in the drift as far as they could and threw me a clothes-line. Then they tied a rope to it and I fasted it around my body. The flames were all around me. The men got assistance and I was dragged from the wreck more dead than alive, and removed upon the hill. One of the men who helped me out was Frank Jeffers.” Miss Adams had her left arm broken in two places and both legs were badly crushed. She can hardly recover.
The bursting of the reservoir at Johnstown will at once recall the Mill River disaster on May 16, 1874, when the village of Haydenville, Mass., was swept out of existence and 140 persons were drowned. A
178 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 guard was watching the dam, and about 8 o’clock in the morning he discovered that an enormous leak had developed out of a small one. He started to give warning to the village of Leeds just below, but the reservoir broke away before he could reach the village, and the water from a pond 114 acres in area came down like a wall, carrying away nearly the whole village. Haydenville was swept away, and several other towns on the Connecticut river were inundated. Over 300 families were rendered homeless and $1,000,000 worth of property in dams, dwellings, factories, etc. was lost. Roads and bridges were damaged to the extent of $300,000. At Lynde Brook, near Worcester, on March 30, 1876, thirty feet of the reservoir wall, which had been leaking, gave way and over 600,000,000 gallons of water were emptied into the valley. Only one life was lost, but property was damaged to the extent of nearly $1,000,000. On March 27, 1887, the Staffordville reservoir, on the east branch of the Willimantic river, gave way, and a torrent of water rushed down the valley at the rate of five miles an hour, destroying mill-dams and railroad bridges in its course. The people were warned by a man on horseback, who kept ahead of the flood, and all except to of the residents of the valley escaped. The loss of property on this occasion exceeded a million dollars. A similar disaster near East Lee, Mass., April 20, 1886, destroyed nine lives, and the damage to mill property, private dwellings and roads and bridges exceeded $150,000. One reservoir calamity, that at Sheffield, England, has been made famous by Charles Reade in “Put Yourself in His Place.” On March 11, 1864, the embankment of the Bradfield reservoir gave way and flooded Sheffield and the country for twelve or fourteen miles around. About 250 lives were lost and property valued at over $1,000,000 was destroyed.
W.W. Patrick has yet received no word from his daughter, but he thinks she is safe and is at Conemaugh. Miss Jennie Paulson has not been heard from yet but her brother thinks that she is safe.
At 11:30 last night the following telegrams was received at the Chamber of Commerce from Capt. W.R. Jones, who has been in Johnstown for three days assisting in the work of caring for the sufferers: JOHNSTOWN, June 3, 1889. Chamber of Commerce, Pittsburgh. It is important that not less than 2,000 good laborers be sent here; but Gov. Beaver should establish camps to shelter and provide for the workmen, and established a good commissary, with ample cooking power to feed the men. The United States Government should forward 1,000 feet of pontoon bridges, so as to establish good communication with railway depots, so as to get supplies and material in town. The United States Government should forward at once 10,000 regular army rations. The Sheriff of Westmoreland county should at once send organized bands of men to overhaul debris piled along the Conemaugh to find dead. Take my word for it, it will take herculean efforts for the balance of this week to handle the debris so as to find the dead, and it was take another week to clean out the debris. It is important to first find the dead and then get rid of the dead and fast decomposing animals to save the Allegheny river from pollution. The people here are worn out and dispirited, and I appeal to the Chamber of Commerce to follow my advice and suggestions. First—Have Gov. Beaver send his commissary of officers to establish camps, complete with facilities to feed not less than 3,000 workmen; Second—Arrange to forward not less than 2,000 hard-fisted, hard workers under competent foremen. Third—Have the United States Government forward at once, without delay, 1,000 feet of pontoon bridges, with corps to erect. If this is done we can get through in pretty good shape by Sunday. CAPT. W.R. JONES. At 12:30 this morning the following telegram came in: JOHNSTON, PA., June 3, 1889. Chamber of Commerce, Pittsburgh, It would be well to send at least 1,000 workmen with axes, picks, shovels, saws and other tools to remove the debris. The men should be organized in gangs under competent bosses, and be prepared to stay here ten days. I will furnish tents and they can be supplied from the general commissary. It is my judgment that all workmen living here and willing to work, should be paid good wages, and to prevent imposition, purchase supplies for themselves and families from their general commissary. This will
179 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 prevent idleness among the citizens. Capt. Jones is here with 150 men and has charge of all workmen from a distance. Among the tools there should be plenty of inch rope and 100 wheelbarrows. Please advise me. D.H. HASTINGS, Adjutant-General.
Mr. Edward Creed, one of the victims of the Johnstown disaster, arrived in this city yesterday afternoon. His is one of the saddest stories that comes from that district. He was the only one of the family that escaped. His father, mother and three brothers were lost, and although he had been searching ever since that awful Friday evening, he had been unable to discover or find their bodies. He was employed in the Cambria Iron company’s store and was in the building when the flood came and was only rescued after being twenty-four hours in the water. Another of the sad losses was the death of Miss Mamie Hannon, the only daughter of Hon. John Hannon. All the rest of the family escaped with their lives. Miss Mamie was a very popular young lady and had many friends in Pittsburgh and Allegheny. Mr. Creed said that yesterday morning Johnstown was very quiet. The force of police and constabulary had succeeded in gaining control and the identification of the bodies was going on steadily and quietly. The place is, however, overrun by dogs. They are almost starved and are infesting the ruins and mutilating the bodies of the victims. They are being shot down by the hundreds.
The scene at Old City Hall yesterday would remind a person of the packing-room of a great mercantile establishment. There were a half-dozen of young men with the perspiration pouring off them hurriedly packing clothing and provisions, which had been hauled there from all parts of the two cities. A wagon would drive up to the door and unload its freight of boxes and bundles of all descriptions. These were carried up stairs and opened and their contents assorted. Shoes went in one box, headgear in another, and ladies’, gents’, boys’, girls’ and children’s clothing all in separate boxes. When a couple of cars would be filed, they were hurriedly sent to the cars and dispatched to the flood scene; this kept up all day long and by night 242 boxes of clothing had been shipped. The meals and refreshments for the young men who had volunteered to do this work were kindly furnished by the proprietors of Hagan’s and of Dimmler’s restaurants, on the Diamond. Some of the men have slept but four hours since the hall has been opened for the reception of contributions.
Sydney MacLeod, formerly General Superintendent of the Calumet Iron and Steel Company, of Chicago, was in Johnstown on a visit when the deluge came. He was compelled to flee for his life, and it was only through his good sprinting qualities that he reached the hill in time. He came to this city to- day, and he says before he left the scene of the devastation he met a reputable man who assured him that he had seen James McMillen, Vice-President of the Cambria Iron Company, who is reported dead, alive and well on Prospect Hill a few hours before. Mr. MacLeod thinks that the works of the Cambria Iron Company are totally wrecked. He also made the startling statement that he had heard it on good authority that a number of men had tied a tag with their names on to the buttonhole of their coats and had then shot themselves. While running for the hill Mr. MacLeod says that he saw a man start for the same place with three children. He was leading two by the hand and the third was holding to his coat. When he reached the hill he was grief stricken when he found that the child that had been hanging to his coat had been swept away by the flood.
Gen. Custer Lodge No. 118 last evening elected the following officers: … During the evening the lodge drew a check for $100 for the relief of Johnstown sufferers." The Allegheny Councils met yesterday and authorized the Street Commissioner to employ 100 men to proceed to Johnstown to work under the Relief Committee. "Quite a number of Pittsburgh people re not yet accounted for. Mrs. Allison, Miss Allison and Mrs. Boles, of Thirty-eighth street, are supposed to be lost. They were on a visit to relatives at Johnstown and as yet no word has been received. Mr. Boles, who is employed at the Black Diamond Steel-Works, and Mr. Allison, a son of Mrs. Allison, who is a widow, are among the searchers in Johnstown. A domestic, who had been employed at the residence of Mrs. Bates, Forty-fourth street, went to Johnstown on Decoration Day for a few days visit to friends. She has not been heard from.
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Some anxiety is entertained as to the whereabouts of Capt. and Mrs. Herbert, of Ben Venue. They left Philadelphia on Friday and no word has been received from them. Mr. Henry Terheyden, the Smithfield street jeweler, is anxiously searching for his mother. The lady left Baltimore on Friday and intended to make a visit to friends at Johnstown before coming here. No word has been received. The Pittsburgh friends of Charles Hailen, of Monmouthshire, England, are anxious about him and fear that he, too, perished in the flood. He was known to be in that vicinity on Friday last and has not been heard from since. A number of others, however, have turned up safely. A young man who was commissioned to take up blankets and to make inquiries concerning the whereabouts of the sons of Mr. C.B. Shea, who were last heard from at South Fork station, reports them all right at Cresson, from whence they will probably make their way to Altoona. James P. Stewart, of the Assessor’s office of Allegheny city, who left last Friday for Philadelphia, and who was reported lost in the Johnstown disaster, yesterday sent a telegram to his friends here that he is safe at Ebensburg and will continue his journey eastward. Swift Davis, of Safe Harbor, Pa., whose mother lives at Sewickley, with his wife and daughter, left Pittsburgh Friday morning on the Day Express for their homes. They had just returned from Colorado, where they were spending the winter for the benefit of Mrs. Davis’ health. They went on the Day Express, as stated, and, as published, this train was swept away at Conemaugh. A telegram from Altoona yesterday, however, conveyed the intelligence that they had all escaped and were at that point." Mr. Newton Richards, a well-known contractor of the East End, was at the Union depot last night trying to get to Johnstown, where some of his relatives are lying dangerously injured. Mr. Richards is a son-in-law of Mrs. Teters, an aged Johnstown lady, and he is the brother-in-law of H.G. Rose and James Lane, a well-known iron-worker. Mr. Rose was the District Attorney of Cambria county, and when the warning of the breaking of the dam was cried through the streets, he and his wife and mother- in-law, Mrs. Teters, and Mr. and Mrs. Lane, were all in the same house. Their first thought was of the roof and thither they climbed. They had not been there long until the house was completely submerged and they were left standing on the roof in a couple of feet of water. A mass of debris bore down on them and all of the party received injuries of a more or less serious nature. District-Attorney Rose was killed, Mrs. Teters, who is 82 years of age, had her arm broken, and Mrs. Rose and Mr. and Mrs. Lane were bruised and cut badly. After floating down stream a distance they were all rescued and removed to a house on Prospect Hill, where they now lie, all in critical conditions. Mr. Rose’s body has been recovered and is awaiting burial. Mr. Richards could not get out last night, as the ticket agents will sell a ticket to Johnstown to no person without an order from the Chamber of Commerce. He will get the necessary papers to-day and will leave at once for the scene. A bottle was found at Woods Run yesterday in which there was a paper on which was written in a plain, neat hand, evidently by a lady, “Nelly Halpin, Allegheny City. In the flood at Johnstown, 1889.” Rev. Dr. Beals, a Presbyterian minister of Johnstown, has been erroneously reported as lost. The reverend gentleman is alive and well and is working hard, he having charge of the morgue. "BENEFIT OF JOHNSTOWN SUFFERERS AT BIJOU THEATER, On THURSDAY and FRIDAY EVENINGS, June 6 and 7, under the auspices of the Chamber of Commerce, The Beautiful Legendary Drama, RIP VAN WINKLE, With a strong cast of professional artists. Lubert’s Madolin Quartet will render some choice selections. Entire gross receipts to be given. Usual prices of theater. Reserved seats on sale at box office of theater. R.W. TRELEGAN, N.D. McMEAL, and ROBERT BUCK, of Pittsburgh Dramatic Agency, Managers.
BIJOU THEATER—SATURDAY EVENING, June 8, Benefit of the Johnstown flood sufferer at which will be presented the comedy-drama in 3 acts, entitled “THE GENERAL’S WARD,” by Marie Baldwin (Mrs. Z. Wilson Phillips), of this city. The principal characters will be assumed by the theatrical profession residing in the city, assisted by the leading local talent. The entire proceeds of the performance will be given to flood sufferers.
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GRAND CONCERT TO BE HELD at the Grand Opera-house Friday evening, June 7, 1889, for the benefit of the Johnstown sufferers, to be given by the Zitterbart Orchestra, at which the following talent will appear: … Admission 50 cents and $1.
From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 3.—To-day has revealed new horrors. The light broke this morning over this valley of death and showed the waters back in their natural channels, although still running at flood. What had been hidden was revealed. The waste in all its nakedness showed where the fury of the dam- burst had visited. Each succeeding hour brought to light some new feature of the wreck. The utter demolition of the water-swept city could be seen but not yet, nor ever, will it be realized. Where had been busy streets lines with fine residences and business houses, there is nothing to be seen but the underlying rock or stretches of oozy sand. The foundations of houses cannot be traced; cellars are filled level with the debris and mud. Brick houses were razed to the ground, and so fierce and strong was the current that even the bricks themselves were strewn for thousands of feet from their original position. A DAY OF HARD WORK. This has been a day of work, as the two preceding ones have been. Early this morning large parties of rescuers covered the Conemaugh in skiffs that had been sent from Pittsburgh, and were under the charge of Capt. L.N. Clark, who has been one of the most faithful workers on the scene. Parties in search of friends crossed early, and there was a continuation of the pitiful scenes that have transpired since the beginning of the deluge. A large corps of doctors is on hand and the mutilated limbs are straightened, the wounds about the head and face dressed up to make the features recognizable. The bodies are then carried to one of the school-rooms, which has been stripped of its furniture, and laid out decently in rows upon trestles. Everything in this room is clean and orderly, and parties of twelve at a time are allowed to enter and examine the corpses, some of which are identified, but for the most part the significant card “Unknown” lies upon their breasts. As the room fills up the bodies are removed to one across the hall, where they are put into plain coffins and carried to the burying-grounds, the larger number being interred at Morrellville Cemetery. It is a sad and significant fact that the larger number of the bodies are unidentified. This shows that whole families have been wiped out of existence—not one left to recognize the remains of relatives. AN INDESCRIBABLE SCENE. Many attempts will be made to describe the wreck of the central portion of the city, but none will ever describe the remains. For squares and squares fifty and sixty feet, streets are filled as high as the second and third stories of the houses with the ruins of shattered buildings driven down the thoroughfares with frightful force. Underneath this are known to be bodies of men, women and droves of carcasses of animals. The First Methodist Church stands on Franklin street, opposite to what was a beautiful park. The torrent coming down the valley split on this church and divided its fury on each side. The structure fortunately withstood the shock being a large stone affair erected at a cost of $75,000. Its position saved the parsonage immediately below, in which were Rev. Dr. Chapman, the pastor, his wife, a Mrs. Brinker and a young man named Parker from Connecticut. DR. CHAPMAN’S EXPERIENCE. Dr. Chapman was seen to-day by your correspondent as he was working about his house cleaning a portion of the mud out of the rooms. He gave a vivid description of his experience last Friday afternoon and night. He said: “The water had been rising all day and Mrs. Brinker, who lived opposite to us, came over and said she feared a flood was coming. I tried to dispel her fears, but she was very nervous and expressed the old fear that the South Fork reservoir would be caught. I could not think such a catastrophe would happen and told her it had stood so many years it would not break now. With Mr. Parker I started out through the city and found the water gaining in such a frightful rate that we sought safety at home. Reaching the parlor I saw the water coming into the yard and rising very rapidly until it reached the door step. We then concluded to tear up the carpets and began the work when all at once there was a roar and looking out I saw a box-car coming pushing down the street with the speed of a lightning express. On the car was a man. As he reached our house he made ready to jump and with a wild spring he landed in a tree in the yard. He then swung from the tree onto the porch roof and climbed in a window. I then knew what was the matter and cried out that the reservoir had broken and
182 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 urged the people to rush to the attic. We reached it in safety and then began such horrid sights as I hope never again to witness. The grinding, crashing sounds on all sides was deafening as the buildings were swept past in full sight with men, women and children on the roofs and clinging to parts of the wreckage. The dreadful havoc did not continue for more than half an hour, and the first thought as we looked down that broad waste in front of us was, “They are all gone. No one can survive that awful ride.” I am glad to know to-day that many of my congregation were rescued. I have sent my family away and hardly know what to do except stay here and render what assistance I can to the poor people.” GETTING TO RIGHTS. This was the experience of many in that portion of the town. Hon. John M. Rose was seen to-day at his home on Stony Creek street scrubbing out the rooms and trying to make the inhabitable. His brother, Harry Rose, District Attorney of Cambria county, had gone down with the flood, his body having been recovered yesterday. Looking out over the wreck and then up at his home, he said: “I am rich; our home is still here and we are uninjured. This is a terrible wreck, the event of a thousand years, but Johnstown will rise again.” Up at the headquarters of the Citizens’ Committee where Chairman Moxham had his office things were moving along in excellent shape. As your correspondent arrived there Postmaster John Larkin, of Pittsburgh, had just come in with $5,000 cash, the first contribution to reach the place. City Solicitor Williamson on seeing this portly angel of money cried: “God bless old Pittsburgh, Johnstown will never forget her liberality.” Chairman Moxham was busy with a rough draft of the portion of the city yet standing consulting with his assistants as to the best mode of policing the place. THE WORK SYSTEMATIZED. Sheriff McCandless entered and asked him if he would second a request to Pittsburgh for 2,000 practical workmen under the charge of such experienced contractors as Booth & Flinn to come up and superintend the cleaning up of the debris. Mr. Moxham thanked the Sheriff in the warmest manner, but said he did not think it necessary, as that number of men would be put to work to-morrow morning under pay, and the work systematized in the best possible manner. Adjt.-Gen. Hastings, against whom there was a little feeling in Pittsburgh Sunday because he did not order out the militia, is doing wonders. The criticism of his action was premature and as made without a knowledge of the circumstances. As far as could be learned to-day the outrages reported yesterday and last night were somewhat exaggerated and the summary justice meted out to one Hungarian who was strung up, and half a dozen who were pitched into the river, had a salutary effect. The deputies sworn in seem to be doing their duty well, and as far as work is concerned, practical laborers and contractors will do more than twice the number of militia, no matter how willing the latter may be. J.S. HENRY.
From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA. June 3.—The Americus Club, of Pittsburgh, has certainly covered itself with glory. … and a score or others have scarcely closed an eye since they arrived here Saturday evening. The headquarters of the Relief Committee has been established in the town at the Johnstown station. Here come the hungry and naked for food and clothing. Up until this morning two cars that had been filled by private citizens had not been touched and they contained just what is needed—clean, warm underclothing for women and children. These cars were opened this morning and as an instance of how badly these articles were needed as incident related by Mr. Ruse will show. He had made up a good large bundle and started for the hospital located in Prospect school-house. Passing along one of the streets a lady looking from a window caught sight of his yellow badge. She went to the door and called to him to come and see if she and her family were not worthy of some assistance. He entered the room and there were seven little children, none of them having on more than a single garment. The lady herself was in her night-clothes. It is needless to say she was supplied. At the hospital great suffering was experienced before this relief of clean, comfortable clothing. There were taken there women and children who had been rescued and either injured or sick, all of them lying in their wet clothes and very few of them having but a scant supply. There were not even bandages with which to dress the wounds. The Citizens’ Committee under James B. Scott are working heroically relieving the suffering and feeding the hungry. The Pittsburgh firemen have also done efficient service. No 15, or the Niagara Company, of nine men, have been playing on the burning
183 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 debris above the stone bridge for the past twenty-four hours, and expect to keep it up for forty-eight more. A large delegation of priests arrived to-day, among them Father Sheedy and Father Schwab. Bishop Phelan arrived yesterday. A sad sight was presented at the Benedictine Convent, where the body of a sister was recovered this morning, burned and torn beyond recognition. There were sixteen sisters in this institution, which adjoins the ruins of the burned St. John’s Catholic Cathedral. These women remained in the upper story all that dreadful night while the lower part, including the chapel, was gutted, with but one story’s exception. This evening William Flinn also arrived from Pittsburgh with a force of eighteen willing and able assistants. To-morrow morning he and his men will take hold of the work with a vim and help those already on the grounds. There is work here for all who are willing to work. J.S. HENRY.
From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 3.—Although the populous district up the Conemaugh river, northeast of Johnstown, was swept clean of every residence, and is a flat waste of brick, logs and mud, a good many of the people living there escaped. The valley is narrow and warning of the calamity was received in time to allow the escape of many persons. It was at first thought that there was almost a total loss of all the residents of Woodvale. The following persons living there escaped: … HASSLER.
From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 3.—Adjt.-Gen. Hastings, while catching a few minutes rest to-night at the COMMERCIAL GAZETTE headquarters, was interviewed by your correspondent. He said: “So far to-day there has not been a single casualty, outrage or violation of the law reported to me. Everybody seemed to be at work. Vandalism had no place and quiet and order reigned in Conemaugh borough, Morrellville and every place I have had reports from, and I have been in communication with all points. The reported lynching in an evening paper are entirely without foundations. There was one lynching—that of yesterday morning, and several Hungarians were thrown into the water for despoiling the bodies of the dead. As to calling out the guard, people are under a misapprehension as to my position. Until the Burgess of the town and Sheriffs of the county gave up control and called on the Governor for aid, I had no authority under the law to call the militias out, and had I ordered out the Fourteenth and Eighteenth regiments as I would liked to have done, and anyone had been shot, I could have been held for manslaughter. We are getting things systematized, and to-morrow will have 2,000 men at work.” Gen. Hastings is badly broken up. He was the first man to get in the ground from a distance and has not closed an eye since arriving here. Adjt.-Gen. Axline, of Ohio, is working hand in hand with him, and wonders are being performed. J.S. HENRY." BLAIRSVILLS, PA., June 3.—Loss here $75,00 and one life, young John Stitt, who was carried away with the bridge. Ten bodies have been found here, and others believed to be in the drift. Cries of persons floating in the river were heard on Friday night. "Special to the Commercial Gazette. WASHINGTON, D.C., June 3.—President Harrison will preside at a public mass-meeting to-morrow afternoon. It will be held in Willard Hall and its object is to raise funds for the sufferers at Johnstown. The President sent for the Commissioners to-night and they were with him until 9 o’clock. Under his instructions an appeal was drawn up calling a meeting for 3 o’clock and he promised to preside. The calamity has been the subject of discussion, and there was a strong sentiment in favor of an extra session of Congress to provide for the sufferers. The prompt action of Congress in appropriating half a million dollars for the sufferers in the great Ohio river flood of 1884 was recalled, as were also the energetic actions of President Grant in ordering supplies sent to the Chicago sufferers, So strongly did the sentiment become by night that the commercial gazette representative called at the White House. Secretary Halford was seen and said: “The President has been in constant communication with Gov. Beaver ever since the first news reached him. There seems to be no need of food or shelter and Government aid has not been asked. Gov. Beaver in a telegram from him received just after dinner says that food and clothing is pouring in and
184 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 that the universal sympathy expressed is very gratifying to the people of Pennsylvania. If aid is asked from the General Government the President would at once consult with the Cabinet and take immediate steps looking to relief. Until is it asked nothing can be done.” A telegram was received also from the Masonic fraternity, asking for the co-operation of the Government with the local Board of Health in the matter of cleaning the rivers. The President was forced to reply that there was no sanitary department, but that Dr. Atkinson, who is the medical representative of the Government, would be ordered to co-operate under the State Board of Health. Surgeon General Hamilton will also be instructed to aid with his experience. The President immediately upon the receipt of the news telegraphed his sympathy, but the telegram, though the first sent out, has just gotten through. The most intense excitement has prevailed here since the news of the catastrophe reached the city. If there had been any egress hundreds would undoubtedly have gone to the scene. All Eastern and Western correspondents were ordered to report at Johnstown at once, but none of them have been able to get away.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., June 3.—Maj.-Gen. James R. Carnahan, commanding the Uniform Rank, Knights of Pythias of the World, to-day issued the following: HEADQUARTERS UNIFORM RANK, K. OF P. OF THE WORLD, INDIANAPOLIS, IND., June 3. General Order No. 16: Officers and Sir Knights of the Uniform Rank, Knights of Pythias of the World. The terrible calamity that has befallen the Sir Knights, of Johnstown, Pa., is known to all. Johnstown Division No. 18, of Pennsylvania, was stationed there and the Sir Knights and their families are included in the great disaster. Extend to them and theirs a helping hand, and from your treasures give them substantial aid. Send such donations as you can give to Brig.-Gen. George W. Lindsey, Quartermaster-General U.R.K.P., Baltimore, Md., and he will at once render our brother Sir Knights and the members of the order assistance. Send by telegraph money order, and let your donations be speedy. JAMES B. CARNAHAN, Maj.-General U.R.K.P. WM. J. McKEE, Adjutant-General. CHICAGO, June 3.—The Chicago Knights of Pythias have information to the effect that Past Supreme Chancellor John D. Limon of the order in the United States with his entire family, wife and four children were drowned at Johnstown and also in Cambria City. The majority of the members are reported dead.
WASHINGTON, D.C., June 3.—The President to-night received from P. McQuaid, President of the Jacksonville Auxiliary Sanitary Association, a telegram saying that that body had placed $2,000 subject to the President’s sight draft, to be used for Johnstown flood sufferers. To this the President replied as follows: “I have received your dispatch with great gratification and will draw for the amount you have appropriated and will see that it is expended for the purposes you have at heart.” At the invitation of the President the Commissioners of the district met him in conference this evening. As a result a meeting of citizens will be held at 3 o’clock to-morrow and President Harrison will preside." JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 3.—Adjt.-Gen. Hastings this afternoon telegraphed President Harrison requesting that Government pontoons be furnished to enable a safe passage-way to be made across the field of charred ruins above Johnstown bridge for the purpose of continuing the search for the dead. Late to-day the answer was received from the Presidents that the pontoons would be forwarded from the Secretary of War. "From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 3.—Gen. Hastings is holding a long conversation with Gov. Beaver this hour over the wires. The Governor has just said: “Supplies and money are coming in freely. The Mayor of New York has just authorized me to draw on him for $50,000. Spare no efforts to have matter cleared up thoroughly, and employ enough men and teams to do it properly, hire all the men necessary and I will send you enough currency to pay them. Get the work of clearing up extended
185 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 through the entire alley and have all the bodies removed on discovery—a very necessary sanitary precaution. Divide the territory into districts and put reliable men in charge. Spare no expense or exertion to place matters in good shape in the entire affected district.” Gen. Hastings had forwarded his report to the Governor stating that two temporary bridges had been erected across the Conemaugh, but were proving inadequate to the travel. To-night Officers Robinson and Peeples, of Pittsburgh, discovered 100 pounds of dynamite hidden in a can in a hole in the mountain side. The purpose of this explosive could only be surmised. A notice has been posted in conspicuous places that all parties must come to Johnstown to-morrow to identify the bodies, as after that all bodies will be buried at the county’s expense. J.S. HENRY.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. HARRISBURG, PA., June 3.—In response to a request to keep him posted concerning Johnstown, Gov. Beaver has sent the following to President Harrison: “The Sheriff of Cambria county says everything is quiet; can control without troops. The people are fairly housed and good order prevails. Food, so far, is equal to the demand. Supplies of food and clothing are still greatly needed. Conservative estimates place the loss of life from 5,000 to 10,000; property from $25,000,000 to $40,000,000. The people are at work heroically and will have a large force to-morrow clearing away the debris. The sympathies of the world are freely expressed. One telegram from England gives $1,000. Will issue a general appeal to the public to-night. Help comes from all quarters. It is universal and greatly encourages our people. Will communicate with you promptly if anything unusual occurs. JAMES A. BEAVER." JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 3.—Three anxious inquiries sent by President Harrison to-day caused a general belief that Ex-Postmaster General Frank Hatton was among the passengers who were killed on the Pennsylvania railroad last Friday. President Harrison knew that Mr. Hatton was on that train and asked Adjutant-General Hastings to ascertain Mr. Hatton’s fate. No one here knew anything about his whereabouts. This afternoon William Henry Smith, general manager of the Associated Press, came in from Ebensburg, where he and Mr. Hatton have been in a pocket since the train was lost. They were on the train together and had a very narrow escape from death. All the passengers, twelve or thirteen in number, who left the train were killed. Mr. Hatton and Mr. Smith were lucky enough to stick to the train. Mr. Smith was in a hurry to get West, and forced his way over the mountains to Johnstown. Mr. Hatton and the rest of the passengers are waiting for the Pennsylvania road to resume operations. "Special to the Commercial Gazette. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 3.—Drs. White, of Connellsville; Clifford and Waddell, of Scottdale; Darlington of Pittsburgh, and numerous other outside physicians are here doing all they can for the sick and injured. The medical work on the South Side, where the number of wounded is great, is under charge of Dr. Alfred Wakefield. He and his family had a narrow escape. They were caught by the flood, but got upon the roof and made their way over houses and timber to shore. Mrs. Wakefield fell into the water once but was rescued. Her father, George Wagner, one of the oldest dentists in the city, her mother and three beautiful sisters are missing. They lived near the point, where few escaped, are probably lost. Many persons were imprisoned in the attics of houses until last evening. Rev. D.R.A. Fink and family are still in their house but are well. They saw many drowning persons swept by on the flood. Rev. H.R. Goodchild, of the Baptist Church, saved all his family. The Dunkard Church, on the South side, has its east gable demolished. In the city proper the Baptist, Lutheran and United Brethren Churches are almost intact. The Catholic Church, near Main street, is a ruin. It caught fire and three adjoining buildings were burned. The Presbyterian Church is standing. There is continual discussion here of the number of dead. Some residents say one-half of the people in the flooded district are dead; others say one-third. The population of the territory swept by the flood was at least 20,000. Few estimates of the loss are under 3,000. Some say twice that number. It will be at least three or four days before all bodies will be recovered here. There will be no accurate report of the loss of life for a week. No officials here are keeping record of the dead. Scores will never be recognized. Many bodies are mutilated by timber and some were crushed to death in falling houses. HASSLER.
From the Commercial Gazette Bureau.
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JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 3.—The ruins of the Hulburt House were pretty well cleared this afternoon. About 3 o’clock three bodies of well-known men were found near the western wall. All of them had evidently been killed by crashing timbers and brick. Their faces were mashed and blood-stained and they were identified only by papers in their pockets. In each case the hands of the corpse were held in front of the face as if to ward off a blow. The first body was that of Jonathan T. Carter, a commercial traveler for a Philadelphia house. Beside him lay the mangled corpse of C.P. St. John, an optician, who boarded in the house and had been in Johnstown less than three months. He was a handsome man, with light brown moustache and side whiskers. In his pocket was a silver watch. Fully three feet away, on the ground-floor, was the corpse of John Weakland, a popular young attorney. He wore a gold watch and heavy seal ring. He was a single man. It is said to-night that forty-nine people perished in the Hulburt House. HASSLER.
The old soldiers’ meeting at City Hall last night was well attended. Maj. Dennison presided and H.H. Bengough acted as Secretary. Edward Fisher, who was sent to the scene on Saturday, made a statement of the condition of the G.A.R. men of Conemaugh valley. He said he found ninety-nine men belonging to the Johnstown Post who had lost everything they had in the world, some of them losing their entire families. Of the 300 original members of the Post there were a great many missing, and it is thought they have perished. It was decided to select a committee for distribution into whose hands all contributions will be placed and disposed of. The committee appointed was: … It was decided that as the general relief fund will be distributed among the G.A.R. men as well as other at Johnstown, and as the need of assistance will be greater a week hence than now, the committee will not disburse the money on hand until that time. A resolution was adopted calling upon all G.A.R. Posts in the State to contribute to the fund, as well as all organizations that have the relief of old soldiers, their children or widows for their object. A motion was also passed calling upon the Department of State to take immediate action for the relief of the sufferers. A subscription list was started by Ma. Jos. F. Denniston, who contributed $50 to the fund. The sum collected last night was $752. The donations were as follows: …
Among those who returned from Johnstown last night was Capt. John A. Reid, who went out Sunday morning as a relief committee. He says the labors of the committee were much impeded by the idle curiosity-mongers who thronged the improvised bridge flung across the gulch. “We do not want soldiers—we do not need them,” he said. “The uniforms aggravate the people. For men with uniforms on there is no possible use.” What is wanted is sturdy fellows in rough suits who are willing to work under the direction of competent directors.
LONDON, June 3.—The Twenty-one Club, which was formed to commemorate the visit of the London Artillery Company, met at luncheon to-day, Maj. Durand presiding. In a speech the Chairman alluded to the terrible disaster at Johnstown, Pa., and spoke of the sympathy of the people of England for the sufferers. Mr. John C. New, the American Consul General, in response thanked Maj. Durand for his expressions of sympathy. Some persons are desirous that a fund be started at the Mansion House for the relief of the sufferers of the Johnstown floods. The Lord Mayor was absent from his office to-day, but his secretary, in answer to an inquiry, said he did not think it probable that such a fund would be raised. BERLIN, June 3.—A fund for the relief of the Johnstown flood sufferers has been organized in this city." JOHNSTOWN, June 3.—The committee sent from Pittsburgh by the Masonic fraternity have done good work. They were the first on the ground with provisions. All day yesterday … were engaged in burying the dead. They ran short of coffins, and in order to dispose of the rapidly decomposing bodies they built rough boxes out of the floating lumber that was caught, and in this way buried temporarily over fifty bodies in the cemetery just above town. "Messrs. Meyran, Day and Gorman, the committee representing the bankers’ relief fund, were …, the committee representing the bankers’ relief fund, were busy at work to-day sending out circulars and receiving subscriptions. The banks are subscribing liberally.
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Pennsylvania railroad stocks suffered a severe break to-day, as was to be expected in view of the enormous damage to the road. Last week it was quoted firm at 53 1/8@53 ¼. To-day it dropped to 50 ¼, but later, under the influence of supporting orders from London, it rallied to 51. Mr. V.C. Place, member of the Chicago Board of Trade, received a telegram this afternoon saying that the members of that institution were actively engaged subscribing to the Johnstown relief fund, it is thought $25,000 could be raised to-day. A real estate broker gave it as his opinion that the Cambria Iron Company will not rebuild at Johnstown. He thought it probably that the works would be built near one of Pittsburgh’s suburbs, where land was cheap and transportation facilities unexcelled. The insurance interests, both fire and life, as well as the mutual beneficial associations, will suffer a heavy loss by the flood disaster.
MONDAY, June 3, 1889. Owing to the excitement incident to the flood disaster general business is very much restricted, and there is not likely to be much improvement for a day or two to come, as our business men have been too much absorbed in regard to the catastrophe to give much attention to private business. Groceries Business was very quiet in grocery circles to-day, brokers and merchants being too much taken up with the flood disaster to think of anything else. The leading articles were devoid of anything important excepting that the firmness in sugars noted for some days past continues, which is owning to the short visible supply as compare with that of a year ago.
Dr. James McCann, of Penn avenue, who arrived from Johnstown yesterday, tells a thrilling story of the almost miraculous escape of Dr. Lowman and family. Dr. Lowman is one of the most prominent physicians in Western Pennsylvania, and his residence in Johnstown was considered one of the handsomest in the place. It was protected partially from the avalanche of water by the Methodist church, which is a large stone structure and stood broadside to the flood. When the water began rising on Friday Dr. Lowman, who was at home, was assisting his family to tear up carpets and move the furniture from the first floor to the second. He was impelled by some unknown motive to go to the door of his house and cast his gaze up the street. He saw advancing rapidly towards him what seemed to be a huge mountain. Grasping the situation in an instant he ran indoors and told the family to get to the top floors as quickly as possible. They had scarcely reached the second floor when the water was pouring in the windows. They went higher up and the water followed them, but it soon reached its extreme height. SAVED THE GIRL. While the family were huddled in the third story of their home, the doctor looked out and saw a young girl floating towards the window, on a door. He smashed the glass and, at great risk of his own life, he succeeded in hauling the door and its fair floater to the house and the girl was lifted in the window. She had not been there long until one corner of the building gave way and she became frightened. She insisted on taking a shutter and floating down stream. In vain did the doctor try to persuade her to forego such a suicidal attempt. She said that she was a good swimmer, and that once out in the water that she had no fears for her ultimate safety. The physician pleaded and entreated her to stay where she was, saying that they would all be saved ere long. She would not listen, and lifting a shutter from the window she plunged out into the surging waters. She has never been heard from since, and it is probable that her bruised body lies among the debris at the bridge. TOOK TO THE ROOF. When the girl deserted the house Dr. Lowman and his family made their way to the roof of their dwelling. While up there another corner of the house gave way, and though the structure was still solid, the doctor thought that it would be best to leave it as soon as an opportunity offered itself. Not far from where he was stood a bank building, in which he was interested, and he selected the roof of it as a haven for himself and family. After waiting on the house roof for several hours, the intervening space between the bank and the dwelling gradually became filled with drift. He gathered his family around him and gave them instructions to make all possible haste over the debris to the bank roof. They did so, and after a perilous walk they all reached the objective point in safety.
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Dr. Lowman’s aged father was one of the people and it was only with extreme difficulty he was gotten over. Once on the bank-roof the doctor commenced working to get the trap-door open, so that he could get shelter for his family, the water not being up to the top floor. After much work he was rewarded with success, and the family stayed in the bank building over night. In the morning they again went to the roof and by constructing a rude raft from the drift wood they were all taken safely to land. When his family was safe Dr. Lowman started to rescue other unfortunates, and he did good work. All day Saturday he worked like a beaver in water to his neck and he saved the lives of many. When the railroad was run into Johnstown and the relief physicians came, instead of pausing to rest, he went to work with them in relieving the injured and doing other deeds of mercy. " With the exception of those events for which invitations had been issued previous to the disaster, but few social events will have a place until the excitement of the Johnstown horror has subsided. Charitable institutions have thrown open their doors and the lady managers announce their willingness to aid the suffering and to receive and forward contributions. A number of benefits are also being arranged and will take the form of festivals and concerts. Sewing societies are already organized and willing hands are at work. The President of the U.P. Orphans’ Home announced her readiness to go to the devastated district and bring in the waifs who have escaped the flood, and give them shelter at the home. The German Orphan Asylum was offered on Sunday for the same purpose. The Children’s Memorial Hospital, adjoining the U.P. Orphans’ Home, will receive the injured children. The Managers of the Home for the Friendless report accommodations for half a hundred children. Yesterday morning the ladies of the institution held a sewing-bee. Donations of clothing were received and put in order and considerable headway made in cutting out new muslin and fashioning garments. To-day the children of the different school including the High School, will take up penny and nickel collections for the sufferers’ fund. Last night the children of the colored schools held a vocal and instrumental concert in Turners Hall, Forbes street. No admission fee was charged, but a collection was taken up at the close. Last night also Helen Stuart Riching, a noted medium, gave an elocutionary performance at Spiritualists Hall for the sufferers’ fund. To-night the Poco-a-Poca Orchestra will give a concert in the East End gymnasium. The Knights and Ladies of Honor will meet to-night at Lonely Hall, Allegheny, to perfect arrangements for help. The ladies’ auxiliaries of the G.A.R. have also announced meetings and commenced to sew for the sufferers. The St. Mary of Mercy’s Ladies Total Abstinence Society have promised to render assistance through the Total Abstinence Society of Johnstown. Other ladies’ societies are at work and individual offerings are plentiful. The Children’s Aid Society of Western Pennsylvania will take charge of any children sent to the society’s rooms in the Penn building. The mission societies in the different churches have also arranged meetings and the various circles of the King’s Daughters are soliciting contributions and planning ways and means of assistance. The Jewelers of the city started a subscription paper among themselves yesterday for the sufferers’ fund. One of their number, Mr. J.R. Reed, was delegated to Johnstown to inquire into the fate of the eleven jewelers who were located there, and with instructions to bring any of them or their families remaining to this city and the homes of the trade would welcome them. It has been learned that Mr. Lockhardt, the largest jeweler there, has been drowned, and Mr. Kirlin, another, has lost his wife and four children and all his goods. Mrs. Young, the owner of another store, is among the dead. The whereabouts of the other eight have not yet been discerned. A large party was held at the residence of Mr. E.P. Horner, at Johnstown, on last Thursday. Hagan, of this city, was caterer and with the edibles sent a furnishment of silver valued at $200. It is supposed that the Horner residence is a complete wreck. Mr. Hagan will make no effort to recover his silver. At a meeting held in Johnstown yesterday Mr. James B. Scott, of Pittsburgh, was elected Dictator of the Conemaugh valley and given absolute authority over the relief work. One hundred and five bodies were taken from the ruins, sixty-two of them from the jam at the bridge. It is stated that there was a great crowd at this point when the wave came, and it is thought that there are more bodies in the wreck there than was at first supposed. The fire has been put out. The Fourteenth Regiment has arrived and gone into camp. Contributions still come in and it is thought a million dollars may be raised. Pittsburgh has given about $200,000. "From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 4.—The city, or what is left of it, is at last under systematic rule. Heretofore there have been collisions between the various factions who have assumed authority—nothing serious, merely a hitch in the proper carrying out of the details. This afternoon a meeting was called of all in
189 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 authority at Chairman Moxham’s office, the headquarters of the Citizens’ Committee. There were represented the State authorities in the persons of … of the State Board of Health, the local authorities in the persons of … and others, and outsiders who had been called in to assume authority in certain departments in the persons of … . A DICTATOR WANTED. Chairman Moxham called the meeting to order and spoke of the necessity of some one being at the head, some one, in fact, who could be dictator of the Conemaugh Valley who could be looked to for orders. He described the qualities of the man desired for such a position so minutely and looked so significantly toward Capt. Jones, of Braddock, that everyone expected that he would be nominated. His look was so direct that Capt. Jones shook his head and was about to decline. He suggested, however, in the light of the imminent service and great ability displayed by Mr. James B. Scott, of Pittsburgh, Chairman of the Citizens’ Relief Committee, that he be nominated. SCOTT IS ELECTED. Adjt.-Gen. Hastings, who had left the pending duties that have kept him awake for nearly seventy-two hours, was there in blue flannel shirt, dirt-begrimmed clothing, and as some one remarked, “An old felt hat all wound round with a woolen string,” arose and in a most eloquent speech nominated Mr. Scott to assume authority throughout the devastated district and be the head of government there. The nomination was seconded and Mr. Scott was elected by acclamation. A vote of confidence was tendered Mr. Moxham, who since the beginning of the trouble has been working night and day and commanding obedience from the volunteer corps of police and deputies, although no such authority was regularly invested in him. A resolution was also unanimously adopted that the cleaning up of the ruins be turned over to Booth & Flinn, of Pittsburgh, and that they be requested to turn on their whole force at once, to employ 5,000 men if necessary, and all expenses would be guaranteed them. Capt. Jones, speaking on this question, said that the wisest plan was to bring workmen from other places, experienced men who had a knowledge of how to handle the debris and wreck that had to be cleared away. He stated that in no place could men more fit for such employment be found than in Pittsburgh. He also urged that the Cambria Iron-works employ all the local men they could in order to give employment to those who escaped the flood and thus get money in circulation once more in the borough. Capt. Jones’ sentiments were heartily endorsed by all present. THE SANITARY POLICE AT WORK. Chief J.O. Brown, of the Department of Public Safety of Pittsburgh, came out to-day. He brought with him the whole force of sanitary police—twelve in number, with Superintendent Baker, of the Bureau of Health, in command. After Mr. Scott had assumed the responsibilities of dictation Chief Brown turned over the various forces that had been operating under his or his subordinates’ direction. The sanitary police was placed at the disposal of Dr. Lee. General Hastings, of course, assumed the control of military forces, and to him Chief Brown gave the squad of thirty-two Pittsburgh police, who have been doing faithful work since last Saturday night. The police will stay in and be under the control of Gen. Hastings until the Fourteenth Regiment, which arrived this evening, has been quartered and put on duty and then they will return to Pittsburgh, probably leaving here to-morrow morning. THE LABORS OF THE FIREMEN. The Fire Department Chief Brown gave to Mr. Scott. This department was reinforced yesterday by the addition of two steamers and sixteen firemen, making in all three steamers and twenty-two firemen at work on the ruins. They have 7,000 feet of hose with them and No. 15 engine has been playing continually on the fire above stone bridge since Sunday evening at 5 o’clock. One of the steamers has been placed at the disposal of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and will follow along the river behind the work trains and be used in pumping water into the engine tanks. The department is under the immediate charge of Superintendent Evans. After making this disposition of his forces Chief Brown returned home this evening. BLASTING THE DEBRIS. The work of clearing up the debris was commenced in real earnest this morning, being superintended by Mr. Evan Jones, who acted for Booth & Flinn in the absence of the latter. Over 1,000 men were put to work nearly all from Pittsburgh and her suburbs. The National Tube-Works, of McKeesport, sent over 150 men, and there was still a larger delegation from Braddock, which had come up the night before with Capt. Jones. Four or five hundred came from Pittsburgh and vicinity, and the work began almost by daylight. Posters were placed in conspicuous places asking for 2,000 men to work, and directing them to apply to Booth & Flinn.
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The forces of workmen, divided into squads, each under a foreman, attacked the wreckage in Johnstown proper, and looked like so many ants. The rubbish as fast as removed is piled up and burned, much of it being utilized to cremate the bodies of horses and other animals found in the wreck. The debris is not removed recklessly, as the workmen are liable at any moment to come upon the bodies of the victims of the flood. A great many of these bodies were found, the men coming upon them so frequently that they took no note of the number. The work has been going on principally on Main and Franklin streets. Often the work of tearing away the debris had the be suspended while bodies were taken out and hauled away to the morgue. This work of taking away the corpses had been attended to by the undertakers, but this work had so increased and the force of undertakers had become so exhausted that the paid laborers had to be called away from their work. Capt. Jones has urged that none of the rubbish be set fire to, as there is danger of burning of bodies of the dead, and it might be possible living human beings were imprisoned in the wreck. Mr. Arthur Kirk, of Pittsburgh, came up last night and set to work this morning with a large supply of dynamite cartridges to clear away the wreck above the stone bridge. The work was carried on all day, but without very much effect. A heavy charge could not be used as there was danger of shattering the bridge or blowing up a large portion of the wreck and with it the dead bodies that are known to be there. The plan used by Mr. Kirk is to cut in twain the huge logs that are lodged immediately above the bridge and thus loosen the drift. These logs are encircled with a band of light charges which are set off with electricity. A slight opening had been made last evening. Mr. Flinn will arrive to-day and will bring with him portable engines which will be used in pulling out these logs. He will assume control of all the working forces, which are under pay and are run like any set of laborers on a contract. BUREAUS OF INFORMATION. At the meeting this afternoon Mr. Scott outlined a portion of the plan he intends following. He will establish bureaus of information at various points in the valley where applicants can be directed to the relief quarters, workmen sent to the proper authorities to hire them, and relatives directed to where they can see the bodies of the dead. Martial law has been declared and Gen. Hastings will see that it is observed. Passes will be required to get in and out of the lines. Dr. T.C. Shaw made a suggestion at the meeting which will be carried out to-day. The bodies as they are embalmed and placed in the coffins are registered and numbered and when unknown are only numbered with a description. It is now proposed to photograph the remains, the picture, number and description to the kept where they can be examined by those looking for relatives. Dr. Lee also made a significant request. He desires that all the members of the State Board come to Johnstown and confer with him as to the sanitary condition of the district. This conference is to have special reference to the danger there is of the water supply of Pittsburgh becoming polluted and pestilence arising. Gen. Hastings informed the meeting this afternoon that he had just received a message from Gov. Beaver stating that there was $250,000 in his hands for the sufferers and subject to draft. Mr. Moxham in a conversation with your correspondent this morning said that more money was needed. While answers were coming in promptly and there was a sufficiency for present needs, there should be no slackening of the contributions. One of the most remarkable incidents of the flood was brought to light to-day by Charles McKee, Esq., and L.H. Williams, of Pittsburgh. They were viewing the ruins in the central part of the city when they came to the residence of the late Gen. Campbell, a friend of Mr. McKee. The latter jokingly remarked that he would make a call and, climbing over the rubbish piled against the house, walked into the second-story window and left his card on a center-table. AN OLD LADY RESCUED ALIVE. He was walking away when an object on the roof attracted his attention. He glanced at it a second time and saw it was the body of a woman. Summoning some of the workmen nearby the body was lowered and found to be a Mrs. Moore, a lady 65 years of age, alive, but terribly exhausted. She was placed in a litter and carried to a friend’s house in Kernville. Her daughter, who had been looking for her, was nearly beside herself with joy on finding the old lady alive and walked close to the litter all the way, while on the other side walked Capt. Jones, to whom the old lady told her experience. Her own house had been swept from its foundation and was floating down the stream when it struck Gen. Campbell’s house, and in some manner, she could never tell how, she landed on the roof of the latter building. This was Friday afternoon, and from that time until rescued yesterday afternoon she had been without food
191 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 or drink. She has been an invalid for several years, and it is doubtful if she can recover from the sufferings of the last few days. HENRY.
From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 4.—The various relief committees are continuing their excellent work, and thousands of the sufferers are fed daily, and hundreds of them clothed and sheltered. One of the most complete arrangements for caring for these people is that of Camp Hastings, established by members of the Americus Club, and which is conducted with military regularity and discipline. Arriving on Saturday a detail composed of … was sent to select the site for a camp. The point chosen is about half a mile north of the city on the Ebensburg pike, lying beautifully on a gentle Western slope and affording good drainage. Tents arrived last night, sent by Gov. Foraker, of Ohio. Eighty of these have been pitched, clean, dry straw placed in them and nearly every one makes a comfortable, though temporary home for a washed-out family. The gentlemen named above stay right in the camp and attend to all the applicants that come, and they are kept bus every hour in the day. There are four commissary tents filled with everything necessary in the food line and with many delicacies that some of the sufferers were never accustomed to. Two more tents were filled with clothing contributions from private individuals. They consist mainly of women and children’s dresses and underwear. THE ROUTE OF SUPPLIES. All these supplies have come from Altoona and Hollidaysburg, the camp being right on the highway between these points and Johnstown. Most of those cared for at this camp are refugees from the village of Woodvale. These people climbed over the hill into Prospect, the citizens of that place opening their houses until there was no more room. Camp Hastings has been a great relief, and the eighty tents are pretty well occupied. To-day up to 4 o’clock a thousand people had been fed. A fire is kept going all the time on which is a large pot of coffee. Cold meats, bread, crackers, etc., are in abundance and a meal of lunch can be gotten ready in a few minutes. As noted before, the sanitary arrangements of the camp are excellent and the health of the camp has been good up until to-day, when a case of measles was reported. A mounted messenger is kept in readiness for an emergency of this kind, and as soon as the case was made known he galloped to the Cambria Hospital and had a physician in camp within fifteen minutes. The gentlemen assume control of the camp in turn, Mr. Lapsley having had charge to-day. THE NEW CEMETERY. Just across the field from Camp Hastings and facing the north is the cemetery, which already contains some eighty bodies buried since Sunday afternoon. The graves are shallow, not being more than four feet deep. This is necessary, as there is not time to sink them deeper and a great many of the bodies are interred but temporarily. The first regular funeral service was conducted at this cemetery to-day. It was held over the body of Harry Rose, the District Attorney of Cambria county. Rev. J.L. Maguire, of Pittsburgh, formerly of Johnstown, came up to attend the funeral and assisted Rev. Dr. Chapman in the service. It is in the intention of the churches here, as soon as the scattered congregations can be gathered together, to hold memorial services for the dead, specifying some particular day for the services when other churches in the country can unite with them. A visit was paid this afternoon to the Cambria hospital at Prospect. It was found under the very efficient management of Dr. M.J. Buck, assisted by the following corps: ... All these gentlemen are from Altoona, and arrived on the scene at 9 o’clock Saturday morning. Their headquarters are in the hospital, but they have especial care of the village of Prospect and are ready to respond to a call at any time. Their work has been principally in attending to the wounds and bruises of those rescued from the flood. None of the latter have proved fatal Pneumonia developed yesterday and is increasing, several new cases having been reported this morning. The sickness is among the women and children who were compelled to live for twenty-four and thirty-six hours in their wet clothing, and in many cases they had but a single garment on when rescued. Clean clothing and plenty of it has had a good effect. To-day a train came in from Columbus, O., laden with clothing and mattresses. AN ENERGETIC NEW YORKER. One of the active men in caring for the unfortunates at Camp Hastings is Mr. L.H. Klein, of New York. He was the only New Yorker in the city at the time of the flood. He stopped at the Merchant’s Hotel and assisted in rescuing some sixty persons from the water. His estimate of the loss of life is from
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15,000 to 20,000. He bases it on the population of Johnstown and suburbs being 33,000, and from observations made within a few hours after the damage was done. He states that he made a tour of all the points, and in the whole trip does not think he met or saw more than 5,000 living people. He gives anything but a complimentary account of the conduct of the Johnstown Council in the matter. On Saturday afternoon Mr. Moxham, Mr. Klein and another gentleman called on the Council to meet and authorize the increase of the police force, swear in a force of deputies and assume the responsibility of caring for the town. The meeting was called and eight members reported. They were averse to taking any action as there was not a quorum present. They were plead with to do something, but concluded that Monday would be time enough and adjourned. The gentlemen assumed authority themselves and did good work, as was shown in the way they organized the police force, recovered stolen property and checked the vandalism that had started before the danger from falling buildings was past. HENRY.
From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 4.—A highly important meeting, at which the Citizens’ Committee was thoroughly reorganized, was held here this afternoon. The meeting was called to order by A.J. Moxham, Chairman. The latter announced that the urgent needs of his private business as manager of the Johnstown Iron Company would compel him to resign. What was most needed was that each resident of Johnstown go to work, and for this object in view, he recommended that the Cambria, Johnstown and other companies immediately start the reconstruction of their respective works. In order to avoid any petty jealousy which might arise between men, he felt that the entire management of all departments should be placed in the hands of one man, who could have dictatorial powers. He felt that the proper man for this was James B. Scott, of Pittsburgh. The name of Capt. W.R. Jones was also suggested, but he requested to be excused, as the duties of General Manager of the Edgar Thomson Steel-Works was so urgent that he could not attend to the work. Mr. Scott was then chosen by the unanimous vote of the committee. A FUND OF $250,000. Adjt.-Gen. Hastings then announced that he had just received a telegram from Gov. Beaver, which state that he had $250,000 on hand for the sufferers. A number of speeches were then made, in which the contributors from every city were heartily thanked. The various organizations of Pittsburgh and Allegheny were especially thanked for their noble efforts. It was also announced that the Fourteenth Regiment would go on duty here at 5 o’clock to-day. The meeting then adjourned after a vote of thanks had been tendered Col. Moxham. Subsequently, Mr. Scott and the local officials on relief held a meeting and decided to return all the members of the old committees. This is the first decided move towards a most systematic organization. The names of the respective committees are: Information and Transfer, Employment of Messengers and Teams, Care and Burial of the Dead, Search for the Missing. Besides these are the Bureau of Commissary Stores, Labor and Health. All these will be under the direction of Mr. Scott. Is it proposed to put 1,500 additional laborers at work to-day. Fully 1,000 are now employed and are doing excellent work. SANITARY PRECAUTIONS. Thirteen sanitary police officers arrived from Pittsburgh to-day and were turned over to Dr. Lee, the Chief of the Bureau of Health. The latter is in communication with Surgeon Hamilton, of the United States Marine Hospital service, who has said that the Government will supply all the disinfectants necessary to thoroughly fumigate the town. The Relief Committee is exceedingly anxious that the work of removing the bodies of the dead form the debris be conducted with all possible speed. The protection of the living from pestilence and disease is the primary object of this haste. The effort in this direction to-day was extraordinary. Capt. Jones arrived in the morning with five hundred laborers who immediately went into camp and afterwards to work searching for bodies. When all the latter were found and taken to the morgue, willing hands attacked the almost inextricable mass which was piled in mighty heaps in every portion of the town. Everything of value was preserved, but the mass of broken furniture and splintered timbers was burned. As a consequence large bonfires are seen everywhere. Dynamite cartridges are being place in the drift and then exploded, as a consequence the loud reports which occur frequently resemble the salutes of artillery. There is no time lost here. The committees
193 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 which were reappointed fifteen minutes ago are now busy at work, and aide-de-camps are carrying orders hither and thither with promptness which is remarkable. AN IMPORTANT WARNING. The following highly important warning was issued from here to-day and Dr. Lee request that the papers in all the towns along the rivers named to please copy: “Cautionary proclamation: The State Board of Health of Pennsylvania has satisfied itself by personal inspection that the waters of the Conemaugh, Allegheny and Ohio rivers must become contaminated as a result of the recent catastrophe at Johnstown. It therefore earnestly urges all persons who are obliged to depend upon these streams for their water supply to use no water for household purposes which has not been previously boiled. By order of the board. BENJAMIN LEE, Secretary.” BURNS.
