The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1889-06-07
HUNDREDS DROWN.
A Horrible Calamity Befallsa a Town
in the Allegheny Noun.
tains.

0REENsBURo, pa Nay 3I-A report has
Just reached hero that the greatest portion
OF Johnstown has been flooded and hundreds
of lives lost At Blairsville Intersection q
reliable courier states that 1900 lives arc
lost Houses are floating about, and the
people who are fteo are panic
stricken and arc fleeing to the
mountains At point near New Florence.
eighty-tive persons have been seen floating
down the river on drift wood One report
comes thnt but two roofs of the houses In
Johns:own cau be seen. The Covetown and
the New Florence bridges have been
washed away, and all the buildings along
the Cone,naugh, between New Florence and
Johnstown have been carried away. The
railroad towers have been abandoned BY the
operators. The flood Ut Johnstown has re.
suited in an awful catastrophe. It is said
that the reservoir above the town broke
about O'Clock this evening, and the i'm
mense volume Of water rushed down to the
city. carrying withit
DEATH AND DEsTnlGrrSH
Houses with their occupants were swept
away and scores, probably hundreds, of peo-
pie were drowned. The latest reliable infor-
nation received from Johnstown comes
through Fennsylvanis railroad officials,
who aver that over two hundred
dead bodies have been counted
floating down stream at Jobnstown alone,
while along the line many additional lives
have been lost 1t ia Inserted that there ure
but two houses In Johnstown proper entirely
above the water line Johnstown is COM
pletely submerged and tho loss of life in in
estimable. Houses are going down
the river by the dozens. and people can
be seen cl'nging TO the roofs
At Cakevillc. village of several hundred: in
habitants, the houses are almost entirely
covered, and great many dwellings, ut
Blairsville IRE submerged Scarcely dwell
ing in tho vicinity of Sang Hollow Gun be
seen. The bridges ut Bolivar and Ninevah,
it is reported. have given away and that at
Salisbury 1t is feared
WILL. DE CARRIED AWAY
People here who have friends In the flooded
district arc eagerly whiting TO: news at the
telegraph office. Great uneasiness prevails.
The river ut Lvermors IL rising, aud great
destruction will follow. The telegraph wires
are down absolutely for six or seven
miles below the immediate scene of the dis
aster, and being in OH unworkab shane for
three or four miles distant 1t was ar least
7:3O O'clock before nm accurate outline of
the effect of the tidal wave could be learn ed
The chief officials Of the Pit,sburg end
Of the main line OF the Pennsylvania
railroad received most uf their first
information from the signal tower ut
Sang Hollow, six miles west Of Johnstown.
A boy was rescued by men in the signal
tower Of the railroad company. His name
is unknown, but hc said that with his father,
mother, brother and two sisters he was
swertover the breas: of tho new stoue rail
road bridge at Johnstown; thut 1t capsized
few seconds later and they
WE'RE ALL DROWNED
so far rs he could tell Tho railroad opera
or offi cia'ly reports that before dark they
were able to count 10 persons clinging to
buildings, wreckngc, or drowned and float
ing in the current II this Information liz TO
be credited, the damage in tho town
proper must De in tho nature of q clean
sweep. As early as o'clock the alarm was
sent to Johnstown that there was danger
from tho DAM Tho railtoul officials were
catrt peoTft no1lr--c7;u 'LoWn' 10 piaces oI
safety on regular trains aud hastily i'm
provised rescuing trains Sunt. Pit
cairn, of the Western division Of the
Pennsylvania rnilroad, was on his way to
South Fork, and was notified of impending
trouble. Supt. Pitcairn promptly took
charge of the railroad and of the work. and
began the double duty Of clearing trucks md
sending oil possible mid to those in danger.
His prompt work und intelligent comprehen-
sion of the danger and his strenuous efforts
to spread the alarm no doubt