Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1889-06-05


| dwelling-houses and business blocks
stood forty-eight hours ago, ruin and
| desolation now reign supreme. Prob
| ablv 500 houses have been swept from
| the face of the earth as completely as if
| they had never been erected. Main
Street from end to end is piled
fifteen and twenty feet high with
the debris. and in some in
stances it is as high as the roofs
of the houses. This great mass of
| wreckage fills the street from curb to
curb, and frequently has crushed the
| fronts of buildings in and filled the
| calamity. There is probably not man
in the place who can give any reliable
estimate of the number of houses that
| have been swept away. City Solicitor
Kuhn, who should be very good author
| ity in this matter, places the number at
| 1900. From the WOODEN mill above
the island to the bridge, a distance of
probably two miles, strip of territory
nearly half mile in width has been
swept clean. Not stick of timber or
one brick on top of another being left
to tell the story. It is the most COM
plete wreck that imagination could por-
tray. All day long men, women and
children were plodding about the DESC
late waste trying in vain to locate
| the boundaries of their former
homes. Nothing but wide expanse
of mud, ornamented here and there
with heaps of dritt-wood. remained,
however, for their contemplation. Tt
is safe to say that every house in the city
that was not located well up on the hill
sides was either swept completely away,
or wrecked so badly that rebuilding will
he absolute necessary. These losses,
however, are as nothing compared to the
trighttul sacrifice of precious human
lives to be seen on every hand.
Yesterdays estimates of the loss of
life do not seem to be exaggerated. Six
hundred bodies are now lying in Johns
town, and large number have already
been buried. Four immense relief
trains arrived last night, and the sur
vivors are being we'll cared for. A por-
ton of the police force of Pittsburg
and Allegheny are on duty and
better order is maintained than
prevailed yesterday. There is an alb
sence of pillaging. Communication has
been restored between Cambria City
and Johnstown by foot bridge. The
work of repairing the tracks between
Sang Hollow and YOUNGSTOWN is going on
rapidly, and, trains will probably be run
ming by Tomorrow morning. Not less
than 1000 strangers are here.
Only meager details of the buildings
that were swept away can be conveyed
at this time. In the Second Ward of
YOUNGSTOWN there were 1900 houses:
now there are seven standing. There
are seven wards in the city and the
Second is the average. The municipal
building, two-storv brick, is RACED; SO
| is the post-offce, scattering mail from
Johnstown to New Orleans.
| The number of dead is hourly aug
menting. Where it will end no one can
tell. The reports from outside points
are also appalling; up TO o'clock to-
| Nineveh, and there is a report that 200
more have been discovered half buried
in the mud on an island between New
| Florence and the place named. At
the Fourth Ward school house over
| 100 victims have been laid out for
| Identification. In many cases they have
been recognized, while in many more
the tabs bear the simple word, Gun
known" Shocking sights have become
SO common that they have lost their
terrors, and the finding of body here
and there attracts little or no attention
from the great crowds that constantly
accessible places.
AS this is being written, hundreds
and hundreds OF homeless men, women
and children are sleeping on the hill
| sides under tents that were sent on from
Fittsburg and other places about the
| country.
The Pennsylvania road has succeeded
in getting track through the city, and
provisions enough to meet all immedi-
ate wants have arrived.
A BOY named Charles Luther stood on
an adjacent hill and witnessed the de-
struction of the city. He says he heard
a grinding noise far up the valley, and,
looking up, he could see a dark line
moving slowly toward him. He saw
that it was houses. On they came like
the hand of giant clearing off his table.
High in the air would be tossed a log
or beam, which fell back with q
crash. Down the valley it moved
sedately and across the little mountain
| city. For ten minutes nothing but NOV
ing houses was seen and then the waters
came with roar and rush. This
| lasted for two hours and then it began
TO flow more steadily. The piIlaging of
the houses in Johnstown. is some
thing awful to contemplate and de-
scribe. 1t makes one feel almost
ashamed to cali himself a man
and know that others who bear the
same name have converted themselves
into human vultures, preying on the
dead. Men are carrying shotguns and
revolvers and woe betide the stranger
who looks even suspiciously at any arti-
Gle. Goods of great value were being
sold in town to-day TOR drink of whis-
ky.
| The schoolhouse has been converted
| into morgue, and the dead are being
buried from this place. A hospital has
been opened near by, and it is full of
| patients.
The climax Of horror is reached in
news received from along the track of
the now receding flood; where
bands of desperate and degraded
men have been discovered search
ing the bodies of the dead for
money and jewelry. Three of the
miscreants were shot when caught in
the act, another was hanged by an in
furiated mob, and three others driven
into tie river and drowned. It is
charged that fingers and ears were de-
liberately cut from the bodies OF women
for jewelry.