From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 4.—Every train that arrives from Pittsburgh brings hundreds of people who come for no other purpose than to see the sights, and thousands more would come if they could get through the gates at the Union Depot, and thousands of others along the road would go if the conductors would let them on the trains. Far too many come as it is, but a few days more will put the town in condition to receive them. The first thing that greets the eye of the passenger who alights at Cambria City is the famous stone bridge. Instead of bearing four tracks upon its massive and elegantly trimmed arches, it forms a barrier against which millions of tons of debris is packed in a solid mass. This conglomeration of matter consists of timber, human bodies, lumber, furniture, horses, wagons, dry goods, groceries, household furniture, locomotives, boilers, machinery, brick, stone, coal, coke, mud, trees, shrubbery, tin-roofs, hives, wool, logs, chickens, and every conceivable thing that may be found in city, town, village, or on farm or mountain-side. From it rises a dense cloud of blue smoke through which is seen at intervals the red glow of cinders, with here and there fleecy puffs of steam. The odor that arises is sickening and one naturally concludes that it is from the human bodies that are being slowly incinerated; but it is not from these alone. Here are no skeletons or half-burned bodies visible, although a great many imagine that they see them. There seems to be but one way in which to get rid of this debris effectually and prevent the pollution of the water, and that is to feed the flames with petroleum and assist in its destruction. To remove it piecemeal is practically impossible, besides the time consumed in this work will allow dangerous contamination of the water in the streams below. SEEING THE SIGHTS. To reach the temporary foot bridge at the farther pier of the stone bridge is no easy task, especially when the narrow, sloping steps are covered by thin, slippery mud. This foot bridge is built on an incline that requires one to be careful, besides it wobbles and wavers suggestive of sudden collapse. The river no longer runs under the arches of the stone bridge, but through the passage cut in the eastern approach. It was across this narrow channel that the wire rope and trapeze was erected, and by which those first in the city passed over the modern styx. This brings you to the Cambria Iron-Works, a portion of which is standing. The site of the wrecked buildings is indicated by pile of ingot molds, pig iron and pieces of heavy machinery. Everything of less than a ton weight seems to have been swept away, leaving the ground bare or piled up with loose stone and gravel. Mud, slime and water prevail everywhere, and pedestrians present a sorry spectacle. Details of men are constantly employed carrying blankets, tents and provisions in the direction of the central supply station at the depot. Everything is wet and muddy, and there seems to be but little order about the manner in which work is done. The railroad gang is rapidly completing the connecting link in the tracks, which will allow supply trains to reach the depot. Bedraggled women, with shawls over their heads, straggle along with small baskets of provisions, a pot of coffee or a loaf of bread, or a blanket to shelter them from the drizzling rain. Hungry, half- drowned dogs nose around among the debris in search of food, or sit disconsolately on drift piles. Not a wagon, cart or horse is seen moving, although a number can be seen half-buried in the mud. Several fine teams may be seen partly hidden in the debris. These were overtaken by the flood, and were swept along before it until stopped by becoming entangled in the drift. Two or three of these half-
194 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 buried teams attracted a great deal of attention, especially a carriage team rigged out with handsome harness. AT THE DEPOT OF SUPPLIES. At the Pennsylvania railroad depot the people crowd and confusion is great. There the hungry, shivering throng is clamoring for food and clothing, and among the more importunate are the least deserving. Those in charge of the supplies are not very inquisitive, because where suffering is so general there is little room for serious mistakes. The Pittsburgh police stationed here, under Lieut. Crossan, are vigilant and watchful, and succeed most admirably in keeping the crowd under control. They, too, are drenched and muddy, and are far from being overfed, yet they are vigilant, and no complaints are heard. They would like to get a little rest. The once elegant building known as the Cambria Iron Company’s store next attracts attention. A portion of the upper floor is crushed in, and a pile of drift reaches half way to the roof. The lower floor is one mass of mud and merchandise. The upper floors in the center and lower portions are apparently all right. All of the buildings around it are gone, and the pavements and sidewalks washed out, leaving the store standing alone in a waste of sand and water. It is some distance from here to where the river is now located. When the flood came to the bend just above the store, it swept straight ahead filled up the old channel and made a new bend in one of the principal streets. Here and there you strike a bit of cobble-stone pavement, see a few yards of street railway track, or a patch of brick sidewalk, but there is not a vestige of a house. A little further on the river rushes swiftly along its new course. Here a temporary rope bridge has been swung across. It is a frail-looking structure, but strong enough to bear three or four persons at one time. It is supported in the center by two or three skiffs that have been made to serve the purpose of pontoons. The officers on guard at either end are careful not to allow more than four on the bridge at one time, and they must keep well apart. The timid and nervous found this the most trying part of the voyage, but when safely landed they felt that there was no greater dangers to be encountered on the tour. Here was where the mud grew deep and the walking bad for those not provided with gum boots. A TOUR OF MAIN STREET. It was in this section the finest houses were located. The places where they were on Friday last are as bare as a sand beach, with the exception of an occasional leafless and almost limbless shrub or bush. As you approach the First M.E. Church you are informed that you are on the site of a once beautiful little park, around which was clustered the palatial residences of some of the richest and most influential residents of this city. That of the well-known and popular Cyrus Elder stood here, but he and his wife and charming daughter went down in the flood with their beautiful home, and in company with all of their immediate neighbors except the Rev. Mr. Chapman, of the First M.E. Church. A week ago Main street was the principal thoroughfare in the city, and was lined on either side by flourishing business houses, hotels and offices. The wealth represented probably ran into the millions, and the names above the doors were among the best. The street was about as wide as Fifth avenue and presented a handsome appearance. Now it is filled from end to end with debris as high as the second-story windows. With permission of the guards stationed thickly along the route the visitor may clamber over the top of this mass of crushed houses and look into the windows through which the floods poured in such torrents as to prevent the inmates from escaping. The bed-rooms into which you look became chambers of death. Scarcely a soul therein escaped the lethal waters. The Merchants’ Hotel, one of the best preserved buildings on the street, is looked upon as a sort of ark, as all who remained in it were saved. The proprietor, Mr. Charles Ham, for many years connected with the St. James in this city, is reported among the dead, but he was out of the house at the time the flood occurred. The debris is composed mainly of houses swept down from above. These made a lodgment at the foot of the street and formed a dam which broke the force of the torrent, but caused the water to rise into the second stories of the houses. This accounts of many houses remaining in this street. There can be no doubt that there are a great many bodies under this vast pile of stuff, but they will not be found until it is removed. As you walk over the top of it you step on elegant pieces of parlor furniture, pianos, pillows, clothing and almost every article to be found in well-furnished houses. Children’s toys almost invariably cause the visitor to halt, because they are suggestive of the little ones who died such terrible deaths.
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Houses with sides or ends torn out revealed well and even elegantly furnished apartments. In bed- rooms the pillows and spreads were undisturbed, but stained by the muddy water. Fine pictures and portraits hung from walls, and mirror reflected only sad pictures of wreck and ruin. One million dollars will hardly scarcely cover the loss on this portion of the street. AMONG THE SURVIVORS. From here the tourist heads for Prospect street, which lies above the flood line and runs parallel with the Baltimore & Ohio railroad. Some expect to find the people tearing their hair and wailing like those who will not be comforted. Instead of this they are found to be as jolly as usual. The young people are laughing and talking, the older ones recounting the events of the past few days to visitors and the women folks gossiping from door to door. There is no business on this street, as it is mainly given up to residences. The few saloons of which it boasted have been closed, but the side doors are not bolted, and the condition of some of those whom you meet indicated that the saloons have not gone dry. There is no regular work to do, as the men feel inclined not to do anything. It is even said that it has been difficult to get some of them to assist in caring for the sick and dead. This complaint is far from being general, because the survivors had everything to do from Friday evening until Sunday afternoon, when a few outsiders found a way to get into the water-walled city. All who are willing to work have been sworn in as special police, and given a tin star and a mace. Those who worked during the two fateful nights and days trying to rescue their relatives and friends, or to secure their bodies, were so worn out that they have scarcely recovered sufficiently to begin work again. AMONG THE DEAD. The school-house in Prospect street was converted into a morgue, and a great many bodies had been gathered into it before the arrival of undertakers from Pittsburgh and other points. These were washed and prepared for burial, but the supply of coffins being exhausted they were allowed to remain until every room in the building was filled. Rows of babes, rows of little girls, rows of little boys, and of young women and young men, and of middle-aged men and women, and of those whose features showed them to have nearly run the course of life before meeting the sad fate, were to be seen in nearly every room in the building. Upon the arrival of help from the outside the work was pushed rapidly, and as fast as coffins could be procured bodies were removed or buried. In order to prevent decomposition all the bodies were embalmed, so that there is no offensive odor in any of the morgues, except from recently recovered bodies, and this lasts no longer than it takes to wash and embalm them. Not far from the morgue is the hospital. It was a beer hall in its palmy days. In it are about twenty patients, nearly all of whom are suffering from nervous prostration or diseases superinduced by the ordeal through which they have passed. Other morgues and hospitals were opened as occasion demanded. These were taken charge of by the physicians and undertakers who went up from this city, and they worked untiringly night and day until order was brought out of chaos and the more urgent cases had been attended to. At present there seems to be sufficient force to meet the demands as far as the sick and the dead are concerned. The living are being cared for by the General Relief Committee, and as far as known there is no actual suffering for want of either food or clothing, although the destitution was widespread. Don’t go to Johnstown unless you have special business there. Even if your friends are dead you cannot help them, and if they are living they will receive the best of care. In a few days you will not be in the way as much as at present, and if you are merely visiting you will find your visit more agreeable. Q.O.
From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 4.—Since the bursting of the South Fork reservoir several people belonging to the Fishing Club have visited the dam. Four of them went there to-day, with a photographer, and had views taken of the reservoir at different points. Among them were Mr. Wilson and Mr. Clark. These gentlemen reached the reservoir by the Frankstown road out of Johnstown. They visited the committee’s headquarters here for passes and were advised by the gentlemen in charge to get out of town as quickly as possible. It was feared that if they were recognized by the excited populace they would be lynched. They got out. On Monday Mr. Bidwell and another member of the club went to the
196 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 reservoir by way of South Fork. There were recognized by the people there and were threatened with lynching but escaped. It is reported that Mr. Bidwell was used very roughly by the crowd. HASSLER.
From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 4.—Adjt.-Gen. Axline, of Ohio, who has had charge of the coffin supply, reported yesterday that it was running short. There was an alarming scarcity in the morning when Gen. Axline burst open the doors of two freight cars and found them filled with coffins. There was no way to get them over to Johnstown except to carry them. So everybody that came along, worker and sightseer, was pressed into service, and soon a string of these pall-bearers extended from the cars across the river to the depot, a distance of half a mile. The sight was both unique and solemn. Later in the day this supply gave out and in one or two cases rough coffins were manufactured from waste lumber. A telegram was received about 6 o’clock announcing that several carloads were on their way. HENRY.
HARRISBURG, PA., June 4.—Gov. Beaver to-day received the following from Mayor Foresman of Williamsport: “The situation expressed in a few words is this: The boom has been cleaned of logs from the principal yards along by the river front and the manufactured lumber has been swept away. The houses of the poor people nearest the river have been carried away with all they possessed. Thousands of people are homeless and without anything but the clothes upon their backs. Provisions are scarce and are most needed quick. Many of our people are in absolute want for the necessaries of life. Although bereft of property themselves, our business men have responded nobly for present necessities. At the meeting called yesterday $7,000 in cash was raised. We badly need disinfectants. STREWN WITH DEAD ANIMALS. “Dead animals and all kinds of filth are strewn upon the streets, and grave fears of an epidemic are entertained. Stocks of goods of stores in the center of the city are ruined. It is impossible to estimate the loss and damage to different kinds of property. Five million dollars is a low estimate of the loss on lumber alone. Other losses larger. The surrounding country has suffered just as badly. Booms, bridges and villages have been swept away and the loss of life has been considerable. Judge Cummins is Treasurer of the relief fund and will see personally to the faithful distribution of all contributions. Responsible relief committees are now organized in each ward of the city, and aid is administered as fast as we get it. Please God, we are not dismayed and rely on His guidance, the generosity of our own State and country to aid us in this the hour of our dire necessity. A SUPPLY OF TENTS NEEDED. “One thousand military tents will afford the greatest possible relief to out people who are now without shelter, and the lumber all having gone, other temporary shelter cannot be provided soon enough. The tents that you might send will be taken charge of by the Mayor and taken care of and returned in as good condition as possible. Send us several large mess tents, where we can feed the people in large numbers. The low ground, where many of these people reside, is an unfit place for them to return to for sanitary reasons.” Gov. Beaver replied as follows: “Be of good cheer. Your reliance is not misplaced. God and the country will sustain you. Will reach you with help as soon as Montgomery bridge can be crossed. I am loading cars here with flour and groceries, notwithstanding the pressure of our own stricken people. Will telegraph Philadelphia at once for provisions and disinfectants. GOV. BEAVER’S SUGGESTIONS. “Put your unemployed men to work in removing debris and cleaning your city. I will furnish means for paying them reasonable wages, and this will answer the double purpose of preventing disease and the listlessness which springs from idleness. May not be able to send you tents. The State has no large tents such as you desire. Better use your market-houses and other public buildings. May be able when communication is established to send you a carload of ordinary canvas. The country is responding nobly to humanity’s call sent out last night. Will give a better idea of the situation, though I have no fear of any lack of means for furnishing all needed help. Communicate with me directly and freely as to your needs and how I can co-operate in supplying them.” The list of dead in this region so far as now learned numbers eighty-three.
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PHILADELPHIA, PA., June 4.—The following persons desire that their friends at the places named be notified that they are at Altoona and well: … The particulars of the sad drowning of two young ladies who were passengers on the day express which was overtaken by the flood at Conemaugh, are brought to light through the efforts of the railroad authorities and some clue of their whereabouts. Miss Bessie Bryan, aged about 18, a rather delicate- looking young lady, was accompanied on her journey by Miss Paulson, of Pittsburgh. Miss Bryan had gone to Pittsburgh to attend the wedding of two friends, which took place on Thursday last. Miss Paulson and Miss Bryan were in the Pullman car, and when the rush of water came, did not get out as promptly as some of the other passengers, and they were caught by the flood and carried off. Every passenger who was in the car, or who was about the scene of the disaster, has been interviewed and the facts given above are confirmed. The Pullman conductor who had charge of the train says he shouted to all in the car to run and stop for nothing. He picked up two children and noticed Miss Paulson and Miss Bryan walking about without their overshoes and water-proofs. He again called out not to wait, but fears the precious moments they lost were enough to prevent them from reaching the hill, as he, with the children, escaped but a second or two ahead of the flood, which was at his heels. After the water had gone down a search of the car was made and it was found that both the water-proofs were missing. Miss Paulson’s overshoes were also gone, but Miss Bryan’s were found, she having left them behind. The most reliable reports received show that the bodies of seven passengers have been recovered as follows: …" PHILADELPHIA, PA., June 4.—A special from Lock Haven says the situation there is of the most gloomy character, the fear being expressed that many will starve. All communication is cut off and aid cannot reach them. To add to their distress they are without a water supply, the reservoir having been washed out. There was ten feet of water in the highest station in the city of Lock Haven. " From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 4.—To-night a third man fell through the open trestle at the west end of the stone bridge and suffered a fracture of the skull. He is at the hospital. Adjt.-Gen. Axline, of Ohio, went to Superintendent Pitcairn and begged him to have this death-trap repaired. He said it would be closed to-morrow morning. HASSLER.
From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 4.—One hundred and five bodies were found in the ruins to-day. Sixty-two of these were taken from the drift at the bridge, and the remainder were found in various sections of the city. The entire family of Wm. Gilmore was found in the channel just above the bridge. The fire here has been extinguished except at the outer edge, and the search for bodies progressing rapidly. To-night when I visited the morgue at the Fourth ward school I found forty-five unknown bodies all awaiting identification. Each had been embalmed and all are in a fair state of preservation. Quite a number of bodies were identified. The Altoona Relief Committee arrived here yesterday and have been kept quite busy ever since. The journey overland is in wagons from Ebensburg, as the railroad communication has been entirely shut off. The committee in charge, J.D. Hicks and his men, yesterday took twenty-one bodies from the ruins, while they increased the number to thirty-two to-day. They also contributed $6,000 in money. Roger O’Mara, Superintendent of Police, has spent the entire afternoon among the debris securing such information as will enable him to properly distribute the thirty-five officers on duty here. He says that thieves are working in the neighboring towns very energetically, but he fears no danger of an epidemic of robbery in Johnstown. THE MILITIA ARRIVE. The Fourteenth Regiment and one company of the Fifth, which arrived here to-night, are quartered in the passenger coaches, but will do in camp on Prospect Hill in the morning. The members of the Fifth complain that they have been on the road without rations since 7 o’clock this morning. They are also complaining about not having proper sleeping facilities. There is no news in that, as not any of the newspaper men have enjoyed the comforts of a real bed since the first day of the calamity. Three carload of coffins arrived from Pittsburgh to-day, and the supply will last until about to-morrow noon.
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The constant arrival of “ornamental” committees is a source of great annoyance to the real workers of this section. The members of these committees are all decorated with ribbons flaunting from the coat lapels. Their efforts and time are devoted to sight-seeing, and Gen. Hastings, Manager Scott and all hard-working people here hope and pray that they will go home. The following bodies were identified to-day: … AN APPALLING ESTIMATE. It is now believed that fully 1,000 bodies are in the dam drift. Just before the fatal whirlpool came rushing down the valley fully 400 people were standing on the river-bank looking at the rising waters of Stony creek. All of these were hurled into the torrent and now lie buried in the mass of which their bodies now form a part. The odor of putrefying flesh is strongly discernible to those who stand on the bridge. To-night and to-morrow will probably mark the first day of unbearable stench, which will be the fore-runner of pestilence. The Cambria Iron Company estimates its loss at $3,000,000, and will at once commence building. The Johnstown Company will do likewise. A saddler and harness-making shop is now being rebuilt and has the honor of being the second building erected in this new city. Shank’s Hotel was the first building started. One company of the Fourteenth has just gone on duty in the center of the city. This evening five men were conveyed under a guard of soldiers to Alma Hall. They had been arrested at Morrellville for robbing some of the few houses which remain there and also for boldly robbing women on the streets of Germantown, a suburb of this city. The best of order prevailed while they were passing through the streets and the much-talked-of lynchers failed to materialize. Men, women and children who live here have become so accustomed to the sight of corpses and coffins on the streets that a wagon load of ether attracts nothing more than a passing glance. BURNS.
JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 4.—If there is one thing above another that the authorities and those interested in the work here desire it is that sight-seers stay away. This is urged for many reasons, and Mr. Moxham, Gen. Hastings and others have requested newspaper correspondents again and again to impress the fact upon the public that the presence of people who come from no other motive but curiosity is a hindrance and prevents the work that must now be pushed rapidly night and day. They block the bridges, which are inadequate to accommodate the workmen. They get in the way of workmen at the ruins. They crowd about the morgues to the exclusion of friends, and are a nuisance in general, crowding trains and are usually the most important personages in the neighborhood. They are asked to stay away – they are begged to stay away. HENRY.
WASHINGTON, D.C., June 4.—A public meeting of citizens was held to-day to devise means for aiding the flood sufferers in Pennsylvania. President Harrison presided and upon taking the chair said: “Everyone here to-day is distressingly conscious of the circumstances which have convened this meeting. It would be impossible to state more impressively than the newspapers have already done the distressing incidents attending the calamity which has fallen upon the city of Johnstown and the neighboring hamlets, and upon a large section of Pennsylvania situated upon the Susquehanna river. The grim pencil of Dore would be inadequate to portray the horrors of this visitation. In such meetings as we have here in the National Capital and other like gatherings that are taking place in all the cities of this land we have the only rays of hope and light in the general gloom. THE ONLY THING TO DO. “When such a calamity is visited upon any section of our country we can do no more than to put about the dark picture the golden border of love and charity. [Applause.] It is in such fires as these that the brotherhood of man is welded. And where is sympathy held more appropriate than here in the National Capital? I am glad to say that early this morning, from a city not long ago visited with pestilence, not long ago itself appealing to the charitable people of the whole land for relief—the city of Jacksonville, Fla.—there came the ebb of that tide of charity which flowed towards it in the time of its need, in a telegram from the Sanitary Relief Association authorizing them to draw for $2,000 for the relief of the Pennsylvania sufferers. [Applause.]
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“This is no time for speech. While I talk, children are suffering for the relief which we plan to give. One word or two of prayer, or suggestion, and I will place this meeting in your hands to give effect to your impatient benevolence. THE NEEDS OF THE HOUR. “I have a dispatch from the Governor of Pennsylvania advising me that communication has just been opened with Williamsport on a branch of the Susquehanna river, and that the losses in that section have been appalling; that thousands of people there are homeless and penniless, and that there is an immediate call for food to relieve their necessities. He advised me that any supplies of food that can be hastily gathered here should be sent via Harrisburg to Williamsport, where they will be distributed. I suggest, therefore, that a committee be instituted, having in charge the speedy collection of articles of food. “The occasion is such that the bells might well be rung through your streets to call the attention of the thoughtless to this great exigency. In order that a train-load of provisions may be dispatched to-night or in the early morning to this suffering people I suggest, secondly, as many of these people have had the entire furnishings of their houses swept away, and have now only temporary shelter, that a committee be appointed to collect such articles of clothing, and especially bed-clothing, as can be spared. Now that the summer season is on, it can hardly be that a house in Washington cannot spare a blanket or a coverlet. And third, I suggest that from the substantial business men and bankers there be a committee who shall collect money. For after the first exigency is passed there will be found in those communities very many who have lost their all, who will need aid in the reconstruction of their demolished homes and in furnishing them so that they may be again inhabited. AN APPEAL TO WASHINGTON. “Need I say, in conclusion, that as a temporary citizen of Washington, it would give me great satisfaction if the National Capital should so generously respond to this call of our distressed fellow citizens as to be the most conspicuous among the cities of our land. [Applause.] I feel that as I am now calling for contributions I should say that on Saturday, when first apprised of the disaster at Johnstown, I telegraphed a subscription to the Mayor of that city. I do not like to speak of anything so personal as this, but I felt it due to myself and to you that I should say so much as this.” A list of Vice-Presidents, including the members of the Cabinet, Chief Justice Fuller, Chief Justice Bingham, of the Supreme Court of the District, and two of the most prominent business men in the city was chosen, and Secretaries and Treasurer also selected. Calls for subscriptions were then made and the responses were numerous and for quite large amounts, a half-dozen being for $500 each. About $10,000 was raised in the hall. CLOSING REMARKS. The President, in dismissing the meeting, said: “May I express the hope that this work will be earnestly and thoroughly pushed, and that every man and woman present here will go form the meeting to use their influence in order that these supplies of food and clothing, so much and so promptly needed, may be supplied, and that either to-night or to-morrow morning a train well freighted with relief may go from Washington.” Before the motion for adjournment could be put, however, a resolution was proposed tendering the thanks of the meeting to the President for the sympathy with distressed humanity which he has manifested by assisting at the meeting. The President, before it could be carried, arose and requested that it be withdrawn. In a graceful speech he expressed his appreciation of the kindly motive which prompted the resolution, but asked that it be withdrawn, which was done.
Yesterday afternoon word was received at the Chamber of Commerce that four train-loads of flood sufferers would arrive at 4:30, and volunteers were called on to house them. In the meantime the services of the ladies were called on and in a short time the lecture-room of the Second Presbyterian Church resembled a banquet hall. Four long tables, covered with snowy table-cloths were spread with everything in the way of food that looked inviting and as Hon. William H. McCreery remarked, there were enough ladies to wait on a thousand people. They were there with pretty caps and white aprons anxious to feed the hungry. While other ladies were discussing how many they could accommodate at their homes and a dozen were opening and arranging boxes of supplies consisting of underclothing and next outside wearing apparel. Said Mr. McCreery, “The merchants just told us to come inside and help ourselves. Money they wouldn’t touch. Here we have the best of everything.” CARRIAGES SENT.
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At 4 o’clock twenty carriages were at the Union depot to receive the sufferers. A squad of police was on hand to keep back the crowd. The hour rolled around, but the train didn’t. It was late. It finally got in at 5:35 p.m. The Reception Committee, two gentlemen with yellow ribbons in their button-holes, approached two gentlemen who got off the train and wore similar ribbons, and asked for the sufferers. “I have one with me,” was the answer, “which I will take home.” “One! Why, where are the 200? Didn’t see them.” So the carriages rattled away empty and the kind ladies at the church waited. A gentleman, his wife and baby came in. They had suffered from the flood, but had been travelers got to Ebensburg and came back to take a fresh start. They were the only flood sufferers that came and the good ladies looked disappointed. “There is some mistake,” said Mr. McCreery. “I don’t understand it. However, there is another section coming in later, and we will wait for it. I suppose that Greensburg and Latrobe took care of most of those who started on the first section.” Mr. McCreery was right. The bulk of the sufferers got in an hour later. ARRIVAL OF THE SUFFERERS. It was 9 o’clock before the second train arrived. It was met, as before, by the carriages and quite a number of sufferers were received. One old lady who was brought in looked the picture of death, and it was thought at first that she was in a faint. Upon entrance the distressed people were at once seated at the tables, where appetizing vinods were spread, and from thence to the clothing-supply department, where they were fitted out with any necessary articles of apparel. This apartment was ably managed by …. The system displayed by the ladies in the management of details was superb. At the entrance was Mrs. Dr. Easton, who received the names of the those inquiring for missing friends, in another place was Mrs. George A. Kelly, who received the names of the sufferers and apportioned them to the places that had made application for them. The Executive Committee, consisting of … at the head, did excellent work. COMMITTEES AT WORK. The Dining Room Committee included … and the ladies on the Supply Committee were … The scenes were particularly pathetic. Anxious friends were thronging around the “directory” corner. Kind ladies were making application for children, and the only adults present had a hard time of it among so many distresses. The institutions that sent in provisions for sufferers were Helping Hand, Home of the Friendless, Boys’ Home, Christian House, Emmanuel Church, Allegheny General Hospital, Temporary Home for Children, Orphan Asylum, Homeopathic Hospital, U.P. Orphans’ Home, Hanna Hall, Beatty Hall, Day Nursery, and a number of private individuals. When the announcement was made that the second train would not arrive until midnight, a night committee was formed which included ... These ladies remained until the last of the sufferers had been fed and sent to their destinations. Twenty were housed by the Emanuel Church, three colored children were sent to the Colored Orphans’ Home, two to the hospital, and others to various points. Dr. Jane Vincent was on hand to care for any of those needing treatment. The names of the sufferers received up to midnight were: … Last night there arrived at the Baltimore & Ohio depot from Johnstown a carload of sick and wounded sufferers, who were brought to this city to be placed in the different hospitals. They were met at the train by a committee from the Chamber of Commerce and placed in the waiting ambulances and patrol wagons and driven to the hospitals. Four went to the West Penn, three to the Allegheny General and twelve to the Mercy. The Homeopathic ambulance was at the train, but an attendant said last night that none of the wounded were brought there. THE INJURED. At the Mercy Hospital the worst case was Mrs. Margaret Donnelly, a widow, 50 years old. She is hurt internally, had three ribs broken, and will probably die before morning. Miss Catherine Vance, 19 years, was in the water for fifteen hours but has no fractured bones and will probably live. Mrs. Mary Slick, 48 years, in the water the greatest part of three days; she may recover. Rose Young, 22 years, has a badly jammed body and internal injuries. She was given an opiate, as she was suffering intensely. She is dangerous. George Slick, 50 years, was laid up with rheumatism when the flood came. The exposure he has come through has paralyzed him and he will probably die. A son of George Slick, 14 years, worn out; will recover.
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Nellie Secrist, Philadelphia, 19 years, in the water twelve hours and bruised about the face and body; she will get better. Mrs. Emma Horn, 25 years, crushed leg, pneumonia from the exposure; she will die in a few hours. John Horn, 28 years, suffering from exposure; he will recover. Mrs. Ann Frederick, 30 years, was sick with a fever before the flood, and the exposure has about finished her; she will hardly recover. Mary Frederick, a daughter of the above, crushed body and bruised head; she may recover. Sarah Young, 25 years, has a dislocation of the knee and was in the water ten hours; her case is dubious. Benton Rouly, 30 years, had typhoid fever when the flood came; his recovery is doubtful. At the West Penn Hospital there are: Bonbein Newman, suffering from exposure. Morris Newman, broken leg and hurt about the head; the leg will be amputated at once. Charles Reed, broken arm and suffering from exposure. None of the West Penn cases will die. The car the patients were brought down on was fixed up by Dr. Stewart and will be send back over the Baltimore & Ohio this morning for another detachment.
Over 2,000 laborers were sent from this city to Johnstown yesterday. A detachment of about 500 of these marching down Fifth avenue about 5:30 last evening attracted much attention. Every man had over his shoulder something to show that he was going to work. Some carried crowbars, others picks or shovels, and still others had great coils of cable or carried block and tackle swung from bars resting on their shoulders. They were a strong, willing lot of men and were followed down the street by an admiring throng. The train on which they were sent out was made up on Liberty avenue, where they were joined by more than a thousand more. As the men boarded the train their faces were closely scanned by Inspector McAleese, Cap. Dan Silvus and a number of detectives in citizen’s clothes, and when a man whom they know to be a suspicious character attempted to board the train he was given a gentle hint that his services were not required. The train was the best equipped one that has yet been sent out. It was supplied with everything they would need for their work. The tools and equipments on the train had been donated during the day and, if purchased, would have cost not less than $50,000. Among the equipments were sixty electric lights sent by the Allegheny County Electric Light Company, which will be put up at once so that the work can be carried on without stopping. Hussey, Brown & Co. also sent fifteen dozen more shovels, and the Relief Committee was notified during the day that the National Tube-Works, at McKeesport, had sent to Johnstown fifteen riggers, fully equipped, and five tons of tools. In the forenoon about 300 laborers had been sent from the Union station. Two special trains were sent to Johnstown by the Baltimore & Ohio railroad. They were in charge of Booth & Flinn. The first train consisted of fourteen carloads of provisions and some passenger coaches containing workmen. The second was loaded with horses, wagons, carts and implements, among which were six hoisting engines which will be used in clearing away the wreck. Between 800 and 900 men went out on the trains and they will all be put to work to-day under the charge of Booth & Flinn’s foremen. Work has been stopped on all contracts of that firm, and all their men and horses have been taken there already, or will go to Johnstown. The special trains last night were run through on passenger time, and the trainmen expected to make the run in four hours. Long & Co., of the Charliers Tool-Works, sent 250 men to Johnstown over the Baltimore & Ohio railroad last night. The men all wore a neat badge furnished by the firm stating they were from Long & Co. The Pittsburgh & Lake Erie railroad sent 100 laboring men to assist the Pennsylvania railroad in relaying their tracks at Johnstown. They were sent by the way of Rankin station over the Baltimore & Ohio railroad. Nine carloads of lumber and one car of hay were shipped to Booth & Flinn at 8 o’clock last night over the Baltimore & Ohio.
On one of the trains from Johnstown last night were two remarkably intelligent looking children who, on entering the depot, were immediately surrounded by the crowd of vulgar curiosity-seekers that
202 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 haunt the Union station. The children’s names were Lydia Pringle and Roy Dibert, grandchildren of Banker John Dibert, whose body has been recovered and identified. They were accompanied by their aunt, Mrs. Shroyuck, also a flood sufferer, and were on their way to Brilliant, on the Allegheny Valley railroad, where their uncle, Robert Bingham, a well-known railroad man, resides. Roy said that he was with his sister Blanche and his aunt, Mrs. Walter Weaver, when the deluge came. They were drowned and he was saved in some manner unknown to himself. All that he can remember is being in a jumbled mass of houses and crawling over the roofs until he reached a place where he was compelled to stay until rescued. His brother was also saved. Miss Pringle, like Roy, has no idea how she escaped death. The girls in the depot restaurant supplied the trio with a lunch and they left for Brilliant later in the evening." The Young Men’s Christian Association has sent out a card to its members stating that the association at Johnstown had lost everything and that two of the directors are missing. They need $3,000 and members are requested to send in contributions. The International Committee in New York has sent out the same appeal to every association in the country. "Yesterday was the busiest day known since Friday at the Union depot. People came back on the incoming trains, some with smiling faces, bringing relatives supposed to have been lost, others came with sorrowful faces, that told that their search had been in vain. Mr. Charles Paulson received a telegram from his cousin, Mr. John Buchanan, that no tidings could be found of Miss Paulson or Miss Bryan and to expect the worst. This was sad news after the encouraging reports of yesterday. Miss Bryan resided in Germantown and her father is a merchant on Eleventh street, Philadelphia. She was in this city attending a wedding, and the two ladies started East together. HER LAST VISIT. Levi Miller, of the Dispatch, lost his mother-in-law, Mrs. Mary Swaney. Mrs. Swaney was seventy years of age and resided in Center county, Pa. She had been here on a visit to her children, and as Mr. Miller put her on the Day Express remarked, this would be her last visit as she was getting too old to travel. He left yesterday to search for her remains. Mr. C Franz, of Cannonsburg, returned from a successful search after two families of relatives. Mrs. Henry Londenberger lived with her seven children two doors from the Company store. Her eldest son felt uneasy all day and insisted on putting valuable papers in a tin box. When the flood struck them they climbed to the roof of the house. The whole family were together. Two box cars loaded with freight struck the house, cutting it in two. They all went into the water and bobbed up like corks. On the box car that struck them was a boy 13 years old. Through his assistance they were all helped to the top of the car. The two cars swirled around around and from them they got to the top of the railway station. The little boy that had saved all their lives, in some manner let go his hold on the box-car and was lost. Mrs. Henrietta Aamsler and four children took to the hills and were saved. Mrs. Wall, of 121 East street, and C. Culp, of 13 Pike street, are close relatives and will care for them. Mr. Henry Fischer was lost and his wife saved. THE MILITIA. The Fourteenth Regiment got away yesterday, the first division leaving at 1 o’clock. Another left at 4:30 and the last at 7:30. All the men had two days’ rations and Col. Hill, Division Quartermaster, went along to care for the troops. There is much feeling expressed at the slap in the face given the Citizens’ Executive Committee by Adjt.-Gen. Hastings. On Saturday he sent back 160 laborers sent up by the Tariff Club, and he refused the club’s proffered aid. At the request of the committee, the Washington Infantry went up to be sworn in as Deputy Sheriffs. Gen. Hastings sent them back and severely rebuked Battery B for coming to the spot without orders. On the heels of all this the Fourteenth Regiment is ordered out and 2,000 laborers called for. There is much comment on the General’s course. The Eighteenth Regiment was ready to go, 480 strong, on Sunday and the order never came, yet Gov. Beaver was asked to send it. Three days later another regiment is ordered to move. Some of the members of the Fourteenth Regiment expressed themselves as dissatisfied. Said one: “We were eager to go a few days ago and they wouldn’t send us. At that time we would have cheerfully performed laboring work. Now we will go and do guard duty, but that is all. It looks as if they were afraid to trust us until the valuables had all been gathered.” DEPUTIES WANTED. Superintendent Pitcairn, at the request of the Citizens’ Relief Committee, sent an urgent dispatch to the Sheriff of Westmoreland county, asking him to send a posse of deputies to the spot and keep out the
203 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 idlers. The Johnstown committee had made such a request but there was no authority to send deputies from any but an adjoining county. It also became necessary to send police to protect the supply trains along the road. Mr. Thomas Riley, brother of John Riley, formerly Superintendent of Transportation for this division of the Pennsylvania railroad, started for his home in Philadelphia yesterday. His brother was the former owner of the fatal dam and sold it to the South Fork Company. He arrived in Johnstown Thursday with a sick friend, and relating his experience, said: “The house was in Kernville, with only three homes between it and Stony creek. I noticed the water in the house and expressed my alarm, but the others laughed at me. I heard the shout, and was in my room in the second story. It looked as if it was 100 feet high. I made for the roof. When the water struck the house it wasn’t long until we were afloat. I clung to the roof, but kept slipping and sliding down to the water. My hands were torn and bleeding, and cling as I would, I kept going until my legs were in the water. Just then a piece of lumber bumped up against my side and pinned me to the roof. “That was my salvation. Other houses jammed against us, the timber left me as it came and we walked over the bridge of debris to the hills. There was a skiff and with this we rescued about forty women and children. The skiff was used until the waters receded and the current grew so swift it was unsafe. After I had helped all I could I started to walk over dead and drowning towards Pittsburgh. I heard the sound of a locomotive bell and I thought it was the sweetest music I ever heard. It was a work train and I met the operator at the Sang Hollow block. He said he had left his office after dismantling it. I went to Sang Hollow, put the office in shape and reported to Mr. Pitcairn. I am a telegraph operator and remained there until relieved.” THE DELAYED TRAINS. Mr. George F. Porter, of Philadelphia, who left Altoona at 8 o’clock Monday morning, has reached this city. He got through to Johnstown by driving from Ebensburg. He says that when he left Altoona passengers from the following trains were gathered there: The Atlantic Express east, which left Pittsburgh at 3:20 a.m. Friday; the Limited east, which left Pittsburgh at 7:15 a.m.; the Day Express east, which left Pittsburgh at 8 a.m.; the Pacific Express west, which left Philadelphia at 11:50 p.m. Thursday; the Limited west, leaving Philadelphia at 11:20 a.m. Friday; and the Fast Line west, leaving at 11:50 a.m. The passengers of all these trains were gotten safely to Altoona, except those on the Day express, which left Pittsburgh 8 a.m. Friday in two sections, which were caught in the rush of the flying lake at Conemaugh. Those lost were nearly all in the first section. None of the other trains lost any of their passengers, and they were all well cared for at the Logan House at the expense of the railroad company. Among those whom Mr. Porter saw was Mr. James Stewart, wife and child, of Allegheny, and President McCullough, of the Westmoreland Coal Company, and a party of six ladies. Mr. Porter says that the list of passengers as sent off from Altoona and published is very imperfect, many more being there than were reported." Rev. Charles Edward Locke, who went to Johnstown to inquire into the condition of the member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at that place, has returned and reports that the mortality among people of that denomination is light. Rev. Dr. H.L. Chapin, pastor of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, in the ruined city, escaped with his family. The church building is still standing, but is badly damaged. "The meeting of the State Medical Society, for which the local physicians have been making elaborate preparations for several months, convened in the Bijou Theater yesterday. The disaster at Johnstown caused a heavy feeling of depression among the members and prevented many members from being present from various parts of the State, as well as eminent representatives of other State societies, who signified their intention of being present to read papers. On this account the attendance was small. The meeting was called to order, notwithstanding, by Dr. J.B. Murdoch, at 10:30, and Rev. David Jones, D.D., of the First Methodist Protestant church, invoked Divine blessing. Dr. E.A. Wood, chairman of the Committee of Arrangements, read a poem touching on the Conemaugh calamity as a prelude to his delivery of the address of welcome. In his address he feelingly alluded to the disaster in the following words: “Our heads are bowed in sorrow at the absence of so many familiar faces at this our fortieth annual session. The terrible calamity which swept our valleys like the besom of destruction has not only interrupted travel, but has broken homes and laid low in death many of our professional brethren. There are eyes forever dimmed, tongues forever dumb, feet that will never again enter our gates, and hands that we shall never again clasp in friendly greeting. We have no heart to even greet, except in sadness, the few friends that are present with us.”
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Dr. Flick moved to suspend the order of business, and suggested that immediate steps be taken to provide for the families of the six physicians who had gone down in the terrible flood, and to provide for those who had escaped, but who were reduced to a state of destitution. A committee was appointed and then the regular order of business was resumed. After a recess business was resumed. Much discussion followed the reading of the report of the Committee on Johnstown Sufferers, which recommended that $1,000 be appropriated to the relief of their professional brethren and the families of those who were lost, and to instruct the county society to open subscription lists also. After some further discussion a resolution was passed postponing the meeting until Tuesday, September 3, at which time it is expected a large attendance will be had. Papers that were to have been read will not come before the society until the next meeting in September. The fund raised for the banquet was appropriated to the relief fund for their Johnstown brethren, and the flowers that were to have graced the festive board were ordered to be distributed to the various hospitals.
The Randall Club has opened a Johnstown list and has quite a handsome sum subscribed. An entertainment for the benefit of the flood sufferers will be given at the West End rink to-night. The Pennsylvania railroad is selling to New York by way of the Allegheny Valley railroad and Buffalo at $12. A telegram was received from Altoona yesterday announcing the safety of Mr. Mortimer Sterling, of this city. The Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad Company will carry all contributions for the flood of sufferers free of charge. Mr. J.R. Hill, of Kirkland, caught a barrel of whisky that came down in the flood. The barrel was marked Johnstown. The order of the Mystic Chain has raised $6,500 for the sufferers up to date and it is thought that the amount will reach $30,000. Father Devlin, of Johnstown, was attacked by a Hungarian and badly injured because he protested against robbery of the dead. A telegram was received from Johnstown yesterday stating that Rev. Diller and family were saved, but that the church property was destroyed. The Alliance, O., relief corps of men, who went to Johnstown a couple of days ago, passed through the city last night on their way home. A gentleman from Marietta, O., reported at the Chamber of Commerce last night that four bodies had been taken from the Ohio river at that point. Mr. William Lens arrived from Johnstown last night with Mrs. Cress and six children, flood sufferers. They are quartered at his residence. A trunk containing valuable papers, bearing the name of George A. White, of Johnstown, was caught in the river at Acmetonia, yesterday, by J.W. Willson. A telegram received yesterday from Rev. Levi Risher, of Dravosburg, who was reported lost in the Johnstown flood, stated that he was all right and at Altoona. George A. Kelly telegraphed last night from Johnstown that men to relieve the force in charge of Mr. Scott would probably be required, as the crews are playing out. A demented woman named Annie Gillespie, who said she wished to go to Buena Vista, was found at the court-house last night. She was taken to Central station for the night. Bishop Phelan has returned from the scene. A number of Sisters of Mercy and Franciscan Sisters were permitted to stay. The Sister of Charity spend the night there in prayer. The Knights and Ladies of Honor held a meeting at their hall, on East street, Allegheny, last night and made arrangements for the accommodation of a number of the flood victims. Philips & Mittenzuey, the South Side carpenters and contractors, sent twenty experienced carpenters and builders to Johnstown yesterday, paying all their expenses, as their contribution to the flood sufferers. Stephen Collins, Superintendent of Mails, said yesterday that Assistant Postmaster Ogle, of Johnstown, was not drowned as reported in all the papers, but was alive and well and working hard at Johnstown. Col. C.T. Frazier and wife and two of his grandchildren, of Johnstown, escaped with their lives, but two of Mrs. Frazier’s sisters, named Baker, formerly of Allegheny, are supposed to have been lost.
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A benefit for the flood sufferers will be given at the Bijou Theater on Saturday night, in which the best local talent will take part. “The General’s Ward,” by Mrs. J. Wilson Phillips, of this city, will be produced. Two trunks, one owned by Harry Wagner, of Cambria City, and the other by Alfred Fulton, of Everett, Bedford county, were found in the river at Herr’s Island, yesterday, and are now at the Allegheny Mayor’s office. Father Gallagher, of the South Side, and Father Cochran, of Soho, who have been in Johnstown since Saturday, returned home last night. They went there to search for relatives, and they report that they found them all safe. About 1,000 people gathered at the Baltimore & Ohio station yesterday wanting to go to Johnstown. When they found that tickets would not be sold they become obstreperous, and it took twenty policemen to maintain order. Four or five were arrested for disorder. John Stewart, aged 60 years, was found drowned at the foot of Liberty street, on the Monongahela river yesterday. Deceased was a shoemaker and has been about the city for many years, though he had no permanent home. He was last seen alive Saturday night and had been in the water two or three days. The Coroner held an inquest and a verdict of found drowned was rendered. Mayor’s Clerk McCleary last night received a telegram from Morrellville requesting him to hunt up Peter Fitzpatrick, Chief of Police of Cambria City, who came here yesterday to look for his daughter Ella, who had been missing since Friday, but was reported to have escaped the flood and come to this city with friends. The telegram announced that this supposition was incorrect, and the body of his daughter had been recovered at Johnstown last evening. " The citizens of Bellevernon have subscribed $275 for the relief of the Johnstown sufferers. They have also made arrangements to give a benefit at the opera house at that place on Saturday night. Bellevernon Council No. 531, Royal Arcanium, has also subscribed $100 for the same purpose. "Dr. George G. Graff, a member of the State Board of Health, was at the Anderson Hotel last night. In an interview with a COMMERCIAL GAZETTE reporter regarding the sanitary measures being taken at Johnstown he said: “Dr. Lee, the Executive officer of the State Board of Health, and myself, arrived at the scene of the Johnstown disaster on Sunday. Dr. Lee, as Executive officer of the board, at once telegraphed to the Sheriffs of all the counties bordering on the Allegheny and Conemaugh rivers as follows: ‘The State Board of Health herewith instructs and empowers you to organize a posse of men to proceed along the Conemaugh river to tear down the piles of drift and to remove the dead bodies, both of human beings and domestic animals, for burial. If this is not done at once and thoroughly your county may be visited by a pestilence. The State Board of Health has appropriated one-tenth of its annual appropriation for the prevention of pestilence at Johnstown. Dr. Lee has been on the ground since Sunday directing the proper means of disinfecting and the burial of the dead. Just as soon as the debris can be cleared up and the dead animals burned the most vigorous efforts at disinfection will be made, for which purpose 10,000 pounds of the most reliable disinfectants have been ordered. The State Board has advised that as many women and children rendered homeless as can leave Johnstown should do so. This would lessen the subsequent sickness which will probably follow. “Sickness,” continued Dr. Graff, “is bound to occur at Johnstown. The terrible exposure and trials that the people have suffered will cause this. Just now the excitement keeps them up. As soon as things quiet down the people will find out that they are seriously ill. Pneumonia and typhoid fever will be the most prevalent troubles. We have done all we could at the present in arranging matters. The work of burning the bodies of animals was commences yesterday. The State Board of Health is only an advisory board. We can only act through the courts and we have placed the matter in their hands now, and will see that it is pushed to the utmost.” Dr. Graff does not anticipate any serious trouble for Pittsburgh people. Proper precautions, he said, should be taken to prevent any possible trouble. He advises that all water be boiled before being used. Weak tea, iced, should be used freely, and that will be perfectly safe. The dirt and other matter, he thinks, has been carried down the river. Some bodies, he thinks, are laying on the river bed now. These, as long as the weather stays cold and favorable, will not decompose rapidly. They will rise to the surface in about ten days’ time and can then be taken out and buried. The danger of an epidemic here is, in his opinion, very small." The WEEKLY COMMERCIAL GAZETTE, containing a full account of the Johnstown disaster, with the only correct cut and graphic description of the Dam that caused so much suffering and horror, can
206 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 be had at our counting-room ready for mailing. Send them to your friends. It contains the entire story, with all the incidents. Yesterday the Relief Committee received a telegram from C.M. Carrier, a prominent lumber man of Brookville, and a member of the firm of Carrier, Verstine & Co., asking if good building lumber would not be acceptable for the sufferers, and saying that he would ship a carload at once if ordered to do so. He also volunteered to see other lumbermen and have them do likewise. He was instructed to ship the lumber at once and to do all he could to secure more. Governor Beaver has ordered the officers of his own, the Division, and the Second Brigade staffs of the National Guard to report to Adjt.-Gen. Hasting at Johnstown. Gen. Wylie came down from Franklin with his staff last night, and will go up this morning. Quartermaster Brown, of the Eighteenth Regiment, was also ordered to report to Gen. Hastings and went out last night. "The bodies of two men were found in the Monongahela river yesterday morning and removed to the morgue for identification. The men were not victims of the Johnstown flood, but had been drowned previous to it. The body of a victim of the disaster was fished out of the river at Tarentum yesterday. It was badly decomposed.
Yesterday Mayor McCallin received the following cablegram from Scotland: EDINBURG, June 4. To the Mayor of Pittsburgh, Pa.: The corporation of Edinburg desires to express deepest sympathy with you in the terrible calamity with which you have been visited. LORD PROVOST.
The owners of houses and buildings of Johnstown who had policies of insurance on their properties will lose all, as the fire-insurance agents all say their liability ceases when the property is carried away from its foundation and is destroyed elsewhere. They maintain that they insure a house against fire right where it is standing on a basis of the surrounding property. If it is carried away by a tornado or flood and is cast among debris and takes fire, their responsibility, it is claimed, ceases. This being the case those who had property are greater losers than those who had none. They have the ground left, but it will cost enormously to clear away the accumulation of sand and gravel before a new building can be erected. FEW POLICIES HELD. The life insurance companies will pay all policies held by their respective companies on lives lost. It is said, however, that proportionate to population there were fewer policies held in Johnstown than in any city in the country. This is accounted for by the fact that the inhabitants were mostly working people, and whatever insurance was carried was in endowment and fraternal societies, but a tour around the offices of such societies reveals the fact that the societies that pay death benefits had a sparse membership in Johnstown. There were about fifty Heptasophs there, seven of whom are known to be drowned. There were nine lodges of Junior Order United American Mechanics, but none of them were in the death-benefit class. About the other societies that pay benefits nothing definite could be ascertained as yet, but it is thought that the Ancient Order United American Mechanics and the Knights of Pythias will be the heaviest losers. WILL PAY PROMPTLY. The following telegrams, which are self-explanatory, were received yesterday by insurance agents in this city. George Woods: We shall pay immediately losses in flooded district. JAMES W. ALEXANDER. Vice-President Equitable Life Insurance Society. W.P. Wooldridge: Have just received the following message from President McCurdy: “Notify all Mutual Life policy- holders in Johnstown and vicinity that thirty days’ extension of time will be allowed in payment of premiums. All death claims caused by the calamity paid immediately on proof and identification.” W.H. LAMBERT,
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General Manger. Last night Superintendent E.E. Clapp and Agent Adrian Scharff, of New York, arrived in the city en route to Johnstown. They brought with them drafts to the amount of $50,000 and go to Johnstown at once. The company intends to aid in relieving the distress by paying all policies as soon as it is known that death has ensued. " ATTENTION BUTCHERS AND DROVERS of Allegheny county—You are requested to attend a meeting of all butchers and drovers on THURSDAY, June 6, at 7 p.m. sharp at Old City Hall, Pittsburgh, for the purpose of taking action to relieve the sufferers of the late flood. Respectfully, J.F. Bellstein, President Butchers’ National Protective Association of Allegheny county; Fred Greenawalt, Chairman of Board of Directors. The following subscriptions were received at this office yesterday: … "The greatest need at Johnstown to-day is thorough organization with a view to prompt and systematic effort. This has been the most pressing necessity since Saturday last. Several excellent suggestions have been made bearing on this subject, and a well-considered plan will be adopted and put into operation as quickly as possible. The sanitary situation should receive the prompt and efficient attention of the State Board of Health. The law places in the hands of this body the general supervision of the interests affecting the health and lives of the citizens of the Commonwealth. It has equal authority to prevent epidemic diseases as to assist in their suppression or inquire into their origin after they have taken place. The board must depend upon its own resources and exertions. To appeal to the United States is only a waste of time. The Conemaugh, Kiskiminetas and the Allegheny should be cleared of all dead bodies as speedily as possible. Over 300,000 people in Pittsburgh, Allegheny and suburbs draw their supplies of water from the Allegheny river, which is in imminent danger of being poisoned by the putrid matter now forming the Conemaugh, from Johnstown westward. There is like danger to the large towns and cities below us, and the work of sanitation cannot be begun a moment too soon. Of equal and coordinate importance is the removal of the dead bodies which lie embedded in the wreckage and alluvium at Johnstown and other points. This can only be expeditiously done, if at all, placing gangs of laboring men at work under competent managers—the work to be subdivided and allotted under the direction of a general supervisor. The men should be adapted to the kind of work to be done, so far as possible, and they should be paid well for their services. Under no consideration should volunteer assistance to be accepted, and all strangers and sight-seers should be kept entirely away from the scene of operations. The workmen should be provided accommodations in tents or shanties on the premises, and the commissary arrangements should be in competent hands. There is no reason why all the bodies in the wreckage—except, perhaps, those so deeply buried at the stone bridge—should not be recovered and disposed of by the last of the present week if the work is prosecuted in a systematic and persevering manner. Regard for the dead, no less than care for the living, requires that this should be done.
The descriptive powers of the ablest writers have been taxed in singing the praises of water. It is the most common and familiar of the elemental forces, and without its manifold blessings and comforts we could not exist a single day in comfort. As a servant of man it is tractable, obedient and useful so long as it is rightly used, but when the laws which govern its peaceful qualities are interfered with it becomes a very giant of destruction. These laws are well known, and woe be to the man or the community that treats them with contempt. The destructive power of water is vividly impressed on the mind by the South Fork disaster. “The shocking catastrophe in the Conemaugh Valley,” says the St. Louis Globe Democrat, “furnishes a striking and terrible manifestation of the power of the familiar forces of nature. Water, which when under restraint is the most docile and tractable of all the elements, holds within itself an appalling potency for harm. When properly controlled and directed it performs numberless services for man silently, faithfully and effectively, but when in a turbulent and angry mood it is one of the most deadline and destructive of the natural agencies of the universe. As a servant it is obedient and manageable. It does its work promptly and energetically. It renders aid to man which could not be provided by any other known force, and it asks no favors save that he will observe the laws through which alone its service can be gained.”
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At the request of the Sheriff of Cambria county, Adjt.-Gen. HASTINGS has called out the Eighteenth Regiment, N.G.P., for service at Johnstown. The Sheriff admitted frankly that he did not want the troops because of any imminent danger, but simply to guard against contingencies. There has been a strong pressure brought to bear in favor of this movement, and while no harm need come from the presence of a few companies of militia at the scene of the disaster, the calling of them out for police duty, is, to say the least, anomalous. The grossly exaggerated accounts of robbery of the dead, of lynchings and of rioting are in large measure responsible for the apprehensions of danger which have seized upon the people. The truth is that good order has been maintained throughout. There has been some pillaging, but no one has been shot or hanged, and there has been nothing in the semblance of a bloody riot. Why should there be? The people are all of one mind and actuated by a common impulse and a common purpose. They are not divided into warring factions, and have nothing to fight about. As to the thieves, the police are amply able to take care of them; and the Sheriff, to his credit be it said, is determined that they shall be punished by due course of law. There will be no lynchings if he can prevent them.
The publication of bogus reports of terrible riots at the scene of the Johnstown disaster is a shameful prostitution of the press. The extra edition issued by an evening contemporary Monday afternoon was no doubt profitable as a “speculation,” but it was utterly destitute of even the semblance of decent journalism. It was a fraud upon the public, and put a stigma upon the State which fortunately was limited by the circulation of the sheet which gave it publicity. Nothing whatever had occurred through the day to justify the report, and those who purchased the extra received the alleged “news” with many misgivings as to its authenticity. It would not be at all improbable that an outbreak in the nature of a riot should occur, but it would be simply impossible for such a thing to happen at that place without the knowledge of the representatives of the newspaper press on the ground. The story was manufactured out of whole cloth, and most probably was made to order in this city." ADJT.-GEN. HASTNGS has adopted a practical method of getting an approximate idea of the number of lives lost at Johnstown. He is having prepared a list of all those who are known to have been saved, and when the list is completed the number will be subtracted from the gross population. The result thus obtained will show the number missing, the great majority of whom may be set down as lost. It must be borne in mind, however, that there were a large number of working men, many of whom were foreigners, and without families, who, finding themselves without work or the immediate prospect of employment, would pack up and leave at once. These might safely be estimated at several hundreds, perhaps a thousand. When allowance shall have been made for all these, the dead will not fall below 5,000, and may reach almost double that number. NEWSPAPER correspondents never had so much to write about, or wrote under greater disadvantages, than have those who have been engaged writing up the great disaster on the Conemaugh. THERE is not the slightest necessity for convening the Legislature in extra session to look after the interests of the Johnstown sufferers. Individual effort is doing all that is necessary to be done. As to the public health, the State Board having that matter in charge should be able to get along without an extra session. It would have been to the credit of the Legislature, however, if it had made a more liberal appropriation for sanitary purposes and squandered loss on junketing and in other ways. GOV. BEAVER should turn a deaf ear to every request to call an extra session at this juncture. THE story of the $3,000,000 indemnity bond filed at Ebensburg by the South Fork Fishing Association is pure fiction. The charter was not obtained in Cambria county, but in Allegheny. THE Sheriff of Cambria county is justly indignant at the false reports of hanging, shooting and rioting that have been send broadcast from Johnstown. THERE are many who are of the opinion that the debris jammed against the stone bridge at Johnstown cannot be removed within any reasonable time, and that the best way to get rid of it would be to saturate it with oil and burn it. The public feeling would not sanction such a plan, owing to the large number of dead bodies known to be packed in among the timbers. "The situation here in Johnstown is bad enough in all conscience, but it might be worse. Water, fire, mud, everywhere, with a cloud of gloom over all. Heaven itself seems to frown on the scene or is striving to hide it from the sun and the stars.
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The people are dazed. Instead of being completely prostrated by the fearful stroke they seem to be thankful that they have escaped with their lives. Their cheerfulness, and seeming indifference strike the visitor almost as forcibly as the scene of devastation. “I am feeling very tired to-night,” remarked a lady as she rocked nervously in a broken arm chair. “We were burying our folks this afternoon.
How many did you lose?
The whole family except my brother and myself. There were, altogether, thirteen of our family connection that we know were lost, and there are several more unaccounted for.
Were you in it?
Yes, indeed, but my brother and me managed to escape. My clothing was nearly all torn off, which accounts for the ill-fit of this calico dress. It was given to me by the relief corps.
It must have been a terrible experience.
It was terrible. Indeed, I cannot realize it. Just awhile ago I was thinking over it and it seemed like a dream. To tell you the truth, I am not quite certain that I am awake, and I would not be greatly surprised to awake and find that I had been asleep.
But you know what you experienced and what you have seen.
Yes, I know that, but for some reason I cannot realize it. Not a tear from my eyes, nor scarcely a moan passed my lips. No doubt but I will awaken to the facts before long.” This is a fair indication of the feeling of the people. They walk around in a dazed sort of way, which is at first suggestive of indifference. Men point out the rooms in which their wives and children perished, with a freedom that almost savors of pride. They linger around the spot as if it had a charm or fascination about it. No doubt it has, but not of a pleasing character. They are the most desolate creatures of which one can conceive. “My folks are all gone, and I really do not know what to do or where to go,” remarked a well-dressed gentleman encountered on Main street. “Day and night were alike to me. In fact, I do not remember much about the time. I slept about half an hour last night, and begin to feel as if I could enjoy a nap now if I had a dry place in which to lie down. “We do not allow ourselves to think of the future,” he continued. “The past has been so terrible that it not only overshadows the present, but shuts off the future. I have nothing to live for, and do not care much whether I live or die; but I do wish that I had gone with the others.” Those who were away at the time of the catastrophe have endured more mental suffering than those who passed through it. On the train that left Pittsburgh at 1p.m. was a gentleman who had left his family in Johnstown one week ago, to be gone on a business trip of several weeks duration. The news of the disaster reached him somewhere in the Northwest and he immediately started for home. The accounts seen in the papers convinced him that his wife and children were drowned. Visions of their struggles in the angry flood haunted him so that he scarcely ate or slept. At Bolivar his brother got on the train. They greeted each other most affectionately. Instead of asking if his folks were saved, he said: “They are dead; I know they are.
No, indeed, my dear brother, they are not dead, but all alive and well.
No, they are not. They are dead.
But I tell you they are not. Your wife and children were not in the flood at all. I left them this morning to come down here in search of a friend.
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No, they are dead, and you are telling me this to keep my spirits up. I know they are dead.” He would not be convinced that his dear ones were safe, and for a time it seemed as if he would attempt suicide. He had pondered upon the dark side for so long and so deeply that he could not perceive the light when it came. A number of similar cases have been noted during a day or two. The loss of life among children was much greater, proportionately, than among adults. It is quite natural that it should be so, because they were unable to battle the floods. This strikes us as the saddest part of the dreadful story; but we should remember that their suffering was very slight. One plunge under the water, a violent bump against a wall, and all would be over. No struggling, no battling against the current, no pain. Even when this is considered the rows of little coffins and the neatly-shrouded forms of babies and wee ones touches the feelings most keenly. In a number of instances mothers were found with their children so tightly locked in their arms that it required the strength of two men to disengage them. In life they were together, and in death they were not parted. While prowling around among the wrecked buildings in the vicinity of Main street a Braddock man discovered a half-drowned cat that had found lodgment in a hole near the top of a house. He climbed up to where it was at the risk of his life, and brought it down. There didn’t seem to be much life in it, but after washing the mud off of it, and keeping it under his coat for awhile, it began to revive. When he brought it up to the station a great crowd gathered around him, and he was offered big prices for “Flood Tom,” as he called his pet. He refused all offers, and said that he intended to keep it as long as it lived, and then stuff its skin and keep it in a glass cage. As near as could be judged it was a Maltese, but its fur was so mud-stained that its color was not well established. What of the future of this ill-fated city? It is too early to ask this question with the expectation of an answer. The people have not thought of the future yet. In fact they do not realize their present condition and if they did they have not had time to canvass the situation. Should the Cambria Iron Company conclude to remove its great works to a less exposed point the city would scarcely be rebuilt, because its population consisted chiefly of mill men. These will naturally go with the mill. The location is not favorable from a trading point, so that at the very best it can only become a country town. JOHNSTOWN, June 4." Dr. L.W. Schnatterly, of Freeport, a member of the Relief Committee of that town who carried succor to Johnstown, returned last night. He said that fully one-third of the district above the fatal viaduct were drowned and that it would be a month before the rubbish collected there could be entirely cleared away. “The stench arising from the gorge,” he continued, “is growing unbearable and it will be so bad, I fear, that it will be difficult to get men to work at clearing it away. The mass is burned down to the bed of sand and gravel and cannot be burned any more, so that it becomes a question as to how it is to be gotten rid of unless it is sluiced away by hydraulic mining.” He said he had been told by Mrs. George W. Childs, of Philadelphia, who was on the Limited, that Miss Paulson and Miss Bryan had got out of the second section of the Day Express and had returned for their overshoes and in doing so had been overtaken by the deluge and were swept into the torrent. Mrs. Childs had rooms engaged at the Hotel Duquesne and was to have arrived here last Friday night. A telegram was received at the hotel yesterday from Mr. Childs stating that Mrs. Childs would return to Philadelphia and would abandon her contemplated visit to Pittsburgh for the present. "Early yesterday afternoon a telegram came from Capt. William R. Jones to the Executive Committee at the Chamber of Commerce which read: “Send by special train without delay a good steward and twenty cooks, with cooking utensils. My principal difficulty is to feed our men. We are making things hum. Support me promptly and fill my wants.” In less than half an hour the culinary corps was ready. The cooks were gotten from the hotels. They reported that they could get a hundred more on sight, and that anything the town had would be sent out if asked for." H.L. Duncan’s family were all saved and arrived in the city Monday night. They had a narrow escape, and Mrs. Miller was only saved by the aid of her little 6-year-old daughter, who saw her mother in the
211 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 water and caught her by the hair and held her head above water until Mr. Duncan got near enough to drag her out upon the roof of the house from which they escaped. "Special to the Commercial Gazette. BLAIRSVILLE, PA., June 4.—The railroad is open between Altoona and Ebensburg, a distance of thirty-two miles. The West Penn is running trains from here to Allegheny. Eighty passengers and five carloads of mail left Ebensburg for Blairsville by stage at 11:15 to go on west via the West Penn. The body of a beautiful young lady was found a mile below town to-day—a blonde with a fine head of hair, not much injured.
Read Before the State Medical Society By Dr. E.A. Wood. O Brother, in your happy homes! Where altar’s grateful incense rise, Where wife and mother holds the key To all that’s sacred in man’s eyes; Where happy children climb your knees, To kiss your cheeks in love’s caress, And banish care from joyous ease! In dreams, sometimes, your brain grows wild At fancied loss of wife or child, Oh, how the heart throbs in relief To wake and find it phantom grief! A sorrow hovers in the air— A sorrow keener than despair, Of broken homes, and broken hearts, Of brains on fire, and minds insane, Where faith expires, and hopes departs To never more return again. Oh that the scourge of Conemaugh Were but a hideous dream of awe! O people of the Valley— Of death’s horrid Valley! How can you e’er shut out The noise of roaring fountains? How forget the awful rout That shook the pitying mountains? O the wild cries of despair That smote the weeping air! The children torn from mothers! Drowning maidens, mangled brothers! Drifting down the Conemaugh— Drifting down in wild despair, With cry and groan and prayer, Drifting into death’s cold jaw, Drifting down the Conemaugh! Such torrents never roll’d before! Such billows never beat the shores No human ever lived who saw Such waves as rolled down Conemaugh! Waves of human bodies swarm Through boiling flood and raging storm, Downward sweeps the horrid tide To strew with dead the river side! A cemet’ry of new-made graves In sadness overlooks the waves! No mortal ever lived who saw Such sights as seen on Conemaugh!
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God grant no mortal e’er again Shall feel such blow, or smart with pain From Fate malignant, or insane. The blow of terror, grief and awe That blighted homes on Conemaugh! Let science bend above the slain, Let art lean o’er the weeping train, Let bleeding heart, and throbbing brain Remember naught but sympathy Forget all else but charity. Let commerce stop its busy wheels, Let gladness share what sorrow feels, Let heart and hand of this great State Avert and mend the cruel fate Of brothers, sisters in distress, Whose homes are howling wilderness; Let joy and pleasure be forgot To aid and comfort those whose lot Is cast in woe and stricken awe In valley of the Conemaugh.
GREENSBURG, PA., June 4.—Mrs. F.H. McMillen, of Johnstown, the daughter-in-law of Joseph McMillen, with her children and three servants, are quartered at the Fisher House there. She is amply provided for by the Masonic order. She states that she and her family took refuge in the garret of their elegant home. The house split in two, the portion in which they were lodged remaining. Among the wealthiest people of the town she saw all their wealth, diamonds and jewels washed away. With her at the hotel are Mrs. C.C. Balsinger and her three children and Walter Delbert and child, and Harry Rosensteele, a son-in-law of Mrs. McMillen. The Balsinger family is composed of Mrs. C.C. Balsinger and three young ladies, and although they lived in an elegant mansion in the aristocratic portion of the town and possessed of great wealth, they appeared to-day in clothes generously given them by friends. All that remains of their wealth is the glittering diamond rings upon the fingers of the young ladies. When Mrs. McMillen arrived this morning she was in her bare feet and to a friend she said: “Just think, a week ago I had everything that my heart would wish and to-day am begging.” At. St. Joseph’s Academy at this place there are attending school two daughters of ex-Sheriff Ryan, a daughter of J. Haws and a daughter of Mr. Howell. Ex-Sheriff Ryan is dead and Mr. Haws is the only surviving member of the family and Mrs. Howell and family are missing. The Sisters of Mercy kept the sad news from the young ladies until this evening and the grief of the poor girls is beyond description. Col. George F. Huff, of this place, received the following message from Gov. Beaver: HARRISBURG, PA., June 4. To Col. George F. Huff, Greensburg, Pa.: Great danger of pestilence along the Conemaugh and Kiskiminetas; can you not organize a strong force under competent foreman to clear the banks of the river. I will pay necessary expenses. The people all along the route are thoroughly aroused to the danger of delay in this matter. Pittsburgh is at work on the Allegheny and at Johnstown. Can your get your people to turn in heartily for the work between these points? J.A. BEAVER. Col. Huff, who has been diligent ever since the flood in an effort to do just the work the Governor has outlined and knowing that Westmoreland county has brought forward every available man to work, sent the following reply: To James A. Beaver, Governor: Your telegram received. Our people fully appreciate the danger of the situation and thank you for your kind offices. Our County Commissioners and Sheriff have had large forces of men out since Saturday dredging the stream and burying the dead. We are fully organized and can, we think, thoroughly perform the work within our county along the Conemaugh and Kiskiminetas and the Allegheny river, too, below Server.
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GEO. T. HUFF, F.D. HERBERT.
PHILADELPHIA, PA., June 4.—The through mails delayed at Altoona were started over the mountains to Pittsburgh at 8 o’clock this morning. One hundred and thirty-two passengers accompanied them. They go to Ebensburg via Cresson by rail, and from Ebensburg to Blairsville. They will travel over the mountain roads in wagons and at the latter place will take the train for Pittsburgh. It is supposed the most of the 132 passengers are west bound, though some of them may be east bound, who take advantage of the opportunity to fall back to Pittsburgh and thence east by some other route. All the postal clerks accompanied the mails. It is also thought to be more than likely that many of those caught in Altoona have made their way on their own responsibility to some point where they could board a train to Pittsburgh. The wires to Altoona and Williamsport are working very badly on account of the rain, which is still falling, and only the most meagre dispatches can be sent and received. The railroad people say there are teams enough at Ebensburg to forward ninety persons from there to Blairsville, and if other teams are secured, which is very probable, all will be forwarded in one party. A great deal of baggage was also sent back to Ebensburg, and will follow the passengers. All gaps in the proposed temporary route from Harrisburg to Altoona have been closed with the exception of the big bridge at Montgomery, where the water is still too high and the current too swift to work successfully. It is now thought the line will be made good by Wednesday morning. The following named persons are at Altoona and desire that their friends be informed of their safety: …
CLEVELAND, O., June 4.—One Cleveland hearthstone has been made desolate by the tragedy of the Conemaugh, for the flood has claimed among its victims a mother and three children from this city. The news reached here late last night in the following telegram, hours after the anxious husband and father, fearing the worst, had started for Johnstown in search of his family: “F.S. Tarbell, Cleveland, O.—Your wife and children are all drowned here. Mary’s body has been recovered and buried. The children have not been found yet. A.A. LONG.” Mr. Tarbell’s family consisted of a wife and three children. Mrs. Tarbell’s parents live in Corwinsville, Clearfield county, Pa., and on Thursday night, accompanied by her little ones, she started for the home of her parents. Mr. Tarbell saw his wife safely on board the 11:10 train on the Cleveland & Pittsburgh railroad. The following morning the porter on the sleeper assisted the lady and the children to a car on the second section of the fast New York Express which was held at Conemaugh because of the washouts along the line. The train was backed upon a siding, adjoining the mill at Conemaugh, and here it stood when the wall of water engulfed the town and washed the passenger train into the river.
EBENSBURG, PA., June 4.—A dispatch was sent by courier from Ebensburg on June 1 by Mr. William Henry Smith, General Manager of the Associated Press, who was a passenger on the Day Express and was an eye-witness of the scene at Conemaugh on the night of the terrible calamity. In it he said: The porters of the Pullman cars remained at their posts and comforted the passengers with the assurance that the Pennsylvania Railroad Company always took care of its patrons. A few gentlemen and some ladies quietly seated themselves, apparently contented. One gentleman, who was ill, had his berth made up and retired, although advised not to do so. Soon the cry came that the water in the reservoir had broken down the barrier and was sweeping down the valley. Instantly there was a panic and a rush for the mountain side. Children were carried and women assisted by a few who kept cool heads. It was a race for life. THE CRACK OF DOOM. There was seen the black head of the flood, now the monster Destruction, whose crest was high raised in the air, and with this in view even the weak found wings for their feet. No words can adequately describe the terror that filled every breast or the awful power manifested by the flood. The round-house and stalls for twenty-three locomotives. There were eighteen or twenty of these standing there at this time. There was an ominous crash and the round-house and locomotives disappeared. Everything in the main track of the flood was first lifted in the air and then swallowed up by the water. One hundred houses were swept away in a few minutes; these included the hotel, stores and saloons on
214 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 the front street and residence adjacent. The locomotive of one of the trains was struck by a house and demolished. The side of another house stopped in front of another locomotive and served as a shield. The rear car of the mail train swung around in the rear of the second section of the Express and turned over on its side. Three men were observed standing upon it as it floated. Will they trust to it or the still upright Pullman cars? The couplings broke and the car moved out upon the bosom of the water. THE CAR ROLLED OVER. As it would roll the men would shift their position. The situation was desperate and they were given up for lost. Two or three hardy men seized ropes and ran along the mountain side to give them aid. Later it was reported that the men escaped over some drift wood as their car was carried near a bank, it is believed there were several women and children inside the car. Of course they were drowned. As the fugitives on the mountain side witnessed the awful devastation, they were moved as never before in their lives. They were powerless to help those seized upon by the waters, the despair of those who lost everything except life, and wailing of those whose relatives or friends were missing filled their breasts with unutterable sorrow. By half-past 5 the force of the reservoir waters had been spent on the village of Conemaugh and the Pullman cars and locomotive of the second section remained unmoved. This was because, being on the highest and hardest ground, the destructive current of the reservoir flood had passed between that and the mountain, while the current of the river did not eat it away. But the other trains had been destroyed. A solitary locomotive was seen imbedded in the mud where the round-house had stood. WORDS OF SHARP CENSURE. The loss of property is enormous. The track of the railroad company is certainly destroyed for at least ten miles below South Fork and all other property on the line. The destruction of Johnstown’s industries will alone reach to many millions. Then to this great sum add the value of houses and public buildings in Johnstown and of the villages above and below it and some idea can be formed of the wealth obliterated by the flood—created by the breaking of the reservoir. And this reservoir was maintained for the pleasure of a Pittsburgh club. Up on the mountain was suspended a body of water three miles long, one mile wide and seventy feet deep, for the recreation of a few pleasure seekers. What would happen if there should be a break must have been imperfectly apprehended, since it is said that a bond of only $3,000,000 had been exacted from the club. What are three millions to the gross sum for the destruction of property? Can they restore the dead to life, or assuage the grief of the bereaved? The question of responsibility swallows up the financial as completely as the angry waters did the city of Johnstown. " Fifty-seven cases of clothing and bedding were filled by the relief corps and shipped to Johnstown yesterday. The donors were the Central Presbyterian Church, Bellefield Presbyterian Church, Eighth Street Reformed Presbyterian Church, Holy Trinity and St. John’s German Lutheran Churches, Fourth ward school, Elyria (O.,) citizens, ladies of Bellevue, West Lake school, West Penn Depot, Ft. Wayne Depot, Fifth ward (Allegheny) school and citizens of Sixth ward, Allegheny. A quantity of mail that was caught in the storm along the Pennsylvania railroad last Friday arrived here this morning. It had been taken back to New York and from there forwarded to this city by way of Buffalo. "The Relief Committee was kept busy all day yesterday receiving contributions. Gifts, both large and small, flowed in from every source. Dispatches from every part of the country announced that both supplies and money had been sent. Among the contributions yesterday was a piano. It will be auctioned off to-morrow. Steubenville, O., sent in $2,500 and notified the committee that a carload of provisions and clothing had been forwarded. Denver, Col., sent $5,000 for the sufferers at Johnstown to George W. Childs at Philadelphia, and the committee was yesterday notified. Marietta, O., sent word that $1,500 had been subscribed and the money was still coming in. Mayor McDonald, of New Albany, Ind., telegraphed that that city had sent $500 through the Red Cross Society and would send $500 more. Notice was received from Dayton, O., that $1,000 had been subscribed and could be drawn at once. Up to last night Pittsburgh had contributed in cash nearly or a little above $200,000 without counting the thousands of dollars worth of good donated. Owing to the rush Mr. Thompson has been unable to prepare a complete statement, but the figures will reach in the neighborhood of the sum given. There will be a million dollars raised by the country at large for the sufferers.
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The subscriptions received yesterday by W.R. Thompson, Treasurer of the Citizens’ Relief Committee, were as follows: … FROM OUTSIDE CITIES. A message was received from Mayor J.H. Hamilton, of Toledo, O., at 10 o’clock last night: “Have mailed draft of $1,870; will make it $5,000 more in cash if necessary.” Mayor John Pridgon, of Detroit, wired at 9:50 last night: “Have expressed you $5,500, United States draft, to-day. Will honor your draft for $3,500 more to-morrow. Will advise further.” Mayor Edgerly, of Lancaster, Pa., telegraphed at 10:28: “Our subscription has reached over $10,000. You can draw on me for $2,000 more.”" Superintendent of Mails Stephen Collins, who was in Johnstown, brought back with him yesterday about 200 letters, which he recovered from the wreck of the postoffice there. The letters will be forwarded to the parties to whom they are addressed. "NEWARK, O., June 4.—The effects of the dreadful disaster of Johnstown, Pa., and the surrounding valley are felt all over the country. There is no calculating the anxiety and worry of relatives at a distance who almost breathlessly await the news as to the fate of loved ones. Living right in the heart of the catastrophe were four families, relatives of Mr. and Mrs. S.G. Hamilton, Jr., and Mrs. W.A. Benshoff, of this city. No tidings can be heard of them, and it is supposed they all were swept away by the awful avalanche of water. Railroads in this section have been seriously damaged also. No passengers have arrived by the Baltimore & Ohio or Pennsylvania for New York or other Eastern cities, and no freight can be received for ten days. Persons who desire to go East had their plans interfered with, and had to remain at home. The first Baltimore & Ohio train to get through the ruins arrived to-day, being No. 7 fast line. In compliance with the proclamation of Gov. Foraker, a public meeting of citizens will most likely be called by the Mayor to take immediate action toward furnishing relief to the distressed ones. Rev. W.A. Parnell, of this city, had two brothers in the flooded district at Johnstown, Pa. He has received word that they escaped death. Miss Anna James, residing with Rev. J.S. Thomas, has a number of relatives there, and it is feared all are swept away. J.Q. Benshoff, brother-in-law to Mrs. W.A. Benshoff, was a victim and the other relatives to the number of fourteen. Mayor Nichols to-day issued his proclamation calling a public meeting to take action to extend aid. It will be held to-morrow night. The railroad and express companies are carrying contributions free from here.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. TIFFIN, O., June 4.—Miss Nimick, a young lady of this city, and a young man named Beaver left here Thursday night and were on the train that was washed away. Both were undoubtedly lost. At a meeting of the citizens last night considerable money was subscribed for the flood sufferers." GREENSBURG, PA., June 4.—Sixty members of the Junior Order United Mechanics of this place to- night offered their services to Chairman Moxham, of the Relief Committee at Johnstown. WHEELING, W.VA., June 4.—The citizens of Wheeling met in the Grand Opera-house yesterday and raised $2,000. The town of Moundsville raised $600 and Bellaire $200. The people of the latter city meet in mass meeting at 2 o’clock to-day, and their subscriptions will be largely increased. Committees are now canvassing Ohio county, this State, and Belmont county, Ohio, and, if necessary, $10,000, could be raised. "Special to the Commercial Gazette. EAST PALESTINE, O., June 4.—A citizens’ meeting was held in the M.E. Church last evening for the purpose of raising funds for the Johnstown sufferers. Mr. James Suthern was elected Chairman and J.J. Brittain Secretary and Treasurer. The various committees secured $300 in cash and $500 worth of clothing and provisions, all of which were forwarded to Adjt.-Gen. Hastings at Johnstown.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. CLARION, PA., June 4.—At a meeting of our citizens last night $600 was raised for the Johnstown sufferers. To-day the sum was increased to $1,030, and has been forwarded. The Masons forwarded $50 to the lodge at Johnstown for the sufferers. A number of our people have relatives in that place, some of whom are reported lost.
Special to the Commercial Gazette.
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KNOXVILLE, TENN., June 4.—Fifteen hundred dollars were raised by popular subscription in two hours to-day for the benefit of the Conemaugh valley sufferers. Gov. Beaver has been notified by wire to draw on the committee for the above-named amount. As much more will be raised by to-morrow night.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. MANSFIELD, O., June 4.—Mansfield’s contribution to the Johnstown sufferers so far amounts to $1,000. Benefit entertainments will net $1,500 more. Manager Meisel, of the baseball club, was on a Pennsylvania train and as nothing has yet been heard from him it is believed he is one of the drowned.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. CANTON, O., June 4.—Canton has come forward with $2,000 for the Johnstown flood sufferers and sent one of two cars of clothing and provisions. Canvassers are still at work with good prospects of swelling the cash contributions to $5,000 by to-morrow evening.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. CHAMBERSBURG, PA., June 4.—The citizens of Chambersburg held a public meeting in the court- house last night to raise a fund for the Johnstown sufferers. Burgess Henninger presided and committees were appointed to canvass the town. Already nearly a thousand dollars has been paid in.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. BEAVER FALLS, PA., June 4.—At 5 o’clock this afternoon the Beaver Falls relief corps left for Johnstown to work on the ruins of that city. Is it 100 strong. They will be paid by citizens of this place.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. ALLIANCE, O., June 4.—Alliance’s cash contribution of $1,500 was to-night sent to A.J. Moxham, of Johnstown, for the flood sufferers. Alliance send five carloads of clothing, bedding and food.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. ROCHESTER, PA., June 4.—The good work still goes on. In addition to the $1,300 raised last night, a committee of ten to-day made a canvass of the town for provisions, bedding, &c., meeting with success beyond expectation.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. BROWNSVILLE, PA., June 4.—Amount raised here to-day for Johnstown sufferers was over $500 and the total will reach $1,000.
BENEFIT OF JOHNSTOWN SUFFERERS AT BIJOU THEATER, On THURSDAY and FRIDAY EVENINGS, June 6 and 7, under the auspices of the Chamber of Commerce, The Beautiful Legendary Drama, RIP VAN WINKLE, With a strong cast of professional artists. Lubert’s Madolin Quartet will render some choice selections. Entire gross receipts to be given. Usual prices of theater. Reserved seats on sale at box office of theater. R.W. TRELEGAN, N.D. McMEAL, and ROBERT BUCK, of Pittsburgh Dramatic Agency, Managers.
BIJOU THEATER—SATURDAY EVENING, June 8, Benefit of the Johnstown flood sufferer at which will be presented the comedy-drama in 3 acts, entitled “THE GENERAL’S WARD,” by Marie Baldwin (Mrs. Z. Wilson Phillips), of this city. The principal characters will be assumed by the theatrical profession residing in the city, assisted by the leading local talent. The entire proceeds of the performance will be given to flood sufferers.
GRAND CONCERT TO BE HELD at the Grand Opera-house Friday evening, June 7, 1889, for the benefit of the Johnstown sufferers, to be given by the Zitterbart Orchestra, at which the following talent will appear: … Admission 50 cents and $1.
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From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 4.—This has been the pleasantest day here since the flood. The sun peeped through the clouds occasionally, but there was no rain till evening, though veils of mist trailed themselves occasionally along the brows of the surrounding mountains. At about noon I climbed half way up the mountain facing the Conemaugh narrows. Without allowing my eyes to drop, at an angle on the left, far across the valley, I saw the community of Cambria iron workmen nestled safely near the top of the mountain and streaked with sunshine that stole through the heavy clouds dragging by overhead. On the right of the narrows the scene was repeated with another part of Johnstown, the inhabitants of which had the good fortune to live well up in the mountain. Looking up the Conemaugh valley between the narrows, range after range of mountains enveloped in a bluish haze extended for miles bathed in sunshine. The whole plane of vision was one of prosperity, beauty and peace. Dropping my eyes to take in the city of Johnstown proper, in front of me extending straight out into the Conemaugh valley was a district that did not present a house or tree to my vision, which before the flood was the substantial city of Johnstown. THE WATER-AVALANCHE’S PATH. The place was a direct and natural continuation of the Conemaugh valley, and when the water- mountain of the broken dam came it did not leave a house, or tree, or one stone with another standing. Everything was swept down, and the streets lay buried in sand and stones and mud to the depth of from two to ten feet. No drift is here, as the current was too fierce for resistance. Had the Pennsylvania Railroad Company’s stone bridge stood anywhere else in this district, comprising Main, Market, Lincoln and Washington streets, directly exposed to the mass of water debauching direct from the Conemaugh it never would have held up. A little to the right of the direct swath of the flood stands the English Lutheran and Methodist Churches and a handful of business buildings, all but the churches with their walls caved in and ready to fall of their own weight. The clock on the tower of the English Lutheran Church marked off the time all through the flood, and to-day complacently continues to do its duty. Its hand pointed to 12:20 when I observed it which exactly corresponded with the time by my watch. To the left and down the river from the scooped-out district course of the flood the American flag waves over the rickety remains of Armory Hall. It was at the masthead of that building all through the terrible flood night, and more than one human being rushed down the alley felt a touch of its folds as they were dashed by. Adjoining Armory Hall is the brick house of James MacMillan, manager of the Cambria Iron-Works, in fairly good condition and the club-house badly damaged. Still further to the left is the ruin of the public library and the buildings of the Cambria Iron Company’s offices and store, both badly damaged. The other half-dozen houses on the site of Johnstown proper, are lying on their side or partly dashed in. I would not offer $50,000 for all the buildings it contains. THE STRATIFIED WRECK. Some distance further south is the debris of the city of Johnstown packed in tight against the Pennsylvania railroad bridge, so tight that you see layer after layer of splintered legs, houses, bedding, railroad cars and household furniture as if they had been welded together by a mighty hydraulic ram. The area of stratified wreckage extends up the river for an eighth of a mile where it ends in a dark pool of water, and across the river, covering about seven acres. It is almost solid to the bottom of the river and is of an almost uniform and compact surface. The amount of property destroyed here cannot have been worth less than half a dozen millions, to say nothing of the thousands of human lives lost at this point. I saw the wrecks of the Butchers’ Run flood and other great floods in this vicinity, yet the wreck of the Johnstown flood is wholly different. They left many monuments of their destructive character in the way of overturned and falling buildings, but in the case of the Johnstown wreck, speaking generally, the buildings are annihilated or driven into the smallest possible space. THE CAMBRIA IRON COMPANY. Not until I looked across the Pennsylvania railroad bridge down stream did I see a wreck like the one I was accustomed to see in floods. There the valley is strewn with overturned houses and broken-down fences. Before coming to them, though, I saw the Cambria Iron-Works with the fronts of the different buildings smashed in and barricaded high with driftwood, while stones and rocks – I use the term advisedly – and sand cover the front metal-yard for a depth of from three to twelve feet. How the rocks and huge stones ever got washed across the high Pennsylvania railroad bridge and piled up over the yard to such an amount is one of the strangest phenomena of the flood. There were no rocks and stones of the size and quantity nearer than up the Conemaugh valley, a mile or so above. The workmen of the mill say that they were carried down from the mountains by the flood, through Johnstown and
218 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 deposited only when the force of the flood was broken by the railroad bridge. Their presence tells in emphatic terms the force of the current. The Cambria Iron Company has a large force of men and two locomotives with cars, employed at clearing away the debris in its yards and mills, and expects to have the works in operation within a month. It will hire no new men as very few of its old employees, owing to the elevation of their homes, were drowned. FORTUNES SWEPT AWAY. While I was viewing Johnstown from the mountain side Robert Patterson, an old resident, pointed out the place where he owned two blocks of houses and his home before the flood. Not a vestige of them remained. In a few hours the accumulations of an industrious and fortunate career of forty-five years in business were swept away and only by extreme good fortune did he and his immediate household escape. The wife of one of his sons was lost. This was only one of the very many instances of complete annihilation of fortunes by the flood. WHERE ARE THE PEOPLE? My first thought upon looking upon such complete annihilation of buildings was—where are now the people that occupied them. I spy but very few persons outside of the workmen and spectators about. The rows of dead waiting to be coffined, the rows of filled coffins and the rapidity with which other dead were constantly being unearthed, answered my question. Dig anywhere about the town proper, especially about the compact mass of wreck near the bridge, and a body is almost certain to be found. Beginning at Bolivar station and coming towards Johnstown there is hardly five minutes in the ride that coffins or dead bodies are not in sight. Funeral processions of a corpse, its four bearers seem never to cease moving from the town to the three neighboring cemeteries, one on the mountain north, one of the mountain south, and the third at Morrellville. The old cemetery of Johnstown at Sandyville is not used, as the flood washed out a large part of it, in some places exposing the dead buried in it. It will be a month before the bodies about the city are practically discovered and it is my belief that they will fall little short of 10,000. Few of the people were in a place of safety when the fatal avalanche of water came, though the town was warned at about 12 o’clock for this reason. The flood from the ordinary swelling of the river already was over the streets and in most of the houses several feet, and the people were busy within doors moving their goods to a higher story and were not in a position to consider the warning. The survivors say that they never thought of the dam’s bursting until it was upon them. They had lived so long in security below it that they thought it would always continue firm. Had the streets and buildings been clear of water and the alarm posted and passed from mouth to mouth, as it then would have been, the loss of life would have been small, though that of property would have been the same. DEALING WITH THE DEAD. The plan for finding and caring for the dead is well laid and carried out. Several different gangs of men are at work about the town pulling away drifts and digging among the sand and mud in search of bodies, which, as soon as they are found, are carried to the South School building, washed and coffined and placed for identification. The plan of the Pennsylvania railroad for carrying the friends and relatives of the deceased to identify and take charge of them is on an entirely different order. The railroad company is desirous of helping as many sight-seers away from Johnstown as possible. For that reason it only runs two passenger trains a day, which are of course crowded to suffocation and run at as tiresome a speed as possible. I started at 5:30 in the morning and got into Johnstown at 11:30 o’clock though the distance in ordinary times is covered in little more than half that time, and could have been covered to-day in an hour and a half less time without trying. Sometimes the trains run only to Sang Hollow, and sometimes almost to the Johnstown bridge, just as suits the caprice of the railroad people. Every available inch in each car is always crowded, as many standing as sitting. In trying to discourage sightseers by such tiresome and irregular methods the railroad people forget that they are doing a great harm to the friends and relatives of the sufferers who are traveling to look after them. The trains to and from Johnstown should be twice as many and move at almost twice their speed. They should be for the accommodation of those having business there and none others need be carried. WENT THROUGH THE FLOOD. Almost every train leaving Johnstown now has aboard a number of persons who passed through the flood without losing their lives. To-day there left a score or more, among them two girls, both of whom had saved themselves. One of them was Mary Ford, a very bright child of nine with large, gray eyes. When the water avalanche overwhelmed her home which was just below the railroad bridge she was in the second story. The house upset with the shock. Little Mary crawled from the house to a big saw-log
219 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 and on it went careening down the flood for about two miles when her crazy wooden steed happened to drift somewhat inshore against a house. Seizing a stick she beat in one of its windows and then crawled from the log into the house through the window. The house was unoccupied and she was compelled to stay in the second story of it all night with the drift and water constantly beating against it and threatening every moment to bear it off. In the morning the water subsided enough to enable her to reach dry land by walking over the drift. The experience of Jennie Monteverde, a very pretty girl aged 16, is even more marvelous. When the bursted-dam water struck and submerged her home she caught hold of a piece of floating roof. Twice ropes were thrown to her, but she was afraid to let go her hold on the roof to catch them. She reached the great jam of houses, logs, etc., at the Pennsylvania railroad and safely floated over them with her piece of roof. Just after crossing she noticed an old woman ahead of her on another piece of roof, who drowned shortly before her eyes. She continued down the Kiskiminetas, dodging trees, telegraph poles and other drift as far as Lockport, a distance of twelve or so miles, where she floated into a tree. Here she quit her frail bark and passed an awful night up amongst its branches, listening to the crash and roar of the flood about her and the dying cries of its victims. In the morning she got down and reached a farm-house. REED." CHICAGO, June 4.—Mr. Frank B. Felt and Mr. Sidney McCloud, both of this city, were in Johnstown on the fatal Friday when it was buried beneath the waters of the dead reservoir. They arrived in this city this evening. At about 3 o’clock Friday afternoon the Chicago men went into a restaurant on Clinton street. While there they suddenly saw people running by in the street with blanched faces. Everybody in the restaurant seemed to divine the cause at once and rushed for the street, except Mr. Felt and Mr. McCloud, who dashed into the alley at the rear. That course saved their lives, for it was the direct route to the green hill which occupies one side of a triangle formed by it, the Conemaugh rive and Stoney creek. Looking toward the Conemaugh they saw a wall of water thirty or forty feet in height, bringing down the wrecked homes and tossing the bodies of the 2,500 inhabitants of Woodvale. Across the face of the tidal wave there hung a sort of gray mist, resembling dust, and Mr. Felt thinks it was dust in reality, shaken out of the riven timbers, which but a few moments before had sheltered happy hearthstones. When the great wave then reached the triangular plain on which Johnstown then stood, instead of following on own the Conemaugh it swept across the upper end of the plain at the foot of the green hill. It was a race for life to reach this high ground. Mr. McCloud was in front and the water came up to his knees before he reached the hill; Mr. Felt was only a single stride behind him, but the water came to his waist. He was the last to escape by that route, as others not more than five feet behind him were caught by the great wave. Mr. Felt is earnest in his praise of another hero of the occasion whom he only knows by the name of “Dan.” He is an old lumber man. He organized a rescuing party and went out again and again upon all sorts of frail supports, bringing in men, women and children at the imminent peril of his own life, until they had saved between twenty-five and a hundred people. PHILADELPHIA, June 4.—A representative of the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York stated to-day that that company would lose $420,000 by the deaths in the Conemaugh Valley. The Pennsylvania Mutual Life Insurance Company of this city, it is said, will lose $100,000 in the city of Johnstown. "JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 4.—I notice that the Secretary of the South Fork Fishing Club said yesterday that the club had not filed an indemnity bond as stated by many Johnstown citizens. He is undoubtedly correct as to the bond, but is misleading as to the second part of his statement. There is not a shadow of a doubt but that citizens of Cambria county frequently complained and that at the time the dam was constructed a very vigorous effort was made to put a stop to the work. It is true that the leader in this movement was not a citizen of Johnstown, but he was and is a large mine-owner in Cambria county. His mine adjoins the reservoir property. He related to me on Saturday the story of his labors in an effort to protect the lives and property of people in that valley. He was frequently on the spot, and his own engineer inspected the work. He says the embankment was principally of shale and clay, and that straw was used to stop the leaking of water while the work was going on. THE SHERIFF NOTIFIED. He called on the Sheriff of Cambria county and told him it was his duty to apply to court for an injunction. The Sheriff promised to give the matter his attention, but, instead of going before court, went to the Cambria Iron Company for consultation. An employee was sent up to make an inspection,
220 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 and, as his report was favorable to the reservoir work, the Sheriff went no further. But the gentleman referred to said he had not failed to make public his protect at the time and to renew it frequently. This recommendation for an injunction and protest were spoken of by citizens of Altoona as a hackneyed subject. Confirmation was certainly had at South Fork, Conemaugh, Millvale and Johnstown on that fatal Friday. The rumor of an expected break was prevalent at these places early in the day, but citizens remarked that the rumor was a familiar incident of the annual freshets. It was the old classic story of “wolf, wolf.” They gave up the first floors to the water and retired up stairs to wait until the river should recede, as they had done often before, scouting the oft-told story of the breaking of the reservoir. The reader will note the remarkable conflict between the shale and clay story of the mine-owner, referred to above, and the published statement of Gen. Morehead, who had charge of the construction, that the masonry was of solid granite and limestone, and was believed to be as enduring as the pyramids of Egypt. The awful disaster would seem to confirm the allegation of the use of unfit materials in the construction. WHO WAS THE CONDUCTOR? The number of passengers of the Day Express known to have been lost is six; beside these there are two ladies missing and unaccounted for, but who may yet be alive. A conductor who was at Conemaugh on that fateful day claims to have run through the cars and told the passengers to run to the mountains. The passengers who survive are anxious to make the acquaintance of that conductor. They certainly never saw him nor heard him on Friday. His intention may have been used but the good deed was omitted. When the passengers reached the mountains they found two conductors in beautiful white caps. Their manner was calm, and their clothing was unspotted. I asked one of them why he did not notify the passengers of the break in the dam. He replied in some confusion that he had not time. His companion made a report to his superior, which report was carried over the mountain by a passenger that night, but there was nothing in it to indicate that passengers were any of his concern. He reported the loss of two trains. In striking contrast to the neglect of duty of these conductors, it is pleasant to note the manly conduct of others. First—always first—mention should be made of the locomotive engineer and fireman whose bravery and devotion were conspicuous. They never neglected to give such warning as they could in the face of danger and in some cases of certain death. A brakeman, whose name cannot be recalled, rendered splendid service in rescuing women and children at the risk of his own life. J.S. Aber, Pullman conductor, was efficient and cool-headed. W.P. Woodyear, of the car Aragon, and John H. Waugh, porter of the Pullman car Chloris, stood manfully by G.F. Griffiths, of the Norwich line, in the rescue of passengers. It was Woodyear who stood upon the top of the car Aragon with ax in hand ready to cut the roof to prevent the smothering of those within. We think better of our race with such examples before us. WILLIAM HENRY SMITH." Miss Maude Doty, of Braford, Pa., who was visiting friends in Johnstown on the day of the disaster, arrived in the city this morning at 10 o’clock from the stricken city. She says that when the dam broke a herald rode through the main streets of the town warning the people, but no word was given to the people on the back streets. When the deluge struck the town she soon found herself floating around on a raft. It finally floated to shore and she got off and made for the hill. After wandering around for hours she finally discovered a farm house, where she was provided with food. The next day while wandering through Evergreen Cemetery she came across the corpse of a girl on which there was a tab bearing the name of Miss Maude Doty. She was much surprised to find herself thus identified as dead. "From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 4.—Representatives of the B’Nai Israel Congregation have been here since Sunday. They have found that thirty-three Hebrews perished in the flood. Five bodies were recovered up to yesterday. Those recognized were ... Goldberger’s body was taken to Baltimore and the other two to Pittsburgh. HENRY.
WASHINGTON, June 4.—Capt. G.B. Sears, of the Engineer corps, has been detailed by Secretary Proctor to report to Gov. Beaver for engineering duty at Johnstown. He will superintend the construction of the pontoon bridges across the Conemaugh that have been ordered to be sent there from West Point and Willetts Point. Mr. Sears left here for Pennsylvania to-day.
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At the various navy-yards in the country are 58,000 pounds of sea-biscuit, and this will probably be hurried forward to the flood victims, as new stores are about being secured.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. NEW FLORENCE, PA., June 4.—For two days the work of digging dead bodies out of the debris along the river bank near here has been going on. On Sunday thirty bodies were taken out, washed and dressed and sent away. All of these were found within half a mile of New Florence. Among this number was Jacob Bopp, a saloonkeeper; in his pocket was a silver watch and $220 in money. Forty- five bodies have been found here already, and many more are doubtless still buried in the rubbish. Some of these were found a quarter of a mile back from the center of the river in a field.
From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA. June 4.—When the water poured out of the dam into South Fork it washed away the road on the north side of the stream. Workmen are to-day rebuilding it. Only two dwelling-houses in the valley between the dam and South Fork were destroyed. The people saw that the dam would break and all escaped to the hills. The water here dashed up the creek-banks to a height of sixty feet. At 1 o’clock a horseman was sent to the town of South Fork to warn the people that the dam would break. A telegram was sent to Mineral Point and thence down the valley. Nearly everybody at South Fork got to high grounds. Only two were drowned—…. Forty families were made homeless. The Pennsylvania railroad bridge across the Conemaugh was destroyed but is being rapidly rebuilt. The road from Altoona to South Fork was opened this morning. Within four miles below this point 609 men are employed at repairs, but the road will not be opened for a week. In some places the roadbed is destroyed up to the foot of the perpendicular cliff. About half a mile below South Fork a long freight train was caught and wrecked. Most of the cars were washed away and two brakemen lost. One was named Henderson. Half way between Mineral Point and South Fork the railroad crossed from south to north side of Conemaugh by a fine stone viaduct, seventy-eight feet high, originally built for the old Portage road, and this might have stood, but was struck by a magazine of dynamite, washed down from South Fork, and blown up. Eye witnesses say some of the stones were thrown 200 feet in the air. At Mineral Point thirty houses were washed away and a large grist-mill destroyed. The dead from this place are …. The dead at Conemaugh are … . Two bodies from Mineral Point were recovered at Conemaugh, and some of the Conemaugh dead were found as far down as Nineveh. HASSLER." NEW YORK, June 4.—The aggregate of flood subscriptions reported in Associated Press dispatches from various sections to-night, is $571,000. The aggregate reported Monday night was $406,000. "Special to the Commercial Gazette. HARRISBURG, PA., June 4.—Among the contributions for the Johnstown sufferers received by the Governor to-day were the following: From Mayor Root, Hartford, Conn.: “Enclosed you will find check for $458.92 on the Chemical National Bank, of New York, it being an unexpended balance of a former contribution for the sufferers of the flood in Ohio.” From Wm. H. Horton, of Newport, Ky.: “We place our hands in yours and weep over the terrible calamity. Draw on H. Horton, Chairman of the Relief Committee of Newport, for $398.47 for the relief of the stricken people of your Commonwealth.” The Farmers’ Fertilizing Company, Syracuse, N.Y., sends $50. From Tennessee: “Draw on us for $1,500. Contributed by citizens of Knoxville.” From Gov. Buckley, Hartford, Conn.: “In the warmest sympathy for your people, overwhelmed by the appalling disaster at Johnstown, the Legislature of this State now in session have placed at my disposal for their relief the sum of $25,000.” From Gov. Ladd, Rhode Island: “The people of Rhode Island desire hereby to express their heartfelt sympathy with the people in Pennsylvania in the appalling calamity which happened in their midst. Meetings have been called in the cities and various towns of this State to take such action as the magnitude of the disaster demands.” From Gov. Green: “The people of New Jersey are taking active steps to manifest in a substantial manner their sympathy with the sufferers in the recent calamity which has visited portions of your State. Please advise me if the necessities of the case can be relieved by sending your tents. I shall be glad to have any suggestion as to the needs of the people or directions as to sending contributions.”
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From President McCurdy, Mutual Life Insurance Company, of New York: “At a special meeting of the Finance Committee of the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York held this day the President was unanimously requested to authorize to draw upon the company at sight for the sum of $10,000 to be appropriated in your discretion to the relief of the sufferers by the floods in the Conemaugh valley.” From John Hoey, President Adams Express Company: “The Adams Express Company send you to- night $5,000 as its contribution for the relief of the surviving sufferers at Johnstown and Conemaugh. They will also send as soon as their line are opened through to Pittsburgh, for the actual use of the sufferers by the catastrophe, consigned to a committee that you may designate, any contributions from New York and all points in the East, West and South that the Adams Express Company have offices at free of charge, until advised by you to discontinue.” Hebrew Benevolent Society, Los Angeles, California, $1,000; citizens of Schenectady, N.Y., $1,000. Secretary Stone will go to Williamsport in the morning. Cols. Krumboohr and Porter, of the Governor’s staff, reached here to-night and will be sent to Williamsport and Lockhaven. The balance of the staff have been ordered to Johnstown to assist Gen. Hastings.
BOSTON, June 4.—A commendable rivalry has sprung up between the Legislatures of Connecticut and Massachusetts as to who shall contribute the most toward the relief of the flood victims in Pennsylvania. Immediately after coming to order on Monday the House of Representatives presented a resolution appropriating the sum of $10,000 which was unanimously passed and sent to the Senate, where it went through with a rush. This morning what was their disgust when it was learned that acting on the advice of Gov. Bulkley, of Connecticut, that State had appropriated $20,000. This led to animated discussions in the State House, and as soon as it came to order several Representatives were on their feet demanding recognition, each anxious to make an increase of the appropriation. Mr. McCall, of Winchester, was recognized by the Speaker, and he moved that the relief fund be raised to $30,000, instead of $10,000, declaring as the representative and wealthiest State in New England Massachusetts must take the lead in all such enterprises. His remarks were greeted with applause, and the motion was going to a vote, when Representative Wyman, of Hyde Park, was unlucky enough to raise a point of order, declaring that sending money out of the State was unconstitutional. In an instant there was an uproar from all sides. The unfortunate Representative was hissed and derided. Mr. Hayes, of Lynn, declared the order disgraceful and said one word raised against it was an insult to the State, and deprived the appropriation of all credit, for now it would be said that the money was begrudged. Mr. Wyman said he took his stand because the Legislature had in 1872 refused to appropriate money to relieve suffering occasioned by the great Boston fire. It was declared that the two events had no comparison, for in the present instance 10,000 lives had been lost and 1,000 more were suffering. The Judiciary then declared the appropriation constitutional and it was immediately passed. The Senate greeted its appearance with cheers and it will pass to-morrow. To-night it is rumored from Hart that the Connecticut Legislature will go the Massachusetts body one better. A great mass-meeting was held here to-day, in which Phillips Brooks and other prominent people spoke. A band played dirges during intermission. The citizens have a number of entertainments and schemes to raise money. Besides this up to 6 o’clock to-night $20,000 had been raised by private subscription besides the $30,000 given by the State. It will reach $100,000 before the week is out." CLEVELAND, O., June 4.—The total cash collected in this city up to this evening for the flood sufferers is $38,000. Of this amount $3,000 came from school children, who also contributed one hundred wagonloads of clothing and provisions. Ten carloads of merchandise were shipped to Johnstown to-day, and a special train of twenty-eight carloads of lumber, donated from Cleveland dealers, left to-night for that point. Mayor Gardner and Oscar Townsend, General Manager of the Cleveland, Loraine & Wheeling railroad, have gone to Johnstown with $15,000 of the $38,000 already collected. Five hundred dollars was sent by wire last Sunday. NEW YORK, June 4.—The total amount received to-day by Mayor Grant and the committee appointed by him for the relief of the Johnstown sufferers is $92,967.92; received yesterday, $22,020; grand total, $114.297.03. The Chamber of Commerce so far has collected $14,095; the Metal Exchange, $1,200; the Cotton Exchange, $6,280; the Maritime Exchange, $3,424; and the Produce Exchange, $5,899. "Special to the Commercial Gazette.
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YOUNGSTOWN, O., June 4.—The subscription fund started by the Evening Telegram this evening reached $4,000, and that amount has been sent to the Johnstown sufferers. Two carloads of provisions and clothing have also been sent.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. DENNISON, O., June 4.—Division 25 of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers to-day appropriated $100 for the benefit of the Johnstown sufferers. The Panhandle shop employees will to- morrow forward $200.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. PARKERSBURG, W.VA., June 4.—Citizens of this city subscribed over $1,200 on the streets during the day for the relief of Johnstown sufferers. Many benefits are also being given for relief money.
PHILADELPHIA, PA., June 4.—The Finance Board of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company has authorized the purchase of provisions here for distribution among the destitute people along the lines of the road in the Susquehanna valley and on or more carloads of provisions will be started to-night to be given out to any persons in need of assistance. The cities of Lewistown, Williamsport and Lock Haven will be the principal points of distribution. A carload of tents will reach Williamsport by to-morrow morning.
JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 4.—The following is a carefully prepared list of the dead so far as known at present: … The following natives of Weilendorf, Zips county, Hungary, have been identified and buried: …" At 12:30 another train load of the Johnstown unfortunates arrived and were taken charge of by the Ladies’ Relief Committee, who, after giving them all they could eat, furnished them with wearing apparel. With the exception of one family, all had relatives to go to, and that family were provided for by the committee. The list of last arrivals was as follows: … "Money in Pittsburgh is dull and easy at 5@6 per cent, on call and 6@7 per cent, on time loans. At the banks checking and depositing are of fair volume, but business is still affected by the flood disaster. A slight improvement is noted in the iron trade but it is not of sufficient importance to influence values. The repairs to and reconstruction of the many bridges damaged or destroyed throughout the flooded district will doubtless cause a heavy demand for structural iron and railroad supplies, which will keep mils running on those specialties actively engaged for some time to come. Local bankers and merchants say that the trade relations existing between Pittsburgh and the towns devastated in the Conemaugh valley were not of a very important character. The Cambria Iron Company, which formerly did its banking business here, some years ago transferred it to Philadelphia and the merchants of Johnston and its suburbs also drew the bulk of their supplies from that center. The general effects of the catastrophe are severely felt here, however, and it will be some time before financial affairs resume their wonted activity. Sproul & Lawrence’s Wall street dispatches contained the following: “The feeling here is unsettled on account of the losses by the floods, and we would not be surprise to see a reaction.”
TUEDAY JUNE 4, 1889. General business continues light and there is not likely to be any material improvement until the excitement incident to the Johnstown disaster subsides, which will require some days yet. The Grain and Flour Exchange has up to date raised about $1,800 for the relief fund, and this will in all probability be considerably increased yet, as the member have not all yet had an opportunity to subscribe. The names of the subscribers to the fund will be found elsewhere." The South Side Committee of the Junior Order United American Mechanics, who have been collecting for the relief of the Conemaugh flood sufferers, reported provisions and clothing and money to the value of $1,000 at Salisbury Hall last night. They also reported that they had shipped a carload of provisions over the Baltimore & Ohio railroad yesterday. The Heptasophs held a general meeting at 102 Fourth avenue last night, and directed the Executive Committee to establish headquarters at Johnstown, with S.A. Will in charge. Another meeting will be held to-morrow night at which the contributions will be reported. So far but two members of the order are reported as lost.
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"There is reason to believe that the number of those lost in the Conemaugh flood has been subjected to the same sensational exaggeration as has been applied to other incidents of the dreadful catastrophe. The estimate of 15,000 made in one of the papers yesterday is clearly preposterous. The populations whose settlements were in or close to the track of the Conemaugh flood were as follows, the figures using those of the census of 1880 and the last President election: 1880 Population. 1888 Voters. Cambria borough 2,223 454 Cambria township 1,047 245 Conemaugh borough 3,498 714 Conemaugh township 437 114 Coopersdale borough 409 116 East Conemaugh borough 756 217 Johnstown borough 8,380 2,238 Lower Yoder township 957 494 Millvale borough 2,409 532 Mineral Point 134 26 Woodvale borough 639 240 20,889 5,390
At the usual basis of computation of 4 souls to a voter, the vote cast at the last Presidential election would indicate that the population of that region had increased to 26,950 since 1880, and this includes all, those on safe high ground as well as those on low. It is known that the settlements below the lake had three hours’ warning, as just as the village of South Fork the people were able to move out not only themselves, but their furniture. It is known, moreover, that comparatively few were lost at other settlements between Johnstown and the lake. The loss centered in Johnstown and the settlements scattered around—Cambria City, Millvale, Morrellville, Woodvale—having a population of 21,015 as computed on the basis of the last Presidential vote. This represents the total population within corporate limits, and, although the flood swept across the business and principal residence portions of Johnstown, that the populated area exposed to the worst of the flood will not exceed two-thirds of the whole, or 14,010 according to this method of computation, or, say, 14,000 in round numbers. Up to 8 o’clock last night the number of survivors registered at Johnstown was 18,000 and it is conceded that this registration is very incomplete, many of the survivors having gone away or else have failed to report. Moreover, the registration is taken at Johnstown and does not include survivors at other points unless they have come to Johnstown. It is pretty evident on the basis of this registration that the death-roll cannot possibly number above 5,000, with a probability that it will be a good deal less. The number of dead bodies so far gotten out it turns out are only about 1,200, and the ruins have been pretty thoroughly explored with the exception of the jam at the bridge. Provisions are giving out, and additional supplies of food and clothing, too, are needed at once. The take of dislodging the debris at the bridge is a most formidable one and it may consume weeks. A staff correspondent, who made a tour of the near towns from Johnstown to Nineveh, found that the number of dead bodies taken out at them had been much exaggerated. The stories of lynching are also officially denied. Sheriff Byers and Coroner, of Westmoreland county, have been to South Fork to inspect the broken dam.
From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 5.—The opinion of many people is that too high an estimate has been placed on the number who lost their lives in the late disaster. Old residents of the town who escaped with only a few bruises, say that a large number of persons were saved at the stone bridge after the blockade at that structure was formed. … who were caught in the whirlpool declare emphatically that the number of bodies alleged to be in the drift pile has been greatly exaggerated. Then again some 400 or 500 persons who were carried to the bridge in their floating houses managed to escape afterwards by climbing to the roofs, from which places they were afterwards rescued by persons who lined the parapets of the bridge. A large number of other persons were afterwards rescued at various points within the boundaries of the city and along the river shore below Johnstown.
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The registry books on which each person who escaped is requested to enter his or her name show that 13,000 people in Johnstown proper have availed themselves of this opportunity. No lists have been taken in any of the boroughs. During yesterday and to-day the principal collection of debris have been thoroughly searched and all bodies taken therefrom. Both shores of the Conemaugh, from Johnstown to Bolivar, have been thoroughly searched for bodies. The total number discovered between Cambria City and New Florence is about 400. At the Fourth ward school-house morgue about 300 have so far been handled. The number taken care of at the depot is by actual count 112. At the church on Clinton street about 275 bodies have been taken care of, and so far 75 to 80 have been taken from the big drift pile. The number lost in Woodvale will not exceed 300, making a total of about 1,200 bodies recovered. Those lying in the ruins and found at other points, with the exception of the bridge, will not exceed 200. It is now conceded that statement that the bridge drift contains bodies numbering near the 1,000 mark is preposterous, and if 400 more corpses are taken out of that pile it will be a surprise to many persons who witnessed the rescue work done there on Friday. All these facts go to show that the number of dead and missing may not exceed even 3,000. This is also verified by the fact that the principal debris has been explored and all bodies taken therefrom. As a consequence there is no spot where a large number of corpses could be concealed save in the jam at the bridge. BURNS.
From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 5.—A new danger is threatened to-night. The provisions are giving out. This was the cry at the depot of supplies to-night. Maj. J.L. Spangler, who has charge of the commissary department at this point, was in despair this evening. There is danger that by to-morrow morning the suffering of the unfortunates will be intense as many of them were cut off with very light supplies this afternoon. The cry goes out: “More bread!” “More meat!” “More clothing!” Crowds of the unfortunates gathered about the depot this evening and kind hands tried to find them the food necessary. About 3 o’clock this evening your correspondent visited the depot and met Maj. Spangler. SUPPLIES ALMOST GONE. “How are the supplies, Major?” was asked. “Almost gone,” he said. “For heaven’s sake let the people of Pennsylvania and of the United States know that there is danger of a famine right here.” An inventory of the stock showed that in every necessity of life, one more draft like that which usually comes in the morning would deplete it entirely. Bread was running short, and even flour, of which there had been such an abundant supply yesterday. A gentleman came and asked for a sack of flour to take to a house where a number of them was staying. “I am sorry we can’t accommodate you,” said Major Spangler, “but our supply has given out. I can give you a load of bread to let you out this evening, and we live in hopes that to-morrow will bring in more provisions.” The meats are also scarce, likewise cheese, coffee and tea and there goes out from Johnstown to-night the earnest appeal, “Send us meat, bread, coffee and tea.” SHAME ON SUCH CHARITY. But this is not all that is to be complained of and which should be made public. In the way of clothing there has been the greatest abuse under the mantle of charity. Of the boxes opened to-day Maj. Spangler and his assistants say that fully one-third of the articles contained in them had to be thrown away. Coats, vests and pants absolutely reeking with filth were brought to light, smelling so foully that those opening the packages were made sick. They were tossed over the banks and that which some person had eased their consciences with as being gifts of charity were dumped over the bank to swell the pollution already in the place. Such stuff was not met with once, but often, and created indignation among those handling the articles. Very little judgment seemed to have been exercised in the selection of much of the clothing sent. There is large portion of it calico and linen-goods stuff, worse than useless to those who are suffering from exposure and cold. What is needed, and needed badly and at once, is woolens and flannels. The rains that have visited this place every day of late have left the atmosphere cold and the earth damp and chilly. To clothe women and children in light calico wraps or linen underclothing is to invite pneumonia—the disease most dreaded under the circumstances.
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STARTLING CONDITION OF AFFAIRS. Taking everything into consideration, matters are in a startling and dangerous shape. The authorities wish to impress on the kind people who responded so quickly at first that they must not relinquish their efforts. Food and clothing must be sent continually, as there is no possible way of purchasing it at any place near here, and a cessation of charity for twenty-four hours means a famine. This unusual run upon the supplies was cause by the coming in for the Fourteenth regiment, who, of course had to be fed. Then came the workmen of Booth & Flinn, who must also have something to eat; also those supplied by the Cambria Iron Company. These men, soldiers and workmen need plenty of substantial food, as their labors are heavy and arduous and they are working most faithfully. One source of the rapid depletion of the commissary is the fact that many unscrupulous people are imposing on those dispensing the charity. It is known that in some instances people who have not suffered at all have presented themselves at the several provision depots three and four times a day and are stocking up their larders at the expense of the deserving. SIGHT-SEERS MUST GO. Then there have been crowds of sight-seers coming in who do not hesitate to devour the share of the widows and orphans while they glut their morbid curiosity and interfere with the progress of the work. This afternoon Adjt.-Gen. Hastings, the Chief of Police; Adjt.-Gen. Axline, Roger O’Mara and a half a dozen others who represent the police authorities of the place held a meeting at Gen. Hasting’s headquarters. The conference did not last long, but the result was very much to the point. Roger O’Mara will remain for a short time longer to co-operate with Adjt.-Gen. Hastings in increasing the police. The portion of the Pittsburgh force now here will be continued and will act in conjunction with the military patrol of the city. To-morrow a complete system of military discipline will be put into force sand that evil which is now more menacing even than the vandalism of a few days ago—the influx of visitors with no other object in view than sight-seeing—will be done away with. No one will be let inside the picket lines except those having business or friends in search of the bodies of relatives. Gen. Hastings expressed himself very severely on the point to-day, and declared his intention of stopping this nuisance, if it had to be done at the point of the bayonet. He particularly requests that the newspapers in the country inform those who have no business here, other than sight-seeing, that they might as well stay away or else make up their minds to take their observations from the surrounding hilltops. Two urgent requests go out to-night from this afflicted community. One is send food and clothing at once, and the other is, sight-seers stay at home. SUPPLIES ON THE WAY. Dictator Scott to-day wired S.S. Marvin to run his immense baker factory for one week for the benefit of the Johnstown sufferers. The Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce will foot the bill. There is food on the way, but the railroads are blocked with cars so that it cannot be got here with sufficient rapidity. Better transportation facilities are provided to-day. The Baltimore & Ohio has its line opened from Chicago to Philadelphia, and will bring provisions in as fast as possible. To-day Department Commander Stewart, Assistant Quartermaster-General Williams and other officers of the G.A.R. of Pennsylvania arrived here, and will assist Gen. Hastings in aiding the people. HENRY.
JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 5.—The work of cleaning the streets goes on bravely, about 1,500 men being at work. For the first time since the fatal hour the flood swooped down upon the unsuspecting populace some system has characterized the work. Much has been accomplished and great bonfires are burning throughout the devastates portion. The work is being pushed with all possible expedition, but the amount to do is so vast that much as is being done makes little show as yet. The work of blasting a channel through the gorge accumulated above the viaduct is being prosecuted with great vigor also, but it seems futile, as the blasting seems only to loosen the grave lands and to do nothing towards tearing the great logs out of the bed of sand, earth and accumulated debris of all kinds which bind them as tight as stone-quarries. At the present speed it will be five or six weeks before the mass can be dislodged. Meantime the bodies of the charred unfortunates who went down in whirlpool of death are being taken out as rapidly as possible, some with heads, some with legs burned entirely off. THE SICKENING STENCH. Despite the sunshine, the weather remains cool, or the stench arising from the mass would be more awful than it now is, and it is bad enough in all conscience. The impression is gaining that the most expeditious way to get rid of the gorge is to saturate it with oil and fire it again. Otherwise it will take
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2,000 men a month to remove it, by which time the drying flesh of human beings and animals will have had time to pollute the watercourse to New Orleans. The State Board of Health is considering the matter and this may be done yet, if the protection of the living is considered of quite as much importance as the recovery and burial of the dead. If it is done there will be an outcry of course, but imperative necessity for the living, not deference to the ideas of sentiment regarding the dead, must govern. Action must be prompt to be effective. The dead animals, of which there are hundreds, will be burned, and that as quickly as they are taken out of the drift. Only six patients are this evening in the hospital on Adams street. Twenty have been discharged. This morning fourteen, and this afternoon twelve of the injured or sick were sent by the Baltimore & Ohio road to Pittsburgh. There is as yet little general sickness in the city, but doctors say that much pneumonia is likely to develop in a few days. To-night the site of the town is guarded by a heavy detail of militia, and only persons who have general passes are permitted to move about. The Pittsburgh polices this evening arrested a Hungarian for drunkenness and have him locked in a box car for safe keeping. The register of survivors amounted to- night to 13,000. The Cambria Iron Company to-day set its surviving employees to work removing the debris about the mills. The work of reconstruction will begin immediately. Chief of Police John T. Harris was severely cut on the head by a piece of slate falling from a roof where he was working on the ruins. He is in the hospital. President McMillen, of the First National Bank, who was reported dead, is alive and well. BLASTING A CHANNEL. Arthur Kirk expects to have a channel blasted open to-morrow, so that the water dammed up behind the stone bridge will run out and permit more rapid work. Fifteen bodies were taken out to-day, six being found in one place. They were charred beyond the possibility of recognition. One body, that of a matron apparently of middle age, had considerable jewelry on her person and may possibly be recognized from that. A pelting rain commenced to-night about 9 o’clock and will make the work much more unpleasant, as the mud becomes a slippery ooze in which footholds are insecure. The correspondents are stationed at the west end of the bridge in miserable old shanties with roofs that permit the dews of heaven to trickle down their backs as they sit writing, using mortarboard, pieces of iron, tin pans and other like implements as desks. For mattresses they have fire-brick with no covering but moist overcoats. The New York, Philadelphia and Chicago correspondents are no better housed than the Pittsburgh boys, as they all fraternize. The scene presented from the outside is ludicrous, as each sits around on whatever he can find, and borrows light from his neighbor’s candle. JOHNSTON.
Special from a Staff Correspondent. NEW FLORENCE, PA., June 5.—Down the valley of the Conemaugh between Johnstown and Sang Hollow the stamp of desolation, ruin and death is apparent on every side. Below that point the destruction of property is not so apparent, but Nineveh and New Florence have played an important part in this terrible catastrophe. The flat bottom which formed the river front of the first-named hamlet was the spot where nearly all the bodies interred and cared for at that point were found. I visited many points along this route to-day, beginning at Cambria City, which lies a quarter of a mile below the Johnstown bridge. Cambria City, prior to the flood, was the pride of its residents. The streets were laid out and numbered after the Philadelphia plan. The houses were nearly all of modern style of architecture and were handsome frame buildings. Along the river front and for three squares back toward the Pennsylvania railroad tracks is where the handsomest portion of the borough stretched for fully a mile. THE RUINS OF CAMBRIA CITY. All is now changed. This spot of beauty has been changed to one of desolation. The ruins of numerous dwellings which once lined the asphaltum drive on the river are now lying against the embankment at the other side of the borough. The streets are torn and covered with mud and fully four feet deep at some places, while entire rows of buildings have been carried down the stream by the torrent. A supply distributing station is located on the only whole street the borough now contains. It is in the house of Mrs. Keating, a kind-hearted woman, who with her daughters is aiding in every way those of her neighbors who lost all by the flood. Mrs. Keating’s greatest regret is the loss of her old neighbors,
228 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 whom she had learned to love. “Nearly all of them,” said she, “are gone, and sometimes I feel as if I am sorry I did not go with them. It seems to sad to lose all your own friends.” Down the street from Mrs. Keating’s house Mrs. William Verner and her family of seven children lived up until last Friday. Poor Mrs. Verner, the neighbors say, died because she could not see her children drift off to death. She and they were in the house together when the storm and flood came. All went to the roof as the building was whirled around in the grasp of the water monster. The building broke in two and mother and children were separated, the latter being carried down the stream leaving the agonized mother on that portion of the building which remained. The separation was but for a moment, as Mrs. Verner sprang after her little ones, and all are now sleeping together in the cemetery at Nineveh, the place their bodies were found. Cambria City surrendered to the flood the lives of fully forty-eight of its residents, and those who survived have lost nearly all they owned in the world. THE MORGUE AT MORRELLVILLE. At Morrellville, one mile below that last named place, many bodies were caught, a large portion of which are children. The St. Cloud Hotel was and is still used as the morgue. The scene there was a particularly sad one as every room on the first floor of the hotel was filled with the corpses of little ones ranging in age from 2 to 7 years. The destruction along the lower portion of this borough was great, and about twenty residents were drowned. In addition to these fully 120 bodies were caught and prepared for burial at Morrellville. Both banks of the river between this place and the bridge are strewn with wreckage, and the gas-works, located on the opposite shore, is almost totally destroyed. The piers of a missing bridge is the next object to attract attention as the journey down the river is continued. This bridge was located at Sheridan station and was carried away at the same time the town of that name on the opposite bank of the river was destroyed. The once pretty hamlet of Sheridan now resembles a great dumping lot, for tons upon tons of debris are heaped on it. The buildings are lying on ends while many have gone down the stream in the wild race to destruction. The handsome wooden bridge kept them company. A SPARED MONUMENT. One bright spot in this scene of ruin and desolation is that formed by a dozen pretty cottages on the hillside above the high-water mark made by the flood. These buildings are surrounded by lovely green trees and form a picture which is in striking contrast to the pathway of destruction which stretches as far as the eye can reach. The station-house building is almost obscured from view by debris, while many of the buildings have been overturned. Nineteen residents of Sheridan were swept away and more were recovered. A.J. Baker, of Johnstown, who mounted his wife as dead for two days, found her alive and well at Sheridan on Monday. So far thirty bodies have been found at this place, nearly all of which have been identified. Sang Hollow, a short distance below, was the scene of considerable destruction of railroad property. The tracks were completely overturned, and are now lying on the river shore. Another has been laid. THE MORGUE AT NINEVEH. Nineveh, where so many bodies have been found, has for the past four days been turned into a vast morgue. At every point evidences of the dire calamity can be seen. Coffins are lying on the sidewalks by the dozens. Since Sunday 214 bodies have been found and cared for at this place. The bodies were all embalmed and clothed in handsome robes Undertakers Stafet, of Latrobe, and Sampson, of Pittsburgh, have worked night and day, and Mr. Stafet told me he was completely worn out. I found Sheriff Beyers and Coroner Hammer, of Westmoreland county, here. They were accompanied by the Coroner’s jury, which has held inquests on all the bodies in Nineveh and other points in Westmoreland county. The parts was about to depart for South Fork to inspect the broken dam. They stated that judging from testimony given before them so far they had reason to believe that the dam had been in a dangerous condition for some time past and that the fact was known to a great many people both here and in South Fork. THE LYNCHING STORIES DENIED. Sheriff Beyers said that the stories of the shooting at Sheridan, the robbing of the dead at Nineveh and the lynching bee near Morrellville were without the slightest foundation. He said that there had been considerable stealing done by persons who found articles of value in the fields and along the river shores, but he only knew of one case in which the dead had been robbed. Mr. Alex. Bates, a well- known and highly-respectable citizen of Nineveh, who was present at the conversation, afterwards furnished the details of the robbery. He said that he had found the body of Mrs. J.L. King, of Johnstown, in the burs near the town of Armagh, just across the river. A lady’s gold watch and chair
229 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 were in the boom of Mrs. King’s dress. Among the men who went after the body was John. W. Wagner. He cut the dress open, Mr. Bates alleges, and took the watch and chain, saying as he did so that he was entitled to take the jewelry as it had become common property. I protested against this act, and Mr. Bates, but it was of no use. I afterward made information against Wagner before the Justice here, a hearing took place, and the prisoner on agreeing to give up the watch and chain was discharged. At Nineveh the correspondent saw Mr. H.D. Harnish. Father of Miss Blanche Harnish, of Dayton, O., who was a passenger on the ill-fated Day Express, which left Pittsburgh for New York on Friday morning. Miss Harnish was accompanied on her journey by Mrs. Smith and the latter’s little boy. All three have been missing since the train was engulfed until to-day, when the body of Mrs. Smith was found at Conemaugh. This fact fully confirms Mr. Harnish’s belief that his daughter is lost. He has been unable to find her body at any of the morgues. Miss Harnish when last seen alive wore a gold watch, on which her name was engraved in the inside. She had brown hair, was slight in form and was dressed in black with a check coat. THE BURIAL PLOT. The remains of the unknown found at Nineveh have been buried in a cemetery comprising one acre of ground, which was purchased by the Westmoreland county officials for this occasion. Lying in a long trench, which forms the one grave of the adults, is the body of a richly-dressed lady who is supposed to have been a passenger on one of the lost trains. On one of the fingers of her left hand is a solitaire diamond ring of considerable value. In the ears are genuine diamond ear-rings. While I was there four additional bodies were brought to the station from the woods on the opposite side of the stream. Three of these were women and the other a boy. All were very much decomposed, and were confined and send to the cemetery at once. This makes 216 bodies in all fund in that locality. At New Florence, the station below, fourteen corpses have been taken care of. All of the bodied referred to were interred by volunteer workmen of Greensburg and Latrobe. BURNS.
From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 5.—Sixty-four bodies were taken out to-day. Thirty-one had been received at the school-house morgue up until 4 o’clock, and thirty-three were received at the new morgue opened in the Presbyterian Church. Those who have been identified were: … Thirty-two of these were taken out at the corner of Main and Market streets, at the corner where the Hulburt House stood. Mrs. Judge Roberts, the venerable and highly-respected lady and the first female child born in Johnstown, was found this morning. Twelve thousand survivors had been registered up until 1 o’clock. A notice was posted notifying the employees of the Gautier Mill to report at the general office to-day. Each was registered and given a card stating it would pass him through the military and police lines. The idea is to ascertain how many survived the flood. The secret societies have appointed committees to ascertain the fate of their brethren and report all information to a general headquarters. Systematic work is being pushed rapidly and within the next twenty-four hours everything will be done with military precision. JOHNSTON.
From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 5.—Dr. Benjamin Lee, Chairman of the State Board of Health, and his associates are doing all they can to prevent an outbreak of sickness, but the powers at their command are limited. A house-to-house inspection was made to-day by the Sanitary Corps and a woeful state of affairs was discovered. In many houses thirteen and fourteen persons were found living in single rooms. In many houses it was found that the windows were tightly closed up to keep out the stench of decaying bodies and animals. To add to the difficulties and the increase of danger the supply of disinfectants is very inadequate. The supply on hand has been exhausted and Dr. Lee has telegraphed to the Surgeon-General of the United States to send disinfectants at once. He received a reply that all the disinfectants in Washington, three carloads, had been sent and now is on the way. This will not be one-tenth part of what will be required. Dr. Lee said that there was two carloads at Ebensburg from Philadelphia, and that it would be here to-morrow. More is needed, and is urgently needed. Tar is needed to burn through the town to keep down the awful odor which grows more rank each successive hour.
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The correspondents are much indebted to the Allegheny Electric-Light Company for having furnished them with a brush-light in the headquarters. JOHNSTON.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. NEW FLORENCE, PA., June 5.—In a conversation to-day with an old farmer who has resided here for forty years and known every rod of the Conemaugh and Upper Kiskiminetas, he assured me that there are what is known as “suck holes,” and no line that he has tried was long enough to reach the bottom of these pools. He says they are anywhere from fifty to a hundred feet deep, and his opinion is when the water recedes to its usual depth during the summer that in these holes will be found the hundreds, perhaps thousands who are missing.
From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 5.—John Cochran, a young gentleman who is here as a member of the Relief Committee from Scottdale, this morning was robbed of a fine gold watch worth $125. He was asleep in the press headquarters when the robbery occurred but the building was at the time deserted.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. HARRISBURG, PA., June 5.—Gov. Beaver has summoned the State Board of Charities to Harrisburg to meet to-morrow at 2 o’clock. He will turn the funds sent to him over to the board, and they will take charge and distribute it judiciously.
PARIS, June 5.—A meeting of Americans was held to-day at the United States Legation on a call in the morning papers by Mr. Whitelaw Reid, the United States Minister, to express the sympathy of the Americans in Paris with the sufferers by the Johnstown calamity. In spite of the short notice the rooms of the Legation were densely packed, and many went away unable to gain admittance. Mr. Reid was called to the chair and Mr. Ernest Lambert was appointed Secretary. The following resolutions were offered by Mr. Andrew Carnegie and seconded by Mr. James N. Otis: Resolved. That we send across the Atlantic to our brethren overwhelmed by the appalling disaster at Johnstown our most profound and heartfelt sympathy. Over their lost ones we mourn with them, and in every pang of all their misery we have our part. Resolved. That as American citizens we congratulate them upon, and thank them for, the numerous acts of noble heroism displayed under circumstances calculated to unnerve the bravest. Especially do we honor and admire them for the capacity shown for local self-government, upon which the stability of republican institutions depends, the military organizations sent from distant points to preserve order during the chaos that supervened having been returned to their homes as no longer required within forty-eight hours of the calamity. In these few hours the civil power recreated and asserted itself and resumed away without the aid of counsel from distant authorities, but solely by and from the inherent power which remains in the people of Johnstown themselves. Resolved. That the thanks of this meeting we cordially tender to Mr. Reid for his prompt and appropriate action in this matter and for services as the chairman of this meeting. Resolved. That a copy of these resolutions be forwarded by telegraph to the Mayors of Johnstown, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Brief and touching speeches were made by Gen. Layton, late United State Minister to Austria, Hon. Abram S. Hewitt, Gen. Meredith Read and others. The resolutions were then unanimously adopted and a committee was appointed to receive subscriptions. About $2,000 were subscribed on the spot. The American bankers all agreed to open subscriptions the next day at their banking-houses. Buffalo Bill subscribed the entire receipts of one entertainment to be given under the auspices of the committee. Besides others already named there were present … and others from New York; … and a large number of the American Colony in Paris. It was the largest and most earnest meeting of American citizens held in Paris for many years.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. HARRISBURG, PA., June 5.—Gov. Beaver received telegrams to-day as follows: Mayor Grant, of New York, sends $100,000 and says: “The people of this city have contributed in cash during the day
231 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 nearly $100,000 additional. Every mail is bringing numerous and generous contributions. It appears to be the effort of our people to make their charity equal to your needs.” John Hoey, President of the Adams Express, writes: “Acknowledgement received. Johnstown and its people when in prosperity did a great deal for the Adams Express when in its infancy, and as when Johnstown was in its swaddling clothes it also helped the Adams, our company stand ready to do more for Pennsylvania sufferers should the occasion require. Our express will soon be in order to receive contributions and our cars will be ready to carry all that a grateful community are anxious to send you.” Capt. Pratt, of the Carlisle Indian School, telegraphs: “Many of our pupils have gone to farms for the summer. We have good and ample accommodations for 100 children, whom we can temporarily care for at a minimum cost of food only, should this sort of service be needed by flood sufferers.” Mayor Mason, of Lock Haven, telegraphs that donations of money and provisions are needed. The reservoirs and bridge are swept away. The Equitable Insurance Company, of New York, sends $10,000. In a message to Mayor Grant, of New York, the Governor says: “Very little money has yet been paid out. My present intention is to organize a bureau of distribution, based upon equitable principles, through our State Board of Charities, which is composed of men of the highest character, of large means and business ability. Being already organized they can put the machinery of distribution into practical effect more quickly than any other agency which I can command. They would also challenge the confidence and respect of all contributors to this fund. If this should meet with your views you can send your contributions to me direct or name the amount for which you authorize me to raw whenever it may suit your convenience.” Altogether Gov. Beaver has received cash by check and draft, $125,988, and the cities and towns represented in this sum by contributions are these: Glenwood Springs, Col.; Clay Center, Kan.; San Francisco, Cal.; Davidsonville, La.; Sacramento, Cal.; Los Angeles and New Orleans.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. BOSTON, June 5.—The unfortunate squabble in the Legislature over the $30,000 appropriation for the relief of the Johnstown sufferers has raised a tremendous feeling throughout the State. The several members opposing it are roundly abused, and the Senate, declining to dwell on its constitutionality on the ground on emergency, passed it unanimously. The Governor was, however, waited upon by the persistent kickers, chief of whom was Mr. Wyman, of Hyde Park, and His Excellency has referred the matter to the Attorney-General for a decision and he will report to-morrow. The members of the Legislature have decided in the event of the appropriation failing, to subscribe $25 apiece. The city fund by private subscription to-day reached $45,000." NEW YORK, June 5.—The receipts of cash at the Mayor’s office of this city to-day aggregate $130,000. Besides this over $100,000 was subscribed to other funds of exchanges and newspapers. The Equitable Life has sent $10,000 to the flood victims. The Committee of Foreign Fire Insurance Companies have telegraphed Gov. Beaver, of Pennsylvania, that Messrs. Drexel, Morgan & Co. will honor his draft at sight for $10,000 as their contribution. Associated Press dispatches from various points, outside of Washington and Philadelphia, report flood subscriptions during the day and night of about $120,000. BALTIMORE, MD., June 5.—A part of the money, provisions and clothing collected here to be sent to the sufferers at Johnstown, will be forwarded to the sufferers in the flooded districts in Western Maryland who are sick, homeless and helpless. Hundreds of people are shelter-less and almost starving. In Williamsport alone on Sunday thirty homeless and destitute families were fed, and at Point of Rocks at least forty families are utterly destitute and suffering. The same is true of Sandy Hill and other little villages along the Potomac river, some of whom have been almost annihilated. "LONDON, June 5.—United States Minister Lincoln is receiving large contributions for the fund for the relief of sufferers by the floods in Pennsylvania. Marshal Wilder, of the New York Press Club, offers a recitation to assist. PARIS, June 5.—The municipal Council have donated 5,000 francs to the Johnstown sufferers.
From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 5.—One of the sensational features of this great flood was discovered by your correspondent at the great stone viaduct about half way between Mineral Point and South Fork.
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At Mineral Point the Pennsylvania railroad is on the south side of the river, although the town is on the north side. About a mile and a half up the stream there was a stone viaduct built of very solid masonry. It was originally built for the old Portage road. It was seventy-eight feet above the ordinary surface of the water. On this viaduct the railroad tracks crossed to the north side of the river and on that side ran into South Fork, two miles further up. It is the general opinion of engineers that this strong viaduct would have stood against the gigantic wave has it not been blown up by dynamite. At South Fork there was a dynamite magazine which was picked up by the flood and shot down the stream at the rate of twenty miles an hour. It struck the stone viaduct and exploded. The roar of the flood was tremendous, but the noise of this explosion was heard by farmers living on the Evanstown road two miles and a half away. Persons living on the mountain sides in view of the river and who saw the explosion say that the stones of the viaduct at that point where the magazine struck it were thrown into the air to the height of two hundred feet. An opening was made and the carrying away of nearly all the rest of the viaduct followed so quickly that the interval was hardly noticeable. HASSLER.
From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 5.—Everybody here is praising the work of the Ohio contingent under the direction of Gen. Axline, and on every hand one hears high praise of Gov. Foraker and his able representative. This morning Gen. Axline’s car was run to the eastern end of the line which has reached Conemaugh station. There it distributed three hundred tents to be used by the homeless people and the railroad laborers. His cars were then run back to Johnstown depot and the remainder of his tents given out. The General says he will remain here as long as there is need for his services, and is doing all he can to relieve the distressed. Ohio has become so popular here that even Pennsylvania men have been seen running around with Ohio badges on their coats. There are provision-cars and relief committees from Columbus, Findlay, Alliance, Youngstown and Steubenville. HASSLER." JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 5.—The Coroner’s jury to-day proceeded to the South Fork and investigated the cause of breakage of the reservoir dam. Witnesses testified that slight breaks had appeared in the dam several times in past years, but had each time been clumsily repaired with straw, sticks and rubbish. The general impression is that the jury will declare that the Pittsburgh Fishing Club, that owned the reservoir, was guilty of gross negligence. In that event many suits for damages against the millionaire club will doubtless follow. "From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 5.—Little relics picked up here and there often convey touching incidents of the great flood. Gen. Axline, of Ohio, has in his possession a blue glass marble which has a story. A mother and two children were found dead. Under one arm she held a little boy of about 3 years, and under the other a baby of 1 year. In his tightly-closed hand the little boy held three marbles, one blue, one tigers-eye and one a brown commy. Gen. Axline has the blue one, Allen Myers the tigers-eye and a reporter the commy. The story of death was too plainly told by those three dead bodies. The little ones had been playing on the floor. The mother was working probably in another room. She saw the wave breaking up on the street and ran for her children. She had scarcely gathered them under her arms when the avalanche of water fell upon them, and all were swallowed up. HASSLER.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. HARTFORD, CONN., June 5.—The loss by the life insurance companies of this city in consequence of the flood in the Conemaugh valley will be insignificant. The Phoenix Mutual has none, neither has the Connecticut General, or the Eton, contrary to report. The Travelers Insurance Company did a large business in that section two years ago among the better class of mechanics, but at the present time their risks are not numerous. W.C. Lewis was their local agent in Johnstown. He has not been heard from and is supposed to be dead, so the exact number of policy-holders cannot be known for some time. The company estimates its entire risks at not over $40,000 in the entire valley, $10,000 of which was upon the life of James McMillen, a mill-owner of Johnstown.
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WILLIAMSPORT, PA., June 5.—Dispatches received here to-day bring the news that all the logs and lumber of Sprague, Striedy and Bubb and those of Tweed, supposed to have been lost, have all been saved, leaving these parties $100,000 better off than they thought they were. At Little Trout run, on Big Pine creek, also men had been employed peeling bark. Since the water subsided a search was made for the men and all were found in their cabin drowned. One of the number, Enoch Wier, was a resident of Jersey Shore, where his body was taken yesterday. Joseph Casserman, of the same place, had to be buried where found, his body not being in a condition to be moved. The names of the other four were not learned. The city continues in darkness. This evening at 6 o’clock Lieut.-Gov. Stone reached here with seven carloads of provisions, which will be brought across the river to-morrow and distributed. Five additional cars are on the way and will arrive during the night. These cars have a lot of tents from Harrisburg. A meeting of the ladies of the city has been called for to-morrow to arrange for receiving and distributing clothing, a full supply of which is expected to reach here very soon. Trains will run to Lock Haven and Renovo some time to-morrow. Work will be begun on the Williamsport bridge of the Pennsylvania Railroad to-morrow, and it will be pushed forward steadily. A committee of the Lumberman’s Exchange visited Ransom’s Island, below the city to-day, and found in that locality over twelve million feet of lumber and twenty million feet of logs. In a house that had lodged on Ransom Island the body of a young woman was found. Her name could not be obtained, some letters were near by her signed W.H. Jackson. NEW YORK, June 5.—A message received here to-day from Gov. Beaver, of Pennsylvania, says the losses of timber and manufactured lumber at Williamsport will exceed $5,000,000.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. HUNTINGDON, PA., June 5.—The late news from suburban districts in this county just received shows that the destruction to property by flood is infinitely greater than at first reported. The waters are receding and the Juniata river is passable in several places. Carriers have arrived bearing news of the unprecedented flood. From Bedford to Huntingdon on the Raystown branch and on to Lewistown on the Juniata river the devastation is the greatest in Central Pennsylvania, except, of course, in Johnstown. Not a house is left that stood within reach of the swollen streams here. The damage to property will reach $500,000, while other towns in the county have suffered correspondingly. At Mapleton the immense tannery of L.A. Roberts was damaged to the extent of $200,000 and the loss to other property will reach $100,000 more. The Powell furnace at Saxton sustained a loss of $300,000 and at that place both of the railroad and county bridges were swept away, leaving railroad communication with Bedford cut off. The Huntingdon & Broad Top railroad sustained but slight damage. For a distance of three miles below here four miles of the Pennsylvania railroad tracks are destroyed, with bridges gone at Mays, Manayunk and Lewistown, the latter having gone down during the heavy storm last night. Railroad communications with Altoona for the West will be opened on a single track to-morrow. From here to the junction of the Juniata and Susquehanna rivers the sweep of the flood extended, filling this once beautiful valley with desolation and ruin. Growing crops in the lowlands were destroyed, and in Smiths valley, this county, the farming lands comprising an area of twelve by two miles have been stripped of every vestige of soil. As far as known 300 houses have been destroyed in this county. Relief committees are now engaged and are seeking assistance for the destitute. Three families, comprising sixteen persons living on the Raystown branch, named Dean, Hefiner and Montgomery, are missing, and it is feared that they have been swept away with their homes.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. WASHINGTON, D.C., June 5.—One of the complete wrecks made by the recent floods is the Chesapeake & Ohio canal, planned by George Washington to connect the Chesapeake bay with the Ohio river. The work was begun in 1836 and finished to Cumberland in 1860 at a cost of $11,000,000. Taking expenditures since it has cost in all nearly $40,00,000. The State of Maryland put $7,000,000 into the canal, and the canal to-day figures on the State accounts for the amount of $25,177,460 for principal and interest. The canal has long been a political machine, and it was as its President that Senator Gorman first obtained his ascendancy in Maryland politics. The canal has been almost wiped out now, and as it has been a losing concern for years there is no likelihood that it will be rebuilt.
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Senator Gorman says it will have to be abandoned, as there is no way in which money to rebuild it can be secured.
The Night Committee in charge of the Relief headquarters at the Second Presbyterian Church were kept busy until 3 a.m. yesterday in receiving and caring for the refugees from Johnstown. At 5 a.m. the ladies were relieved by the Day Committees and the experiences of the previous day were repeated. The work has been thoroughly systemized and the smooth working challenges the admiration of all. There is no satisfaction given the curious and no place for idlers. Mrs. H.C. Campbell at the head of the Executive Committee is the guiding and controlling spirit of the large number of workers, and plans for everybody. In the vestibule of the church Mrs. Ida L. Easton receives all inquiring people, and in another apartment Mrs. George A. Kelly, with her aid, Miss Clarke, record the names of the refugees. The large Sabbath-school rooms are used as the dining apartments, and in these Mrs. Herron, with her aids, preside. One end of the vestibule is the receiving department of clothing supplies. In this apartment any garments that need mending are placed in the charge of the mending committee, whose busy needles supply missing buttons and strings. The supplies to the clothing department kept coming in throughout the day, and included everything from tiny baby socks and bonnets to heavier clothing for men. APPLICATIONS FOR CHILDREN. At the Directory Department the number of inquiries received for children and missing friends have been many. A list of the latter was made out last night and forwarded to Johnstown to the Department of Information at that place. Several applications have been received from ladies in this city for orphan babies and children. A number also have asked for girls between the ages of 12 and 18. A request for a “dear little live baby” was also preferred by a little girl from Lawrenceville, who all alone had taken upon herself the responsibility. As the child was so much in earnest it was with difficulty that Mrs. Easton could restrain her feelings. Thus far no full orphaned children have been received, with the exception of little Tommy Berger, a 6-year-old boy, the only survivor of a large family, who was in charge of an uncle. All applications are filed and will be attended to in turn. Applications for clothing must be in the form of a permit from Mrs. Kelly. Early in the day a telephone was placed in the church and quick communication thus established. A messenger now s also kept in constant attendance. It has been expected that a special train would have brought a large number of refugees into the city at one time, but early in the day a telegram was received stating that the distressed ones would arrive a few at a time on the different trains over the Pennsylvania and Baltimore & Ohio railroads. … were appointed as a committee to attend the Union station, and Mr. Kennedy was assigned to the Baltimore & Ohio depot. In addition to the different institutions, mention as wiling to receive sufferers, all the ladies in the vicinity of the Western University have joined in fitting up sixty beds in Beatty Hall for the accommodation of refugees. Yesterday also, the salesladies of Horne & Ward’s establishment sent in clothing to the amount of $50. From Joseph Horne’s establishment also $50 in cash were sent in from the ladies, and with the instruction that it be used for the women and children. CURIOUS PEOPLE DEBARRED. In the afternoon the church became so crowded with those who came to proffer help, those who came from curiosity and not a few auspicious personages, that it was decided to place a policeman at the gate with instructions to allow no one an entrance without an official pass. As last night was prayer-meeting night, many people under the statement of wishing to attend prayer-meeting passed the policeman and soon thronged the vestibules. But they were allowed no further admittance, for a guard was placed at the entrance of each apartment. Very few people were received during the day, but those that came were promptly fed, clothes and provided homes. One man was sent to the hospital, and one woman, whose foot was lacerated by being torn on a nail in her flight, was doctored by Miss Vincent and sent to the home of a friend. THE FRICTION OF EXTRAVAGANCE. The Citizens’ Relief Committee which met at the church in the morning through some misunderstanding had not learned of the thorough organization of the ladies, and their inquiries occasioned a slight annoyance for a time. After the thoroughness of the system of organization was understood the Relief Committee were fully satisfied that the work was in master hands. In regard to statements made to an afternoon paper relative to the extravagance of the Ladies’ Relief Committee,
235 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 the official statement is made that the committee have never authorized the paying for meals, that any such is the arrangement of private citizens who prefer to thus entertain their guests. No food or supplies have been refused, and not a crumb of anything has been wasted. Economy and judgment are exercised to the highest degree. Each committee knows its place, there is no conflict, and all details are skillfully managed. INTERVIEWING NOT ALLOWED. The committee positively forbid the interviewing of the refugees. While the distressed people are seated at the table, Miss Pressly and Miss Clark take their names and addresses, and after that no one is allowed to trouble them. Distress is depicted on each face and pathetic incidents abound. One poor woman’s baby was taken from her by kindly hands, but at a faint cry from the little one the distracted mother rushed towards it, crying out: “Give me my baby; my other two are gone, my husband is gone; you shall not separate me from my only one.” Another woman, who had lost every relative she had, when taken to the supply department was handed out a brown dress: “O, give me a black one, the deepest densest black one you have; never can I again wear any other color.” Some of the women have come in borrowed clothes and must send them back to-day. In the evening the Alliance Relief Committee with about twenty refugees were entertained. The gentlemen in charge of the wanderers paid a high tribute to the ladies on the splendid executive ability displayed and left saying: “The Ohio papers will not spare their praise for this work.” One poor woman came in wearing a gown which one of the committee recognized as one sent out by her among the first contributions. A large number of the refugees found friends already waiting them, so that but few homes were needed. Quite a number who came in too late for transportation to other points were sent to Emmanuel Church. Just before midnight a large delegation came in and a number of these were sent to the hospital. Up to midnight the total number of refugees entertained were: …
“No one seems to understand what the real trouble at the dam was,” said Engineer Cooper yesterday. Mr. Cooper is a member of the firm of Edelburn & Cooper, who made the surveys of the property surrounding the dam after it came in the possession of the South Fork Company. “The dam,” continued Mr. Cooper, “was safer than it was in the days when it was in the hands of the canal company. At one corner of it was a sluice that carried off the waste water. In fact, it was the channel of the river. The water flowed through this channel, and it was here that all the trouble occurred. It was not wide enough for the extra volume of water or possibly it had become clogged up. Every precaution had been taken by the company in this direction, however. “When the South Fork Company rebuilt the dam, they cut this sluice way down four feet lower than it had been when the canal company owned it. This was done because the farmers claimed that the land down to the water’s edge and the lowering of the dam gave the company a strip of land all around the lake. There was probably 75 feet of water in the lake. It was 2 ½ miles long, but people make a mistake in supposing that had anything to do with the dam bursting. The great length of the lake made no more pressure on the dam than if there had been but one foot of water back of it. “The whole trouble was with the water running over the dam. This is why the sluice way was really the cause. When Mr. Parke saw that the water was rising at the rate of ten inches an hour, he and Mr. Unger at once set a force of men to work to widen the sluice way and give the water a chance to escape. If they had succeeded in this the dam would have been all right. The sluice way is cut through the side of the hill and they failed to get it opened enough to let the water escape. “It began to run over the dam and the trouble began at once. As soon as the water began to cut through the dam it was doomed. It is a mistake to think that the weight of the water burst open the dam. It was simply worn away and could not have been stopped after it once began to overflow even if the sluice way had been opened.”
It is now clear that Miss Jennie Paulson has been lost. Every point has been searched for her, but as yet without result. Mrs. Moffit, who was in the same train, says that Miss Paulson was washed from the platform of the car. The two young ladies, Misses Bryan and Paulson, went back for their overshoes and were caught in the water. This story was told by the servant of another lady passenger.
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Miss Montgomery Wilcox, of Philadelphia, states that the young ladies were in the same car with her. They both wore corsage bouquets, and Miss Jennie was reading while the other young lady looked out of the window. They both decided to return for their rubbers and were lost. M. Culbertson and George Metcalf, of Lawrenceville, both supposed to be lost, returned home yesterday. Among the very first reported as lost was Mrs. J.W. Brady, sister of Mr. H.H. Murray, the bill-poster. Mrs. Brady arrived in this city last evening safe and well. The lady drove from Ebensburg to Indiana and then got a train. Miss Margaret Patrick arrived home Tuesday night after a sojourn at Conemaugh and Altoona.
Among the supplies sent out from Pittsburgh yesterday were 15,000 pounds of cooked hams. Provisions and clothing were shipped over the Baltimore & Ohio. Early in the day two cars of provisions went out, and at 8 o’clock a special train of twenty cars was started from the station loaded down with supplies of all kinds. Among them were 100 dozen brooms, although even one of the committeemen said that he did not know exactly what would be done with brooms at Johnstown just at the present time. The Baltimore & Ohio road shipped into Johnstown nineteen cars filed with provisions and medicines from Baltimore and Philadelphia. The day was probably the busiest yet at the station. All regular trains were running and there was a rush of people wanting to go to Johnstown. For the most part they were merely curiosity-seekers, wanting to see the town. No tickets were, however, sold without a permit from the committee.
Contributions for the flood sufferers came in all day yesterday in a never-ending stream. Money, provisions and clothing all continued to pour in, in even greater abundance than on any day previous. The scene at Old City Hall was a busy one. “We came here this morning,” said one of the packers, “expecting that our work was almost ended, but we have been kept as busy as ever. There seems to be no end to the supply.” The hall presented a curious sight. Wearing apparel of every description was stacked up on the floor as high as a man could reach. In one place was a pyramid of pantaloons, near it a great heap of coats, then a stack of underwear. On the other side of the hall were heaps of women’s clothing, all assorted and just ready to hand out to those who needed it. There were hats without number. They were thrown together carelessly, and were a unique collection. There were bright new hats and battered old hats, soft hats and stovepipes, with the fur brushed the wrong way, and they were of every size. No one who came but could find what fitted them exactly. There was a similar collection of shoes and boots, every kind from heavy brogans to the smallest sizes worn. Right adjoining was a collection of socks and stockings—heavy woolen stockings down to the tiniest baby’s socks. Underwear of every description was just as abundant. FROM THE SCHOOLS. On Wednesday packages were made up in nearly every school in the city and they only began to come in yesterday. One package followed another, and as rapidly as they were brought in they were taken by ready hands and assorted. Every article was placed with its kind and at once ready for use. Only a few boxes, eighty-seven in all, were sent out to Johnstown, but many of the sufferers who arrived on the many incoming trains were supplied with complete new outfits. Man after man was sent with an order from the committee at the Chamber of Commerce, and went away from Old City Hall wearing a suit which was at least clean and comfortable, if not absolutely new. Many orders also for women’s and children’s clothing came from the Lady’s Committee, which was feeding and clothing the sufferers at the Second Presbyterians Church. From Old City Hall over four hundred boxes have been sent to Johnstown, and fifty boxes packed and ready are now waiting the call of the committee. ASKED FOR PERMITS. There was the same rush all day long at the committee headquarters at the Chamber of Commerce. The committee met early in the day. Considerable difficulty has been encountered in the hauling of supplies on account of the blockaded condition of the railroads. In the lower room at the Chamber of Commerce headquarters sat Controlled Morrow and Chief of Public Works Bigelow. They were kept constantly busy refusing permits to people anxious to visit the scene of the disaster. Hundreds of people wanted to go, but only about fifty were granted the desired pass.
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“We have been compelled to shut them off,” said Controller Morrow. “We are only giving permits to people who want to go to look for the remains of relatives.” While he was talking two men came in with a note signed by one of the most prominent merchants in the city asking that the bearers be given permits. They said that they wanted to go to work and were willing to do anything that was to be done, but the Controller told them that he could do nothing for them. No more laborers were sent out to Johnstown by the committee yesterday. Fifty volunteer workmen came up to this city from East Liverpool on the steamer Batchelor, but they were not wanted. Their fare had been paid as far as this city, but the committee declined to furnish them transportation to Johnstown. They were however, given permits, and twenty of them went on and will work for nothing. THE PIANO. The piano which was presented to the committee will be auctioned off this morning at 11 o’clock. It is confidently expected it will bring in a good round sum. It will be placed on exhibition at the committee headquarters at 9 o’clock, and an expert performer will be on hand to exhibit the qualities of the instrument. Many of the offers received by the committee are of a practical nature. O. Thompson, of Templeton, Pa. telegraphed yesterday offering the services of ten practical grave-diggers at once to aid in burying the dead. J. Morton Hall, of the Junction railroad, early in the morning sent in 300 passes over the Baltimore & Ohio road to Johnstown, and E.P. Young supplied 1,000 more. These will be furnished to people who have come down from the flooded town and desire to go back to continue the search for friends and relatives. LUMBER AND FLOUR. Hundreds of carloads of lumber are on the way from every part of the State, and will be sent on at once to Johnstown. Gifts of this kind are now among the most acceptable of those received by the committee. Probably the biggest contribution received yesterday was from Minneapolis. A telegram from the Mayor of that city last night stated that 2,000 barrels of flour had been shipped and would be delivered at Johnstown free of cost to the committee. The committee was much worried yesterday, as they were the day before, by volunteer laborers, who were absolutely unfitted for the object for which they were wanted. Many were of the class refused by Mr. Flinn. An anecdote illustrating this point was told at the headquarters yesterday. About 300 men, employees of a mill in one of the near towns, came in and offered their services. Mr. Flinn looked at them a moment and then said: “We don’t want you.
But why?
You wouldn’t suit at all. We want men that have been working on the pipelines and in the ditches. They know how to handle pick and shovel and you don’t. They can work at that ten hours a day and you can’t.” A dispatch from Deputy Sheriff Gray yesterday stated that all the drift had been removed from the mouth of the Kiskiminetas, and that no human bodies had been found. Among the donations received yesterday was one from an old and disabled soldier, W.C. Winebiddle. He sent in his pension check for $24. The Executive Committee was in secret session for several hours last night arranging details to clear up the work to the best advantage. THE OTHER FLOOD. It is estimated that the cost of cleaning out the Conemaugh alley and burying the dead will reach a half-million dollars. Among the visitors at the Chamber of Commerce last night was Father Devlin, of St. Stephen’s Roman Catholic Church, Hazlewood. He had just returned from Johnstown, his home, and found that his relatives were all saved. Father Devlin is a native of Johnstown and was a boy there when the South Fork dam broke some twenty-five years ago. It was then State property and was used as a canal feeder. At that time it flooded the town but did comparatively little damage. The difference in the results of the two floods, Father Devlin account for in two ways—that part of the dam remained standing and that the water courses about Johnstown were more open then, the wholesale filling out of the banks not having commenced.
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There is some difficulty just now in getting bread baked rapidly enough. E.P. Young suggested that each family in Pittsburgh be asked to send in a loaf to City Hall. He thought his would bring 10,000 loaves a day. No action has been taken on the suggestion. There was a total of eighty-seven boxes sent out yesterday, and it is expected that two additional carloads of provisions and supplies, in addition to what has been sent, will be sent to Johnstown to-day.
The Citizens’ Relief Committee put in a busy afternoon at Chamber of Commerce yesterday. Chairman McCreery, who had telegraphed to London for the use of the Atlantic cable, received the following telegram from Norvin Green, President of the Western Union Telegraph Company: Our Manager at London contributes £25 through our Treasurer. You can therefore draw on R.H. Rochester, Treasurer, New York, account of C. Von Chauven, London, for $121.25. I have also a cable from our London Manager in which J.S. Morgan & Co., London, notify Drexel & Co., of Philadelphia, of certain sums in cipher to their credit for Johnstown relief, contributed by the United States Minister and others. NORVIN GREEN. Mr. McCreery stated that the cable had been placed at the disposal of the committee. He also said that, with the exception of Chicago’s big fire, the Johnstown disaster is the first calamity in America that ever brought a response from Europe in the shape of aid for the sufferers. Word was received from Johnstown that great trains of cars loaded with provisions and supplies were blockaded there and that there was no place to store them before they are distributed. Chairman McCreery immediately notified James B. Scott that Contractor Wilson would go early this morning and erect two cheap store-rooms 200 feet long of the old shanty pattern. These will hold an immense amount of goods, and after these are distributed they can be converted into cheap dwellings. NOT PROPERLY DISTRIBUTED. A complaint was received by the committee that a great many of the supplies sent to Johnstown were being improperly distributed, that persons who were never affected by the disaster were getting goods and provisions. The committee is exercising their greatest effort to prevent this. A letter was received from Arthur Kirk & Sons, which stated that they had been informed that their largest magazine of blasting powder had been destroyed, and as some of the powder might be in the burning debris at various points, they suggested that the persons who are clearing away the debris be notified to guard against accident. Most of the kegs of powder are air and water-tight and are, of course, explosive. A telegram was immediately sent to Mr. Scott, conveying to him the facts. Gov. Beaver sent the following message during the afternoon: “President using all the power of the Government to hurry pontoons forward. Cannot tell where they are. Have Baltimore & Ohio inquire.” The matter was placed in the hands of Chairman Von Bonnhorst, of the Railroad Committee, and tracers were sent out after the pontoons, which were started from Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. Mr. Scott seems to be drawing the lines pretty close at Johnstown. He sent the following telegram to Chairman McCreery: “I am informed that passes are being issued in Pittsburgh to permit men to go through Johnstown. This is absolutely useless, as there will be no passes recognized. We are practically assuming a position similar to that made under martial law. I have put Gen. Hastings in command of all police and military. The great need is to keep people away, and I beg your assistance to this end. If you desire persons to come on special business, wire me and I will arrange.” The committee had been issuing permits to almost anyone who wanted to go to Johnstown, but Mr. Scott’s message stopped this. SYMPATHY FROM SUFFERERS. During the afternoon the following telegram, addressed to R.T. Pearson and William McCallin, of Allegheny and Pittsburgh, was received: WILLIAMSPORT, PA., June 5, 1889. You have our heartfelt sympathy. God and the country will sustain you. Disaster has reached us also, so that we are not able to help financially. Our loss runs into the millions. JOSEPH S. FOREMAN, MAYOR. Telegrams notifying the Committee of Donations from other cities were quite numerous and very gratifying. W.H. Kirkland, coffee broker of New York, notified George W. Dilworth that $4,500 collected by the coffee dealers of the metropolis, would be sent immediately. Mayor Cregier
239 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 telegraphed: “$20,000 has been forwarded to you.” Wheeling sent $7,000 and notified the committee that the amount would be increased. E.A. Noonan, Mayor of St. Louis, sent word that $500, contributed at his office, had been sent, and that the Merchants’ Exchange were in session raising funds. Mayor Babst, of Minneapolis, said: “Have shipped 200 barrels of flour. More to follow.” Mr. S.S. Marvin and his Committee on Supplies were kept busy receiving donations and shipping them off. Among the contributions in this line were the following: Frank Speer, of the East End, 3,000 feet of lumber; John C. Dilworth, 1 dozen oil pumps and measures; W.O. Brown & Sons, Toledo, O., 2 barrels of corned beef; Columbus sent 150 buckets of provisions; Eisner & Mendelsohn, 200 bottles of Hoff’s malt extract; Warden Wright, of the Western Penitentiary, 1,000 loaves of bread; Lang & Sheppherd, 50 dozen brooms; Strunz & Sons, 25 boxes of soap; East End Stock-yards, the proceeds from 10 cattle; Demmier & Bors., a lot of kitchen utensils; M. Seibert & Co., 50 bedsteads; Hugh McElveen, 10 dozen chairs and other furniture; F.G. Weise, 12 bedsteads; J.B. Hill, q carload of lumber. NO MORE LABORERS. Although the committee had issued a notice that no more laborers were wanted at present the services of almost 500 men were volunteered during the day. The East End stock-yards offered the service of their entire forces of men for the next three days free. A telegram was received from Louisville that as many men as were needed would come for their transportation. John H. Kemp, of Kittanning, sent word that fifty men were ready to come from there to work. Men flocked to the headquarters of the committee all day, but Chairman McCreery answered all alike: “No more needed at present.” A telegram from Sang Hollow, signed by H.C. Johnston, read: “Look for people on all trains.” Arrangements have been made to entertain the people as fast as they arrive. Rev. John Fox notified the committee that a large number of persons would be accommodated and provided for at the Western Theological Seminary. The ladies of the G.A.R. of Bennett said they could care for forty or fifty. They have a carload of clothing and provisions. McNulty Bros. agreed to furnish horses for ambulances. At the meeting of the Relief Committee yesterday afternoon the following was adopted: Resolved, That this committee will not be responsible for any expenses except when incurred by the order of the committee.
The letter mail that had been detained at Altoona by the flood was received at the post-office yesterday. There were 981 pounds of it, or about 76,860 letters. Superintendent of Mails Collins said that it was started from Altoona early on Tuesday morning by train to Ebensburg, from whence it was hauled by wagon to Nineveh and arrived here at noon yesterday. The whole postoffice force was at once put to work distributing it. The paper mail did not come, but it will be here in a day or two. Mail is now being received from and sent to all points except the territory between South Fork and Huntingdon and between Tyrone and Lock Haven. It is impossible to tell when mail communications will be established with those districts. Mail for Johnstown is sent out promptly over the Baltimore & Ohio road and distributed from the temporary postoffice there.
People were again surprised yesterday when they discovered that tickets could not be purchased over the Pennsylvania railroad to points father east than Bolivar. “This step is imperative,” said Superintendent Pitcairn. “We must keep people away from the town who have no business there.” The Sheriff of Westmoreland county is at Bolivar with a large force of deputies. It now requires a pass for a person before he can cross the lines. The two long trains that carried the laborers Monday evening returned yesterday afternoon, one carrying 150 passengers the other only two people. The wife of James Perkins, of Youngstown, O., was trundled into the ladies’ waiting room at the Union station on an invalid’s chair, she had been visiting her mother and sister in Johnstown. Both were lost but she escaped after a great iron spike had been run through her foot. Her sister was with her and Mrs. Dr. Vincent was called. COMMITTEES WAITING. A committee from the Chamber of Commerce was waiting at every train that arrived and every sufferer who hadn’t friends in this city was taken to the Second Presbyterian Church, fed and clothed
240 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 and then comfortably housed. A gentleman named Hopkins was sent to his friend at Superior station. Three little girls who had lost their parents were given in charge of the Childrens’ Aid Society. A lady who gave her name as Lyden sat crying in the waiting-room. The committee asked if she was a sufferer. She managed to sob out that she was. She had arrived the night before. Somehow the committee didn’t take kindly to the sufferer and suggested bromide as they turned away. One man named Fred Uhlman said he wanted to get to his home in Williamsport, where he had a wife and three children and was unable to hear from them. All day long people were coming and going. Two corpses in charge of an undertaker were on their way to Michigan. Mr. M. Rosenthal was at the depot to receive the bodies of Morris and Martin Weise. He also interred the remains of Moses Fischer, without relatives in this country. A young man named Dillon was at the depot with his widowed sister, Rachel Vincent, and was without means. They were given over to the Relief Committee. A telegram came to Superintendent Starr to notify the friend of Mrs. F. Patterson that she was safe with her daughters at Freeport. Mr. T. E. Fitch and daughter, who were on the Day Express, are all right, as is Mrs. Gen. Lew Wallace and Miss Emily Schenck, of Mt. Vernon, N.Y. AN ALARMING BULLETIN. Inquiry came in relative to a bulletin that had appeared in Philadelphia stating there had been great loss of life in Phillipsburg, Pa. There was no communication from that point. A telegram was sent to Mr. Sam Moody, the energetic agent of the Pennsylvania Company’s lines. It was from Mr. Dan Stone, of the New York Journal of Commerce, and asked Mr. Moody to distribute a fund of $1,500 that would be sent to him. Dr. McCandless was sent up as the physician of the city Health Bureau to confer with the State Sanitary Board as to the danger of disease from the use of the polluted water. Chief Brown, who returned from the scene this morning, said: A lesson Pittsburgh might learn from this was not to encroach on natural waterways or suddenly the Allegheny would come down through Lawrenceville. Dr. R.P. Sutton was in the depot and said it was not impossible that pneumonia would now prevail at Johnstown. Senator M.S. Quay was with Superintendent Pitcairn for a while, talking over the disaster. The Senator had just returned from Morganza, where he had been visiting his brother who was badly injured in a runaway accident a few weeks ago. The Senator said his brother was better, but he still felt apprehensive about him. ABOUT GOV. BEAVER. Speaking of strictures that had been laid on Gov. Beaver’s work in being slow to act, he said the Governor was away from home and had no means of knowing the extent of the accident, and that he was active enough when he once understood the situation. He was sure President Harrison and the national Government would do all possible to alleviate the condition of the suffering people at Johnstown. The Senator left for Beaver in the afternoon, and said he didn’t know how soon he would go to Washington. When asked about the Pittsburgh postoffice he said he hadn’t heard much about it of late, in fact he hadn’t heard of any postoffice, but he as quite certain that Mr. James McKean would be Pittsburgh’s next Postmaster. Just how soon a change would be made he couldn’t say. He was sure there would be a change. A dispatch was received for Peter Fitzpatrick, Chief of Police at Cambria City, stating that the body of his daughter Ella had been found, and was at Morrellville. During the day one of the oldest engineers on the Pennsylvania railroad came into Mr. Pitcairn’s office and stated that he was an eye-witness from the hillside to the flood at Johnstown, and it was his opinion that the stone bridge saved the lives of thousands of people. It stopped the force of the current, slacked up trees torn up by the roots, enabled people to crawl from the houses to the hillside. Had the bridge gone many who were saved above would have been lost and many below who lived would have been destroyed by the mighty torrent if it had not been for that bridge. Several train loads of supplies went up during the day. Guskys filling two more cars with clothing." It is thought from three to five lives were lost on the Day Expresses. Following are the names of the passengers on these two trains who are known to be saved: … John C. Peterson lost his mother, sister and two friends, Mrs. Ann Walker and son David, and also had a narrow escape himself. He says the only warning they had was the blowing of the whistle at Gautier Steel-Works, and the man who stopped to blow the whistle must have been crushed to death by falling
241 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 bricks. He thinks 15,000 were lost. He was provided with clothing and is stopping with friends on Thirtieth street. The WEEKLY COMMERCIAL GAZETTE, containing a full account of the Johnstown disaster, with the only correct cut and graphic description of the Dam that caused so much suffering and horror, can be had at our counting-room ready for mailing. Send them to your friends. It contains the entire story, with all the incidents. "The donations to the sufferers at Johnstown made by the charitable people of Allegheny have all been sent to Pittsburgh to swell the fund from this city, and in the rush and hurry of the past few days may have been lost sight of by the majority, but it is nevertheless there. Every day has seen more or less donations of money, and that of clothing and provisions have been exceedingly large. Little children have contributed from their savings according to their means as well as the older people. Yesterday Mayor Pearson received form the scholars of Reserve township No. 3 $12.40; from Grace Herdman, a four-year-old child, 25 cents, and the same amount from three little boys named Charlie Miller, Calvin Garvin and Elder Garvin. He also received $10 from James Hunter, President of Common Council, and $10 from Allegheny Lodge No. 93, United Order of Red Men. The patrol-wagons were busy all day hauling stuff over to this city to be sent to the sufferers, and among the great quantities of goods were sixty-one packages in bundles, barrels, boxes and baskets, containing clothing and provisions of various kinds. The city also yesterday decided to put into practice the resolution of Councils acted on last Monday and send a force of men to Johnstown. In pursuance of a call for men at Johnstown, Road Commissioner Snaman applied to the Citizens’ Relief Committee for transportation. The committee objected, saying the men were not needed, and this in the face of the fact that men were being hired to go there at $2 a day. Mr. Snaman said they only wanted transportation, that Allegheny City had provided for their pay, their subsistence and everything else; that the city had equipped them with tools to do the work required and food to live on. The committee then gave him an assurance that he could have his transportation, but when Clerk Dilworth called for it last night he had the same fight to get it, but it was finally given him. In consequence Road Commissioner Snaman will leave at 5 o’clock this morning for Johnstown with 125 men. They will live in fifteen tents of the Union Fishing Club.
The first through train from the East arrived here yesterday morning at 6 o’clock. It was twenty hours on the road, leaving Baltimore at 10 o’clock Tuesday morning. There were a large number of Pittsburgh people on the train. They had been flood-bound in the East and were more than anxious to get home. Among them were … and a number of other gentlemen and ladies. Mr. Ewing, of the Uniontown Standard, with his wife, were also of the part, and when they reached Connellsville had been just five days trying to reach home from New York. The representative of this paper boarded the train at Washington. Great crowds are gathered at the depot, many of them being friends and relatives of persons drowned at Johnstown. The train itself was made up of three freight cars loaded with provisions, three coaches and a parlor car. In a few minutes every seat was crowded and the train started on its way. It was the second section of the Chicago Limited, which was to reach the West by way of Bellaire. No tickets were collected by the conductors till after Rockford had been passed. The Baltimore & Ohio officials had ordered that anyone going to Johnstown would be carried free. PARENTS AND WEALTH GONE. There were Red Cross workers and physicians all pressing to the rescue. But the most pathetic sight was three boys. They lived in Johnstown, two were brothers and the third a cousin. They had been attending school up in New York. The fathers of the boys had been wealthy men one week before, but everything was gone. The boys were going to hunt the bodies of their parents and sisters. They were the only ones of the family left. Their homes were gone and the wealth of their fathers. They were in charge of several gentlemen friends and bore up like heroes. The first evidences of the flood in the Potomac began to be seen at Washington Junction. Houses were turned over and ruin could be seen on all sides. The Chesapeake and Ohio canal, in which the State of Maryland has dumped $22,000,000, was completely ruined. Canalboats were piled away up on the mountain sides and locks were completely washed away. At Harper’s Ferry for two hundred feet of trestle on the west side of the bridge had been washed away and the train was the first to cross it. People held their breath as it slowly dragged itself across, and there was audible relief when this
242 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 danger was passed. Here a contractor with thirty negroes boarded the train. He had been out for four days, and in that time had marched his men fifty or sixty miles. All along the line could be seen only too plainly the traces of the high water, unprecedented in the history of the Potomac. At every telegraph station there were long waits for orders. The trainmen were taking no risks. The one topic, brought forward most prominently by the mud and debris, was the catastrophe at Johnstown. It was this that caused such a sensation when the train reached Sir John’s Run. OTHER INCIDENTS. On board the train was a lady dressed in deep mourning. The remains of her husband were in a casket in the baggage car. The first train from the West and the first train from the East met at Sir John’s Run. From the West bound train alighted three children who as soon as they saw the lady dressed in black they burst into tears. There was scarcely a dry eye in the car. The children had been telegraphed to come to Washington to see their father before he died. They were caught by the storm and this was the meeting. It was a hungry crowd which reached Cumberland at 6 o’clock. At the railroad hotel there 500 people had been fed each day for five days. Here was found a train which had been pushed through from Baltimore. It only took seventeen hours to make the run. Then the train started up the mountains for Rockwood. It is only forty-eight miles from Cumberland, but it took that train four hours to make that distance. The provision cars were switched off, and then the first through train started on its home track. No time was made until Connellsville was reached. From there the run was made in less than the usual time. At 6 o’clock sad, hungry and sleepy, the passengers climbed off the cars, happy to be home once more.
CLAIMS AGAINST Fidelity and Casualty Company, of New York Arising out of the disaster at Johnstown, will be paid immediately upon the presentation of satisfactory proofs to Adrian Scharff, examiner of claims, who is in Johnstown for that purpose, or application may be made to W.H. Scott, General Agent, Hamilton Holding, Pittsburgh, Pa. E.E. CLAPP, Superintendent.
The Baltimore & Ohio depot was crowded with Hebrews last evening who were waiting to receive the body of Moses Fisher, a flood victim. It arrived on the 5:45 train and was taken to the Grant Street Synagogue, where there are also other bodies of Hebrews who were drowned. The bodies will be buried to-day with Hebrew ceremonies. A meeting of Hebrews will be held in the Grant Street Synagogue to-night, for the purpose of raising a fund for the benefit of sufferers of that faith. There were about thirty Hebrew families in Johnstown and the number of missing ones is about twenty-five. The survivors who came to this city are being cared for by their relatives and others. Quite a number of them went to Philadelphia and Baltimore, where they have friends." Moses Brauman, a Hebrew who found a refuge from the deluge in the school-house, said yesterday that over seventy people were saved in the same place. He says that he was floating around on a raft with a child of a friend in his arms when he was suddenly thrown violently against the school building. He broke in a window and with the child he climbed in. He then stationed himself at the window and shoved a board out to every person he saw passing. By this way many were saved, and they took their places at different windows and rescued every person that came in reach of the boards and poles they had in their hands. There will be a meeting of all Commercial Salesmen of Pittsburgh at Room No. 11, Lewis Block, on SATURDAY, June 8, 1889, at 2 p.m., to take action on death of Commercial Salesmen at Johnstown. By request of COMMITTEE. "A special meeting will be held SATURDAY, June 8, in office of Seventh Avenue Hotel, at 2:30 p.m., for purpose of raising fund for benefit of Johnstown sufferers; also draft resolutions in honor of our unfortunate brothers whose fates were sealed by the disaster. A large attendance is earnestly requested. By order of COMMITTEE. N.B.—Those who cannot attend this meeting can send their contributions to R.C. Schanck, care of S. Ewart & Co., Pittsburgh, Pa. Same will be reported at meeting."
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You are requested to attend a meeting of all butchers and drovers on THURSDAY, June 6, at 7 p.m. sharp at Old City Hall, Pittsburgh, for purpose of taking action to relieve the sufferers of the late flood. Respectfully, J.F. Bellstein, President Butchers’ National Protective Association of Allegheny county; Fred Greenawalt, Chairman of Board of Directors. Contributions received yesterday: … "The good effects of thorough organization were plainly manifested at Johnstown yesterday. Mr. J.B. SCOTT starts in well as Commander-in-Chief of the working forces, and he has able corps commanders in the persons of … and others. Very gratifying progress was made in the removal of the debris and in the sad duty of collecting the bodies from among the ruins. There seems to be no diminution in the number of the dead. Some fifty were recovered yesterday from a pile of wreckage in front of one of the churches, and wherever men are placed at work removing the debris there the remains of some unfortunate victims are found. There is every prospect now that the accumulation of wreckage can be overhauled within a few days. The greatest difficulty is being experienced at the stone bridge, where blasting has been resorted to in order to open a channel for the escape of water. In this operation some bodies are necessarily mutilated, but they had been already so crushed and ton as to be almost beyond recognition. Although the weather has kept remarkably cool, decomposition is rapidly developing, and the work of removal must be prosecuted with the utmost vigor. The safety of the living depends upon getting the remains of the dead under ground as soon as possible. Haste under such circumstances is to be deprecated, but delay may be attended with the most dreadful consequences.
The St. Louis Globe-Democrat takes the position that “it is the duty of the State in which a calamity like that at Johnstown occurs to provide the required means of succor.” As an abstract proposition this is true, but in the common experience of mankind that method of providing succor is impracticable. It is the duty of society in all cases of calamity to exhaust every means, pecuniary, physical and otherwise, to relieve those in distress as speedily as possible. State lines should not interpose barriers against the performance of acts of humanity. To depend wholly upon State action would render the great mass of citizens indifferent to the misfortunes of their fellows, thus drying up the very fountains of charity and benevolence. “The State of Pennsylvania is one of the wealthiest in the Union and can easily supply the aid which the Johnstown sufferers need.” This is true. But when an overwhelming calamity happens anywhere in the country the question should not be asked, “What is the ability of the State?” but “What is the duty imposed upon society by the claims of a common humanity and the precepts of a common Christianity?” The bonds of brotherhood are stronger than those of Statehood, and it is to the credit of the American people that their charity is as broad as the continent. It would be taking a long step in the direction of barbarism to confine our acts of benevolence or deeds of generosity within State or county lines. When great masses of men, women and children are suffering from want, from disease or from misfortune of any kind, it would be narrow and selfish to make assistance or succor turn upon race, color or citizenship." THE way to dispose of the gorge at the Johnstown bridge is to saturate is with oil and burn it. There is no living thing in it and the charred and crushed bodies in it might far better be burned that allowed to decay where they are and pollute all the waters for hundreds of miles below. "The impulse to hold some persons responsible for the great disaster at Johnstown is natural enough, but the attempts to fix the blame on the South Fork Hunting and Fishing Club in advance of knowledge of all the facts are neither wise nor just. It is not for us to say that there was no responsibility attaching to the gentlemen composing that association, but it is safe to affirm that not a single member had any apprehensions of immediate danger, much less were they careless or negligent in the use of such means as were deemed necessary by competent engineers for the safety of the dam. Some of the newspapers of the country are very severe in their criticisms of the management of the club, and it is evident that the statements upon which their opinions are based are exaggerated and erroneous. The St. Louis Republic says: “This evidence shows that those most familiar with the dam as the agents of its owners knew it was unsafe and liable to yield even to ordinary pressure; it shows, too, that they realized how great was the jeopardy of life and property incident to its insecurity. Though it appears that this condition has existed for several years, it does not appear that anything has been done either to remove the danger or lessen its imminence. On the evidence as it is presented, prima facie, ‘the wealthy Pittsburgh gentlemen’ are
244 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 morally guilty of the stupendous manslaughter which has resulted from their reckless disregard of the safety of others in consulting their own pleasure.” The very reverse of this is true. “Those most familiar with the dam as the agents of its owners” believed that it was entirely safe and able to resist any pressure that was likely to be brought against it. They never considered it “liable to yield even to ordinary pressure.” Else they would not have risked their lives and the lives of their families upon it every summer for five or six years. They have had the dam examined by competent engineers and have had skilled men employed in keeping it in safe condition. The fact that it withstood the ordinary and extraordinary pressure of a series of several years without showing signs of weakness or material injury, was well calculated to convince them, and to satisfy those residing in the towns below, that the dam was absolutely safe. They were woefully mistaken, it is true. The dam stood the pressure of water against it, but disappeared like a sand-bank when the water poured over its top and down its face. The great defect seems to have been in the sluice way at the side of and some distance above the dam. It was an opening ten feet wide by seventy-five feet long, and was twenty feet lower than the top of the dam. Its purpose was to carry off the excess water in times of freshet so that the lake would never rise to the top of the dam, or near it. The overflow here was continual, making a waterfall of greater or less magnitude according to the volume of the streams which supplied the lake. It was estimated that this sluice way would carry off twice or thrice the quantity of water ever likely to pass through the South Fork. When the dam was used by the State it was relieved through an opening ten feet square, in which were inserted five iron pipes to prevent the wearing of the water, and gates to be opened and closed. This opening was near the base of the dam, but nine years ago it was filled up and the sluice way substituted as a safer and quicker means of relieving the pressure. Thus it is apparent that the great miscalculation was in not being able to foresee what a volume of water the clouds might precipitate, at some time or other, over that valley. The next great mistake was in holding in check at all, or for any purpose, so vast an accumulation of water. We know now what a fatal mistake it was, but this is wisdom after the fact. Where is the man who can aver that he knew it before?" SURGEON-GENERAL HAMILTON has ordered 10,000 pound of copperas and 200 pounds of corrosive sublimate sent to Johnstown. The National Government, too, is also taking a hand. WHAT one of our Johnstown correspondents rightly calls one of the “sensational features of the flood” is that the viaduct midway between Mineral Point and South Fork was destroyed by the explosion of the contents of a dynamite factory carried along by the flood. IDLERS and sightseers have no business at Johnstown. They are in the way of the workers. Only persons looking for friend and relatives, and those having business there should go. WHAT Johnstown needs most of all is men who are used to a pick and shovel and are not afraid to use them. A thousand more than the 3,000 already there could be profitably handled. Good wages, too, are offered for the work. THE Johnstown disaster is another blow at “expert testimony.” The scientific engineers who examined the South Fork dam pronounced it safe, yet it went all the same. PITTSBURGH people who want to know what the outside world beyond the Johnstown flood district are doing are referred to the Eastern and Western papers. In the Pittsburgh papers there is room for nothing but flood news. AN engineering corps will start for Johnstown this morning to survey and lay out the streets of the city that will rise from its ruins. The survivors of the flood will be given every chance to start life again. THE storm that brought about the Johnstown disaster was predicted both by the Rev. IRG. R. HICKS and the Rev. JOHN JASPER, of “the-sun-do-move” fame, but not by Weather-Prophet GREELY. THE Johnstown disaster has touched the hearts and pocketbooks of far more persons than any similar disaster in modern times. WHEN a letter-carrier of Johnstown went around to a number of houses and gave warning of the broken dam he was greeted with cries of “chestnuts,” “rats,” etc., for his pains. The people of Johnstown had heard of the bursting of the dam so long that they did not believe the warning when it came. "“What is to be done with all the money that is being raised for the Johnstown sufferers?” asked a gentleman yesterday who had been solicited to contribute to a fund.
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“That’s what I can’t tell you, but from what I have seen it will take all of one million dollars to render the town habitable, and keep the people alive until they can find means to sustain themselves,” he replied. “Do you propose to rebuild the town, and restore the industries?
Not at all: but there are millions of tons of debris to be removed in order to avert pestilence; hundreds if not thousands of dead to be buried, and thousands of homeless men, women and children to be provided for; besides we may expect to have a great many sick to care for.
I am finding no fault with the management; neither would I discourage contributions, but I think it would be a satisfaction to know for what the money is being expended. The people are perfectly willing to give, but their generosity should not be abused.
So far there has been no waste of money or food that could be avoided, but for the lack of time to organize and to get into good working order there has been some waste. In emergencies like this there is no time to investigate all claims and audit all accounts.
Let the good work go on, but let it be done systematically and in a businesslike way, because those who give have a right to demand that it be judiciously dispensed.” There is no doubt but it will require a vast sum of money to clear the town, and to place the survivors beyond the immediate reach of want. If they get 5,000 men to work to-day, their pay-roll alone will foot up the snug sum of $10,000 per day. Other necessary expenses will aggregate not less than $20,000 a day. This includes the cost of feeding the survivors. Just now there are large supplies of food sent in, but in a few days this supply will have to be bought and paid for. There is not nearly enough of money in hand yet to meet the possible demands. The people should not think of letting up until the cry: “Hold, enough!” comes from Col. Scott. There is no limit to the generosity of the American people when their sympathies are fully aroused. This is shown by the surplus left from nearly every relief fund that is raised to meet any urgent demand. The survivors of the Johnstown disaster are mainly workingmen who have only their wagons to support their families. The wealthy and well-to-do were nearly all swept out of house and home, and only a few of them remain to see the complete ruin of their fortunes. The course of the flood was directly through the business portion of the city and by way of the streets and avenues lines with finest residences. The death-roll contains the names of the wealthiest citizens, most prosperous business men, and the most prominent society people. There are a few of the first families left, but the great majority of the survivors belong to what is known as the laboring class. This includes artisans, mechanics, and working people generally. Capitalists were seemingly ill fated, so that the field is almost clear for a new lot to enter and help rebuild the city and restore it to its place in the business world. If there were any anarchists or red communists in town they will probably be led to a higher appreciation of capitalists, and of the generosity of the men of means. It is true that workingmen have responded nobly to the call for help, but without the magnificent sums contributed by heavy capitalists the fund would be but a small affair. The women of Pittsburgh and Allegheny are maintaining the reputation gained during the war for generosity and practical sympathy. They have never been appalled by any catastrophe, nor discouraged by any demands that have been made, even in the greatest emergencies. Like true American women, they have in this emergency doffed the silk gown and donned a kitchen attire, and for the time have become cooks and waiters in order to cater to the wants of the suffering. The sights and scenes about the Second Presbyterian Church during the past two days have called to mind the scenes in Old City Hall during war times. None are allowed to pass without their wants being fully supplied. Almost every tragedy is lighted up here and there with comedy, and the most thrilling dramas are spiced with romance. It is a little too early to begin noting the humorous phases of the late disaster, but some of the romances are coming to light.
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One young man, who was to have been married to-day, was calling on his intended, who lives in Cambria City. While arranging the details of their bridal tour the flood came and swept away his home, taking with it his wedding clothes, as well as his every-day suit, in the pockets of which were the railroad tickets and money provided for the tour. The loss of his parents, brothers and sisters has almost crazed him. A young lady in Allegheny mourned the death of an affianced husband from Friday night until Monday evening, when he called to assure her that he would be on hand at the appointed time to make her his wife and celebrate the Fourth of July by a honeymoon picnic. No less than four weddings were booked for to-day, which would have ranked as society events. None of these will ever occur in this world. Two of the couples were drowned, and the other two were broken by the death of one lady and one gentleman. No doubt but several other weddings were postponed forever for the same reasons. The fact that a great many of the bodies found were scantily dressed caused no little speculation on the part of those not well acquainted with the habits of people employed about mills and mines. Half of those employed in mills turn day into night. Those on night turn go to bed about 10 o’clock in the morning, and get their breakfasts about 5 p.m. To accommodate themselves to their husbands’ hours many of the women sleep during a portion of the afternoon; so that it is quite probable that a great many of the workingmen, and not a few of the wives of these men, were in bed when the floods came. Somebody has made a mistake that will be hard to rectify, providing the statement is true that no record of burials has been kept. It is said that those in charge of the morgues cannot tell how many bodies have been received or taken out. If this is true it will be practically impossible to determine how many of the victims received burial. The disposition to exaggerate is so strong during an exciting period that the estimates of the average man are far from being reliable. As an evidence of this the actual count of the bodies in one of the morgues on Tuesday showed only fifty-one, while the estimate given by one of the gentlemen in charge was “over a hundred.” It is highly important that the figures relating to this catastrophe be accurately kept, as they will go down in history. This event has no parallel in the history of the continent, and we cannot now conceive of anything that can equal it. The death roll should be as accurate as possible, and kept as a part and parcel of the history of Johnstown. It is possible to secure it with tolerable accuracy; and the good people should see that the work is done and done at once.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. OIL CITY, PA., June 5.—The twenty-fourth annual convention of the Protestant Episcopal clergymen of the Pittsburgh diocese met at the First Church this morning. Courtland Whitehead, D.D., Bishop of Pittsburgh, presided. The Bishop delivered a lengthy address on the prosperity of the diocese, and spoke briefly of the Johnstown flood. Officers were then nominated and other routine business transacted. A resolution increasing the Bishop’s salary $500 per year was unanimously carried. Rev. Dr. Diller, of Johnstown, was to address the meeting but lost his life in the flood. He was eloquently eulogized by Bishop Whitehead. The convention will continue three days.
LOS ANGELES, CAL.—The Hebrew Benevolent Society, of this city, yesterday forwarded $1,000 to Governor Beaver, of Pennsylvania, for the relief of the flood sufferers. During the day another thousand dollars was raised by the council committee, banks and other institutions. MINNEAPOLIS.—The Citizens Committee voted to send 2,000 barrels of flour to the Johnstown sufferers. The order was divided among all of the mills so as to get the flour as early as possible. ST. LOUIS.—The little town of De Soto, this State, has contributed $200 for the Johnstown sufferers and its citizens are actively arranging to increase the sum. Litchfield, Illinois, has also raised $200 and committees have been appointed to solicit more contributions. Several towns in Texas are also taking steps to aid the sufferers. CADIZ, O.—Mayor Moore raised $411 to-day for the benefit of the Johnstown sufferers. Rev. J.K. Black will deliver a lecture in the Opera-house Friday evening, the proceeds to go to the same place. LOCKPORT, N.Y.—At the National Brewers’ Association at Niagara Falls this morning a resolution to contribute $10,000 to the Johnstown sufferers was passed unanimously.
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WHEELING, W.VA.—The total subscription of the citizens of Wheeling to the Johnstown flood sufferers will reach $10,000. Throughout the State money and provisions and clothing are being rapidly donated. YOUNGSTOWN, O.—The subscriptions here for the relief of the Johnstown sufferers up to this evening amount to over $5,000. WAYNESBURG, PA.—The citizens of this place to-day forwarded $511 for the relief of the Johnstown sufferers. UNIONTOWN, PA.—The contributions of Uniontown towards the Johnstown sufferers so far amounts to over $3,000 in cash, and with provisions and clothing they will reach $5,000.
McKEESPORT, PA., June 5.—The McKeesport contributions to the Johnstown sufferers will not be less than $20,000. The National Tube-Works Company employees will give the pay of one day, which will amount to $10,000, while the company is extending aid in many ways and is expected to contribute financially also. The company has seventy-five machinists and carpenters at Johnstown at work and has sent fifty-five more to-night by the B. & O. R. R. The W. Dewees Wood Company has given $1,100 and the employees will give the pay of half a day. The employees of the United States Iron and Tin Plate Company will give the pay of a day and the firm is expected to contribute also. The popular subscription here received by Treasurer James L. DeLong amounts to nearly $5,000, and will reach that to-morrow, when the subscriptions will be sent on to Johnstown. The Relief Committee has sent three well-loaded cars of provisions, clothing, etc. and will send another. Hungarians are making up a car to be sent for their suffering countrymen at Johnstown. Musical talent of McKeesport and Pittsburgh gave a concert in the Opera-house to-night for the benefit of the sufferers, and the McKeesport and Scottdale base ball clubs played a benefit game for the sufferers in the afternoon. The different lodges met in routine all day and subscribe from $100 up and it is sent to Johnstown by committees. McKeesport will do all that is possible, and in the long run it will amount to $25,000, if not more. The W. Dewees Wood Company sent fifty men to-night. They are mechanics and will assist there." BRADDOCK, PA., June 5.—Many people are flocking to Braddock from Johnstown. Many came here from that city when the Edgar Thomson was first started. Marriages and intermarriages between the people of the two places have made one-half of one town related to the same number of the other. Braddock has contributed about $25,000. They have shipped carloads of provisions and other supplies. The men have all contributed a day’s work at the steel-works, which will approximate about $12,000. Every train arriving in Braddock from the ill-fated district brings some persons who have escaped the deluge. Another big relief corps left Braddock today in charge of ‘Esquire Lew F. Heltzman. Women are working night and day in the big rink building making hospital supplies to send on. The first relief train to arrive in Johnstown was sent from here. "Special to the Commercial Gazette. TITUSVILLE, PA., June 5.—At a public meeting this evening to raise funds for the Johnstown and other sufferers by floods, Mayor Schwartz presiding, $1,200 was subscribed, which, with the subscriptions by the churches, makes $1,500 in this city. A committee was appointed to continue raising subscriptions. A committee of ladies, Mrs. W. H. Andrews, Chairman, was appointed to collect clothing, etc., for forwarding to the scenes of disaster.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. ALLIANCE, O., June 5.—The employees of the Morgan Engineering Company forward $517 in cash to Johnstown to-night. In all Alliance sends over $1,500 in cash and three carloads of supplies. The first car was sent Sunday and was the first to reach Johnstown from Ohio.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. EAST LIVERPOOL, O., June 5.—East Liverpool’s contribution to the flood sufferers at Johnstown will reach over $6,000 in money and provisions.
Yesterday the Transportation Committee furnished transportation for the following persons to the homes of their friends: Over the Baltimore & Ohio: … Over the Pennsylvania Company’s lines: …
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Over the Pennsylvania railroad: … Over the Allegheny Valley railroad: …
Human bodies have been seen floating in the Ohio past Parkersburg the past two days, but the swift current in the river has prevented their recovery. W.D. Winters, of Wheeling, who was believed to have perished at Johnstown, has returned home. He and his family escaped. His brother left for Johnstown an hour before his arrival to hunt his body. Prof. E.E. Sparks, Superintendent of the Schools of Martins Ferry, was also believed to have been lost, but has been heard from in Boston.
Clarence Layton, who has been reported missing at Johnstown, has turned up safe and sound. Dr. J.M. Cooper and wife are in Allegheny visiting friends. They were reported drowned. The Poco-a-Poco Orchestra concert at the East End Gymnasium Hall realized about $800. The cottages at the Millwood camp-ground, near Greensburg, have been tendered for the use of the Johnstown sufferers. William Semple sent $200 worth of dress goods, hosiery, clothing, shoes, underwear, &c., for the relief of the Johnstown sufferers. John L. Vine, representing the firm of S.S. Marshal & Bros., Allegheny, has telegraphed from Altoona that he is safe. He was reported dead. The Jefferson version of “Rip Van Winkle” will be presented at the Bijou to-night and Friday for the benefit of the Johnstown fund. Eleven carloads of emigrants arrived here last night. There were 500 in all. They came over the Allegheny Valley via Buffalo from New York. All committees for reception and donation at U.P. Home and Memorial Hospital will report at the Home on Friday, June 7, at 10 a.m. J.A. Goulden, of this city, who was reported among the Johnstown missing, reached home yesterday. He was caught before reaching Johnstown and turned back. Mrs. William Slick, a flood sufferer, aunt of W.A. Rodgers, of this city, has become insane through the terror and excitement of the ordeal through which she passed. The concert at the Grand Opera-house to-morrow evening for the benefit of the Johnstown sufferers promises to be a great success. Some of the best local talent will participate. Mr. Thos. Marshall, of Twenty-eighth and Railroad streets, has two houses on Twenty-eighth street which can be occupied by any Johnstown sufferers sixty days or longer, free of rent. Eli Gatword, a colored man who has been acting as a volunteer cook at Johnstown, was brought to the West Penn Hospital last night from Johnstown. The exposure he has suffered has brought on pneumonia. His condition is not serious. Grand Master Workman W.R. Ford, of the A.O.U.W., arrived from Baltimore yesterday where he was detained by the flood. He sent his check for $1,000 to the relief committee and will start a fund among the members of the A.O.U.W. Last night H. Samson received telegrams from C.W. Nanity, of the Pittsburgh Funeral Directors’ Association, and John L. Nunn, of the Ohio Funeral Directors’ Association, offering the services of undertakers if they are needed at Johnstown. They offered to come as volunteers. The brother of Mayor Pearson, of Allegheny, wrote that official yesterday from Indianapolis, where he lives, that he would like to secure for adoption a little girl of about 3 years of age, and suggested that Mayor Pearson might be able to get a homeless waif at Johnstown. A number of persons from the Conemaugh valley called at the Mayor’s office and morgue yesterday in search of the bodies of their friends who had been lost in the flood. One man called at City Hall and said he had been told that his baby had been found here. He was greatly cast down when informed to the contrary. Chief Bigelow yesterday ordered a corps of civil engineers from the engineering bureau of the Department of Public Works to report this morning to go to Johnstown. About a dozen men will go, taking with them all the necessary instruments for surveying and laying out the streets and property with a view to reorganizing the destroyed city. The Bellevue Presbyterian Church contributed $50 Sabbath evening to the Johnstown sufferers. Also a good supply of clothing. The ladies of the Church spent the whole of Tuesday and Wednesday sewing
249 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 in the Church. Two large boxes were sent Tuesday evening full of comforts, blankets, women and children’s clothing. Other boxes will follow. The American Mechanics’ Committee telegraphed from Johnstown last night for more provisions. A car will be loaded to-day at the foot of Grant street, and donations will be received there or at the office of the American, 506 Smithfield street. J.K. Knuge is Secretary of the General Committee of the order, and all money should be sent to him.
The atmospheric conditions, says the New York Sun, accompanying the great downpour of rain that deluged at least half of the country east of the Mississippi river on Friday and Saturday, and caused the culminating disaster at Johnstown, were not less remarkable than those attending the blizzard of last year. On Friday morning a great storm-center which had, as usual, advanced from the northwest, lay in a vast oval, narrowing toward the south, which stretched from Lake Huron to South Carolina. Behind it both on the northwest and southwest, were two strongly developed areas of high pressure, which crowded close upon the low storm center and created steep barometric gradients, the natural result of which was high wind blowing down the atmospheric slopes toward the area of depression. On the Atlantic side was a still greater high-pressure area, or anti-cyclone, whose center of pressure over Nova Scotia and New Brunswick lay exactly in the path that the storm would naturally follow. The cyclone was thus surrounded, and its progress was arrested, so that it remained perforce hovering over the country between the lakes and the Atlantic coastline, pouring down its accumulated moisture in sheets of rain as its rapidly-rising air currents were re-enforced by the inrush of moist surface air from the seaboard and the lakes. This was a condition of things remarkably like that which prevailed during the blizzard, for then, too, a cyclone from the West closely pressed from behind by areas of high barometer, had its progress arrested by an immovable anti-cyclone resting upon the ocean. In the case of the blizzard the cyclone center was disrupted, splitting up into two storms, one of which moved north and lost itself in the wilds of Canada. The same thing occurred on Friday night when the cyclone, whose very center had hung over Western Pennsylvania all day, was divided, the high pressure from the southwest having apparently been driven into it like a wedge. This time the line of retreat of the principal part of the cyclone was toward the southeast, across Virginia and North Carolina, which in turn received its floods of rain. By Saturday morning the northern half of the disrupted cyclone seems to have gathered its forces again, and an unusually deep depression was formed over Lake Huron. The anti-cyclone centered over Nova Scotia in the meantime had not given way an inch, and so the advance of this Northern cyclone, as far as it showed any advance at all after the disruption of Friday night, was straight toward the North, although the regular course of such storms is eastward. All over the great area covered by the storm on Friday and Saturday the symbols of the weather maps show that the land was hidden by a dark curtain of cloud, under the center of which the tremendous tragedy of the Conemaugh was enacted. Is it not often that so broad a region is completely veiled from the sight of our possible contemporaries in other planets, and it is an interesting reflection that astronomers in Mars, armed with telescopes equal to ours could unquestionably have beheld the great cloud that brought gloom and disaster to so far a spot on the earth, just as our astronomers have often watched the advance of vast clouds across the surface of Mars and wondered what was going on beneath them.
A Richmond dispatch to the Baltimore Sun says that the Rev. John Jasper, the colored preacher, made famous by his contention that “the sun do move,” announced from his pulpit two weeks ago from last Sunday that he had a dream that terrible storms, floods and loss of life would soon occur, that on May 31 there would be a frightful catastrophe. Everybody in Richmond is now talking about the fulfillment of the prophecy. Not only did the freshet come upon the James river valley on that day, but the Johnstown horror happened on that fatal Friday. Police Justice Crutchfield said he heard two colored men conversing Saturday evening about “the dream,” and they agreed that Jasper was the one true prophet of the day. Scores of prominent citizens heard their servants relate Jasper’s dream and the negroes were looking anxiously for the coming of the 31st of the month. Jasper did not preach in Richmond Sunday. He conducted services in the country and has not yet returned. A coal-black representative of the colored race said: “I started up to hear Brother Jasper, but met the sexton, and he told me about Jasper being
250 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 out in the country. I wanted to hear what application he would make of his dream. His dreams never fail to come true. This one about the freshet and loss of life makes the third dream to my knowledge that has come true. Jasper has some gift from God to foretell what is to happen, so he may warn his people of the evils and destruction nigh unto them.”
In his predictions for May, published in Word and Works, the Rev. Irl R. Hicks, of St. Louis, said: There is an equinox of Mercury on the 25th, which not only covers and intensifies the above dates, but which will most likely cause a “wet spell,” or continuation of cloudiness and rain up to reactionary movements on or about the 27th. There is a strong probability that at this time there will be a succession of storms, which will repeat themselves for a number of days at about the same hour every day, in twelve and twenty-four hour cycles, one at night and one in the day; in which event the day storms will begin in the middle of the afternoon, and those of the night after midnight, the night storms recurring later and the day storms earlier every day until the cycles come together in a final “blow out”. In his predictions for June, published in the COMMERCIAL GAZETTE May 25, occurs the following: The 1st of June is the center of a regular storm period. It will be very warm, with storm forces organized and in motion near the regions where storms usually originate. By about the 3d or 4th they will have spent their force and cooler weather follow in the track. General rains and storms of greater or less violence may reasonably be expected. We name the 1st, 2d and 3d as the days of greatest probably danger. This is certainly at least a remarkable coincidence.
The body of a 10-year-old boy was taken from the Allegheny river at Forty-third street yesterday. The head and body were slightly bruised, but the face was still very natural. There were no marks by which he could be identified. It is supposed that the body has floated down from Johnstown. The boy is of fair complexion, brown hair and dark gray eyes, apparently a German. The clothes consisted of a barred blue and white calico waist, brown canton flannel pants and blue flannel shirt. The body was taken to the morgue to await identification." Yesterday morning a count showed that forty-seven persons were being cared for at Braddock and that nineteen corpses had been saved there. The rescued are … Nine young ladies are being cared for by the W.C.T.U. Nearly all of these are relatives of prominent Braddock people. It is feared Miss Alice Codogan’s mind will become affected. Among those lost who have relatives in Braddock were … Braddock has sent nearly $35,000 in money and provisions to flood sufferers. "The Allegheny Health Committee met last night. Dr. Gilliford, the representative of the city who had been sent to Johnstown in the interests of the health of the city, reported having done much work with the four inspectors who had gone there with him. The doctor reported having attended to many sick and injured, and directed the inspectors to burn dead animals found at the place. This he thought was a good precautionary measure, and he suggested that three more men be hired and sent there at once, which will be done to-day. The Controller was authorized to advertise for proposals for removing dead animal from the streets. A complaint from a C.A.R. Post that the stable of O.S. Phillips, on West Diamond street, was a nuisance, was referred to a sub-committee.
Chief Brown, of the Department of Public Safety, acting under the advice of prominent city physicians, yesterday issued the following notice to the public: Public notice is hereby given to the residents of the city of Pittsburgh that all water used for culinary and drinking purposes should be boiled and filtered. Temporary filters can be improvised, but the essential and all-important matter is that the water for all aforesaid purposes should be thoroughly boiled, so as to destroy the germs of disease that may be confused therein, arising from the vast amount of decomposed animal and vegetable matter deposited in the Allegheny river by the Johnstown disaster. The Chief says people should be careful to drink as little water as possible, even filtered, and to be particularly careful that children do not drink much either.
Treasurer William R. Thompson reported the following money received during yesterday: …
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Up to last night Mr. Thompson had received $191,519.81, and there are thousands of dollars subscribed through the Pittsburgh committee that have not been drawn yet. The South Side committee is still receiving contributions for the Johnstown sufferers. The donations reported yesterday and last night were: … The Executive Committee have arranged to have donations of goods left at the office of D.L. McDonald, at the market. The employees of the Pittsburgh Postoffice have contributed $203.30 to the relief fund. The Pittsburgh office proper gave $150; the East Liberty station, $17; the South Side station, $24; station B, $12; and the registry transfer, $5. The pupils of the First ward (Allegheny) schools have contributed $82.47 for the flood sufferers. The scholars of the Pittsburgh High School raised a collection of $113 for the flood sufferers yesterday. The pupils of the Forbes school raise $110.51 for the benefit of the Johnstown sufferers. Mr. and Mrs. Charles Cress, of Johnstown, reported as lost in the published death lists, are the guests of friends in this city. The following donations to the Johnstown sufferers were made by the members of the Grain and Flour Exchange and others: … MERCHANDISE. … At the meeting of the Board of Underwriters yesterday a telegram was read by Mr. Fred W. Keife. It stated that the foreign companies doing business in this country had subscribed $10,000 for the Johnstown sufferers. The Merchants’ and Manufacturers’ National Bank has received a telegram from Pueblo, Col., stating that a draft for $1,125 had been forwarded." Mr. E.E. Clapp, of New York, and Mr. Scott, of Pittsburgh, are now in Johnstown with $50,000 and are paying all claims of the Fidelity and Casualty Company, of New York, arising out of the late disaster. "BENEFIT OF JOHNSTOWN SUFFERERS AT BIJOU THEATER, On THURSDAY and FRIDAY EVENINGS, June 6 and 7, under the auspices of the Chamber of Commerce, The Beautiful Legendary Drama, RIP VAN WINKLE, With a strong cast of professional artists. Lubert’s Madolin Quartet will render some choice selections. Entire gross receipts to be given. Usual prices of theater. Reserved seats on sale at box office of theater. R.W. TRELEGAN, N.D. McMEAL, and ROBERT BUCK, of Pittsburgh Dramatic Agency, Managers.
BIJOU THEATER—SATURDAY EVENING, June 8, Benefit of the Johnstown flood sufferer at which will be presented the comedy-drama in 3 acts, entitled “THE GENERAL’S WARD,” by Marie Baldwin (Mrs. Z. Wilson Phillips), of this city. The principal characters will be assumed by the theatrical profession residing in the city, assisted by the leading local talent. The entire proceeds of the performance will be given to flood sufferers.
GRAND CONCERT TO BE HELD at the Grand Opera-house Friday evening, June 7, 1889, for the benefit of the Johnstown sufferers, to be given by the Zitterbart Orchestra, at which the following talent will appear: … Admission 50 cents and $1. " RACINE, WIS., June 5.—Miss Anna Bate and Miss Laura King, of this city, lost their lives in the Johnstown flood. They were passengers on the train which was engulfed by the muddy tide. The relatives of Miss King received word this afternoon that her body had been found. "In speaking of the responsibility of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club for the breaking of the dam which held the waters of the Conemaugh, Col. Unger said: “The reports that the weir or outlet for the water in the embankment was closed or clogged up is not true. It is about twelve or fifteen feet high and very wide – wide enough to allow all the water to flow out under ordinary circumstances. A screen was placed in the outlet, but that was a small concern about two feet high with a pier of timber on each side. The remainder of the space was entirely clear, and the screen was only heavy enough to keep the fish back.
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“It was raining hard on Friday, and as I live within a short distance of the dam, I put on my gum coat and went out to look at it. The lake was then rising at the rate of four inches an hour, which is quite fast for a body of water like that. When it got up to the weir the water rushed through in a terrible volume. I then ordered the laborers – ten or fifteen in all – to cut a new sluiceway at the west end of the embankment. They worked incessantly and the water kept coming up all the time. As I said, much of it escaped through the weir, and about 11 o’clock the flood began to assume such dangerous proportions that I ordered a civil engineer, Mr. Parke, to take a horse and gallop through the valley and warn the people of the impending danger. He left in haste and did his duty, returning in time to help with the digging of the new outlet. By the time he returned the water was beginning to flow over the dam. The new sluice was discharging a fearful volume of water, and I was advised by many of the people not to dig it, or have it dug. But I am positive that by it being done the dam was kept from bursting for fully an hour. We also had a portion of the roadway on the top of the embankment plowed up, which formed a breast work. This was intended to keep the water back and divert the current toward the sluice-way. We had piled up the dirt to the height of several feet, and this way held the water in check for more than an hour. At about 3:15 the dam burst, while we were still at work. When we became fearful of the dam we sent warnings down along the stream, but they were apparently not heeded. When the heavy masonry gave way from the immense pressure of the pent-up waters, and I had done all in my power to avert the fearful disaster, I was thoroughly exhausted. I returned to the house and was completely prostrated. After Mr. Parke had given the warning along the valley he came back and assisted in the effort to avert the disaster. The dam, as is known, was built by the State. We did not increase the height, but simply repaired the wall.”
There arrived at the Union depot about 1:30 this morning one of the very few surviving passengers of the ill-fated first section of the Day Express. This passenger was Mrs. Schick, a prominent lady of Norristown, Pa., and a sister of Judge Stinson, of the same place. Accompanied by her husband and sister, Miss Stinson, Mrs. Schick was on her way home from California, after an extended pleasure tour. When the Day Express was stopped at Conemaugh by the flood she was in the rear Pullman car with her husband and sister. She saw the avalanche of water coming towards the car and instinctively she arose and hastened to the car ahead, urging the others to do the same. They refused, and she went to the car alone, and was its sole occupant. The rear car was swept away and with it Mr. Schick and Miss Stinson. Cars in front also went before the deluge, and out of the entire train only three Pullmans were left standing on the track when the flood subsided. Mrs. Schick made her way to a house where she was cared for until relief arrived. She then spent some time searching for the bodies of her husband and sister. At Nineveh she found that of the latter, and just in the nick of time, too, for her remains had been marked unknown and had been lowered into a grave which the workmen were just filling up when Mrs. Schick begged to see the corpse. It was shown to her and she at once identified it as that of her sister. It was taken out of the grave and removed to the railroad station and brought to this city this morning. Mrs. Schick, who is stopping at the Seventh Avenue Hotel, will leave for home with it to-day over the Baltimore & Ohio railroad. Some friends are now on their way from Norristown to search for the body of Mr. Schick. The lady says that she heard three or four other passengers on the same train were saved, but she does not know who they were." CINCINNATI, O., June 5.—The Health Officer has recommended that all Ohio river water used for domestic purposes be first boiled in order to avoid possible contamination from the Johnstown dead bodies. The Chief of Police has ordered a patrol of skiffs to search for dead bodies among the wreckage now coming down the river. "From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 5.—The thieving which, while it has been greatly exaggerated, has been going on, is now confined principally to the suburbs. William Reed, Chief Clerk in Controller Morrow’s office at Pittsburgh, has been given charge of Minersville, a suburb of Johnstown lying to the southwest of the city, and his experience is that of all other Chiefs of Police in these towns. To-day at the head of a force of men he recovered sixty-eight dead bodies, of which forty-five were identified. Over 2,000 people have been found at that place. These people are mostly workingmen employed at monthly salaries, and as this disaster occurred just one day before pay day, it has left them destitute. Sickness is breaking out and physicians are kept busy. To-day Mr. Reed found four men whom he suspected of having been committing robberies. He arrested and searched them, finding on their
253 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 persons a lot of finger-rings. They were marched to the train under a heavy guard and shipped at once to the Greensburg jail. This is a sample of the work done in all the towns in the valley. The police regulations are most perfect and are being enforced most rigidly. Wild rumors of awful outrages have been heard, but when they are traced up they are found to amount to little or nothing. HENRY.
From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 5.—J.H. Waugh, porter of the parlor-car Chloris, one of the coaches in the first section of the Day Express, No. 8, says that one day coach from his train was entirely lost. It was the second coach from the front. It was lifted by the wave completely off the track, broken from its couplings and dashed down with the torrent. Waugh says that this coach was filled with passengers. As it rushed past the parlor-car the shrieks of the passengers were drowned by the rushing flood and the car sank beneath the waves. No trace of it has been found. HASSLER.
From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 5.—Adrian Shanff, Solicitor, and Mr. Clapp, Superintendent of the Fidelity and Casualty Insurance Company, are at Johnstown to-day prepared to pay all losses on lives here. They find all the banks gone and no checks can be cashed here. They will go to Pittsburgh and endeavor there to arrange to get money to beneficiaries as soon as possible. In many cases no beneficiaries can be found as entire families are dead. The total amount of life insurance held against this company here is $2,000,000. HASSLER. " WASHINGTON, D.C., June 5.—A train of thirteen freight cars, loaded down with provisions and clothing for the Johnstown sufferers, pulled out of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad station at 10:30 o’clock to-night. Ten of the cars came through from Philadelphia and Baltimore, and three were filled with supplies furnished by Washingtonians. The train will go through on passenger time, and is expected to reach Johnstown before 8 o’clock to-morrow morning. It is estimated that between $20,000 and $25,000 have been raised in Washington. QUEENSTOWN, June 5.—The news of the Johnstown disaster was read to groups of passengers on the steamship City of New York, which arrived here to-day. Many of the passengers wept. PHILADELPHIA, PA., June 4.—The enthusiastic and good-natured rivalry existing between the various collectors of funds, clothing, etc., in this city, for the Johnstown sufferers, has been the means of swelling the amount of the cash subscriptions to about $350,000, while the donations of food and other necessaries are so numerous that some difficulty is experienced in handling them. Thirty-one carloads in all have been shipped, and it is thought that fully as much is awaiting shipment. CINCINNATI, O., June 5.—Franklin Ellis, Grand Chancellor of the Grand Lodge of Ohio Knights of Pythias, has issued an address to the Brethren in Ohio, in which he says he has just come from Johnstown and personally knows the need of help. He calls on every lodge and every Knight to act promptly in sending help. He directs that all contributions be sent to Col. S.A. Court, G.K. of R. and S., Toledo, O. Mrs. Mary Frederick, of Johnstown, who was brought to Mercy Hospital on Tuesday, died there last evening. She was a widow, 60 years of age and had sustained a broken leg. "WASHINGTON, D.C., June 5.—Surgeon-General Hamilton has received a telegram from Passed Assistant Surgeon-General Carrington, who is on duty at Johnstown, as follows: “Arrived at 6 p.m., June 4. Large portion of town in ruins. Many bodies of men and animals yet among the debris. Dead horses being buried and persons recovered are embalmed and buried as rapidly as possible. Considerable sickness from exposure to wet and cold. Greatest danger to public health feared from overcrowding and filth in inhabitable part of town. Sanitary meeting to-morrow evening, when I will report further.” The Secretary of the State Board of Health of Pennsylvania has sent to the Surgeon-General a telegram from Johnstown thanking him for the offer of assistance and saying that the immediate need there is for crude disinfectants. Dr. Hamilton has ordered the purchase of 10,000 pounds of copperas and 200 pounds of corrosive sublimate, which will be shipped to Johnstown immediately.
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The President had a conference with the Attorney-General, the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy and Surgeon-General Hamilton, of the Marine Hospital Service, with regard to measures for relief of flood sufferers. It is understood that the question of supplying army rations and disinfectants was thoroughly considered and that prompt action will be taken.
PHILADELPHIA, PA., June 5.—Although the Pennsylvania Railroad Company had hoped to get the temporary route between Harrisburg and Altoona in running order by this afternoon, the bridge at Montgomery, which is needed to complete the route, is far from finished. The water is still very high at that point, and work has, therefore, been necessarily slow, but as the gangs of men under the charge of Vice-President Thomson are now in a position to work more rapidly it is thought the bridge will be fixed up sufficiently to permit of the running of trains over it by to-morrow afternoon. West of Altoona the progress of the repairs to the line are also reported to be progressing more slowly than had been expected. Conservative estimates are to the effect that five days will yet be required to make the route from Altoona to Pittsburgh good. The slow progress is due in great part to the rain which has fallen almost constantly since Sunday, but which has now ceased. The supplies for the destitute people at Williamsport will reach there to-day. The mails delayed at Altoona, which were started from Ebensburg by wagon yesterday, reached Blairsville at 3 o’clock this morning, and were sent by rail to Pittsburgh, arriving at the latter place at 7 a.m." COUNCIL BLUFFS, IO., June 5.—There are grave apprehensions that Congressman Reed, of this district, is one of the victims of the Johnstown disaster. He was due to leave Washington about that date, and no more word has been received from him. "To the first section of train No. 5, which arrived in the city over the Baltimore & Ohio at 1:30 o’clock this morning, was attached a coach containing the following injured persons: … There were four persons taken to the Homeopathic Hospital, … All are from Johnstown. At midnight the following persons came in on the Pennsylvania railroad and were fed and cared for generally at the Second Presbyterian Church: …
PHILADELPHIA, PA., June 5.—General Superintendent of Transportation Provost, of the Pennsylvania railroad, telegraphed the Superintendent at Altoona to-night as follows: “We have been disappointed so much in our expectations in regard to crossing Montgomery bridge, which is the key to the situation, that we hesitate about expressing an opinion as to when that will be accomplished, but I should say from the outlook now that we ought to cross there by Friday morning. This done trains can run through from Altoona to Philadelphia.” The number of passengers at Altoona is gradually thinning out. Twenty-five people went from there to Ebensburg to-day, where they were joined by fifty persons already at the latter place, and the party started over the mountains in teams to a railroad connection, whence they will go to Pittsburgh. BALTIMORE, MD., June 5.—President Charles F. Mayer, of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad, said this afternoon: “By this evening the main line and Pittsburgh division will be able to respond to any ordinary demand. Both tracks will be open on the main line excepting a short section east of Cumberland.”
Special to the Commercial Gazette. ISHFEMING, MICH., June 5.—The Penn Iron Company, operating the Cambria Iron and Steel-Works at Johnstown, Pa., which were swept away by the flood, has ordered ore shipments discontinued from Norway, Vulcan, West Vulcan and other mines at Norway, Mich. All unproductive and exploratory mining work was also ordered stopped. Several hundred men will be thrown out of work immediately, as the mines of the Penn Company are among the heaviest producers of the Lake Superior district.
DAYTON, O.—This city has sent $4,000 and forty boxes of wearing apparel to Johnstown flood sufferers. EAST SAGINAW, MICH.—A meeting which was held here to-night in aid of the Johnstown sufferers was largely attended. Eight carloads of lumber and one car of shingles were donated. Several hundred dollars cash were raised, and committees were appointed to canvass for funds among the business men of the city.
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MILWAUKEE, WIS.—About $6,000 has been raised here for the Johnstown sufferers. The brewers gave $1,500 and the bankers $1,000. The Chamber of Commerce appointed committees this afternoon to solicit subscriptions, and within an hour $3,000 had been raised. EVANSVILLE, IND.—The City Council to-night voted $1,000 for the relief of the Johnstown sufferers, to be disbursed by the Ladies’ Relief Association, through Miss Clara Barton." WASHINGTON, D.C., June 5.—The Comptroller of the Currency this morning received a telegram from Postmaster Bauemer, at Johnstown, saying that the First National Bank of that city is flooded, but expressing a belief that the funds are safe. The cashier of the bank is dead, and the President is among the missing. This telegram was in response to an inquiry as to the condition of the bank. "A very live topic among insurance men on Fourth avenue is the liability of companies on policies on houses at Johnstown which were swept from their foundations by the flood and afterwards consumed by fire near the railroad bridge. A contemporary yesterday quoted the manager of a local company as saying: “We insure a house against fire right where it is standing. Now if a cyclone, tornado or flood comes along and lifts this house from its foundation and carries it away and in among a pile of debris and it takes fire we are not responsible. We insure it as a house, and when it goes through such an ordeal as at Johnstown it certainly is not a house when it gets among the debris. We are wholly without responsibility.” An eminent authority on insurance law intimated very strongly that this reasoning is fallacious. He instanced cases where buildings had been carried away from their foundations by a cyclone and subsequently burned, and the insurance companies paid the loss. A gentleman representing one of the largest fire insurance companies in New York, who was engaged yesterday in discussing the subject said that he did not know whether his company had any risks on the burned buildings at Johnstown district, but if they had, he felt confident that they would be paid in full without protest. Three suits are now pending in Western Pennsylvania—one of which will come up at Washington in August—in which the principles involved are somewhat similar to those which may come up when the losses in the Conemaugh valley are adjusted. Decisions in these cases will be awaited with interest by insurance men." JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 6.—General Beaver will arrive here about 4 a.m. on a train with a regiment from Philadelphia. He comes to hold a conference in regard to the disposal of funds. His coming was kept a profound secret. "From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 6.—Nineveh saw some woeful sights to-day. During the period of daylight 746 bodies were consigned to the earth from the morgues about the town. Father Doirn conducted religious services at the St. Columbia Catholic Church in Cambria City. This army of the dead was placed in trenches. Less than 100 had been recognized by friends. None of them were claimed for private burial, however, as in a majority of instances the survivors were too poor to stand the expense. These bodies were gathered from up and down the river below Johnstown, and the Commissioners of Westmoreland county furnished the plot of ground where they sleep to-night. There is an unusual amount of sickness about Kernville. The physicians claim that several hundred cases of pneumonia exist. The children also are afflicted with measles and kindred complaints. The reaction, now that the greatest shock has in a measure passed, has left hundreds of survivors with their nervous forces badly shattered and broken. Johnstown and adjoining villages are now under thorough military and police regulations. Each place has been provided with men enough to keep our intruders and none save those who are actually employed will be allowed to remain. The officers are arresting men every hour, some of them on the slightest provocation. In all cases where the offence is trivial the victims are pressed into work with the relief gangs. The forces caring for the dead are about exhausted. Several of the undertakers were obliged to give up to-day. Lack of sleep and lack of accommodations and roughest of army fare, consisting largely of salt- pork, bread and black coffee, has had the usual effect when coupled with hard work and damp weather. Notices were posted in all the morgues to-day stating that after to-day bodies would be held only twenty-four hours for identification. If at the expiration of that time they are not recognized they are photographed, the photograph being the same number as the morgue number of the corpse. Recognition is a difficult matter, as the bodies are most terribly bruise and discolored when taken out, and in most cases the features are so distorted that recognition is considered much more difficult than simply the blanched appearance given from lying in the water.
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The work of blasting the gorge at the Pennsylvania bridge was prosecuted to-day with much better success than on any previous day. Several men armed with pikes were busy pushing the logs loosened by the blast out into the stream so that they would float away. Positive orders were issued by the Sanitary Committee to-day to arrest any person workman or otherwise, who should be detected throwing any manner of debris into the river. Everything must be burned. All violators of this order to be punished severely by order of Dictator Scott.
From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 6.—The magnitude of this disaster grows with each successive hour. Those who thought the removal of the debris would take but a few days now realize that it is a work of weeks. Probably 1,200 men are at work, which number includes the workmen of the railroad companies as well. These men have been working like beaver and have done great work, but in contrast with what there is yet to do it is small indeed. Mr. Flinn, of Booth & Flinn, said to-day that it would take 10,000 men four weeks to clear away the gorge at the bridge, so at the present rate it will take about ten months to accomplish the job. Dictator Scott issued positive instructions to all his staff of assistants this morning forbidding the issuance of passes through the lines, and ordered all curio hunters found loitering about put under arrest and set to work or pay a due, which is to be added to the relief fund. The sanitary committee has been prosecuting its work with vigor. Chief Baker, of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Health, has charge of the house to house inspection and he and his officers are distributing disinfectants and seeing that those whom they find sick are removed to the hospitals. They have ordered several partly wrecked houses burned utterly. The relaxation from the excitement attendant on the flood is now beginning to show itself in the manner predicted by the physicians. There were several cases of pneumonia reported to-day at the Sanitary Bureau. Steam issued out of some of the mills of the Cambria Company to-day. They have a difficult job before them in removal of the iron which was chilled in the furnaces. Dr. Benjamin Lee, President of the State Board of Health, left for his home this morning, and left Dr. J.J. Groff, of Lewisburg, in charge. Before leaving, he, with other members of the board, called on the Pennsylvania railroad officials and insisted that inasmuch as the railroad bridge was responsible for the gorge above the bridge they were in duty bound to remove the debris at the company’s expense. The railroad men demurred, and insisted that the bridge was in no way responsible for the gorge as the sluiceways under the bridge are ample to permit all the stream to run through, and that even if this were not the case the eccentricities displayed by the current had caused the gorge and was responsible for the washing out of the approach to the bridge to their great loss and business disadvantage. The members of the board receded from their position. The railroad people will lend all possible assistance in removing the debris, but they cannot do anything until their road is opened. They have given the use of an engine and a derrick car for use of those engaged at the work. About seventy-five men arrived from Hollidaysburg to-day. They walked from Portage down the mountain. The Altoona Relief Committee, the first to arrive here, have done gone work and are preparing to go home, as the members are about played out. JOHNSTON.
JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 6.—A tour of the outlying districts of Johnstown was made to-day by the Associated Press. Affairs are brightening slowly and moving forward with some system. Supplies have arrived at Mineral Point, and accommodations are being provided for the comfort of the survivors. The same arrangements are being made at Conemaugh and Woodvale. There is much less sickness at these places than was expected, but measles and sort throat have broken out among the children. An epidemic is feared. Mr. L.D. Smith, of the Gautier Steel-Works, Woodvale, has issued an order requesting all his employees to report at the mill office to-day. The mill, which manufactures street-railway specialties, is to be removed to Moxham, another suburb of Johnstown. This will leave only the woolen-mill and chemical-works in Woodvale. The removal of the mill will be a serious blow to its future prosperity. The new site is located on Stony creek, near the Moxham Steel-Works. The rubbish at the old mill will
257 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 be cleared up as quickly as possible. Mr. Smith will put all the men he can secure at work immediately. The new mill will be built in a few weeks. Capt. A.J. Logan at Morrellville unloaded thirty cars of relief goods to-day. He advises that all goods be consigned to him, but to send no committees, as it only creates confusion. Drafts for relief funds should be addressed to James B. Scott. A carload of supplies was unloaded on the track in Johnstown to-day by a relief committee. There was a rush for the goods. The strong overpowered the weak and got the best. A fight occurred. A carload of goods from Cleveland came to hand to-day. It consists of water-buckets containing bread, butter, coffee, etc. To each bucket was tied a big coffee pot. Capt. Logan states that money is now needed and that ladies should be sent to this point to attend to the wants of the women. At South Fork supply-trains for Johnstown are stalled. The people have, it is said, broken some of them open and are helping themselves to what they want, notwithstanding they are not suffering. At Conemaugh, Mineral Point and Woodvale provisions and clothing are still badly needed. Byron’s Kernville woolen-mill was destroyed by fire to-day. At one time it looked as if the whole village would be destroyed. The mill was a three-story brick, situated in the midst of the wrecks of several houses. The ruins were on fire several times, but were extinguished after a hard fight by the bucket brigade. Mr. Byron’s handsome residence near by was ruined by the water. Kernville people are being fed and clothed as fast as possible. In Cambria City and Minersville there is no immediate suffering. Miss Clara Barton and the Children’s Aid Society have got into effective operation. The prospects for the future as regards health and comfort depend upon many contingencies which, already foreseen, will doubtless be wisely met.
From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 6.—This forenoon Dr. D.W. Evans, the Coroner of Cambria county, began his inquest. The body selected was that of Mrs. Laura Hite, which had just been found in a huge mass of rubbish on the South side. It lay at the undertaking headquarters at the corner of Napoleon and South streets. The Coroner summoned and swore as his jurors …. The testimony of three witnesses was taken, who swore to the identity of the body, the place where it was found, the date of finding, the place of residence and the last time they had seen the deceased. The inquest was then adjourned to enable the Coroner to secure further evidence. He desires to make the inquest a thorough one, and to secure the testimony of persons who saw Mrs. Hite alive and well a few moments before the flood, who saw her struggling in the water, who saw the flood up the valley, and who saw the reservoir burst. The reservoir will probably be visited, and Dr. Evans thinks that a verdict will not be reached until the latter part of next week. HASSLER.
From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 6.—There is a strong movement on foot in favor of applying the torch to the wrecked buildings in Johnstown, and although the suggestion meets with strong opposition at this time, there is little doubt the ultimate solution of existing difficulties will be by this method. An army of men has been for two days employed in clearing up the wreck in the city property, and although hundreds of bodies have been discovered, not one-fifth of the ground has yet been gone over. In many places the rubbish is piled twenty feet high, and not infrequently these great drifts cover an area of nearly an acre. Narrow passages have been cut through in every direction, but the herculean labor of removing the rubbish has yet hardly begun. At a meeting of the Central Relief Committee this afternoon Gen. Hastings suggested the advisability of drawing a cordon around the few houses that are not in ruins an applying the torch to the remaining great sea of waste. He explained briefly the great work yet to be accomplished if it were hoped to thoroughly overhaul every portion of the debris, and insisted that it would take 5,000 men months to complete the task. Of the hundreds of bodies buried beneath the rubbish and stones, the skeleton or putrid remains of many was all that could be hoped to be recovered. A motion was made that after forty-eight hours further search the debris of the city be consumed by fire, the engines to be on hand to play upon any valuable building that, despite previous precautions, might become ignited by the general conflagration.
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This was debated for nearly half an hour. Those whose relatives or friends rest beneath the wreck remonstrated strongly against any such summary action. They insisted that all the talk of threatened epidemic was only the sensational gossip of fertile brains, and that the search for the bodies should only be abandoned as a last extremity. The physicians in attendance warned the committee that the further exposure of putrid bodies in the valley would have but one result—the typhus or some other epidemic equally fatal to its victims. It was a question of whether the living should be sacrificed for the dead; whether the sway of sentiment or the mandate of science should be the ruling impulse. Although the proposition to burn the wreck was opposed, it was evident that the movement is gaining many adherents, and the result will doubtless be that in a few days the torch will be applied, not only to the fields of waste in Johnstown, but also to the avalanche of debris that chokes the stream above the Pennsylvania bridge.
BY SPECIAL WIRE FROM THE BUREAU OF THE COMMERCIAL GAZETTE. NEW YORK, June 6.—Rev. DeWitt Talmage was to-day chosen Chairman of the Johnstown Relief Committee at a meeting held in the Mayor’s office, in Brooklyn. There were present of the committee, Dr. Talmage, General John B. Woodward, Aldermanic President McCarty and others. Mr. Berri first proposed that General Woodward should take the chairmanship, but the General declined and suggested Dr. Talmage, who was so widely known and whose name would add strength to the movement. Dr. Talmage wanted Gen. Woodward to act, but consented to serve, saying: “We must not, any of us, decline any responsibility in an hour so solemn and important.” A GOOD SUGGESTION. Mayor Chapin said: “I felt that nearer cities would supply immediate wants and we would have a substantial fund ready when the time came and would be ready to put it in the proper place. “The Chairman—It seems to me the suggestion is an important one and should be decided upon at the start, whether the money is to go exclusively to Johnstown and its vicinity or to a wider sweep of country. If, for instance, it is for Johnstown it seems to me the man to touch there is the Mayor. If it is all through the valley, it seems to me this committee from Pittsburgh, made up, I suppose, of some of the chief citizens, would know more about the whole region of country than one man could possibly know. So it seems to me we should at the very outset decide where the money is to go.” Mr. Berri moved that the Secretary be instructed to investigate as to the relief committee appointed at Johnstown and the vicinity, so that Brooklyn might be able intelligently to distribute the money. WOULD NOT BE CRITICIZED. Gen. Woodward brought to the attention of the meeting the request of Ernst Losche and Prof. Von Moritz to have the German singing societies give a concert in Prospect Park for the benefit of the fund. Mr. Peters—When do they desire to give the concert? Gen. Woodward—On a Sunday afternoon. Mr. Peters—What does Dr. Talmage think of it? The Chairman—It is certain that the people of Brooklyn will not be critical at this time of any more of raising money for the sufferers. Any many that will be critical or hypercritical at such a time is not in sympathy with the sufferers by a calamity which has so overshadowed everything. What they need now is help. They want bread and clothing and shelter and I don’t think, from what I know of Brooklyn, there will be any aspersion or any criticism of anything that this committee may think it best to do. The vote of the meeting was that the permission asked for should be granted. Dr. Talmage telegraphed Gov. Beaver, extending the sympathy of the people of Brooklyn, asking for instructions to sending of relief funds.
From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 6.—The Relief Committee is to be made National in its scope. At a meeting of the General Relief Committee held on the Johnstown ruins this afternoon the following resolutions were adopted: “Resolve, That the functions of this committee are simply to receive contributions of money, to be responsible for its safe deposit, and to pay it out upon the orders or requisitions of others and proper authority.
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“That the payment of wages of labor and other current expenses, in the judgment of this committee, can only be properly done in the manner provided for in the resolution adopted by this committee at its last meeting. “That the employment and payment of labor to remove the inconceivable amount of debris in which is buried thousands of human bodies and the corpses of animals, and of restoring the streams to their normal channels, is of the first importance to us, and it is also a matter of National concern, as, if it is not thoroughly effected, the tainted waters may carry pestilence into the regions through which they pass. This will involve an expense of which no approximate estimate can be made—it will be enormous. “The survivors of the flood are now and must be for some time wholly dependent on issues to them of food and clothing, as there are no goods here except those sent to the Relief Committee and no places in which commerce can be carried on. “The method of the distribution of money to the survivors and the agency for making such distribution should receive serious consideration. It is the sense of this committee that another committee should be appointed for this purpose, composed in part of citizens of this locality and of members appointed by the Governors of the States, or by the Chambers of Commerce of the cities from which contributions have been received, or in such other way as will give this agency a National character and assure the country that its generous bounty will be judiciously and fully applied to the relief of the victims of this great calamity.” The committee which took this remarkable action was composed of …. The committee also discussed the advisability of paying off the men now working in the ruins on Saturday night as promised. It was decided that as money is of no use to the men while here and might induce them to leave the city it would be better to defer payment for awhile. The matter was referred to Chairman John B. Scott. Up to to-day the committee has received in actual cash contributions $25,796.16 with $37,414.43 promised in addition. The greater part of this is represented by telegrams from a distance instructing the committee to draw on certain banks. This is an impossibility, as there are no banking facilities left here. The committee hopes that contributors will forward their money by express. To-day Mr. J.D. Roberts stated that Philadelphia had promised $300,000, which is now at the disposal of the committee. Gov. Beaver has reported $100,000 at hand, but has not made any move to send it so far as known. Pittsburgh has about $300,000 in reserve. Following is a partial list of contributions received to-day: New York Mail and Express, $10,000; New York Herald, $5,000; Bethlehem, Pa., $5,000; Thomas Cornell, $1,000; Louisville, $30,000; Utica, $3,000; Allentown, $3,000.
PARIS, June 6.—Mr. Whitelaw Reid, the United States Minister, announces that the fund being raised at the Legation for the relief of the sufferers by the flood at Johnstown now amounts to $10,000. NEW YORK, June 6.—The relief fund of the Mayor of this city has reached $163,305. The Chamber of Commerce fund is $42,000. WASHINGTON, D.C., June 6.—The work of gathering clothing from house to house to-day yielded three big vans full, weighing about a ton. Mr. L.S. Emory has been sent to Johnstown to take charge of supplies from here. The Citizens’ Committee has sent about 250 large boxes of clothing to Johnstown. General Manager Alvey, of the Baltimore & Ohio, says that seven or eight carloads of clothing and provisions will be sent to-night. The Baltimore & Ohio lines are clear, and their special relief trains make the distance from here in about eight hours. CONCORD, N.H., June 6.—The Legislature to-day appropriated $10,000 for the Conemaugh sufferers. WHEELING, W.VA., June 6.—Wheeling’s contribution to the Johnstown relief fund has reached up to this evening a total of $8,093.30 in cash besides clothing, &c. A carload of nails was sent from here to Johnstown. ERIE, PA., June 6.—Erie’s committees have collected over $10,000 for the relief of the Conemaugh sufferers. An appeal came from Williamsport to-day for help. Reports from this side of Williamsport say that the valley is full of people who are homeless and starving. A thousand dollars was forwarded to Williamsport to-night.
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PHILADELPHIA, PA., June 6.—Contributions to the Johnstown fund pour in, and a conservative estimate of the total amounts collected in this city places the grand total at $600,000, of which the banking-house of the Drexels holds $366,000. Fifty-five carloads of provisions have been started.
From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 6.—On the South Side there are more sick and injured than in the main portion of the city. A majority of those rescued were taken from the water on the south side of the Stony creek. To-day there are 400 under medical care in that section, which comprises the Fifth and Sixth wards. The physicians in attendance are …. Many of the sick are suffering from pneumonia. Dr. George G. Groff, of the State Board of Health, is now in command of the sanitary corps. He says that a great deal of pneumonia is developing in the place, and more is bound to show itself in a few days. He considers the sanitary condition of the town as good as could be expected. As long as the weather remains cool he thinks there is little to be feared from the stench and gasses arising from decomposing bodies. The pollution of the water of the Conemaugh, Kiskiminetas and Allegheny is not menacing. The water, the Doctor says, will preserve dead bodies much better than the sand. Bodies taken from the water to-day, after six days of immersion, are in a good state of preservation, but begin to decompose soon after they are exposed to the air. Dr. Groff thinks it almost useless to try disinfectants on the huge floe above the stone bridge. He does not believe in the efficacy of covering one stench with another. He has to-day advised the burning of every bit of rubbish in the river and on the land. Many dead bodies may be consumed, but the duty of the authorities is now greater to the living than to the dead. The town is full of dead horses, mules, cows, hogs, dogs and cats. Fifty men are employed burning dead horses. The work makes a horrible smell. Eighty dead horses were burned yesterday. There are many dead horses in Stony creek, but those on land will be burned first. Most of the horses found have harness on them and are attached to vehicles. The Free Masons have opened headquarters at 200 Morris street, on the South Side, and are looking after the sick and destitute of their order. The Allegheny County Relief Committee of the Junior Order of the United American Mechanics are doing good work in the way of relieving their members. They have established headquarters in the Seventh ward school-house. The membership in this city is 1,200, of whom, as far as learned, only five are lost and 900 washed out and homeless. G.L. Hoffman and I.H. Gillespie are in charge of the headquarters. They have received three carloads of provisions and clothing, which are being delivered to members. The general committee has been receiving provisions rapidly to-day, and at the Baltimore & Ohio and Pennsylvania depots cars are being unloaded by an army of working-men. At the Napoleon street depot of supplies on the South Side, there is plenty of clothing, chiefly from Kaufmanns’ and Gusky’s, but provisions are running low. None were received to-day. Heretofore the goods for this section have been hauled over the hills from Morrellville, but hereafter will be received by the Baltimore & Ohio. HASSLER.
From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 6.—Thomas Jacobs, of Morrellville, is one of the oldest inhabitants of the Conemaugh valley. He said to-day that the water of the river was much higher in 1837 than last Friday, even after the dam had broken. “The whole trouble about this deplorable affair,” he continued, “results from the narrowing of the channel of the river and the deflection of its natural course. I remember well when the channel ran down where the mill below the bridge now stands. The channel has been narrowed along its entire course through the town by the dumping of refuse along the banks during low water. The Conemaugh has always been a shallow stream. After heavy rainfalls it rises rapidly, as all mountain streams do. Its watershed is large and the hillsides so constituted that the water runs down rapidly, causing quick rises and turbulent currents. “Primarily I hold that the Cambria Iron Company is responsible for narrowing the channel, secondly the South Fork Club for not having made the dam secure beyond all possibility of a break, especially when they cased the dam to be enlarged by raising the breast, and thirdly, the Pennsylvania railroad for having constructed the viaduct with such low arches and with ribs calculated to catch pieces of driftwood if they happen to strike diagonally on the piers. The dam made by the gorge at the bridge is what engulfed the town.“
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The inquest touching responsibility for the disaster is still in progress.
From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 6.—To-day ex-Mayor George W. Gardner and a delegation arrived from Cleveland with provisions and money. That city raised $30,000 for the sufferers. The Pennsylvania railroad has 1,200 men at work on reconstruction, but connection with South Fork and thence eastward will hardly be made inside of a week. For a mile above Conemaugh the fine roadbed is entirely gone and the foaming torrent dashes along right at the foot of the perpendicular cliff of solid rock. The company has called here workmen from the Ft. Wayne, Panhandle and all its Western lines. All the country roads eastward are alive with refugees, walking over the mountains. Men, women and children toil along with bundles and baskets. The farmers have been almost eaten out. To those who are unable to pay they give freely. This forenoon a man whose mind has been deranged by the excitement in some way got through the lines. He hurried about among the watchmen, saying to every man, “You fellow who have tin stars on, take them off after dinner.” He was finally arrested and taken away. Gen. Axline, of Ohio, rescued from the midst of the ruins a lively Maltese kitten. He will take it with him to Columbus and present it to Miss Julia, the youngest daughter of Gov. Foraker. In addition to the names of the Woodvale dead there must be added two children of B.F. Hinchman, Mrs. Jane Becher and a daughter. Frank Beam, 10 years old, is the only surviving member of the family of Dr. W.C. Beam. On the paling in front of a house on Morris street hangs the only article of furniture which is uninjured. It is a framed motto reading, “In God We Trust.” There is much inquiry here as to the action of the fire insurance companies. Some of the buildings were burned after being flooded. J.F. Miler, of Wilkinsburg, has in his possession, ready to deliver to rightful claimants, a policy of $1,000, issued by the Union Insurance Company, of San Francisco, on the residence and drug-store of Charles H. Statler. HASSLER.
From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 6.—The work of cleaning up goes on well. Main street is open except for one block. Washington street is almost entirely opened and Bedford street is clear. It is now easy to get into all parts of the destroyed city. The Main street building in which were the First National Bank and the Savings Bank is in good condition. The bank-rooms were cleaned out to-day, and business will be resumed, it is promised, on Monday. There is a great need of banking facilities. The army of workingmen must be paid and money once more put into circulation. The managers of relief desire to put the people on a self-supporting basis as soon as possible. At present money is of small account. Nothing is to be sold. There are no stores, but a number will be opened within three or four days. The railroads are not carrying any paid freight, nothing being received in the town except what is consigned to the relief committees. The temporary postoffice at the corner of Main and Adams streets, has got into fairly good operation. Letters mailed out five or six days ago are now being received. The United Brethren, Lutheran and Baptist Churches, which are all in substantial shape, are being fitted up by carpenters for sleeping and eating quarters for the workmen. The First Presbyterian Church is used as a morgue. At noon to-day it contained twenty bodies, eleven of which had been recognized. Ten of these bodies were taken from the wreckage this forenoon. The building is insecure and no visitors were admitted to-day. Carpenters were engaged putting in new props, and to-morrow the work of identification will proceed more rapidly. Those identified to-day are: … HASSLER
PHILADELPHIA, PA., June 6.—Telegraphic communication was opened with Bellefonte this evening. The Associated Press Correspondent there telegraphs: About forty lives have been lost in this, Centre County. The damage to property will reach a million and a half dollars. LOCK HAVEN, PA., June 6.—Only one person is known to have been drowned in Lock Haven, but in the country the list of deaths number twenty-eight. At Cedar Springs the wife of Luther Seylor and
262 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 three children were lost; Mr. Seylor was rescued from a tree and his wife’s body lodged on a drift-pile within two rods of the tree where Seylor was clinging; wife of Geo. Cole and two children; wife of Clem Barnes and two children. The damage to the county, including Lock Haven, will reach millions of dollars. Both reservoirs that supply water for the city gave way and a water famine seemed imminent, but that danger is over and water is being turned into the main pipes from the stream itself. There is no gas or electric lights. A number of the manufacturer establishments which are on high ground are running again, but the hundreds of men who found employment in the lumber manufacture are idle, with no prospect of work for them.
PHILADELPHIA, PA., June 6.—A train of five cars carrying 132 east-bound passengers started from Altoona at 2 o’clock this afternoon over the Pennsylvania railroad for Philadelphia. They go to the Montgomery bridge via Lock Haven, and if that structure is not sufficiently completed to allow of the train passing over it the train will run to Sunbury. At Sunbury the passengers will be ferried across the river in the ferry steamer located there, and then they will be loaded into another train and whisked into Philadelphia, probably reaching here about midnight to-night. This is the first train Altoona eastward since a week ago. It is expected that more trains will follow the one now on its way here." BLAIRSVILLE, PA., June 6.—Four bodies were found along the Conemaugh near here to-day by searching parties. Passengers are coming across the mountains from Ebensburg, on the Pennsylvania railroad, using their own teams. "At 11:40 o’clock last night a special train over the Baltimore & Ohio arrived at this city filled with survivors of the flood. Among them were a number of injured, some of them being very seriously and two almost certainly fatally. They were sent to the Mercy and West Penn hospitals. The rest of the party were cared for by friends and by the Relief Committee. The injured were: TO THE MERCY HOSPITAL. Alexander Recke, a confectioner, 85 years of age; both legs crushed, one so badly as to necessitate an amputation. Mr. Recke is one of the oldest citizens of Johnstown, where he located in 1869. He lost everything by the flood. He will die. Mrs. Daly, 35 years. She was rescued after being 18 hours in the water. She was afterwards stricken by paralysis. She is a widow, and her only son was lost in the flood. Her mind has been wandering since the disaster. There is no hope of her recovery. Mrs. Eva Oxnard and her two children, one being only 10 days old. She is in a serious condition, but may recover. The children are both all right. Mrs. Kate Nagle, crushed, but not seriously. Mrs. Salome Bershenk and her 15-year-old daughter both badly crushed, but will recover. WEST PENN HOSPITAL. Mrs. Mary Tice and her boy, suffering with cancer in the breast and exposed in the water for ten hours; will not recover. Maggie Lewis, 15 years of age, an orphan, who lost her parents in the flood. Ill from exposure, but not serious. There were several very old ladies on the train also. One of them was Mrs. Matilda Wilson, the mother of Con Wilson, of this city, the well-known P.R.R. conductor. Mrs. Wilson is 89 years old and was rendered almost motionless by rheumatism caused by being for nearly ten hours in the water and long exposure. Her son was with her and took her to his home. Another old lady was Mrs. Mary Cannon. She was nearly 70 years old, but had experienced no particular bad effects from the flood, although for many hours in the water. She was taken charge of by friends on Penn avenue. Mrs. Eliza Ann McPherson was still another of the old ladies. She is 79 years of age, and when spoken to by the reporter said: “Why, you ought to know me; everybody knows me. Yes,” she said, “I was in the flood, but I am none the worse for it except a few extra rheumatic pains, and I will get along first rate. I don’t mind much about the flood. I seem to forget when the water came on me.” She was also cared for by friends. FIVE ORPHAN CHILDREN. In one end of the car were five children ranging from the age of 17 to 4 years. Their names were Clater, and their parents, with their home, were swept away by the water. They were helpless and their faces wore the looks of hopeless bewilderment. They were in charge of Dr. Diehl, the Penn avenue
263 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 dentist, and for the present were taken to his home and will be cared for there until other arrangements can be made. Probably the most pitiful sight on the train was Mrs. Oxnard and her children. The mother was absolutely helpless. The elder of the two children was bruised, but in fairly good condition. The baby, born only four days before the flood, was, however, bright and chipper. Weak and ill as the mother was, she had managed to protect her children from harm. It was the tiniest bit of a baby, with a comical wrinkled face, which just peeped out of the old shawl in which one of the ladies of the party wrapped it. A PITIFUL SIGHT. Alexander Recke’s case is also a sad one. Suffering was depicted in every line of his pale, haggard face. His mind constantly wandered, and all the time he was being moved to the ambulance he kept talking to himself, rehearsing the fearful story of the disaster. Mrs. Daly was also constantly calling for her son, who went down in the flood. The party was in charge of Dr. Stewart, and the work of transferring the patients to the ambulance was quickly and deftly performed. The train was very late. It was scheduled for 9:30 but was many times delayed. From the time at which it was to have arrived, four ambulances waited in front of the Baltimore & Ohio station. Their presence attracted a crowd, which was with difficulty kept back by the station officers, and which hung around until the train finally did come in, when they formed in two rows, between which the sufferers were borne on the stretchers to the ambulances. A committee from the Relief Committee was also on hand waiting to conduct any sufferers who were not for the hospitals and who had no friends down to the Second Presbyterian Church to be cared for. Most of the people on the train, however, had friends at the station to meet them. A dozen private carriages were waiting to take them to comfortable homes. And such meetings as they were. One old man, with a part of a patch-work quilt around his shoulders, was carefully helped down the steps of the car, when he was clasped by a young lady, who rushed from the crowd standing around. “Oh, how glad I am to see you,” she cried, with tears in her voice. “I never expected to see you again.” The tottering man was placed in a carriage which was waiting and was rapidly driven off. AT THE CHURCH. Owing to the necessity of keeping the Relief headquarters at the Second Presbyterian Church open day and night it became imperative yesterday to hold a special meeting of the Executive Committee. The meeting resulted in the addition of Mrs. James B. Scott and Mrs. W.R. Thompson to the Executive Committee to act the part of Secretaries. The meeting resulted in the following statements authorized for publication: Inquirers will find the Bureau of Information stationed in the vestibule and in charge of Mrs. Dr. Easton. The Chairman of the Supply Committee is Mrs. J.B. Merron. The Chairman of the clothing department is Mrs. C.T. Donnell. Each committee is divided into three sections, one section to report in the morning, one in the afternoon and one at night. This is done to prevent confusion among the workers. All authoritative information must come from the Executive Committee only. The Committee on Supplies is authorized to receive supplies of clothing, provisions and money for the Ladies’ Relief department only. Supplies for Johnstown must be send to Old City Hall. All purchases for the dining-room must be made through the Chairman of Supplies under the order of the Executive Committee. The Bureau of Information, as established, will prepare a list of people inquired for and take down names of volunteer workers, and the papers of the city are requested to publish that all Johnstown survivors, wherever they are, shall send their names and addresses to the Executive Committee. THE WORK OF PROGRESSING. The work of yesterday was a repetition of the previous day, with the exception that rules and regulations were better understood and the movements of the committees methodical, harmonious and systematic to a still greater degree. Contributions were received and properly accredited, the sewing and mending went on as before, the genial Chairman of the Bureau of Information, Mrs. Dr. Easton, and her aids, Mrs. Samuel Hubley and Mrs. Dr. Wallace, were kept busy answering the inquiries for missing friends, while in the room of the Executive Committee an air of business reigned which would have charmed the most methodical. In this department is the telephone, the messengers’ headquarters, the information bureau for the press, beside the busy table of the Executive Committee and their secretaries. The first delegation of refugees
264 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 arrived at 3 a.m. then others at 5, 10, 11:30 and on the afternoon trains. All bore the stamp of distress. They were first taken to the dining-room, then registered and afterward provided with clothing, and forwarded to their destinations. Of those who arrived in the day but few remained in the city; those who did were taken in charge by friends. During the day Miss Spence, the Penn avenue milliner, sent word to the ladies that she would provide hats and bonnets for the refugees, but that she wished to adapt the coverings to the size and style of heads, and to send those who needed them to her store. This was done and the pretty fitting hats and bonnets and artistic adaptation resulted in much admiring comment. The supplies received yesterday included $166.50 in goods contributed by W.C. Bernardi and employees, of Carson street, South Side; a generous package of children’s clothing from Miss Elizabeth Tindle; a package of clothing from the down-stair lady clerks of Herne & Ward’s establishment; two dozen Testaments from the Bible Society; shoes and clothing from the Bellevue ladies; supplies from Mrs. Watt Black; supplies from Miss Jane Holmes and others. CONTRIBUTIONS FROM CHILDREN. Among the contributions was $5 given by Nellie Boyer, of Hotel Boyer, in behalf of a number of her associates. Little Maud Goodwyn brought in a dollar also as a contribution from herself and another little girl. From the King’s Daughters came a package of clothing, and from one little child a candy box in which was a string of beads, a child’s pair of gloves, a little handkerchief and a needle case. Miss Sweeney, the milliner also sent in two fine black tulle bonnets adorned with pretty sprays of flowers. Rev. R. Veith, pastor of the English Lutheran Church, who lost his wife and daughter in the flood, reported to the committee in a dilapidated condition and was taken in charge by Gusky and fitted out completely. There has been no indication of greed among any of the refugees. On the contrary, the evident dislike to be subjected to charity is apparent to a painful degree. Harry Joy, a lad, asked stoutly for employment, and a position will probably be secured for him to-day. Rest and food seem to be the most imperative demand. In the afternoon Mrs. Jerome, the President of the Yellow Cross Society, of New York, arrived. She reported at headquarters and asked for transportation to Johnstown. Her request was granted, and this morning she will depart for the scene of the disaster. It is her intention, if the work there is imperative, to send for a corps of Yellow Cross workers. PATHETIC SCENES. Among the refugees was Anne Bonisco, a Bohemian girl, who could not speak one word of English. She attached herself to a lady and gentleman leaving Johnstown and did not lose sight of them until they reached the Union depot. There she was separated and later was found wandering about the streets. Some one took her to the Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Max Schamberg was sent for and, upon hearing a word in her native tongue, the poor girl burst into tears. She was brought to the Relief Committee. She had on a tattered calico gown and presented a most distressed appearance. Charles Siebert, who was one of the refugees, is on his way to Germany. A lady came all the way from Chicago to learn the fate of her father. Her first inquiry happened to be addressed to a refugee. The refugee knew him well and gave her the sad intelligence that her father was dead. Another applicant came all the way from St. Louis to make inquiries for friends. Maud Allison, of Lawrenceville, was one of the patient waiters all day, but no tidings came for her. A statement made in one of the papers that the friends of Ada McDowell refused to care for her is indignantly denied in a communication received to-day at headquarters. At midnight a delegation of twenty-four arrived. Two hundred had left Johnstown last evening, but so many were dropped off at different points that comparatively few reached the city. Of these all but two or three had friends at different points and were given lodging for the night and will be forwarded to their destination to-day. Mr. and Mrs. Peter Langhort will go to Oregon, Prof. and Mrs. Seymore to Toronto and Mr. H. Fairies to Mexico. A PITIFUL STORY. A pitiful story was told by James Croszen, a young man who arrived last night. He had waited in Johnstown until he found the bodies of his father, mother and four sisters and brothers, he helped dig the graves of his parents and then turned his back on Johnstown. A happy reunion will take place at Superior station to-day, for among the arrivals last night was Ida and Mrs. Lantz, who were the missing members of the Lantz family who were sent to Superior yesterday. So many people are being housed at Braddock that those who have been there state that it is
265 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 to become a second Johnstown. As yet none of the applications filed for babies and little girls have been met, owing to the scarcity. The refugees cared for yesterday were: …
The train due in this city from Johnstown at 8:10 last evening did not arrive till 10:50, owing to its crowded condition. It was in two sections of seven cars each and a baggage car. The first section contained but few sufferers that cared to go with the Relief Committee, although Mr. Johnson, who had been to Johnstown on behalf of the committee, was with them. Among those who were on the train was a portion of the Chicago Legation, en route to Lima, Peru. At Johnstown they had taken in charge Hap Sing, a poor Chinaman who had been drowned out by the flood. They had been caught at Songmore on a train bound East and had come back here part of the way on wagons with a view of making a fresh start to Washington and New York. While they were waiting for a carriage to take them to the Monongahela House the Chinaman, who had been in the disaster, attempted as best he could to give a description of the scene, which was still vivid on his mind. He said: “Water come, water come much; then lock door. Door no lock; water go tlop house. Boom, boom, run tlop house. Me hully up. Me lich when no water. Me no lich buy lot.” As he related this he gesticulated wildly at the little crowd of railway officials. The Consul General who could converse in excellent English, said he did not care to talk until he reached his hotel. There was another interesting little group who took supper at the Second Presbyterian Church. It was …. None of the party were acquainted until they got caught in the flood. Mrs. Perkins was bound for Cincinnati and Miss Taylor, a very beautiful and intelligent young lady, was bound home from Brenmore College. Once at the church a number of ladies swarmed around them, and after they had gotten their meal and answered a fusillade of questions from the kind ladies, newspaper representatives, to whom Mrs. Perkins had said at the depot she would only be too pleased to relate her experience, when she had finished eating, bowed politely and awaited her pleasure, but another lady who wasn’t a sufferer, sailed across the room like a storm rocket at sea and bade the “reporter men,” as she termed them, to begone, as she would not have the people who came in there disturbed while eating a meal. She would get all the information necessary and give it to the public. Mrs. Perkins arose, thanked the ladies for their kindness and said she would be pleased to see the newspaper gentlemen in the parlors of her hotel, and thither they went and listened to descriptions from herself and Miss Taylor of how the storm broke on the mountains and washed houses, human beings and animals by while they stood on the seats of the car. Another Newark young lady, who declined to give her name for publication, had been caught in the Day Express. She was in the second section and had to run for her life. They were taken to Ebensburg in wagons, thence to Indiana where they got a train to Blairsville Intersection. The lady will go East to- day by the Baltimore & Ohio. The railroad company is careful to supply all the wants of passengers who were belated. Mr. Frank Paulson arrived home on the same train after a fruitless search for the remains of his sister, Miss Jennie Paulson. Both she and Miss Bryant, it is certain now, were swept away in the first rush of water, and it is thought they were carried far below Johnstown. Twenty people are searching for her remains. She wore on that fatal Friday a black dress, and on her fingers a diamond ring, one cameo, one plain gold ring and one band ring with four stones in it. She also had on a bracelet of peculiar make, an open-faced silver watch and short chain, to which was attached a locket and cross of the order of “King’s Daughters.” Mr. Paulson said he had searched the whole valley without avail. He looked as if he was much exhausted and must have had a hard time. At 1 o’clock this morning twenty-two cars loaded with bridge material were sent to East Conemaugh. At 5:30 this morning a relief train went to Johnstown. No one was permitted to board a train without a permit from the Relief Committee. A train arrived at 1 o’clock yesterday morning that brought in a number of sufferers. They were: ... They were left by the flood with absolutely nothing, and are now quartered with friends in this city." Mr. Evan Jones, the contractor, came down from Johnstown last night where he has been hard at work. He says that it will cost from $500,000 to $750,000 to clear away the ruins at Johnstown and that the work can only be done on a business basis and by regular hired labor. Volunteers can work well under good management and excellent gratuitous work at Johnstown has been done by men from Braddock and McKeesport, who came up with their foreman. But volunteer work can only be depended on for
266 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 short jobs, and the time has come to get right down to business. So far the money has been going to the Governor, who is doing nothing, while Pittsburgh is left to do all the work. The relief fund here will not exceed $200,000, and the obligations which the committee are incurring greatly exceed that amount. Mr. Jones thinks it of the greatest importance that contributions should be sent direct to the Pittsburgh committees where they will be put to use. The Relief Committee reported that several people had been in Johnstown endeavoring to entice young girls away who were destitute or without parents. Two very pretty young ladies, well-dressed, came down on the late train last night. Mr. Johnston, of the Relief Committee, asked the young man with them where he was going, and he stated he was a relative. They also stated this was true. Another young girl of 18, quite pretty, was in company with a young man. She said he was a second cousin. It is known that two women of evil character have been in the place, but a careful watch is now kept of both ends of the line. Druggists and mineral water dealers report a boom in waters of all kinds since the Johnstown disaster. At Newell’s well-known restaurant it was stated the demand for Bethesda, Apollinaris and other bottled waters was unprecedented. At the drug stores, Vichy and even soda water were much in demand, while at the Union depot Vichy had the call. "Maj. Denniston yesterday reported the following as the condition of the Grand Army fund for the Johnstown sufferers: Previously acknowledged, $762; received yesterday, from Post 188, Allegheny, $100; Post 111, of Elizabeth, $25; Post 126, Canonsburg, $118.21; Alderman Carlisle, $10; W.H. Lambert, of Post 3, $5.
Miss Margaret Patrick, of Allegheny, who was a passenger on the second section of the ill-fated Day Express and narrowly escaped being carried away in the flood, told the story of her thrilling experience to a COMMERCIAL GAZETTE reporter yesterday. Owing to the crowded condition of the parlor-car the lady was compelled to take a seat in an ordinary coach, for which she is now thankful, as the parlor car was completely swamped. She said: “When our train reached Conemaugh at 11 o’clock Friday morning it was then raining heavily and the train was stopped for some reason. Miss Agnes Christman, of Beauregard, and Miss Whitaker, of Mobile, Ala., were in the same car and I had formed their acquaintance. We waited and waited and still the train did not start. The conductor said they were looking for order. A RACE FOR LIFE. “About 3 o’clock I noticed that nearly all the people had left our car and also that telegraph poles and fence rails were floating past. Then I saw a number of people running away from the train in the direction of the mountain top. A voice cried out, ‘The dam has bursted!’ and I heard a great roaring sound. I jumped from the platform and started up the hillside with my satchel. It contained my expense money and it was very necessary I should save that. The water began to rise as I climbed the hill and I ran the faster. In doing so I tripped and fell over a lot of debris. Then I thought all was over, but I determined to make one more effort to save my life. I began to crawl up the steep mountain side on my hands and knees. The din around me was terrible and the rain poured down in torrents. I looked toward the opening between the two hills and there saw what drove terror to my heart. A great wall of water, black as ink, above which hung a mist which nearly reached the clouds was rolling toward me. I struggled to my feet and ran a distance of ten yards when I again fell. Then I gave up all hope, when a gentleman came to my rescue and I was assisted beyond the waters’ reach. My two lady friends were likewise saved and we were all taken to Ebensburg in a wagon. The shock of that few moments has made me quite nervous, and it makes me shudder to think or speak of my experience.” Swift Davis was a passenger on the second section of this train. He reached Pittsburgh yesterday. He says his wife, three children and himself were on this train and so was also Miss Paulson and Miss Bryant. Soon after the train reached Conemaugh a portion of the track was washed away. On the next track was a freight train, one car of which was loaded with lime. THE FIRST SECTION. The first section occupied the third track while the second section had a position on the outside. Mr. Davis said he knew about the danger of the South Fork dam bursting, and while he was discussing the question with his wife he heard an engine coming toward the train with lightning-like speed and whistling wildly. He then threw open the window and saw the water coming. Not a moment was to be lost, so he grasped his two children, and running out of the car told his wife to follow with the baby. When David reached the bank he observed the baby was missing and asked his wife where it was and
267 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 she replied that the conductor had it. After all four had reached a place of safety Davis instituted a search for his baby and Miss Paulson and Miss Bryant. His daughter found the baby in a farm-house, and the Pullman conductor told him the two young ladies were saved, but he afterwards learned that this statement was wrong, as both these young ladies went down with the flood.
Mrs. Cooper, wife of Dr. Cooper of Johnstown, who is at present stopping with Mrs. James Horner, of Franklin street, Allegheny, had a frightful experience during the flood. She was visiting friends on Main street, when the avalanche of water came pouring down the valley. The house in which she was stopping was a brick structure with a frame addition. When the warning cry resounded through the streets the family sought the highest part of the building for safety. It happened that the frame building was higher than the brick, and Mrs. Cooper and her friends made their way to the upper part of this portion of the house. When they reached the rooms on the highest floor they dropped to their knees in prayer and were in this position when the water struck the building, overturning the frame part and crushing the brick like an eggshell. Fortunately the only window in the room was on the top side of the overturned house, and Mrs. Cooper was forced up to this window by the water. A young man named Will Rowland, who reached the house by some means, pulled Mrs. Cooper out of the window and saved her life. In the house were Rowland’s mother, sister, brother and a friend, whom he made frantic efforts to save but without avail, and they drowned before his eyes. The same young man distinguished himself for bravery during the day by rescuing eight different people from perilous positions and at the imminent risk of his own life. These people were all gathered on the wreck of the house and after floating a short distance it lodged against the debris of other houses which was blocking up Main street. In the distance Mrs. Cooper and her companions could see the top of the Morrell Institute which was covered with people. They determined to reach that building at all hazards. By climbing over the wrecked house, and after numerous hair-breadth escapes the entire party finally reached their objective point in safety. Here they found over 160 people gathered on the roof. They had not been there long until a house on which was a little child crying piteously was noticed floating down. When Will Rowland saw this he immediately deserted the roof and made for the house, which he reached just in time to rescue the little one from its impending doom. He was successful in getting back to the institute and he climbed onto the roof again with the babe unharmed and amid the cheers of the people who had witnessed the heroic act. The people were all compelled to stay on their high perch until morning, when a rescuing party came and brought with them a load of crackers and sardines obtained from a grocery which escaped the flood. These were dumped out in the midst of the crowd, and a wild scramble ensued among the half- famished people for the food. When they had eaten it they were taken off the building in rafts. Dr. Cooper had a narrow escape from death before the dam broke. He was rescuing people whose houses were inundated, when his horse and buggy were caught in the current and swept down stream. The doctor caught the limb of a tree and lifted himself into it, where he stayed until a raft could be procured and taken to his rescue. The horse and buggy was lost. He then went home and changed his clothes, and had just got out to the street when the herald, bearing the news of the dam breaking, dashed through the town. The doctor attempted to reach his attic, but failed, and he stood on a hill and saw the house she was in go down. He then gave her up for lost. The next morning there was a happy meeting when he found her alive and well." To-day’s Weekly COMMERCIAL GAZETTE has been especially prepared for persons wishing to send to their relatives and friends at a distance, or to file away, a full and accurate account of the Johnstown flood news up to date, finely illustrated. Papers done up in wrappers, ready for mailing, can be got at our counting-room or from the newsboys on the street. This is the best opportunity yet offered the public to get a connected and intelligent idea of the greatest disaster of the kind in the history of the country. "Up until yesterday afternoon the members of the Relief Committee for the Johnstown sufferers had been congratulating themselves upon the manner in which the contributions have been coming in. Everybody felt sure there would be enough money, and to spare. The following telegram was received from William Flinn, who has charge of the men who are clearing away the debris at the stone bridge: “It is the judgment of myself, Evan Jones and the practical men here that it would take 10,000 men a month to clear up this town. It seems to me a physical impossibility. The volunteer workmen are leaving rapidly. We must have 500 men to fill the vacancy. You should send four or five competent
268 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 clerks to be put in charge of the financial matters, as the expenses will be enormous. Also a commissary here on the ground. When we make requisitions for supplies we should find them here on account of the uncertainty of trains. Provisions for men and horses should be sent in large quantities.“ This put a decidedly different complexion on things. Chairman McCreery in speaking of the matter said: “On the basis of Mr. Flinn’s estimate we only have money enough to last us a few days. Johnstown is simply in one inextricable mass of ruin. There are hundreds of dead bodies, both of human beings and animals, buried up in the debris. We have 7,500 men at work now and that means $100,000 a week for the payroll. That is an enormous expense, and unless the money comes in a little faster we will be compelled to stop the work.” Another startling piece of news was received during the afternoon. It was a telegram from Mr. Scott’s headquarters, which read: “Kernville on fire at the woolen-mill. Mr. Scott has requested Mr. Trump to send engines there.” Later, word was received that the fire was a very bad one. It was not known how it originated. Two engines were taken down from the stone bridge and at 4:30 o’clock it was reported that the fire was nearly under control. There seems to be rivalry among the physicians. Yesterday Mr. McCreery and Mr. Scott were in communication in reference to establishing a medical center in Johnstown, with some competent physician in charge. Mr. Scott said he had not time to attend to the matter and told Chairman McCreery to do what he thought best in the matter. Mr. McCreery’s last telegram on the subject was: “We are besieged from morning till night with physicians who want to go to Johnstown. There seems to be some jealousy between certain cliques. I think we must have a central office and have them all apply at one place.” A telegram was received from Philadelphia offering the services of 500 men. The Supply Committee sent out several train-loads of provisions during the day. Among the contributions were: … The Jr. O.U.A.M. committee sent out a car of supplies yesterday. J.J. Flannery & Co., embalmers, left for Johnstown at 1 o’clock in the afternoon." William Flinn wires the Relief Committee that they are short of tents. Many men are sleeping on the ground. Mr. Flinn requests that fishing clubs of Pittsburgh and Allegheny lend all the tents they have to be sent to Johnstown. The clubs are asked to report promptly to S.S. Marvin. "The ultimate solvency of the Johnstown banks is seriously menaced. The bankers of Pittsburgh have little hope that those institutions will be able to recover, although no one will talk on the subject. The cashier of one of the down-town banks said in response to a direct question that the condition of the banks was very critical, but that he would not say a word that could injure those institutions. There are three Johnstown banks, the First National Bank, the Savings Bank and the banking house of John Diebert & Co. The First National was considered one of the most solid banking institutions in the State. James McMillin was President of it as well as of the Savings Bank. The capital stock is $100,000 and the institution had a surplus of $36,000. When the last statement was sent out, in October last, it reported deposits to the amount of $580,000. Diebert & Co. were worth from $75,000 to $125,000. THEY ALL LOST. All these banks lost heavily in the flood from having their buildings destroyed. This loss has been estimated at $50,000 to each institution, but among Pittsburgh financiers it is thought that these estimates are at least one-half too large. These losses are, however, small in comparison to the other losses and would not affect the credit of the institutions in themselves. One of the bankers of this city said yesterday: “The fate of the Johnstown banks now depends entirely on the recuperative powers of the people of that district. If the people, who have lost everything in the flood, can pull themselves together and meet their obligations the banks will come out all right. If not, they must go down. The banks had most of their funds loaned on Cambria county property, a large part in the district swept by the flood, and it does not look probable that these people who are now dependent on charity for the very bread they eat will be able to meet any financial obligations in time to save the banks. “The Savings Bank will in all probability be the greatest sufferer. From the fact that it is a savings bank, it will have the big part of its money out in property in the devastated district. Mortgages on houses that have been washed away will be of little value and it is not probable that many of those will be able to pay.
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“John Diebert, of Diebert & Co., lost his life in the flood. The firm’s credit was excellent, but its funds are now out on the same property which has been carried off by the waters. I would be unwilling to say anything that would injure the credit of these banks and make it more difficult for them to recover their standing. It is probable that one or more of them will, and possible that all may, but if they do it will denote a wonderful recuperative power on the part of the people of the Cambria district.” IN PITTSBURGH BANKS. Pittsburgh banks have something over one-half million dollars out on mortgages on property that was swept away by the flood. This is for the most part already considered a dead loss. It also serves to indicate how great was the amount of the mortgages held by the Johnstown banks in the same locality. Considerable of the Johnstown banks’ paper was also held by Pittsburgh banks, but not in any very considerable amounts. There will also be some losses on short-time notes drawn by merchants who have since been flooded out. Some of the bankers, however, take a more optimistic view of the situation, and think that the banks will pull through all right. Said one: “Johnstown will in five years be a bigger place than ever. The Cambria Iron-Works are to be built at once, and they are the nucleus of the place. The people will recover, and in a short time be able to meet their obligation. The death of so many people will affect the banks by throwing many estates into the hands of executors, but they are all solid institutions and will survive.”
In this city the glass-houses will probably be the direct losers. It now seems certain that they will all be compelled to shut down for ten days or two weeks. Nearly all the sand, sulphate of soda and soda as used by the glass companies at Pittsburgh and the immediate vicinity comes from near Altoona. The supply is very low at the works here now and will in a few days be exhausted. It does not seem probably that there will be sufficient railroad facilities for them to get in a new supply for some time. The result will be a general closing down. The glass-houses will not, however be the heaviest Pittsburgh sufferers by any means. There is scarcely a wholesale merchant in the city but will lose more or less money. The merchants of Johnstown, who were their customers, cannot pay. Everything they had was swept away and they will need aid to get another start. It is impossible at the present time to get even an approximate estimate of what the total is. Some put it at a million dollars, some over that amount, and very few under it. A number of wholesale merchants were called on yesterday. Every one had customers in Johnstown and had also bills due them ranging from $100 to $5,000. Few of them will ever be paid nor will the majority of them ever be asked to pay. Everybody feels like giving the sufferers every indulgence. A Pittsburgh banker said yesterday that he knew of one merchant in this city who had a customer in Johnstown whose whole possessions were washed away. He owed a large bill to the Pittsburgh merchant, but still the latter was advancing money out of his own pocket and was going about among his friends getting subscriptions to start this same man up in business again.
Yesterday was the quietest known to the Union depot since Friday last. “Things are down to a system,” said Train-Master Butler. “We sent out ten cars loaded with supplies in one train, and then we tacked one car to the Johnstown accommodation and three cars to another, making a total of fourteen. As quick as we can get enough to make a respectable train we will hitch on a locomotive and send it. All we have on hand now is three kegs of powder and we shan’t risk that on a passenger train.” At 1 o’clock a train arrived carrying a load of twenty-five sufferers, two of them men so badly injured that they were conveyed to the Homeopathic Hospital in an ambulance. Another old lady was received by her son. About fifteen were taken in charge by the Relief Committee. A Mr. Cochran, of Chicago, was at the depot anxious to reach Johnstown and discover the bodies of two sisters and a cousin. He had read their names in the list of bodies found. To Superintendent Starr has been assigned the duty of discovering what became of every passenger who left this city Friday morning on the Day Express. After carefully revising his list a score of times he says he can find but fifteen who are known to be lost. Inquiry has been made for nine of those lost, while telegrams are received asking for people of whom the railway officials have no account. Following are given up as lost: …
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Mr. Max Schamberg, the Austro-Hungarian Consul here, received a telegram from his embassy in Washington yesterday. It stated that Petri, technical attache of the German Embassy had left on Monday, May 27, for Chicago. He intended to stop off at Johnstown and Pittsburgh. Since leaving Washington nothing has been heard from him. The German Minister feared that he had been lost in the breaking of the dam. Mr. Schamberg made inquiries to-day and has but little doubt that Petri and wife are among the drowned. Mr. Schamberg expected to go to Johnstown to-day and will make diligent search for their remains. He will also look after the interests of his countrymen and give them all the aid in his power. Among others who are reported missing is E.S. Fishback, the commercial agent of the Chicago, St. Paul & Kansas City railroad, located in this city. Mr. Fishback came here from Indianapolis some months ago and was living in the East End with his wife. He left for Wilkesbarre last Thursday and, it is thought, stopped off at Johnstown at the Hulburt House. Since the fatal May 31 he has not been heard from. It is feared by his friends that he is lost. He was a nephew of Judge Fishback, of Indiana." Superintendent Holbrook, of the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie railroad, has been waiting for several days to go to Johnstown. He has a force of eighty men ready to leave at a moment’s warning. A train of five cars is ready to carry them. It is a regular construction train, and the men are used to repairing. They are provided with all the tools necessary to remove debris. One car will be a commissary department and will be in charge of Capt. Evans. Lumber will be taken along, and as soon as the train arrives at Johnstown a kitchen will be built. "The losses by the flood will unquestionably foot up an enormous aggregate, but it must be apparent to anyone who will think over the matter carefully that they are being grossly exaggerated. In a morning contemporary of yesterday, for example, we find what purports to be “an exact statement of the loss of life and property” in and about the flooded district. “Johnstown proper,” it is said, “will add about $18,000,000 to the financial loss.” Let us examine into this statement. Johnstown, in 1880, had a population of 8,880. Its population at the time of the flood has been variously estimated, but on the basis of five persons to a voter it could not have exceeded 12,000 at the Presidential election in 1888. Let us compare it with McKeesport, a thriving manufacturing and business borough in our own county, very much like it in regard to the number and character of the inhabitants. In 1880 the population of McKeesport was 8,212, or 168 less than that of Johnstown. The vote for President in 1888 in the respective boroughs was as follows: Johnstown, 2,288; McKeesport, 2,505. At the ratio of five to a voter the population last fall would be for Johnstown 11,190, and for McKeesport 12,525. The assessed valuation of McKeesport, recently completed, was $5,558,699. We have not the figures for the Johnstown valuation, but it can safely be assumed that it does not differ materially from that of McKeesport. It is understood, of course, that the assessed valuation of real and personal property is always considerably below the actual value, but if the valuation at Johnstown was relatively the same as at McKeesport, it is impossible that the loss could have reached $18,000,000. There is a considerable portion of the town not destroyed, and the lots are all there. Say the actual value was $10,000,000, or nearly double the assessed value of McKeesport, then from that figure should be deducted the value of all the ground, together with that of the improvements which were not disturbed, and those which were only partially damaged. With these data it would be difficult to figure the financial loss of Johnstown proper above $5,000,000. The same “exact statement” says: “The Pennsylvania railroad’s loss will be about $10,000,000,” etc. The absurdity of this estimate is apparent when it is known that the total cost of all the roads owned by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company was reported (1887) at $40,599,143. The officers of the company may be able to figure up their “exact loss,” but we doubt it. Probably considerably less than $1,000,000 will repair all the damage done on the Western division by the flood. Another wild estimate was made as to the loss of the Cambria Iron Company. It was at first put at $3,000,000, while it will probably not reach one-tenth of that sum. The losses are high almost beyond precedent, but there is nothing to be gained by magnifying them from ten to twenty-fold.
The New York Herald, which makes a special study of the laws which govern storms, undertakes to explain the cause of the great catastrophe on the Western slope of the Alleghenies. It remarks that while the immediate cause of the unparalleled disaster was the breaking of the vast reservoir on South Fork, “the chief cause was the cyclone’s excessive and concentrated heavy rainfall.” There were “meteorological complications” capable of producing such a fatal cataclysm, and while the cyclone in
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Western Pennsylvania was not remarkable in itself, “its terrible work, strange to say, was mainly due to a movement inland of an anti-cyclone of high-pressure wave from the region of the Atlantic ocean lying between Newfoundland and Bermuda.” Our contemporary further says: When the storm, moving from the southwest, entered Pennsylvania on Wednesday evening this large Atlantic air-wave of high pressure had thrown its western flank over the seaboard and almost as far west as Pittsburgh. But for this aerial barrier the cyclone would have passed off to the ocean, doing little damage. But checked in its easterly march by the high-pressure wave in its front, the storm remained nearly stationary till Thursday night, gathering energy by drawing every hour toward its vortex enormous masses of watery vapor from the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, to be condensed and buried in torrents the next day over the western slopes of the Alleghenies. What the precipitation on those slopes near Johnstown amounted to in the twenty-four hours has not yet been reported, but judging by the rainfall reports from Harrisburg and Pittsburgh it must have exceeded four inches, equivalent in weight to a quarter of a million of tons of water per square mile. In the estimate of the rainfall the actual figure is probably not overestimated, since the precipitation was not only phenomenal, but came at a time when the ground as already saturated to repletion. “The Conemaugh disaster, therefore,” in the opinion of the Herald, “must not by any means be set down merely to the defects of a mountain reservoir, but to meteorological agencies, the sudden and destructive seep of which may in almost any season extend to any of the Middle or East Atlantic states.”" DOWN-RIVER points are now seeing the Johnstown drift pass—in their minds. One Cincinnati man declares he “saw a great mass of timbers and houses and household goods surmounted by a lot of dead bodies, the mass stretching from shore to shore.” Another assisted at taking out eight dead bodies. Their assertions could not be confirmed. "Good judgment as well as economical management must be exercised in the expenditure of the funds contributed for the relief of the flood sufferers. The first use to be made of the money, provisions and clothing is the relief of the sick and destitute. Under no circumstances should this prime necessity be lost sight of for a moment. Those who are helpless or dependent should be taken care of, and, if possible, sent to comfortable quarters away from the scene of the disaster. The orphaned children should be provided with homes, and provision should be made for their maintenance and education. These purposes, in connection with the removal and burial of the dead, fulfill the demands of humanity and charity, and, as we have said, are of the first importance. The sanitary interests come next in order. It is the duty of the State authorities to use every lawful means in their power to protect the public health, and it is equally incumbent upon all citizens to assist in this work to the extent of their ability. It would be very unwise—nay, it might be suicidal—for the people of the State to refuse to contribute of their means for this purpose on the theory that the business of general sanitation belongs to the State and should be paid for out of the common treasury. Theoretically this is correct, but when sudden danger is encountered it should be met promptly at whatever cost. It would be the supremist folly to permit an epidemic to establish itself in the Conemaugh and Allegheny valleys while waiting for relief through the tedious process of legislation, especially when the means are at hand to prevent so great a calamity. Let it be distinctly understood that the COMMERCIAL GAZETTE will rigidly insist on the State doing all that it possibly can do in the prosecution of sanitary measures, and will as rigidly insist that not a dollar contributed for the relief of the sufferers shall be misapplied. It is given out that from 5,000 to 10,000 men may be required for several weeks yet in and around Johnstown removing the debris, taking care of the dead, and cleaning up the town generally. A good deal of work is absolutely necessary to be done, and we have taken the ground that it can best be done by paid laborers in charge of competent managers. Not a man should be employed or a dollar expended beyond what is reasonably required. To employ 5,000 men for thirty days at $2 each per day would cost $300,000. To feed this number would, at the low estimate of 15 cents a meal, cost $67,500 additional. Add to this the cost of horses, machinery, etc., for the same period, and we have an aggregate of almost $400,000 for a single month. To talk of continuing such expenditures beyond a week or ten days is to suggest a flagrant waste of the funds so liberally donated. Mr. SCOTT should see to it that no time is wasted on work that properly belongs to private individuals or corporations. Let the debris packed against the stone bridge remain there after all the bodies accessible have been removed. It can be taken away by the railroad company when the line is being repaired. In a word, let the Relief Committee look strictly to the wants of the sufferers and to the
272 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 sanitary interests of the survivors. When they shall have attended to these matters thoroughly they will have little money or provisions left." NOBODY can accuse the people of Pittsburgh with want of sympathy for the sufferers of Johnstown. They have not only liberally contributed money, clothing and provisions to relieve temporary distress, but in many cases are assisting the survivors to get another start. One merchant in this city has a customer at Johnstown whose possession, except real estate, were swept away, but who owes a large bill to the Pittsburgh merchant. Not only is the Pittsburgh man not attempting to collect his debt, but he is advancing money out of his own pocket to his customer to enable him to begin business again. This is but one of many similar instances. THE WEEKLY COMMERCIAL GAZETTE of this morning contains a full and accurate account of the Johnstown disaster up to date finely illustrated. It will be worth preserving and is just the paper for people of this vicinity to send away to their friends and relatives of a distance to give them an idea of the greatest disaster of the kind in the history of the continent. It will be offered for sale, nicely wrapped up to mail, at our counter and by newsboys on the streets. IN the excitement over the Johnstown calamity the public has lost sight of the CRONIN murder case. Upon coming back to it we find that the murderers are about as far off punishment as they were when the case was lost sight of. POINTS below Pittsburgh on the Ohio river, as Cincinnati and Louisville, have nothing to fear from contamination by the Johnstown disaster. The water will be comparatively pure before it reached them. When the gorge at the Johnstown bridge has been removed and the dead horses, etc., along the Allegheny and Kiskiminetas alleys have been removed, as they will shortly be, Pittsburgh will have nothing to fear. The swift current of the flood washed most of the sources of contamination far down the Ohio. THE condition of the Johnstown banks is discussed in another column. It is very unhealthy, but there is a possibility for their pulling through. It is hoped that they will. COMPARED to the Johnstown disaster that of the American and German warships at Samoa was a small affair. The year 1889 will likely always be marked in history. IN the opinion of WILLIAM FLINN, EVAN JONES and other practical contractors 10,000 men working a month will be needed to clear up Johnstown. Yet that is one of the things “voluntary contribution” contemplates doing. “Voluntary contribution” never undertook a bigger job. THE fishing clubs of the vicinity have a large number of roomy tents that could be put to excellent use at Johnstown; they should be sent there at once. WILLIAMSPORT suffered from a great flood as floods go ordinarily, but compared to the affair at Johnstown it was lightly afflicted. "All the family of Mr. Coulter Christie, of Butler, who were lost in the Johnstown catastrophe, have been found and identified. At Sciotoville, O., a pocketbook containing $5.26, a set of silver spoons marked “S.Y.,” a bank book of the First National, of Johnstown, with a credit to Nathan Dyer, and two locks of hair, mementos of lost loved ones, were found. Parkersburg has taken precautions to prevent any sickness from drinking the river water. All the school buildings are supplied with water and consequently the drinking of water from hydrants has been prohibited for the rest of the year in all the schools. It is said that the festering corpses of 300 sheep are lodged a short distance above the city in a drift pile.
The Fidelity and Casualty Company estimate their loss at Johnstown at about $20,000. The big donation of $10,000 sent by the Standard Oil Company from New York to Johnstown was turned over to the committee yesterday. Dr. William Cole, of Allegheny, who was reported among the drowned at Johnstown, called at this office yesterday to show that he was alive and well. The American Mechanics of the South Side sent their second car of provisions to Johnstown yesterday for the relief of their suffering brethren. There will be a meeting of the Pittsburgh traveling men in the parlors of the Hotel Anderson Saturday, at 3 p.m., to take action on the death of Jack Little, who was drowned at Johnstown. The Ladies’ Aid Society of the Bingham Street M.E. Church, South Side, sent yesterday a box of clothing to Rev. H.L. Chapman, pastor of the First M.E. Church, of Johnstown, for the sufferers.
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Mr. James P. Stewart, Assistant City Assessor of Allegheny, was reported lost in the flood at Johnstown. His daughter received a letter and telegram yesterday from him. He is at Altoona alive and well. Two tool chests found floating in the Allegheny river are at the Allegheny lockup. They were found by a man at Herrs Island. The boxes are filled with tools and are supposed to have floated down from Johnstown. The citizens of the Thirty-sixth ward realized $500 on Wednesday night from an entertainment given in the rink for the benefit of the flood sufferers. Another benefit for the same purpose will be given at the same place Saturday night. During the performance to be given at the Bijou to-morrow night for the benefit of the flood sufferers a number of well-known people will appear. A poem written for the occasion will be recited and a comedy drama, written by a Pittsburgh lady, will be presented. The Butchers’ Association met in Old City Hall last night and voted $100 to the Johnstown sufferers. A committee headed by … was appointed to raise money among the butchers. One of the gentlemen engaged in packing Johnstown goods at Old City Hall suffered an odd mishap yesterday. He had laid aside his coat that he might work better, and one of his zealous co-laborers picked up the garment, put it in a box, and last night the coat was started for Johnstown. General Passenger Agent E.A. Ford, of the Pennsylvania Company, has received a telegram stating that a special train consisting of sixteen carloads of flour had left Minneapolis for Johnstown sufferers via Chicago, St. Paul and Kansas City and the Pennsylvania railroad. J.A. Goulden left for Johnstown last night to look up death losses for the Penn Mutual Company of Philadelphia. The company expects to lose $50,000 at least. Mr. Goulden is also the representative of the Emerald Beneficial Association, one of the leading Catholic organizations. The association has raised a large sum for its Johnstown members, which Mr. Goulden will distribute.
Was the South Fork dam defective? This is one of the leading questions in connection with the late disaster. Nearly all of the correspondents, and especially those for the Cincinnati papers, are loud in their condemnation of the dam. These reports are sent out by men who have no practical knowledge whatever concerning dams and their construction, so that it is not only possible, but entirely probably that the reports are not reliable, and therefore not entitled to credence. That the great loss of life and property was due to the dam breaking is true beyond a doubt, but the question of responsibility is far from being settled. When the dam was first built it was conceded to be one the most substantial structures of the kind in the United States, and has often been referred to in works on engineering as a model of strength. The fact that it is largely composed of puddle clay is cited by newspaper correspondents as evidence of its weakness. This, in the estimation of hydraulic engineers, is evidence of its strength. There is no known substance that will resist the action of water better than this, because it is impervious and highly tenacious. It is only a question of getting enough of it together to bear the weight of the body of water. According to the most reliable figures that can be obtained the base of the dam was 300 feet wide. From this it sloped gradually on each side to the crest, which was thirty feet in width. From the lowest point, near the center of the gulch, to the crest was sixty-five feet. From this is will be seen that the dam was more than four times as wide as it was high. Engineers agree that these proportions insure the greatest possible margin of safety. These facts go to show that the fault did not lie in the construction of the dam, at least not in its proportions nor in the material used. The inner slope was faced, or paved, with broad, flat stones, reaching a considerable distance from the crest downward, and the outer face was rip-rapped from top to bottom. About the only fault found by practical hydraulic engineers was in the weir through which the waste water flowed. It was not large enough to accommodate the large amount of water that came tumbling down the mountain streams which fed the lake. There being no outlet, the water naturally arose until it flowed over the crest of the dam. Then, and not until then, was there any break. Mr. Vandyke, a practical dam builder, who was present and saw the whole affair, says there was not a particle of danger until that moment.
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As soon as the water began to flow across the road and down the first slope it commenced to cut a channel, which deepened and widened with such rapidity that in less than fifteen minutes there was a resistless torrent moving and tearing down the slope. The rip-rap was torn out, and the tough puddle clay and the large stones mixed with it was cut out as though it were snow or sand. Mr. Vandyke had told Mr. Unger that this would be the result if ever the water started over the top; and it was to prevent this that the large force of laborers under his control was put to work cutting a weir at the other end. Here a hard shale was encountered, which prevented them from forming an opening large enough to carry off the surplus flow of water. Experienced dam-builders say that the sluiceway was theoretically large enough to carry off the largest flood that would probably ever come down South Fork. It has been large enough heretofore, although there have been a number of floods that overflowed Johnstown to a greater extent than this one. Farmers in the vicinity of the dam and those at the club-house say the roar of the on-rushing torrent was almost equal to the roar of Niagara. The oldest citizens declare that they never heard the like before. This has led to a very general conclusion in the vicinity that the unusual torrent of water was due to a waterspout or cloud-burst. If this was the case it would be unjust to charge the break to faulty engineering. There is no desire on the part of the COMMERCIAL GAZETTE to shield the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club from any blame that may justly attach to it, but merely to give the fact without fear or favor. It is highly improbable that the dam will ever be rebuilt, or that the club will continue to improve their property. Their loss, according to their estimate, will approximate a million dollars. A very complete system of water-works, including pumping engines, reservoir, supply pipes, hydrants and sewers was almost ready to be put into operation at a cost of over $20,000. Altogether the improvements during the past year are said to aggregate $50,000. If the resident engineer, the Board of Director and the manager believed the dam to be unsafe, they must be the champion fools of the period. The residents of the valley could not have been very apprehensive of danger, or they would not have treated the warning sent by telegraph and courier with contempt, or even with derision. “I have often heard people talking about the probable results if the dam should break,” said an old resident of Johnstown, “but I never knew anyone who was apprehensive of it. For my own part I had no fears whatever. I was here when the dam was first built, and saw the repairs when they were made, and I do not believe there were any defects in the work…
Had there ever been reports during the prevalence of a flood that the dam had burst?
None that I ever heard. You would often hear folks speculating about the effect were it to break, but I never heard of a scare on account of it.” This testimony goes to show that stories of scares and threatened panics have been coined since the catastrophe occurred. Such stories are to be expected, because it is natural for man to say “I told you so,” whether they did or not. It is also quite natural for men to make strenuous efforts to account for mishaps, or mysterious, or unusual happenings. If he cannot do this truthfully or reasonably, he is liable to invent a story that will explain it. Then it must be recollected that the brash reporter is liable to dip his pen in carmine ink when he writes, especially if he is a considerable distance from home. He is more for luridness than for truthfulness in description. About the only conclusion justified by the facts at hand is that it was a cataclysm, a deluge, an unusual rain-storm, and that the catastrophe that followed was inevitable. The best that we can do now is to take measures to prevent its recurrence. This looks like placing a lock on the stable-door after the horse has been stolen, but it is better late than never. There is no great lesson in this disaster, neither are there any great morals to be drawn from it. We may endeavor to moralize on it, but all it proves is that the prowess in and beyond the universe are far superior to man, and that he is far from being able to account for all he sees, much less to anticipate that which is to come.
A prominent Mason of the city yesterday received the following:
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DETROIT, MICH., June 4. DEAR SIR AND FRATRE—We have this date telegraphed you to subscribe $50 for us to the Masonic relief fund for the benefit of the flood sufferers. I suppose there has been a Masonic relief fund established; we have none here, and if you have none there put this amount where it will do the most good. Courteously yours, E.A. & F.S ARMSTRONG. The above is a fair sample of money donations that have been received from the members of the craft in different part of the country, and the Masonic fund promises to reach far up into the thousands." BRADDOCK, PA., June 6.—The flood, as is well known, has closed the Cambria Iron Company’s works, and they will not be started for weeks. All their blast-furnaces are knocked out, and it will be a long time before they can be put in shape again. This will affect many different classes of workmen. All the coke-ovens in the Connellsville region will close down, as there is no market for the product at present. The Cambria Iron Company uses about 350,000 tons of coke per year, and turns out about 25,000 tons of pig iron. The coke-works will likely be closed, and the orders for steel rails that are now on hand may be turned over to some other concern, perhaps the Edgar Thomson. Many of the employees at the works have been drowned and their places will have to be filled by other men when the works are ready to start. McKEESPORT, PA., June 6.—Relief car No. 4 will be sent to Johnstown to-morrow, and will be packed as tightly as possible with provisions and wearing apparel, as the committee desires to send full cars. The Relief Committee will also arrange to send in its contribution of money subscribed. The National Tube-Works and the W. Dewees Wood Companies will send more picked men if necessary. The concert given by Pittsburgh and McKeesport talent will add $500 more to the fund for relief. Committees of ladies at different points in the city are engaged at making up female apparel, which will be sent to Johnstown as soon as completed. "CHICAGO, June 6.—Wm. G. Morris, Supreme Trustee and Acting Councilor of the Order of Chosen Friends, issued the following to-day: To the Councils, Officers and Members: Friends, the dreadful calamity of flood and fire at Johnstown, in which thousands have lost their lives, appeals to every lover of the race for assistance. Recognizing the principles upon which the Order of Chosen Friends is founded, we ask every member to practice its watchwords now by donating liberally to the relief and succor of our unfortunate countrymen. Let your contributions be collected by Councils and forwarded to Mayor Dewitt C. Creiger, of Chicago, to be sent to the proper authorities for distribution. Act quickly, Friends, in this great emergency." Transportation to their friends and homes has been furnished for the following sufferers who have come here: … "The Jr. O.U.A.M. sent out their third carload of provisions and clothing to the Johnstown sufferers last night. The fourth car will leave Glenwood at 6:30 this evening. Contributions of bedding and provisions were most needed, and members of the order, or others, can have contributions sent by leaving them at the American office, 306 Smithfield street to-day. The American Mechanics subscription fund now amounts to $3,000, and it is expected to swell greatly before the week is out." The firm of Horner & Roberts yesterday tendered to Sheriff McCandless the use of the steamboat W.G. Horner with a full crew to patrol the Allegheny river in the search for bodies. The offer was accepted with thanks, the Sheriff placed Capt. Doyle in command. Capt. Doyle received a corps of assistants last night and at 4 o’clock this morning the Horner left the foot of Ferry street. The boat will work up the river as far as the mouth of the Kiskiminetas, and as the bodies will commence to come to the surface to-day and to-morrow the mission is expected to be successful. Horner & Roberts give the use of the boat and her crew without charge as long as she can be used to any advantage. The donation amounts to considerable, as it will cost several hundred dollars a week to run the boat in wages alone. "NEW ORLEANS, June 6.—Contributions are being made at many points in this State and Mississippi for the relief of Johnstown, Pa. In this city the Cotton Exchange have raised $2,000 and a number of other contributions have been made. The following appeal was issued to-day: To all Branches Catholic Knights of America. Greeting.
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The appalling disaster at Conemaugh valley is humanity’s sorest affiliation, freighted with universal sorrow and commanding the promptest and most generous responses from the human family to relieve the distress and assuage the anguish of our countrymen of Pennsylvania who have survived this terrible visitation. The Catholic Knights of America have no small share in this great responsibility and each Knight should at once make liberal contributions to a relief fund to be forwarded by branch Treasurer to Brother John J. O’Rourke, Secretary State Council, 724 Christian street, Philadelphia, for proper distribution. Expedition is all important and special Branch meetings should be convened to accomplish the dearest object. Fraternally. JAMES DAVID COLEMAN, Supreme President." WILLIAMSPORT, PA., June 6.—Word has been received from the Crescent Nail-Works, on the Northern Central railway, that the place has been nearly all washed away. Many of the houses and a part of the nail-works are gone. The population took refuge in a church on the side-hill and are left entirely destitute. A few sacks of flour which B.E. Carter and a few others had were distributed and some has since been carried in over the mountain. Most of the men of the town have gone to work along the railroad helping in repairing it, but their families are left staring wherever they can find shelter. About sixty people are in destitution. "The work on the South Side in behalf of the Johnstown sufferers was continued yesterday. The Executive Committee sent another car of provisions over the Baltimore & Ohio railroad and quite a large number of contributions were received. The committee desire it to be known that provisions and supplies may be left at the market-house and cash contributions may left with Alderman Succop, 1403 Carson street. Last night Acme Council No. 215, Jr. O.U.A.M. voted $100 to the fund. There will be an entertainment in South Side Turner Hall to-morrow evening for the benefit of the sufferers.
Now That the Excitement Attendant to the terrible Johnstown disaster has somewhat subsided Gusky’s talk about their grand offerings in men’s summer suits at $5, $6.50 $7, $8 and $10. Suits in sack and frock styles of good reliable materials to-day and to-morrow at the before-mentioned prices. They can’t be duplicated outside our store under at least 30 percent more money.
BENEFIT OF JOHNSTOWN SUFFERERS BIJOU THEATER—SATURDAY EVENING, June 8, Benefit of the Johnstown flood sufferer at which will be presented the comedy-drama in 3 acts, entitled “THE GENERAL’S WARD,” by Marie Baldwin (Mrs. Z. Wilson Phillips), of this city. The principal characters will be assumed by the theatrical profession residing in the city, assisted by the leading local talent. The entire proceeds of the performance will be given to flood sufferers.
PHILADELPHIA, PA., June 6.—A special dispatch of the Medical News, of this city, from a staff correspondent at Johnstown, Pa., to-day says “notwithstanding the fact that many of the reporters of the daily papers have sent messages from here indicating that diseases, the result of exposure, are exceedingly common, the fact is that in the three largest hospitals very few cases of any kind exist, and in over 90 per cent of these the individuals are suffering from injuries incurred during and after the flood. The cases of pneumonia are very few and the report that measles is to a large extent epidemic is claimed to be false. Too much care cannot be exercised in the selection and dispensing of much of the second-hand clothing which is sent forward in the relief trains by charitable persons. From some of the clothing which we saw distributed we feel sure that lack of such care may readily result in the production of a large amount of contagious disease. THE TOWN THOROUGHLY CLEANED. “The danger of malarial poisoning is, we believe, not present, simply because the conditions favorable to the production of such miasma are absent. The water, sweeping through the valley with enormous force, has carried off in the majority of cases the soft mud of the river banks to distant and low-lying bottom-lands and has covered the entire site of Johnstown with a layer of pure sand and gravel. As a consequence of this all cesspools have not only been thoroughly washed out, but afterward filled with sand. Every particle of dirt and city filth has been washed away and it would be hard to find,
277 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 hygienically speaking, a more cleanly spot than the main portions of what was once Johnstown. The danger will be the accumulation of new filth owing to the large number of strangers living in tents and the outdoor life of the survivors. FEARS OF INSANITY. “The mental condition of almost every former resident of Johnstown is one of the gravest character, and the reaction which will set in when the reality of the whole affair is fully comprehended can scarcely fail to produce many cases of permanent or temporary insanity. Most of the faces that one meets both male and female are those of the most profound melancholia associated with an almost absolute disregard of the future. The nervous system shows the strain that it has borne by a tremulous movement of the hand and of the lip in man as well as in woman. The nervous state is further evidenced by a peculiar intonation of words, the person’s speaking melancholy, while the voices of many rough-looking men are changed into such tremulous notes of so high a pitch as to make one imagine that a child on the verge of tears was speaking. “Weeping is so rare that your correspondent saw not a tear on any face in Johnstown, but the women that are left are haggard, with pinched features and heavy dark lines under their eyes. Indeed, the evidence of systemic disturbance is so marked in almost every individual who was present at the time of the catastrophe that it is possible with the eye alone to separate the residents from those outside. THE EXODUS A GOOD THING. “Everything required in the way of surgical appliances seems to be on hand, but medicines are scarce and will probably be needed more in the next few days than heretofore. A fact in favor of the controlling of any malady is to be found in the very general exodus of the townspeople who crowd the platform of departing trains. There can be no doubt that this movement should be encouraged to the greatest possible extent, and it would be well if places away from Johnstown, at not too great a distance, could be opened for the reception of those who, while not entirely disabled, are useless at home. “The scarcity of pure spring water which is not tainted by dead animal matter is a pressing evil for consideration, but we doubt if that is as important a fact at Johnstown as it is further down the river, owing to the large amount of decomposing flesh in the water at this latter point. No disinfectant can reach such a case of disease save the action of the large volume of water which dilutes all poisonous waters. A board of health should warn the people of the portions of the country supplied by the Conemaugh of the danger of drinking its waters for weeks to come.”
COLUMBUS, O., June 6.—The following was issued to-night: To the People of Ohio: Dispatches from Johnstown, Pa., indicate that vast numbers of dead animals are being carried into the Ohio river, polluting the water and rendering it dangerous for drinking purposes. The Governor of Ohio and State Board of Health have appealed to the health authorities of Pennsylvania, but the disaster at Johnstown is too great for immediate abatement or present relief, and, therefore, persons living along the Ohio valley are urged to boil thoroughly all water used for drinking or culinary purposes. C.O. PROBST, M.D., Secretary State Board of Health." BLAIRSVILLE, PA., June 6.—Organized gangs of men employed by the Commissioners are clearing up the debris along the streams between Blairsville and Johnstown. Superintendent Kirkland, of the West Penn, is hard at work trying to get his road in shape. It is expected that the East Tunnel bridge will be completed so that trains can be run over it by Sunday. BALTIMORE, June 6.—Capt. W.G. Forster, Inspector of rifle practice in the Fifth regiment, has organized a relief corps to go to Johnstown and aid in the work of clearing up the debris and looking for the dead. Already twenty have volunteered to go. Most of them are members of the Fifth regiment and while the corps will be known as the Fifth regiment corps, outsiders are asked to join. GREENSBURG, PA., June 6.—There is considerable indignation expressed here to-night by the citizens who have been tireless in their efforts to relieve the suffering in the Conemaugh valley, and who have called together all available workmen and sent them to the scene and contributed a great sum of money besides, because Pittsburgh is claiming all the credit due.
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WASHINGTON, D.C., June 6.—Surgeon-General Miller, of the Marine Hospital service, left Washington to-night for Johnstown, Pa. He will ascertain to what extent, if any, the Marine Hospital service can co-operate with the State health authorities in the present emergency. "WILLIAMSPORT, PA., June 6.—The people of Williamsport breathe easier now that all apprehensions of further hunger have been dissipated. The seven cars of supplies brought up yesterday evening by the Secretary of the Commonwealth are ready to be unloaded and work will begin some time to-day. The track is not repaired far enough to bring the cars opposite the center of the city and boats cannot get down to where they are. Before evening they will be reached. The Mayor this morning telegraphed the governor that enough provisions are on the way to last our people for several days. The Relief Committee have been exceedingly busy and are constantly finding cases of suffering. The cash contributions from our own citizens amount to $12,000. A dispatch from Grand Forks, Dak., says that a carload of grain has been sent from there to our sufferers. The track on the Linden branch will be completed to-day and trains can then run through to Tyrone. The river is now down to seven feet at this place. The body of Calvin Miller, who has been missing since the Maynard street bridge went down, has been found at Montourville, four miles below here. This makes two lives only lost at the Maynard street bridge, instead of the large number which was falsely reported as having been drowned there. Advices coming in show that the loss of property has been very heavy in all places near here. Morris, Tioga county, is a total wreck. Many mills, dwellings and other buildings were swept away. The Pine Creek railroad has suffered greatly. The track is torn away and a large amount of the embankment was washed out just west of this city and all along up to Blackwell’s and beyond. At Salladesburg much damage was done. Houses and mills were flooded and in some instances moved and greatly injured. The plank road was torn up, bridges were carried away and great destruction caused at every point.
NEW YORK, June 6.—The following telegram at 4 p.m. was sent to Gov. Beaver, of Pennsylvania: “You can draw on Mr. J. Edward Simmons, Treasurer of the Conemaugh relief fund, for $50,000 whenever you need the money. HUGH J. GRANT, Mayor.” Mayor Grant this afternoon asked Gov. Beaver if portable houses would be useful. In a few minutes Gov. Beaver sent a reply. It read: “Supplies of clothing and bedding are greatly needed both in Williamsport and Lock Haven. We are shipping supplies to both points. The houses I think very desirable, as I have urgent requests for more tents to shelter the homeless and those who are at work removing the debris. If these houses could be pushed forward at once they would bring much needed relief. The removal of the vast accumulation of wreckage at Johnstown will be the work of weeks, and it is estimated by reliable parties that it will cost over a million dollars. Experienced hands are seeing that the work is done.” The third hour’s subscriptions at the Mayor’s office showed $5,416. Jay Gould has subscribed $1,000. Arrangements are being made to give a grand benefit concert in Madison Square Garden at an early date. Henry C. Miner and E.B. DeFrese, representing the Committee on Entertainments for the Conemaugh relief fund, reported to-day that the entire musical and theatrical profession had volunteered their services to the relief of the sufferers in the flooded districts." Special to the Commercial Gazette. BOSTON, June 6.—Attorney-General Waterman has decided that the proposed appropriation of $30,000 for the flood sufferers is unconstitutional. The Legislature will now give a personal subscription. "From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 6.—The Allegheny City corps of sanitary inspectors, composed of …, made an inspection of Kernville to-day. They found the sanitary condition of all of the houses very bad. Four persons were found in places where they should not be. There is no morgue. Disinfectants must be had. The people are unable to clear up the debris. Rev. Mr. Beales estimates there are 1,000 undiscovered bodies at Kernville. Dr. Carrington spent the day searching for dead animals and saturated clothing in the ruins below the stone bridge, and truck loads of the latter were burned near the railroad. A large number of hides, half decomposed, were also destroyed. Several dead horses were taken out below the stone bridge, and a dozen others which could not be burned without endangering property were disinfected. Several dead horses were found in the debris too deep to be reached. Dr. Marvel found two live cows in the second floor of a frame building, just back of the Catholic Church ruins. A small stable in which the cows had stood had been precipitated into the building, and
279 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 the animals seemed quite contented in their high perch. They were fed, it being impossible to remove them. Dr. Sweet was busy at the Bedford Street Hospital, where several men injured in the work had amputations performed. There are a great many sick there, pneumonia predominating. Dr. Fussel was at Woodvale. He found an immense dam caused by the embankment thrown up by the Pennsylvania railroad, in which he thinks there are many bodies. The street railway stables were just above and the place is full of dead horses. He advises that the railroad embankment be punctured and the water let out. “Franklin, East Conemaugh, Woodvale, Morrellville, Cambria City and Mineral Point all need food and clothing,” said Dr. Groff when reports from those places were asked for. The remarkably cold weather that has prevailed here since Friday is more than a godsend to the people for miles down the valley through which the Conemaugh flows. Had ordinary June weather been the rule many places would hardly have been habitable. The bodies now being found are scarcely recognizable. Decomposition has transformed them to such an extent that even undertakers cannot make them anything like presentable. The heavens are filled with stars to-night and the clouds have all disappeared. It is still cool, but to-morrow promises to be warm, which will add greatly to the responsibilities of the health authorities. The bodies of 100 horses were cremated on the South Side to- day, and many were burned in the old city. As in other cases, however, the work has only just been started.
From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 6.—A meeting was held this afternoon in the private car of the Superintendent of the Baltimore & Ohio, Mr. Patton, which was attended by …. The last two gentlemen represented the Executive Committee of the Pittsburgh Citizens’ Relief Committee. The object of the meeting was to ascertain from Gov. Beaver how much of the funds now in his hands for the relief of flood sufferers in the State would go to Johnstown. There have been placed at the Governor’s command sums aggregating $250,000, but some of it was specifically given for the relief of Johnstown. Much of the money was donated simply for the relief of sufferers from the flood in the State, those in Clearfield, Lock Haven, Williamsport and other drowned out places coming in for their share. The Pittsburgh committee has in its hands about $225,000. It has been the first on the grounds and has been unsparing of expense in sending the relief to sufferers. Heavy bills have been incurred, and both Mr. Miller and Mr. Gourley stated at the meeting this afternoon that they desired as a financial precaution to know just how far they could go. To this end it was necessary to know definitely how much of the money now in the hands of Gov. Beaver was wired and responded that he would meet a representative of the Pittsburgh Committee in Philadelphia on Saturday and the money question would be settled. He also placed himself in communication with the authorities at a later hour.
From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA. June 6.—The military cordon is to be strengthened to-morrow. Acting under the advice of the foreman of the laborers and morgue attendants, Dictator Scott has authorized Adjt.-Gen. Hastings to draw the military regulations tighter. To-day strangers were restrained from promiscuous rambling for a few hours, or until it was observed that every person wearing a Relief Committee badge passed the guards unrestrained. Then Relief Committeemen were as thick as bees around a sugar barrel, and everybody sported a tiny loop of yellow ribbon in his buttonhole. To-morrow this will be stopped, as all Relief Committeemen will be kept outside the lines, all relief stores being distributed outside, and there is no business for them inside. Parties in search of relatives, a favorite excuse with many, will have an opportunity to recognize friends at the morgues, or can learn of them by scanning the registry lists which are posted conspicuously at the registration bureaus. Thousands of telegrams have been received at the headquarters of the General Relief Committee. All telegrams are delivered there by the companies and they are alphabetically compiled, so that it can be ascertained quickly who they are for. There are Relief Committees here from almost all points within a radius of 100 miles, and some from Columbus, O. The first to reach the town was the one from Altoona with provisions, closely followed by the one from Columbus, O., headed by Adjt.-Gen. Axline with 900 tents to house the homeless. The
280 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 people of the hillsides have generously opened their doors to the homeless and the tents are now used by the National Guard and the laborers. Comments are not complimentary to our State Executive when it is noticed that the Pennsylvania military are housed in tents from Ohio. The committee of the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers were the first to carry food and clothing to the sufferers of Woodvale and they were greeted with many “God bless you”s when they handed out with a lavish though judicious hand their bounties. The members of the committee are old Johnstowners and were careful to detect imposters. They received a complimentary letter from the citizens of Woodvale signed by Burgess H.C. Evans and Councilmen B.F. Quigg and Charles Wendell. One of the committeemen said they could not work here some years ago but they could and were glad to bring aid and comforts to their old fellow-townsmen. The committee placed $100 in the hands of a committee of ladies which was organized for disbursement, as they might deem needful. Twenty-one hundred dollars in goods and money was distributed in Woodvale, Cambria and Morrellville by the committee. JOHNSTON.
From the Commercial Gazette Bureau. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 6.—This morning the sun rose clear. A cool breeze blew from the west. As the rays of the morning sun came over the high eastern hill men began to emerge from all manner of sleeping places and to stretch their limbs. Men crawled out of box-cars along ever railroad track, out of barns, mills and half-ruined houses. They began to wander down from the frame dwellings on the hillsides and the National Guard crept out of the railway coaches where they had been sleeping. Survivors, relief men and workmen were stretched on all sorts of improvised beds on the railway depots. The white tents of Camp Foraker, on the stretch of sand which once constituted the business center of Johnstown, had sheltered 2,500 men, and they soon crawled out of their resting places in black swarms. These tents are occupied mainly by members of the Relief Committees and workmen who have come from all the considerable towns within a radius of 100 miles. When the clock in the tower of the Lutheran Church, which stood in the center of the flood sweep as Luther stood at Worms, tolled out the hour of 7, a spectator looking down upon the scene from the platform of the Pennsylvania depot saw a peculiar scene for the peaceful district of Western Pennsylvania. Below him flowed swiftly the Conemaugh river. At the swinging bridges stretched across it stood armed sentries in blue, with bayonets glistening in the sunlight. Across these bridges marched the reliefs of the guard. Military rule prevails all over the city, and at every passageway a sentry halts a pedestrian, who must show his authority to go on. Beyond the river there was a desolate stretch of sand, where tree trunks, twisted railroad rails and car-wheels peep above the drift. This was Washington street. One of the best and busiest thoroughfares of the Mountain City. Beyond that stood the 500 white tents sent by the quick-acting Governor of Ohio. The background was one of ruined walls, shattered churches, piles of debris, and to the left the lines of closely joined frame houses of the poorer classes, which clung to the steep hillsides, sloping upward to the east. Long lines of workmen began to move and to pass down the open ways toward the bridges or the yet unremoved piles of rubbish. The there passed a line of men bearing coffins on their shoulders, and occasionally the spectator could see four men walking slowly, carrying a stretcher which held a dead body. This is the daily morning scene at the ruined city. HASSLER.
Treasurer W.R. Thompson at midnight said he had received $269,768.99 for Johnstown in cash. Of this $150,000 came from Pittsburgh. The receipts yesterday was $78,249.18 and came from the following sources: … At the regular meeting of the Barber’s Union, at their hall, No. 192 Fourth avenue last night, $100 was donated for the Johnstown sufferers. N.S. Boynton, Superintendent R.K. of the K.O.T.M., has telegraphed Col. H.H. Brady to authorize Mayor McCallin to draw on him for $100. He says he will also publish an appeal to membership through the forth-coming Bee Hive. The citizens of Ribalds, Pa., have sent this paper $11 for the relief fund. The students of Curry University subscribed $75.75 to the relief fund. Mayor Pearson, of Allegheny, reports the following contributions to the sufferers’ fund: …"
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WASHINGTON, D.C., June 6.—J.T. Lowery Bell, General Superintendent of the railway mail service, said this morning that the accumulation of matter occasioned by the flood had all been disposed of, and that while delay in the forwarding of mail matter along some of the lines would be inevitable, the interruption had ended. He was advised by Mr. Frank Thomson, First Vice-President of the Pennsylvania road, that by to-morrow morning it was hoped that service could be resumed over that system, using the Northern Central from Harrisburg to Williamsport, the Philadelphia & Erie to Driftwood and the Allegheny Valley into Pittsburgh. The only breaks in this route are around Williamsport, and Mr. Thomson expressed confidence in his ability to close them by this evening. Between Johnstown and Blairsville Junction, on the main line, the road is in such condition that no definite announcement can now be made of the time when it will be in running order. Local mails in that vicinity are being transported by wagons and horses. "THURSDAY EVENING, June 6, 1889. Financial affairs in Pittsburgh have not yet recovered from the disturbance caused by the floods throughout the State. The local stock market seems to have been almost completely wiped out, transactions to-day being even smaller than those of yesterday. As the naturally dull season is at hand, it may be weeks before there is a revival of activity. …
THURSDAY, June 6, 1889. The excitement occasioned by the recent disaster has commenced to subside somewhat and general business begins to show signs of improvement." The Pennsylvania railroad, as stated elsewhere, has been in a disabled condition since last Friday, caused by the floods in the Conemaugh and Kiskiminetas rivers carrying away bridges and washing out the tracks in many places, and no shipments of live stock east of Bolivar have been made by this road since Friday last. On Monday night last 90 carloads were shipped to New York via Pittsburgh & Erie and Lake Shore railroads, and on Tuesday and Wednesday 120 cars were shipped out over the Baltimore & Ohio railroad. It is well known that the relations between the Pennsylvania and Baltimore & Ohio Companies are not of the most fraternal character and it is very hard to tell, therefore, how long the present arrangement between the corporations will hold out. The Keystone (colored) champion base ball club have made arrangements with the Artics, of Glenwood, to play at Cycle Park, Allegheny, on Saturday afternoon, the proceeds of the game to go to the Johnstown sufferers. WATERTOWN, MASS., June 6.—William Mills, the 100-yard sprinter, who belongs here and who has a record of 10 ¼ seconds, was last heard from in Johnstown just before the disaster there and it is thought he is among the victims. James McConnell, the clerk in charge of the mail on the second section of the Day Express caught by the flood, says: “When we got to Johnstown at noon we found it flooded, in most cases up to the second story. We were held there a while and then went on to Conemaugh, where we were stopped indefinitely. At a little before noon a message was received at the telegraph office that the South Fork dam was liable to break at any moment, and to notify the people of Johnstown. Our train was then pulled up to the Conemaugh station alongside of the first section and the mail, the mail lying I believe closest to the river, the first section next and our train nearer the mountain. We stayed there until the dam broke, along after 4 o’clock, though many of the passengers wondered then, as I did, that we were not run back across the Johnstown bridge and on to a place of safety. The tracks were clear all the way to Pittsburgh, and the trains could easily have been sent back to safety. Shortly after 4 o’clock the continuous piercing whistle of a train that seemed to fly coming down the valley warned us that the dam had broken. I grabbed a mail bag, the other mail clerks did the same, and, along with most of the passengers on the three trains, ran for the side of the mountain, and we were none too soon. There came a deafening rush and then an avalanche of water, reaching across the valley thirty feet high, shot into view and on upon the doomed city below. On the crest of the avalanche rode locomotives cars, houses and forest trees like so many ships. On top of several of the cars I saw some people, evidently passengers, who had crawled out of the windows onto the roof. As the cars turned from side to side they shifted their position so as to keep out of the water. I am inclined to think that with two or three exceptions they escaped. In about a half-hour the dam flood had run out, when I returned to my train. The few who had remained in it were all safe, but some of those who had left it to flee to the mountain were overtaken by the water and lost. The postal clerks guarded the mail all night, and then next
282 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 morning drove over to Ebensburg with it and met the special flood train sent up to that point from Altoona. "It will be three weeks before the Pennsylvania railroad is in shape again. The company, however, expects by Sunday to be able to take care of all its business, both freight and passenger, sending trains east via the Allegheny Valley and the Philadelphia & Erie railroads. The work of repairing the damage done by the flood is being pushed forward night and day. The main line has been pushed as far as Conemaugh. Five thousand men are at work and hundreds of carloads of supplies are shipped to the points where they are needed. There has been no difficulty in handling the supplies as far as Conemaugh, but as that point the difficulty begins. Between that place and South Fork three bridges were swept away. This is the most material damage on the Pittsburgh division, and the work of reconstructing them is what will cause the great delay in the operation of the road. Except these bridges, it is claimed, all the damage done by the flood could have been repaired in three or four days so as to have all regular trains running. There is, however, also much trouble on the Eastern division, and it will take as long to get that part of the line in working order as will be required at this end. THE ALLEGHENY VALLEY. The Allegheny Valley road escaped lightly. It was only interrupted from Friday to Saturday night. On the river division no damage was done. On the Low Grade division there was little trouble. The Dubois dam at the Summit tunnel broke and about 100 feet of the Allegheny Valley road’s track was swept away. The large dam of Blanehard’s mill, at Winterburn, burst and 2,000,000 feet of logs were hurled down against the culvert and embankment of the road at that place. Some damage was done to the culvert, but a large force of men soon had it in good condition again. Several washouts and slides occurred between Winterburn and Driftwood, but by Saturday evening everything was in good shape. The Valley road is now prepared to handle the passenger and freight business of the Pennsylvania railroad and will begin as soon as the bridges at Keating, near Driftwood, and at Montgomery, near Williamsport, on the Philadelphia & Erie railroad are repaired. It is expected that this work will be completed by to-morrow night. The Philadelphia & Erie road is in running shape between Driftwood and Erie, although slightly crippled. The Ridgeway & Clearfield road is in operation from Falls Creek on the Allegheny Valley. The Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh railroad is all right from Falls Creek to Buffalo and Rochester. THE BALTIMORE & OHIO ROAD. The Pittsburgh division of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad is in running shape, but is still in a badly crippled condition. East of Cumberland the road is still in a very bad shape—how bad is scarcely known. Assistant Superintendent McVeigh curtly informed a reporter yesterday that he did not know what the damage East was and hadn’t time to talk about it, if did know. The havoc created at Johnstown was early got in running shape. On this division the main other difficulties were wash-outs and land-slides, which were quickly repaired. Between Connellsville and Cumberland two bridges were washed away and there were several heavy land-slides. The Somerset branch was also obstructed by land-slides.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. JOHNSTON, PA., May 27.—General announcements have been made by all the churches of all denominations for memorial services on Saturday next, the first anniversary of the great disaster. At 9 o’clock A.M. mass will be said at St. John’s Catholic Church for the repose of the souls of those members whose life went out with the flood of May 31, 1889. Rev. Father James P. Tehaney, the pastor, will conduct the services. In the evening the Mystic Chain of the Conemaugh valley, will hold divine services in honor of their departed brethren at the Lutheran Church, Rev. Conner, of the Christian Church, officiating. At St. Columbia’s Church, Sixteenth ward, at 10 A.M. Father Faner will conduct solemn High Mass as a tribute to their members who lost their life in the deluge. The services at this church will be the most impressive of any to be held on the occasion of the anniversary. Several priests from abroad have been invited to participate. In the afternoon the Mineral City Band will conduct services at Grandview. Rev. D.J. Beale, D.D., of the Presbyterian Church, whose heroic services subsequent to the flood have been in noted in the papers so often; Rev. H.L. Chapman, D.D., of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, Rev. Tehaney, of St. John’s Roman Catholic Church, will make addresses in memory of the “unknown dead,” those
283 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 whose resting places are only marked by a rough-board on which is the number given the body when the undertakers failed to establish its identity. At St. Joseph’s German Catholic Church high mass will be celebrated at 8:30 o’clock and on Sunday. Rev. Father Trautwine will commemorate the great event in St. Mary’s Catholic Church, while on Monday the Archabbot of St. Vincent’s Convent will be here to celebrate a pontifical requiem for the victims of the flood.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. JOHNSTOWN, PA., May 30. – The banks, city offices and other public places of business were closed all day, and this afternoon business throughout the town was generally suspended. A very solemn feeling prevailed as the thoughts of the people involuntarily reverted to Decoration Day a year ago, which was the last day upon earth for thousands of Johnstown’s citizens. The finding of the body of James M. Rosensteel, one of the most prominent residents of the place, at the expiration of the year is a vivid reminder of the flood. A number of organizations took part in the parade and the exercises were performed in the usual manner. The floral emblem marked to the “Unknown Dead” was a large maltese cross, and as it was silently borne along in the procession attracted the attention of everyone. Although intended only for the soldier dead, it had a realistic significance to thousands of families who witnessed the pageant, as it brought vividly to their minds that their dead were yet “unknown.” The exercises were all appropriately solemn, but as this floral tribute passed along stifled sobs and sighs could be heard from the people lining the streets, and many cheeks were wet with tears. It was the welling up of a flood of memories which had been stifled back for a year past and was a very affecting scene. The people could but remember how their lost friends reverently took part in the exercises of the day one year ago. Ex-Congressman Brumm delivered a touching address, which was listened to by a large crowd. The day was pleasant but the streets were not crowded, the people seemingly giving themselves up to meditation." JOHNSTOWN had more cause to mourn yesterday than any other community in the country, and no doubt it did mourn more than any other, though it had no unusual public demonstrations. Johnstown is making a brave struggle to live in the future, and with marked success. Its improvements since the flood, as will be seen in another column, are very considerable. It has started out well and promises before long to be a better city than when destroyed by the flood. Special to the Commercial Gazette. JOHNSTOWN, PA., May 30. – Many deep scars remain to show the wounds Johnstown suffered a year ago. Unsightly ruined cellars between rows of cheap frame structures mark where streets of handsome dwellings or busy stores once lined the thoroughfares. There is plenty of this to remind the people of Johnstown of the disaster of a year ago. Tomorrow there will be no day of fasting and prayer. Some had desired it on the anniversary of the great disaster and asked Mayor Rose to make proclamation. He refused, first, on the ground that there was no legal warrant for the proclamation and he could not enforce it; second, he did not consider it wise. “Those who desire to mourn will do so without a proclamation,” he said, “but what Johnstown needs is less looking to the past and more to the future. There are vacant chairs in plenty and there will be enough sorrowful contemplation of the past. People here, many of them, and particularly the older persons, are yet dazed by the disaster. What is needed is to forget as much as possible.” The best and strongest citizens, the backbone of Johnstown, think with Mayor Rose. They are bending their best energies to recovering lost ground and making people feel resigned to what never can be recovered. To appoint a day on which people should abandon themselves to grief they rightly believe would work great injury. The only services at Johnstown tomorrow will be masses for the unknown dead in the Catholic churches and a service at Grand View Cemetery and decoration of the graves of the unknown dead, in which Rev. Dr. Chapman, of the Methodist Church; Rev. Dr. Beale, of the Presbyterian Church, and Rev. Father Tahaney, of the Catholic Church, will participate. PROGRESS OF IMPROVEMENT There has been little building below Market street, save of inferior structures, because of the constant danger of inundation. On many of the brick structures that withstood the shock of a year ago can be seen the highwater mark of the disaster.
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Above Market street, however, many fine and even elegant business blocks and residences have been erected. One business block has just been completed on Franklin street at a cost of $50,000. It is the finest new building in the city. Large areas of Johnstown below Market street have simply been cleaned. Owners of property do not care to build until a final decision has been reached concerning the improvement of the rivers. This is the one great question now before the people of the city, and it is difficult of solution satisfactory to everyone, as most large questions are. A proposition to change the course of Stony creek passed the new Common Council of the new city, but the Select branch killed it. The promoters of the plan refuse to believe that it is dead and hope to resurrect it. Stony creek separates the old borough of Kernville from Johnstown proper. Some gentlemen, including some of the capitalists in the Cambria iron-works, propose that a land and improvement company be formed to divert the channel of Stony creek so that it shall run through Kernville, dividing it into two unequal parts, the larger of which shall be joined to Johnstown physically as the whole is municipally. The gentlemen promoting the plan proposed, as a guarantee that there is no scheme in it, that when shares be issued no one person be permitted to hold more than $5,000 of the stock. They say their proposition to change the course of the creek is intended not to enrich those who may engage in the enterprise, but to furnish a way by which the town may be protected from floods. HOW PAYMENT WILL BE MADE. They promise to do this work on condition that the present bed of Stony creek, from the Poplar street bridge, whether the improvement is designed to begin, to the point where it ends, be given them. The stream from the bridge goes through a mile of meanderings. The straight course along the foot of the hill would be but half that distance. The promoters of the plan think that the land reclaimed from the bed of the river would pay for the work of improvement, for the necessary rights of way and for the repairing rights of the property owners along the present course of the stream. Cyrus Elder, Esq., General Soldier of the Cambria company, holds this opinion. Mayor Rose, however, thinks the improvement company would find their take a much more costly one than they anticipate. All agree, however, that something must be done and a little is being done for the protection of the town. The municipality itself is unable just now to indulge in large expenditures and the Stony creek scheme is designed to save it from the expense it will necessarily incur in making Johnstown secure. Along the Little Conemaugh the Cambria Company has agreed with the city to construct cinder-banks along the course of the stream to restrain its waters when swollen beyond its normal proportions, as it has so frequently been, for some years before the disaster of a year ago. At the Point, too, some grading is being done, and it is proposed to grade it six feet higher than it is at present. “The fact is though,” said a leading merchant, “the streams are too narrow. The immense industries on their banks here have led to encroachments on them until they have been narrowed at least one-third. We also think the arches of the Pennsylvania railroad bridge too narrow, so that when the streams are swollen the structure acts as a dam, and backs the water up on the town.” DEPENDENT IMPROVEMENTS. Much depends on the final and permanent solution of this difficulty of floods. Until it is settled fine buildings are likely to be few in the vicinity of the Point. The question of bridges also hangs on the settlement. The local Finance Committee for the relief of flood sufferers has promised that when the course of Stony creek has finally been settled it will build three bridges. Until the matter is disposed of nothing can be done about the bridges. The Relief Committee has enough money on hand and is saving it for the purpose of bridge building. Until an assessment is made this fall Johnstown cannot do much in the way of public improvement owing to the constitutional limitation on municipal indebtedness. Mayor Rose explains the matter this way: “The new city of Johnstown has only the old borough assessments. These are remarkably low. In many cases that I know of property was assessed at not more than one-sixth of its value. Then again, the court ordered a new assessment after the flood, and, of course, as a great portion of the city had been swept away the valuation was further lowered. Consequently, on these old borough valuations, we can borrow very little money without reaching the limit of municipal indebtedness. The next assessment will put the city in much better shape in this particular and then we can borrow money and do something.” Among the needs of Johnstown is a city hall. The important business of the Treasurer’s and Controller’s offices are conducted now in a two-story frame structure at the corner of Main and Market streets that is little more than a shell, and the Council chambers is in the same unpretentious structure.
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The Mayor’s office and police headquarters are in a little shed on Market street, just behind which is the lockup. THE NEW STREET RAILWAY. An improvement of great importance to Johnstown is the construction of the electric street railway, which is being pushed rapidly forward. The main line of the road will extend from Moxham to Morrellville, a distance of nine miles. Branch lines will bring the total mileage up to about sixteen miles. The course of the main line follows very closely the line of the old street railway that was operated before the flood by horse power and has not been operated since. When the various sections of the new city are bound together by the bands of iron and electricity the transaction of business will be greatly facilitated. PROPERTY AND RENTS. In Johnstown property is high and rents are away up. As one recedes from the rivers property and rents are higher. The high rents prove a great stimulus to building and sound of hammer and saw and the ring of the trowel are heard on every hand. Not a street in Johnstown proper but these noises predominate. The great majority of the buildings are proportioned to the limited means of the builders. Others, more fortunate, have built and are building finer structures. The $50,000 business block nearly opposite the postoffice is an investment that will pay rich returns in rents, and there seems to be a fine field for the investment of capital in similar enterprises notwithstanding the high prices of building lots, many of which are held at and some of which are sold for prices higher than the same property, with improvements, would have brought before the flood a year ago. One piece of property on Main street only 18 feet front is held at $8,000, and a similar property adjoining is held at similar rates. Two to three hundred dollars a front foot are rates readily obtainable according to location. Down toward the Point, however, property can hardly be quoted. It is not in the market and not in demand until the river question is settled. The suburbs have greatly profited by the flood. Moxham has been built up by removals there from the heart of the town. Other suburbs have similarly profited. A building lot on a back street in Kernville was sold recently for $5,410. A few years ago it would have been dear at half that figure. Woodvale, though, is not recovering from the effects of the flood as are other parts of the town as it is so subject to inundations from the Conemaugh. BUILDINGS THAT MUST GO. From Franklin street to Court alley on Main street is a row of low two-story buildings built by the local Flood Finance Committee. These buildings bound the old park, set aside for park purposes by the founder of Johnstown. They are occupied by small stores and all must be vacated by November 1 and the structures torn down, unless the municipality grants an extension of time. Unless it is granted it is difficult to tell where these little business houses will remove to. There are no other accommodations for them now and they must either build or go out of business. Probably few of them can afford to do the former and most of them are depending on an extension of time. Mr. John Fulton, General Manager of the Cambria works, thinks that on an average property in Johnstown is 25 per cent higher than before the flood. His own property, on which his house stood one year ago, he could sell now for nearly as much as the lot with the house would have brought at that time. FINANCIAL ASPECTS. The banks of Johnstown are doing more business than they every did before. The Savings Bank reports that its deposits now are in excess of its deposits before the flood. John B. Roberts, cashier of the First National Bank, which is virtually the successor of the private banking-house of John Dibert & Co., reports that its business is greatly in excess of the business before the flood. John Dibert was drowned and the bank afterward went into liquidation. It had deposits on hand of $300,000, and in eight months Mr. Roberts, cashier of the old as of the new institution, had paid every cent. So much building and business is going on in Johnstown that the business of the three banks is heavy. The Citizens National Bank has been organized since the flood and is doing a flourishing business. Cashier Roberts, of the First National Bank, says that Johnstown is gradually getting into excellent financial condition. The Cambria works and the Johnson works, at Moxham, contribute more largely to this result than any other influences. The former pays out about $200,000 monthly in wages and the latter nearly $100,000. Both are enlarging and improving and becoming even more important to the town. JOHNSTOWN’S BUSINESS. There are ninety more business houses in Johnstown than there were before the flood, but most of these are small institutions and their business in the aggregate is probably not much in excess of the business of the old houses. Many of these business houses started with very small capital. One
286 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 merchant said yesterday in conversation that after the flood his whole capital was $1.65. Others were in as bad shape, but got credit and are repairing their wrecked fortunes. Some of the stores, particularly those in the new business blocks, are as fine as any in Western Pennsylvania. The postoffice receipts are a fair test of the growing prosperity of the place. Assistant Postmaster Ogle makes this statement: “The receipts on postal account have increased about $7,500 per annum over the largest business done prior to the flood, while money-order account receipts have increased 3,344 transactions, amounting to about $15,000. The increase is about 3,500 letters. Last months the carriers, nine in number, handled 237,185 pieces of mail, an aggregate for the year of 3,046,220 pieces, while for the year ending June 30, 1889, the total number of pieces handled by carriers at this office was only 1,587,359, indicating an increase of 1,458,861.” This increase of business, Mr. Ogle says, is not to be wholly attributed to the relief work, for now that that is over the business of the office is larger than ever. More stamps were sold in the past month than ever before, and other business was in proportion, though the relief work has long ended. The postoffice was only in temporary quarters until June 24, after the flood. CHANGES IN POPULATION. According to all accounts there has been a great change in the population of Johnstown since the flood. Large numbers of the old population have moved away and new ones have come in. “I used to know nearly everyone I met,” said a gentlemen yesterday. “Now I know very few.” A good evidence of this change in population is the reports of pastors. In a conversation yesterday with Rev. Dr. Beale, of the First Presbyterian Church, and Rev. Dr. Chapman, of the First Methodist Church, they made reports showing that while their congregations are nearly as large as before the flood many of the old ones have gone away to be replaced by new faces. The two churches mentioned have been restored to their old conditions, or are even more beautiful than before the flood, against which their walls stood like rocks while their interiors were wrecked. The Baptist congregation, through denominational aid, is much stronger than before the flood. The German Lutheran congregation suffered severely from the flood, and is worshipping in a hall on Bedford street. The English Lutheran Church is in better condition. The Episcopal congregation worships in a little one- story frame building, but will ere long erect a fine church. The Welsh Congregational Church contemplates abandoning the Welsh language and conducting its services in English. Father Lahaney will rebuild St. John’s Catholic Church on Clinton street provided the city in widening the street does not make the lot too small. All the congregations mentioned and others received substantial aid from their respective denominations, and those that are yet without permanent places of worship will soon secure them. THE NEW LIBRARY. In the residence of Vice-President McMillan, of the Cambria works, is a library that does duty for the free library swept away by the flood. Ere long a structure more beautiful and more extensive than the old will arise on its site as the gift of Mr. Andrew Carnegie, at a cost of $55,000. Mr. Carnegie supplies the funds, and the library is being built on the plans of Mr. Cyrus Elder, whose design is really to make it a mechanical school. He and others conducted classes in the old library building and will add other classes in the new one. An enterprise in which certain of the capitalists of the Cambria Company are engaging is the building of the suburb of Westmont, on the hill across Stony creek. An inclined railway is planned, and the work of clearing the roadbed has been done. Johnstown has many years of hard work before it to make it what it was, but it has made a great stride forward in the year. The streets are cleared and all built up with structures of some kind, and fine brick and frame buildings and mere sheds are strangely intermixed. Order has been drawn out of chaos and the foundations of prosperity relaid. The population as a whole is cheerful and happy. The younger element has long recovered from the shock, and there has been a healthy infusion of new blood and capital that promises great things for the future. PLANS FOR THE FUTURE. At the time of the flood there was an aggregation of continuous independent boroughs, now there is one united city, consolidated under one government. Many property lines are yet undetermined. All of the Second ward of Conemaugh borough, now the Tenth ward of Johnstown, was swept clean, and of the hundreds of residences there not one has been replaced. The ground there has all been absorbed by the Cambria Iron Company, and a high fence, taking in all the territory, and several streets, has been placed around it, and here the Gautier department of the Cambria works will be rebuilt on a much
287 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 larger scale than before. Throughout other points around the town there are squares upon which no attempt at rebuilding has been made, except the erection of a few rough board shanties for temporary use. The beautiful public park, which was covered with velvety grass, lovely flowers and ample shade trees is now a site where half a hundred rude buildings do service as store-rooms to the washed-out merchants of Johnstown, they having been erected by the Relief Commission. In the center of the square piles of old iron and other material contrast strongly with the scenes of a year ago. SOME BUSINESS EFFORTS. On Washington and Clinton streets many of the buildings destroyed have been replaced by finer business blocks than were there before the flood. A number of eligible sites, however, yet remain here, telling more plainly than words of the financial distress of those who formerly did business there. On Franklin street several of the finest business blocks of the town have been erected on the site of former mere sheds, giving this part of the town a much more business-like appearance than ever before. Excavations are now being made and other preparations are in progress much more extensive than any ever before on this street. The total amount of money spent in building operations since the flood is estimated at fully $1,000,000.
NEW YORK, June 1. – About thirty newspaper men of New York, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh who a year ago yesterday started for Johnstown, Pa., to tell the world of the havoc which had been wrought there by the bursting of the South Fork dam, had a reunion and dinner last night at the Fellowcraft Club, in East Twenty ninth street. Gen. Hastings, Adjutant-General of Pennsylvania, who did such heroic work in relieving the sufferers, was the guest of honor, and his two associates, Col. Elliott and Mayor Evans, also were present. A most enjoyable evening was spent in reviving the hardships of those memorable days and exchanging the experiences which were undergone. An organization was effected and it was decided to have a reunion each year, each man promising to be present if possible. On the back of the menu card was this short but expressive sentence: “We starved together; now we dine together.” Each person made a speech. A badge in the shape of a Maltese cross was adopted to serve as a memento of the trip. The medalstand is one inch high. The center figure is of gold and represents a correspondent sitting on a box and writing on the head of a barrel, while above him run the telegraph wires bearing his story off to his newspaper. About the center figure is a circle of blue enamel with the word “Johnstown” in gold letters. The arms of the cross are of white enamel and the underlying laurel wreath is of gold.
The trip of the Pittsburgh newspaper men, and their friends and guests, to Johnstown on Saturday was most enjoyable. The start was made promptly at the announced time and under favoring auspices. There were three coaches, a dining and a supply car in the special train tendered by Superintendent Robert Pitcairn, of the Pennsylvania railroad, for the occasion. Passenger Agent Thomas E. Watt personally conducted the train, assisted by Conductor Richard Elliott. Engine 1050 was on her best behavior and was guided by Engineer “Mike” Key, than whom never engineman posited a steadier hand or a more iron wave. Fireman Richard Felker fed in the coal as 1050 steamed “like a daisy.” When the train had reached the outskirts of the city, the moist grass and foliage, bedewed from the rain of the previous night, proved rarely attractive and grateful under the glare and splendor of a bright sun. The trip was made to Johnstown without incident. When, however, the train had passed Bolivar Junction, where the scars of the devastating flood of a year ago became noticeable on the banks of the Conemaugh, the ladies and children crowded by the ”river side” to note the debris and tracks left by the fatal water. MET A LARGE CROWD. At Johnstown a crowd had gathered around the depot to greet those whom they had welcomed as friends a year ago. The Mineral City Band tendered its services to transport the party around the town, but this was deemed inappropriate, as the anniversary would bring nothing but sad recollections to the residents. Just then a passing cloud let out a few large drops of rain, suggesting that it was an occasion for tears for many there. As if the rain god had suddenly remembered that Johnstown and its people had bravely resolved to push on to the future with hope, but without fear or fettering, the rain ceased and the sun burst forth from behind the cloud with a blazing splendor. The party separated into groups, at the aid of each being an ex-correspondent, who was impressed into service to point out particular spots which each adult person had reported about in connection with some peculiar incident of the great flood. To the correspondents the change of scene was especially
288 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 noticeable. Where had been at the scene they left last year barren stretches of sand, fragments of habitations for men and animals, crumbling walls and shattered and disheveled houses, almost covered with trees from the mountain forest, fragments of bridges and workshops, all inextricably bound together with reams of wire that has been filched by the flood from the Gautier Steel-Works, now there stood houses and businesses, some few of them brick but all showing evidence of present effort and future hope. At one o’clock the party returned to the train where Caterer Albert Menjou, of the Hotel Duquesne, and his aids had prepared a sumptuous collation. Mine Host William Witherow, of the Duquesne, had appealed to the Committee on refreshments that any luncheon to be served would be such that partakers should not feel ashamed to say they had served it, in which saying he was prophetic. The ladies who are esteemed judges of such things voted it “just elegant,” while their escorts used a more rugged phrase to express the same meaning. After luncheon the old “plug” mill, the headquarters of the correspondents during the first few days of terror, was visited. The ladies expressed open-eyed incredulity when told by husbands, brothers and lovers that here they had worked and slept and ate—when they could get anything to eat. Then there were personal features to explain in which was heard, “There’s where Ritenour fell and nearly broke his back.” “There’s the spot ‘Jim’ Henry stepped through and nearly broke his leg.” “There’s the brick kilns we crawled into to sleep, never knowing that some fool would not come along and turn the fire on more and asphyxiate us with gas and cremated us with heat.” “There’s the old hole we fought the rats in when trying to sleep, until, exhausted, we covered ourselves over with hay and allowed them to run over our faces with impunity.” AMID SCENES OF SADNESS. Some few went to Prospect Cemetery to attend the memorial exercises. Here Rt. Rev. Bishop Whitehead, of Pittsburgh, and Rev. Dr. Field, rector of St. Clement’s, of Philadelphia, and Rev. Father Taheney and others conducted exercises. The address made by Rev. Dr. Field at the grave of the Episcopal minister, who was drowned in the flood, was particularly impressive and beautiful in sentiment. At 4 o’clock a start was made up the mountain for South Fork, in order that the vast improvements made by the Pennsylvania railroad in the year might be noted. From the train the ravages of the flood waters were painfully apparent. Where Conemaugh and Woodvale had stood there was little but a bleak stony waste. The old flouring-mill and a portion of the woolen-factory still remain, the only buildings that stood in the track of the waters. Building here has not been pursued with the energy that Johnstown proper denotes. Moxham, which has grown up like a mushroom, seems to have absorbed the survivors of Conemaugh and Woodvale. On up the valley where Mineral Point had once stood with its cozy little houses and pretty gardens now was nothing but scored and friated rocks. The ground itself had been scoured of them and the blazing sun of May 31, 1890, reflected blinding rays from rocks that had never basked in its beams a year and two days before. Three new houses are building further up the mountain slope, but save these three the surviving residents seem to have lost all heart. The stream itself, instead of being the mad and muddy torrent of a year before had contracted into a narrow mountain brook, whose waters rivaled the cerulean hue of the sky above, and so clear that the bottom could be plainly seen at every point. It was rapid, however, and went babbling on over eddies and puddles in its course, never subsiding into smooth and placid pools, but swirling around obstructions with impatient mutterings in its way to reach the great gulf and the sea. ACCOMPLISHED A GREAT WORK. The vast amount of work expended on its headway within the year is stupendous. Where light steel bridges had formally spanned the stream many times in its windings around and through mountain gorges now there are heavy viaducts of masonry, which look as immovable as the foundations of the mountains themselves. There are four of these between Conemaugh and South Fork, and all are built with the same solidity, the same architectural beauty and grace of proportion that has caused the viaduct at Johnstown, which resisted the combined powers of waters and gorge to efface a road, to be admired so much. The banks of the roadway whenever it infringes on the stream has been re-enforced with heavy stone. New rails, new ballast, and sleepers constitute marked changes in the roadbed itself. The home ride was one all will remember for the transcendant beauty of the earth and river and sky. The sun hung low in the west, but he was lowering in a blazonry of clouds, which were illuminated into gorgeous tints with his own effulgence. The air was laden with the odor of flowers and forest cedars. The fields were a soft green, the green of the blossoming grain interlacing with those of the grasslands. The cattle that had flocked the hills in the morning were now giving color and animation to
289 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 the farm yards and lanes leading to them. On, on the train sped, through mountain gorge, across meadows, around and through slanting hills, over bridges with a clutter and through drowsy villages with the scant ceremony of a shrill whistle until the Union station was reached. The start had been made from South Fork several minutes late; the arrival at Union station was three minutes ahead of time. Three stops were made, and there was one detention of about five minutes, so the speed of the run has rarely been equaled and never surpassed on the road. On the return trip an informal meeting was held in the forward car and a committee was delegated to send a telegram of greeting to the New York Johnstown correspondents, who were to dine at the Fellowcraft Club in that city in commemoration of the anniversary. The telegram read: “Pittsburgh newspaper men send greeting to their New York brethren. We have visited Johnstown to- day and received a cordial reception from her people, who remembered us kindly. They do not forget their calamity, but bravely and resolutely they are rebuilding their waste places that the busy employment of the living may keep them from repining over the fate of their dead. F.X. BURNS H.N. GAITHER A.S. McSWIGGAN, Committee.
Special services were held in St. Mark’s Chapel, Johnstown, Friday and Saturday morning. On Friday morning Rt. Rev. Bishop Courtland Whitehead admitted to the Diaconate Charles E. Snaveley, a graduate of the General Theological Seminary, New York. Mr. Snaveley was a member of the congregation of St. Mark’s, and labored faithfully and untiringly among the desolate people all of last summer. He received his preparatory training from the late rector of the parish. Rev. H.L. Yewens preached the ordination sermon and the Rev. Charles A. Bragdon presented the candidate. An interesting fact in connection with the service is that the late Rector officiated for his people at almost the same hour on Ascension Day a year ago, and that the silver chalice and paten used at that service has been found and was again used this year. The white stole with which the candidate was invested after his ordination was the one last worn in the church by his rector. Mr. Snaveley has accepted missionary work under Bishop Talbot, of Wyoming, and will be located at Sundance. Friday evening a special memorial service was held in connection with the White Cross Knights Society, an organization of young men founded by the late rector. At the time of the flood the society numbered forty-seven members. Of this number ten were lost. The Rev. C.N. Field, of the Society of St. John the Evangelist, rector of St. Mark’s Church, Philadelphia, addressed the society. … assisted in these services. On Saturday at 9 o’clock there was a solemn celebration of the Holy Eucharist, largely attended by those who had lost friends through the flood. The departed members of the congregation, about 120 in number, were commemorated by name. A eulogy of the Rev. A.P. Diller, was delivered by the Rev. R.M. Benson, of the Society of St. John the Evangelist, and a sermon on the state of the departed was preached by the Rev. C.N. Field. In the afternoon services were held at the grave of the late rector in Prospect Cemetery by Bishop Whitehead and Rev. Mr. Field. A memorial church is soon to be erected by the congregation of St. Mark’s from money contributed by Episcopalians throughout the country. Subscriptions have been received to the fund from England also. The Young Men’s Christian Association held services yesterday in commemoration of those of its membership who were swept into eternity by the flood. The personal character and virtuous qualities of the various ones lost, twenty-eight in all, were spoken of, after brief devotional exercises, by … and volunteers in the audience.
Special to the Commercial Gazette. JOHNSTOWN, PA., June 1. – Memorial services were held in many of the churches today, and in all of them references was made to the great disaster. At the services, in behalf of the Knights of Pythias, in the M. E. church, every member of that order was present, and the exercises were very solemn. The anniversary exercises of the Y. M. C. A. in the afternoon, were particularly impressive, as so many of the former leading members had been drowned. On account of the failure to have the day properly observed on the anniversary of the flood, a movement is on foot to combine hereafter the memorial exercises with the regular Decoration Day services, as it is believed that on account of the two days coming so close together neither will be properly observed.
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Before Judge White in Common Pleas Court No. 2 yesterday morning the case of Tarbell against the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, an action brought some time ago to recover $50,000 damages from the railroad for alleged criminal negligence, was taken up. The wife and three children of the plaintiff were on the Day Express at Johnstown one year ago last Friday when the flood overtook the train and the plaintiff’s wife and children were drowned. This suit is the first of its kind brought and will serve as a test case. The attorneys for the plaintiff are Messrs. Marshall and Imbrie and those for the defendant are Messrs. Hampton, Scott & Gordon. The case was opened for the plaintiff by Mr. Imbrie. He moved that the jury be permitted to view the site, where the accident happened, believing that thereby the jurymen would be enabled to better understand the testimony. The counsel for the defense having agreed to this proposition, Judge White explained to the jury the reason of the proposed trip, and warned them to talk to no person about the accident except in the presence of counsel for both sides, and then to ask no questions except those necessary for a thorough understanding of the case. Judge White was prevailed upon to accompany the expedition, and adjourned court until to-day. All of them left at noon for Johnstown, and expected to get back during the night.
The twenty-fifth anniversary of the Johnstown Newspaper Correspondents’ Association will be celebrated Monday evening with a dinner in the Hotel Schenley, with President Charles S. Howell presiding. The anniversary usually is held on the last day of May, but on account of May 31 falling on Sunday, the celebration was postponed until the following evening. The returns from the invitations show that a majority of the members of the association will be present. The membership includes Richard Harding Davis and Charles Edward Russell. The association was formed the year of the Johnstown flood by newspaper correspondents who covered the flood. The first dinner was held in Johnstown and since then dinners have been held in Pittsburgh, Baltimore, New York, Philadelphia and Harrisburg.
BY ERNEST H. HEINRICHS JOHNSTOWN, 1889-1914—If today you should happen to be a visitor in Johnstown, Pa., that hustling, bustling, busy city in Cambria county, and contemplate its many tall buildings, its broad, well-paved streets in the business section, as well as the wealth-bespeaking refinement-betokening appearance of the outlying residence districts, you would instinctively exclaim: “This looks like a prosperous, progressive place!” And you would undoubtedly be right in your observation, because with all these distinctions and with its population of 75,000 inhabitants, Johnstown is all that its appearance would insinuate. But if this visit of yours should happen to be a return call after an absence of 25 years, your simple approval for the enterprise of a thriving community would change into expressions of wonder and amazement because what is today one of the most flourishing cities in western Pennsylvania, was on May 31, 1889, laid low into a waste of death, destruction and devastation by one of the most appalling catastrophes record in the history of this country—the Johnstown flood. About 50 years ago a number of wealthy Pittsburghers secured a large tract of land in the hills about 12 miles east of Johnstown and two and one-half miles south of the little hamlet of South Fork on the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad. They then organized the South Fork Hunting and Fishing Club with the idea of spending their summers with their families among the cooling breezes of the Allegheny Mountains, surrounded by the fragrant pine woods, which abound in that section. Clubhouse Is Erected. Then a magnificent clubhouse was erected by the members and some of them even erected cottages of their own to give them also the enjoyment of home comforts. The South Fork, a small creek that sheds the waters into the Conemaugh at South Fork village, sent its limpid waters along a deep ravine through the club’s property and this suggested the construction of a dam behind which the waters of the creek might be accumulated into the formation of a small lake. This idea was acted upon and the result was the creation of an artificial lake that was in some places about two miles wide, while it ran back into the country for a distance of over four miles. It was stocked with various kinds of piscatorial specimen and South Fork Lake became one of the most delightfully select summer resorts in the Allegheny Mountains. Col. Elias Unger, well known some
291 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 years ago as the one-time proprietor of the Seventh Avenue Hotel in Pittsburgh, who also owned a magnificent farm across the lake at Sheep Pen Point, was the president of the club. During the latter part of May, 1889, there was an unprecedented rainfall in the whole of Western Pennsylvania. The mountain streams and rivulets grew rapidly into raging torrents, while the waters in South Fork Lake rose higher and higher. On Thursday, May 30, it reached the crest of the dam and on the following day, as the rainfall continued incessantly, the lake began slowly to run over. It was too early in the season for any of the members of the club to come to their summer retreat and the clubhouse, as well as the cottages, were yet untenanted except for a few of the regular attendants, who lived there permanently as watchmen over the property. Danger Not Realized. These men early discovered the water overrunning the dam and made every effort to stop it from rising higher, but without avail. They might as well have tried to stop the flow of the Falls of Niagara. It is also quite likely that they did not realize the enormity of the danger nor its possibilities. And they gave no warning of what might be expected. Slowly the crest of the dam was washed away. Wider and wider grew the breach until, on Friday afternoon at 3:15 o’clock, about 300 feet of the dam gave way and the entire contents of the lake literally leaped from its confinement and rushed along the valley like an avalanche down the mountain slope. It was as if a giant catapult had suddenly projected a mass of water, half a mile in width, 75 feet in height and four miles in length. With the velocity of an express train this frenzied, seething element rushed down the gorge. Gaining momentum at every bound, levelling trees, houses and every other obstruction in its path, it was emitted upon the village of South Fork like from a funnel. It passed through here like a maddened phantom, carrying houses and buildings away on its heaving breast leaving chaos behind. Then on and on it rushed, through Mineral Point, Conemaugh and Woodvale, gathering fresh fury, as it razed and ravaged everything in its way. Nothing could withstand its force and ferocity. On the Pennsylvania railroad tracks a locomotive was standing, but the flood gave it a ride that landed its twenty-ton weight eight miles away on the Johnstown flat. In Woodvale only the large building of a woolen mill remained standing, while the waters rushed on through that part of the Cambria Iron works located in the east of Johnstown south of the Conemaugh. The Rush on Johnstown Through these works the flood flew like a cyclone, carrying with it a tangled torrent of crushed houses, huge trees, logs, rocks, machinery and barbed wire, intermingled with dead bodies and living beings, that went shriekingly down into their watery, unexpected death. The main tracks of the Pennsylvania railroad were submerged for miles. An express train from Pittsburgh was overtaken here by the wildly roaring element and the passengers were caught in its deadly grip like rats in a trap without heed or warning. Escape would have been a miracle. Unheralded and unannounced the waters made their attack upon Johnstown in two separate wings like organized divisions of an army. The northern wing scoured the Johnstown flat, rushing headlong through the bed of the Conemaugh and over its banks towards The Point. Here it joined the other wing, which had taken a southern direction to Stony creek and across that river until it was repulsed by the mountain slope in Kernville, where it had swerved to the right. The united forces of these waters now threw themselves against the massive walls of the Pennsylvania Railroad bridge at the western end of Johnstown. But the strength of this viaduct successfully withstood the shock, only to make matters even worse. As the wreckage following in the wake of the flood could not find an outlet under this bridge it piled up and blocked the channel. This hurled the water back upon the town for the second time. Its collision with the waters from Stony creek precipitating a conflict of furies, but eventually the Stony creek forces were pushed back upon Kernville, Moxham and Ferndale, bearing street upon street of dwellings with them as they went out. Damage Soon Done. So sudden had been the attack and so terrific has been the force of that huge wall of water that there was no time for escape and as it was approaching supper time most of the people were in their homes, all of which accounts for the appallingly large loss of human lives. The time it had taken the watery armies to complete their work of destruction was so short that when the slanting rays of the setting sun shed their ruddy glimmer through the now slowly rifting clouds they
292 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 shone upon a scene of devastation, that has as yet fortunately remained without an equal in the history of floods in this country. These were the memories that came into the mind of the writer after he stepped from the train at Johnstown the other morning and contemplated the scene of prosperous activity before him. He had never been there again since the days of the flood. As he gazed about him he began to look for familiar landmarks, but they were few and far between. It was a new Johnstown that had arisen. And yet here was the waiting room, that in the days of the flood was used as an auxiliary morgue, and there in the rear of the station towered Prospect Hill with its rows of familiar looking dwellings. But the parapet around the station had been narrowed down somewhat from the time when Ex.-Gov. Daniel Hastings, who was then adjutant general of the state of Pennsylvania, had charge of the National Guard in Johnstown. The place then was large enough to hold quite a goodly number of tents and the general’s headquarters were there. Where the Militia Worked. It was easy to recall Col. Rodgers with his musical voice, the debonair Col. Huidekooper and other members of the general’s staff. Not a sign now that they had ever been here. Walking down the station steps towards the bridge over the Conemaugh he recalled the hastily constructed affair of a fragile foot bridge, which did duty for a bridge during the flood; and it was recalled that here the military boys stood guard. The red brick school house on Iron street was a familiar sight because, in the days of the flood, it was also a morgue, like most of the other public buildings which had remained standing. And there were still the office buildings of the Cambria Steel Company, where the heroic telegraph operator was drowned just after he flashed the news to the world that the flood was coming. Traversing the bridge and going towards Main street there was not to be seen the slightest resemblance of the old sandy, muddy, slushy roads that used to make one footsore from the endless trudging that had to be done, day in and day out, beneath the hot sun, between the military headquarters, the various morgues and the headquarters of Dictator Scott. Ah yes! Where was the elegant red brick structure of the Cambria Club House? – where the dictator rules in those days with a firm hand but a gentle, generous heart. A short walk along Main street and it was discovered, now transferred into a modern hotel. But you walk on as you try to refresh your memory, looking from right to left, and even though the surrounding scenes are unfamiliar you recall the days when Capt. Jones, then superintendent of the Carnegie works, was here in charge of the tremendous task of clearing the town of the accumulations of debris. With events of 25 years ago crowding each other in rapid recollection, you wander aimlessly along, hoping at every step to find some familiar sign of the past. Suddenly you hear rippling water. You follow the sound and in a few moments you find yourself at the Point with the Conemaugh on the right, Stony creek on the left and the Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge ahead of you in the distance. Where the Wave Struck. And now you are upon the spot that was at one time the theater of the most horrifying spectacle that was ever witnessed anywhere. It was to this spot that, 25 years ago, was swept a large portion of the population of Johnstown by the pitiless torrents of the relentless waters. Here, it was where the debris was piled mountain high, an unrecognizable mass of human bodies, animals, houses, wreckage and what not. Memory recalls here “Dynamiter” Phillips, an engineer, who used pound upon pound of dynamite in blowing up the ruins that blocked the channel like an immovable wedge. An incident is recalled when one day a gang of his men all became terribly intoxicated with whisky, which they had gotten from a barrel that had been found. This might have been a very serious matter, because these men constantly handled dynamite, and in their irresponsible condition a tragedy might easily have occurred. Phillips smashed the whisky barrel and allowed its contents to run into the river, much to the chagrin of his men. Another incident was vividly brought to mind here. One day the writer met a man named Chester on the western bank of Stony creek near the coal mine. This man happened to be away from home on the night of the flood and when he got back to Kernville the next morning, where he lived, he not only found his house, but also his wife and 10 children gone. Then he started on a search until he finally discovered the ruins of his former home in the river near the place where the writer met him. Chester got into his house and in a day or two succeeded in finding the dead bodies of his entire family, all in
293 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 the ruins of the house. The amount of pleasure he evinced on account of his success was most pathetic to behold. Mother’s Sad Plight. Another day the writer, while walking through the ruins of Kernville, noticed a woman, scantily clad, sitting on the porch of a partly demolished dwelling. From the street it seemed the woman had a baby in her arms and she was apparently rocking it to sleep. Just then she looked up and noticing the stranger she beckoned to him. The writer obeyed the summons. “I only found my baby this morning over there under the lilac bush and now I am getting him to sleep. He is tired you know.” The poor woman was rocking her dead baby and she herself had lost her reason. Looking across the river from the Point one could see the place which was the scene of the early headquarters for the newspaper men. Here Col. Connelly had opened the office of the Associated Press. Nearby were the limekilns, where T. J. Keenan and others tried to establish themselves a “home” with such comforts as canned food would afford. Others also were compelled to sleep here for several nights with bricks serving as a mattress and the clothes they wore as their bed covering. Johnson’s Futile Speech. But those are not the most pleasant experiences to remember, and you turn away to retrace your steps into the city. But few are the familiar landmarks you meet. The new city is delightfully clean and painfully orderly in comparison with the days of 25 years ago, when all was chaos and a muddy wilderness. On the way to the Baltimore and Ohio Station you pass a very handsome church building. There is a tablet on the side which tells you that you are looking at St. John’s Catholic Church. But it is not the St. John’s which you saw during the flood. No, it has gone with the other mementos of the flood. This new church was erected in 1897. While looking at this church one remembers Tom Johnson, ex- mayor of Cleveland, who was then operating a factory in Moxham, Johnson on this occasion endeavored to make a speech to some Johnstown people in front of the church, but his audience was not in a frame of mind to listen to speeches and he soon subsided. And now you turn towards the south, across Stony creek, and enter Kernville. How beautiful the houses are now, how peaceful the surroundings. Happiness and contentment seem to look out of every window, and yet the ravages of that death-dealing element during those days of horror a quarter of a century ago sent the angel of death into practically every home in Kernville. Farther along you get to Moxham and you also come to the place where Clara Barton and her Red Cross Society had their tented headquarters in the earliest days of the flood. Still farther south is Ferndale, near which the first Baltimore and Ohio Railroad train landed from Pittsburgh in charge of Col. Patton, the general superintendent of the company. However, the old familiar scenes have all disappeared. Now you see nothing but a smiling landscape and the people you meet are evidently members of a prosperous, contented community. Debris at the Lake. Do they themselves remember those horror-stricken days of 25 years ago? They do, but they try to forget. As the visitor walked along Main street he saw a red brick house, which had a single, white-painted brick about two feet above one of the bay windows. The white brick told its own tale as plain as day. It indicated how high the water had risen in the town at the time of the flood; but to make sure a passerby was asked what the white brick meant. “I do not know!” was the answer in a that-is-none-of-your-business-way of speaking. Another man was asked: “Is Johnstown going to hold a memorial service next Sunday in commemoration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the flood?
No,” was the answer. “We are trying to forget that we ever had a flood. As far as I know there will not be any mention of it in the churches even. It is true that our new Y. M. C. A. Building will be dedicated on that day, but that is merely a coincidence and has no connection with the anniversary of the flood whatever.” It now occurred to the visitors of Johnstown looking for remembrances of that sad catastrophe that this journey to the scene of “The Flood” could not be considered complete without a trip to the former home of the South Fork Hunting and Fishing Club, to the lake, which on that memorable occasion 25
294 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 years ago had been the cradle of death for over 3,000 people. He had made that ride once before on June 3, 1889, when a farmer drove him over the hills for 12 miles to the brink of the dam. It was recalled that the day then was clear and warm, just as now, but as the farmer and his guest arrived near their destination, towards evening, a storm came up and soon the rain came down in torrents. The farmer suggested a postponement to the lake until the following morning, but the visitor, who had been anxiously looking forward to a glimpse at the source from which the terrible horrors in the Conemaugh valley had originated, was too impatient for any further delay and the journey was completed. The scene which presented itself was well worth the trouble of the journey. Standing upon the abutment of the dam and looking into the bed of the lake an area of slime and mud as far as the eye could see spread out before us. Thousands of dead fish covered this slime in all directions. As we gazed down the whole place reminded one of some cyclopean cavern, an ideal home of death and desolation. But if the sight of the lake was repellent, a look into the opposite direction was more interesting. For quite a distance down the slope the ground was covered with a thick layer of mud, stones and gravel. You could see where the water had made its path because everything had been swept to the ground. Trunks of immense trees apparently broken off at the roots were strewn about in reckless profusion. The farmer, who had been at the lake when the dam burst, described the incident somewhat in this manner: “At 2 o’clock in the afternoon of last Friday water began to run over the top of the dam, right there in the middle of the breastworks. Then at last everybody became alarmed. The top of the dam began to be washed away. Deeper and deeper grew the hole until 3 o’clock when the entire wall seemed to fall in. Tale of Eye-Witness. “It was an awful moment. I stood just 10 yards away from where the dam went. The entire wall which filled that immense hole you see before you tore itself loose and moved down into the meadows as a wagon on a greased track. It was terrible and I shall never forget it, no matter how long I may live. “First, when the ground got loose and the water shot through a narrow space in the wall, you could hear a hissing, whistling noise. The noise was very much like that which a dog will make when he has got a bone and you try to take it away from him. This noise increased, it became louder and louder, the hissing grew into a rumbling sound, then it became a road until it finally found its climax in the loud thunder of a wild storm. That roaring was something terrific. You could not hear your own voice. The water continued to rush through the opening for just about an hour and at 4 o’clock the lake was about as empty as we see if now.” The thought occurred to the writer at that time that he had never heard of an hour’s work the consequences of which had brought so much sorrow, grief and death as that hour’s labor of the waters from South Fork Lake. However, today everything is changed. A perfect transformation has taken place in South Fork Lake. Indeed, the lake is no more. Instead you find a flourishing village, laughing meadows, fertile fields and blooming orchards. Only the little creek still winds its twisting course along the depth of the valley. Scene a Revelation. To the visitor who had not been there for 25 years it was a revelation, in fact, he was scarcely able to realize that it was the same place where long ago those scenes of death and horror were in evidence everywhere. There is now situated in the bed of the former lake the village of St. Michael, the inhabitants of which are farmers, miners and storekeepers. The miners are employed at one of the coal shafts of the Windber White Coal Company, which shaft had been sunk some years ago near the bank of the old lake. Along the eastern slope of the lake front the Conemaugh and Windber Railroad has been built and heavy freight trains move over the scene where once the fishing and pleasure boats of the members of the South Fork Hunting and Fishing Club were rocking on the waters. The entire surroundings indicate progress and prosperity. The South Fork Club House is still standing, but its former palatial grandeur has somewhat disappeared. It now serves as a hostelry where travelers are hospitably and sumptuously entertained. The proprietor is himself a native of Johnstown who was a witness of the flood. When he was asked whether there were still any mementos about the place from the halcyon days of the summer settlers of long ago, he took the visitor into the yard and pointed to the moldering shape of an old racing scull. The Only Souvenir.
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“That is about the only souvenir we have got left,” he said. “It must have been a fine boat when it was new. Until a few year ago it was in pretty good shape; but as there is no water hereabouts, where we might have used it, it went to decay. I have been told by men who came up here when the club was in existence that this boat was called Alice, that name having been given it in honor of Alice Thaw, who afterwards became the Countess of Yarmouth. As a little girl, they say, she was often a guest here at the clubhouse.” The cottages adjoining the clubhouse are still standing and have been altered to suit the convenience of the miners who now occupy them. A walk to the dam showed the walls crumbling away and the ruins covered with Virginia creeper, ivy and evergreen. Across the lake the old Unger farm stands in the same spot, the only visible point where the tooth of time has apparently made no change. As far as the settlers in St. Michael are concerned they are a new generation, who speak of the flood as a traditional event in which they had no part and which has no interest for them. This finished the pilgrimage to the scenes of the Johnstown flood of long ago, and it now only remained, in a desire to bring the journey to a fitful end, to pay a visit to Grandview Cemetery in Johnstown, where in a special plot about the size of half an acre, you will find over 800 blank stone tablets, the mute and silent monuments of the unknown and unidentified dead, whose bodies were found after the waters subsided.
[SPECIAL TELEGRAM TO GAZETTE TIMES.] JOHNSTOWN, PA., May 30.—Sunday, May 31, being the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Johnstown flood, the day which each year recalls such painful memories to thousands of Johnstown people, will be marked by many pilgrimages to the Grandview Cemetery, where lie the remains of hundreds of victims of the deluge, among them 800 whose bodies were never identified. Reference to the flood and its lessons will be made in a number of churches, while special masses for the souls of the victims will be said in some Catholic churches. Following immediately after Memorial Day, when the graves of the soldiers are decorated, Flood Day witnesses cemeteries which are veritable gardens of flowers. There is hardly a grave that is not decorated in some manner and if the weather be fair, Sunday throngs will visit the burial places. In the great flood approximately 3,000 lives were lost. The exact number will never be known, owing to the fact that many bodies were carried miles down the stream, covered up and were never found. The property loss was about $10,000,000.
Twenty-five years ago Johnstown went through its baptism of flood and fire and so took its place as the scene of the most destructive disaster of the kind in the history of the United States. There have been more extensive floods and greater conflagrations, but nowhere in our country did the awful combination blot out so many lives, and to this day the Johnstown catastrophe stands alone in the peculiarity of its horror and the swiftness with which it and its people were engulfed. Even so, frightful as it was, when we look back and read of the manner in which the waters of South Fork Dam descended upon that community of 20,000 or more population the wonder is not that so many were lost, but that so many escaped. There was a great deal in connection with the Johnstown flood which can be recalled at this distance with pride—the fortitude of the survivors, the prompt assistance which poured in from all over the land, the staggering work of reclamation, the tremendous task of rehabilitation, etc. But not the least admirable was the spirit of the city’s stricken people as they set themselves to the formation of a new and larger city, more substantial, progressive and attractive, on the ruins of the old. Annexing suburbs, establishing a better government, and erecting modern buildings as rapidly as means would afford, the Johnstown of today has reason to be proud of the achievements a quarter of a century has witnessed. In 1890, the year following the disaster, the city had but 21,805 population and in size was the thirteenth incorporated place in Pennsylvania. In 1910, it had moved up to eighth position with 55,482. Among cities of the third class only Reading, Wilkes-Barre, Erie and Harrisburg exceeded it. As for the present it is said that Johnstown during the period of depression which has been affecting other centers of Western Pennsylvania has been almost immune, thanks to local industrial necessities which have made it possible to keep men at work. That aside, however, the pluck and enterprise of Johnstown, which withstood so severe a test in 1889, constitute an asset which may be counted upon in fair weather or foul and contain the promise of continued growth and prosperity.
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By ERASMUS WILSON. Twenty-five years ago today the site of Johnstown was a swirling lake covered with wreckage consisting of houses twisted and torn, railroad cars, freight and passenger, tumbled into the fearful mass. Had this been the worst it would have been bad enough in all conscience, but it was not. Mixed in with this mass of wreckage were thousands of human bodies ranging from that of the newly- born infant to the centenarian, rich and poor, good and bad, all blended in one common grave. It was a most unusual sight; indeed, the likes of it had never been seen in this country before, nor hardly in the world since the Noachian days. So remarkable was it, so unparalleled, that is commanded the immediate attention of the civilized world and appealed to the hearts of all humankind. Like a Pall. The news fell upon this city like a great, dark pall. The whirling wheels of business stopped dead for the instant, and then turned but slowly. The people were simply stunned and unable to awaken from what seemed a horrible dream or dreadful nightmare. The first note that seemed to arouse and hold the attention was the call for relief. The people would have brought things of every sort had a general call been sent out. Fortunately, cooler heads had seen the danger of such a call. It having been late on Friday afternoon that the news was first received, very little could be gotten over the wires, and this had to be carried for several miles to the nearest point of telegraphic communication, so not much could be done in the way of providing relief until the next morning. The railroads were besieged for transportation by those curious to see, as well as by those desirous of hearing from their homes or friends. The latter were given the preference, but no assurance was given that they would be able to get nearer than several miles. Many took the chance, and not a few of the curious were sorry before they got within sight of the terrible lake. A Sorry Sabbath. The flood came on the afternoon of Friday, May 31, 1889, and all day Saturday the people inside of the circle of death were trying to get into communication with the outside world, while those on the outside were frantically striving to get in touch with those inside. When the Sabbath came, clear and bright, the birds sang cheerily, but no church bell rang, no troops of children flocked to Sunday school, nor long lines of people bound to church. The only church left standing in the flooded district was the new Methodist Episcopal, strongly built of stone. Its doors were open, but the interior was filled with mud and general debris. The pastor and his family had taken refuge in the tower where they patiently awaited death. Thanks to the solidity of the building, it withstood the first wild rush of the waters, and then it became a lodging place for railroad cars, drifting houses and drowning people. So wild and noisy was the flood that the cries of the unfortunates could not be heard. Helping Hands. Saturday afternoon found people flocking in over the hills, and the railroads were able to send trains as far as Sang Hollow, from which point supplies were being carried to the needy in the city. Strange as it may seem there was no cry for food or other help. The people were simply shocked into insensibility. Even those whose families had been destroyed appeared dazed rather than heart-broken, wandering here and there looking at the destruction. The scene of this terrible destruction of life is now the site of the bustling business center of Johnstown.
Stories of the Johnstown flood were rehearsed last night at the annual dinner of the Johnstown Flood Correspondents’ Association in the Schenley Hotel. Each of the 15 men at the reunion had some narration of mutual interest to offer, many of them embodying lucid descriptions of the disaster. C. S. Howell, president of the organization, was toastmaster. He covered the flood for the old Pittsburgh Times. Fred J. Heinz, who went to the scene of the catastrophe as chairman of the Bureaus of Transportation and Information, told how the Pennsylvania and Baltimore and Ohio railroads transported the disabled flood sufferers from the flood zone to outside points, and how the meager telegraphic facilities were used to answer the hundreds of anxious queries from relatives.
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According to the figures of Mr. Heinz, which he said had never been published before, there were 1,400 people borne away from the stricken town over the two railroads. Of this number, 802 sought refuge in Pittsburgh, while some went as far as Philadelphia and Chicago. It was reported last night that 34 of the association’s members have died since it was organized 25 years ago during the inundation. Some of them were among the best-known newspapermen of New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Cleveland and Pittsburgh. The following members were on hand last night: …
Milton Fritz Sr., 82, one of the survivors of the Johnstown flood disaster of May 31, 1889, will be buried this afternoon in Allegheny County Memorial Park, following funeral services in his home at 427 Trenton avenue, Wilkinsburg, at 2 o’clock. Mr. Fritz who fled to the hills 50 years ago when the South Fork dam broke, died Saturday in his home. A descendant of John Hancock, signer of the Declaration of Independence, he was an American Railway Express messenger at the time of the disaster. He sealed his car which was swept away by the flood, and raced toward higher ground when the wall of water swept down on Johnstown. Later he found the car and salvaged the contents. Mr. Fritz leaves three daughters …, two sons ..., and five grandchildren.
JOHNSTOWN, Pa., May 29. (AP) – Twice laid waste and twice rebuilt, this historic flood city today began the observance of the fiftieth anniversary of one of the nation’s worst peace-time disasters, the first Johnstown flood. Hundreds of residents of the Conemaugh Valley—some who remembered the horror of that terrible afternoon of May 31, 1889—today made their way 18 miles up the Conemaugh Valley to the crumbling remnants of the old South Fork dam. Bands of veterans organizations played at the memorial service and Mayor Daniel J. Shields spoke of “The Johnstown floods—1889 and 1936.” The ceremony continued until 4:10 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time) the time that historians say the flood of ’89 roared down through the narrow Conemaugh Valley. Johnstown already was flooded from days of incessant rains on May 31, 1889 when the South Fork dam broke with sounds “like ceaseless peals of thunder.” A wall of water estimated by Jacob Reese, a Pittsburgh steel man, at 16,000,000 tons, leaped irresistibly down the V-shaped valley, crushing or catching up and wrecking all before it. It struck first the village of South Fork, then Mineral Point, Conemaugh, Woodvale, Johnstown and its suburbs, Cambria City and Conemaugh borough. One of the few works of man that could withstand this barrage of water was the stone bridge of the Pennsylvania Railroad in Johnstown. The wreckage piled up against it, trapping scores of survivors. Then the whole mass caught fire. Many perished in the flames. Others were forced to leap back into the flood to drown. Wednesday, the fiftieth anniversary of the flood, Catholic churches of the city will hold masses for the more than 2,200 who perished. Of these, 777 were buried in the famous “Unknown Plot” in Grandview Cemetery. Protestant churches will hold a union service Wednesday at 4:10 p.m., when the Reverend Dr. Wilson T. M. Beale of Philadelphia will speak. Mr. Beale’s father, the late Reverend David J. Beale was pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Johnstown at the time of the 1889 flood. Throughout the city Wednesday, business will cease in silent tribute at 4:10 p.m.
(FROM POST-GAZETTE FILES.) Johnstown flood, 50 years ago; 2,209 lives lost. Pictures of the flood printed in The Post “are from photographs taken by A. R. Need, a well-known young photographer of Allegheny City.” A Post reporter was told by a member of the Johnstown safety committee: “For God’s sake tell them at Pittsburgh to stop the rush of sight-seers to this stricken locality.” (Pittsburgh fire chiefs make similar pleas.)"
This afternoon, at 4:10 p.m., it will be 100 years to the minute since a 70-foot wall of water charged down the valley of the Little Conemaugh River and changed the lives of Elsie Frum and Frank Shomo forever. Frum, 106, and Shomo, 100, were the lucky. They are the last survivors of the great flood that
298 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 killed 2,209 other residents of Johnstown on May 31, 1889, and will be the guests of honor at the annual Survivors’ Banquet tonight. Page 8.
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (AP) – This city prepared yesterday to mark the centennial of its darkest and yet its most famous day, the great flood of May 31, 1889, that took 2,209 lives. A parade with more than 70 marching bands, Army cannon salutes, searchlights, and a nighttime candlelight pageant to remember the dead were scheduled in downtown Johnstown yesterday, the eve of the flood centennial. The 100th anniversary of the flood is to be commemorated today with several events in Johnstown and in nearby South Fork, the site of the earthen dam which collapsed and caused the flood. Floodwaters from Lake Conemaugh, a private resort created by wealthy industrialists of the late 1800s, swept 14 miles down the Little Conemaugh River Valley in less than an hour after several days of rains. The wall of water, up to 70 feet high at some points and pushing tons of debris, slammed into Johnstown’s homes and factories at 4:10 p.m., destroying much of the city of about 10,000 people in about 10 minutes. The torrent’s energy was spent against the Pennsylvania Railroad’s stone bridge, which still stands across the Conemaugh River just below downtown. A huge pile of debris containing scores of survivors collected at the bridge and caught fire, causing more deaths. The Johnstown flood was the nation’s second-worst natural disaster. A tidal wave killed about 5,000 people at Galveston, Texas, in 1900. “The city of Johnstown could very well have died that day, but the people rallied, rebounded and rebuilt through courage, compassion and resourcefulness,” Gov. Casey said in remarks prepared for delivery last night. “Johnstown refused to die that day and ever since … nobody can write Johnstown off,” he said. As part of today’s observance, a $5 million National Park Service visitors center is scheduled to be opened near the north side of the former South Fork Dam. The visitors center is built in a replica of a barn that stood beside the dam 100 years ago and contains displays of the area, a scenic view of the former lakebed and the recorded recollections of the late Victor Heiser, who clung to the roof of his barn as it was swept away with the wreckage of the city. This afternoon, the Johnstown Flood Museum, renovated at a cost of more than $4 million in the former Carnegie Library downtown, is to be reopened with new photographs, relics and exhibits, including a 24-foot-long illuminated display map of the flood’s course. A memorial is scheduled for after 4 p.m. at Point Stadium near the stone bridge and will include the lighting of a torch, the ringing of church bells, sirens, brief fireworks and a citywide moment of silence."
The last known survivors of the Johnstown Flood of 1889, Frank Shomo, 100, and Elsie Frum, 106, got together at a centennial banquet in Johnstown yesterday. Thousands of residents and visitors attended a day of dedications, rededications and other events commemorating the flood, in which 2,209 lives were lost. It was the first and worst of three major floods to devastate this city in the last 100 years. Others occurred in 1936 and 1977.
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APPENDIX B
I hypothesized (H3) that empathic language should decrease from initial coverage to coverage at later time points. As previously noted, using LIWC to determine empathy in language requires some inference from various data, specifically the usage of emotion words, personal pronouns, social processes and present tense. To examine the usage of emotion words, I completed a supplementary analysis based on subcategories.
Across all time points, LIWC found the greatest use of positive emotion words and emotion words overall in the Lessons subcategory, closely followed by
Commemorations and Relief. The greatest use of negative emotion words was in the
Action subcategory, closely followed by SFFHC. The least usage of emotion words and negative emotion words was in Commemorations, while the least usage of positive emotion was in Action (Table 35, Figure 19).
Table 36
Affective Processes By Subcategory, 1889-1989
Positive emotion (%) Negative emotion (%) Action 1.53 2.28 Commemorations 2.03 1.52 Economic 1.89 1.85 Lessons 2.33 1.99 Relief 2.03 1.93 Scene 1.77 2.15 SFFHC 1.69 2.24 Survivors 1.70 2.17 Transportation 1.64 1.97 Victims 1.69 2.14
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Figure 19
Affective Processes By Subcategory, 1889-1989
Based on these findings alone, one might expect greatest empathy to be conveyed through the subcategories with the highest usage of emotion words, namely, Lessons and Relief. But because we know the categories changed over time,
I broke down this examination into each time point.
1889. An interesting point to make about 1889 is that it had a subcategory not represented in any of the other time points: a miscellaneous subcategory I termed
“Uncategorized” because these articles did not fit within any of the storylines being established at the time. By later time points, the event had been so consolidated and solidified into these set storylines that no more stories outside those confines were
301 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 found. So, this categorization presented a novel opportunity to study that consolidation process and examine those storylines in absentia, one might say.
In 1889, the greatest use of positive emotion was in the Commemorations subcategory, followed by Lessons, Uncategorized and Relief (Table 36, Figure 20).
The greatest use of negative emotion was in Commemorations, followed by
Uncategorized, Lessons and SFFHC. The greatest uses of emotion words overall were in the subcategories Commemorations, Lessons and Uncategorized. The subcategories that used the lowest percentage of emotion words overall were
Transportation and Economic, the latter of which also represented the least usage of negative emotion words, while the least usage of positive emotion words was in the
Action subcategory.
We see here that as the story was being initially written, there was a great deal of negative emotion conveyed, which trumps the positive emotion in all categories except Commemorations, which was equal; Lessons, which was nearly equal; and
Relief, also nearly equal, but slightly more positive to highlight the work happening to help those who were suffering. The great amount of emotional language used in the
Uncategorized texts suggests there was an accordingly great deal of emotion surrounding the event, which was not yet consolidated into one of these storylines.
1890. By the first anniversary, it seems the event had been successfully consolidated into a historical narrative, as evidenced by the disappearance of the
Uncategorized subcategory (Table 37, Figure 21). Also, as previously noted, SFFHC was notably absent from coverage in both 1890 and 1939.
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Table 37
Affective Processes By Subcategory, 1889
Positive emotion (%) Negative emotion (%) Action 1.51 2.38 Commemorations 3.45 3.45 Economic 1.80 1.92 Lessons 2.50 2.60 Relief 2.00 1.95 Scene 1.74 2.22 SFFHC 1.75 2.50 Uncategorized 2.01 3.05 Survivors 1.71 2.24 Transportation 1.56 2.07 Victims 1.65 2.22
Figure 20
Affective Processes By Subcategory, 1889
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Most immediately apparent here was the absence of the spikes in emotion
seen in the Commemoration and Lessons subcategories from 1889, which makes
sense. At the time of a disaster, people want to believe the losses will be remembered
and that some good can come from them – these are at the heart of those two
subcategories. A year later, there was less emotion about how the event would be remembered, because that had been settled.
There was an overall trend toward more positive emotion words by a nearly
2:1 ratio in many cases. But without those aforementioned spikes, the overall
percentage of emotion words used in coverage was strikingly similar between 1889
and 1890, averaging just under 4% of the words in the texts.
Of interest was the fact that among the categories showing the least total
percentage of emotion words were two categories I expected to contain the most empathic language: Survivors and Action. But perhaps, in light of the overall trend to paint the post-disaster progress in a more positive light, this makes sense as well.
Table 38
Affective Processes By Subcategory, 1890
Positive emotion (%) Negative emotion (%) Action 2.28 1.41 Commemorations 2.55 1.30 Economic 2.77 1.12 Lessons 2.77 1.27 Relief 2.57 1.15 Scene 2.62 1.24 Survivors 2.11 1.24 Transportation 2.62 1.21 Victims 2.46 1.29
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Figure 21
Affective Processes By Subcategory, 1890
1914. By the 25th anniversary, overall emotion word usage dropped significantly, with positive emotions and negative emotions each averaging around
1.5% of the words in the texts in most categories, adding up to a total emotion word usage that hovers around 3% (Table 38, Figure 22). But spikes of emotion – both negative and positive – emerged in the Relief and Economic subcategories. Again, this seems to make sense. Then 25 years removed from a major disaster, coverage no longer needed to be falsely optimistic; it could emphasize both how bad it was
(negative emotion) and how successfully the recovery was implemented (positive emotion). Thus, we also saw the return in 1914 of the SFFHC categorization, although even that was nearly even in terms of positive and negative emotion word percentage. To me, this signified a change in generation, where the story was being
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retold as a way to reintroduce it to a new audience. The emotionality had dulled over
the years.
But contrary to what I would expect in telling an old story to a new audience,
it was not Action that was most emotion-driven, nor even the stories of Survivors or
Victims. Instead, it seemed to be the categories that focused on the bigger-picture impacts, the economic costs of the disaster and its recovery. Therefore, the categories with the greatest usage of negative emotion words were Economic and Relief. Those were also, however, the categories with the greatest usage of positive emotion words, showing that the Johnstown area overcame the enormous effects of the flood and became a thriving center of business.
This refocusing away from the person-focused categories may have played a key role in gradual fade of empathic language seen in Johnstown coverage.
1939. At the 50th anniversary, the story had almost vanished. Emotionality in language had bottomed out, totalling just about 2% of all the words in the texts (Table
39, Figure 23). While negative emotion was, on the whole, roughly even with the average from 1914, positive emotion was almost nonexistent. Considering that the story was being presented to an audience in the midst of the Depression, with World
War II just around the corner, the overwhelmingly negative tone – especially focused on infrastructure (the Transportation subcategory) – makes sense.
Of the original 10 storylines, only half were still present in coverage, primarily those used to tell the most basic aspects of the story: Action shared what happened, Survivors and Victims shared who it happened to, Transportation shared the effects of the disaster, and Commemoration recognized the anniversary. The
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Relief and Economic categories, which had been used to emphasize the area’s success
25 years earlier, had died out.
Table 39
Affective Processes By Subcategory, 1914
Positive emotion (%) Negative emotion (%) Action 1.57 1.67 Commemorations 1.60 1.79 Economic 2.14 3.74 Lessons 1.59 1.57 Relief 2.37 3.66 Scene 1.57 1.67 SFFHC 1.47 1.32 Survivors 1.53 1.47 Transportation 1.54 1.66 Victims 1.66 1.85
Figure 22
Affective Processes By Subcategory, 1914
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Table 40
Affective Processes By Subcategory, 1939
Positive emotion (%) Negative emotion (%) Action 0.41 1.62 Commemorations 0.69 1.38 Survivors 0.41 1.62 Transportation 0.00 2.31 Victims 0.69 1.38
Figure 23
Affective Processes By Subcategory, 1939
1989. By the centennial, however, the dire cultural situation of five decades earlier had passed. The use of negative emotion word, which had faded only slightly since 1914, still held steady, while the use of positive emotion words rebounded to the levels of 75 years before (Table 40, Figure 24). Some emotionality returned to the story through a renewed focus in the Commemoration, Survivors and Victims
308 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021 subcategories. The total of emotion words used still fell below 3% of the words in the texts, but considering that, even a century earlier, emotion words had only averaged roughly 4%, the decline was not as overt as it seemed at other time points.
Meanwhile, the reintroduction of the Lessons and SFFHC subcategories signaled a search for meaning, to place responsibility where it was due and take steps to ensure a disaster of such magnitude never happened again. Taken together, the decline in emotionality of language over time lent itself to the decline in empathy and suggested at least partial support for the hypothesis that empathic language declined over time.
Table 41
Affective Processes By Subcategory, 1989
Positive emotion (%) Negative emotion (%) Action 1.85 0.92 Commemorations 1.62 1.30 Lessons 1.54 0.88 SFFHC 1.54 0.88 Survivors 1.62 1.30 Victims 1.62 1.30
309 Texas Tech University, Glenys Young, May 2021
Figure 24
Affective Processes By Subcategory, 1989
310