The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1889-06-08

| CaAdhIlN. 1u6r6 Is plODaDlN not a 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
| lty In this matter, places the number at
| l,5oO. From the woolen mill above
| the island to the bridge, a distance of
| probably two miles, q strip of TERRITORY
nearly a half mile in width has been
| swept clean. Not stick of timbeS or
| one brick on top of another being left
TO tell the story. 1t is the most COM
/ plete wreck that imagination could por-
| tray. All day long men, women and
| children were ploddlng about the DESC
| late waste trying IN vain to locate
! the boundaries of their former
| homes. Nothing but vide expanse
OF mud, ornamental here and there
with heaps OF drilt-wood. remained,
however, Tor their contemplation. 1t
IS s4ie TO say that every house in the city
n i We not located well up on he hili-
sues was either swept completely away,
| cr wrecked so badly that rebuilding Will
! 70 absolute necessary. These losses,
hoWIY r, are as nothinScompared TO the
| irightiul sacrifice of precious human
AEes 10 be seen on every hand.
Yesterdays estimates OF the loss of
| lte do not seem TO be exaggerated. Six
| hundred bodies are now living in Johns
town, and large number have already
been buried. -Four immense relief
trains arrived last night, and the sur
| vlvors are being well cared for. por-
uon OF the police force of Pittsburg
ana Allegheny are on duty and
| better order is maintained than
/ prevailed yesterday. There is an ab-
sence of pilIaging. Communication has
been restored between Cambria City
and Johnstown by foot bridge. The
work OF repairing the tracks between
Sang Hollow and Johnstown is going on
| rapidly, and trains will probably be run
ning 10y 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
Johnstown there were l,S00 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 razed; so
| IS the pOst-ofhce, scattering mail from
Johnstown to New Orleans.
The number of dead is hourly aug
mentng. Where it viii end no one can
tell. The reports from outside points
are also appalling; up TO O'Clock to-
night $50 bodies had been embalmed at
/ more have been discovered half buried
I III 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, "Un-
! 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
line the river banks and crowd all other
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
| Plttsburg and other places about the
/ country.
The Pennsylvania road has succeeded
in getting track through the city, and
! provisions enough to meet all imnedi-
ate wants have arrived.
A boy named Charles Luther stood on
| an adjacent hill and Witnt 'sed the de-
struction Of the city. He saws he heard
! a grinding noise far up lie valley. and
looking up, he could 3 a dark line
! moving slowly toward N. He saw
I
/ the hand OFT giant clearing, f his table.
High in the ar woulo he .Jssed a log
| or beam, which fell pack with a
! 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 a roar and a rush This
lasted for two hours and then it began
| 10 flow more steadily. The pillagIng Of
| the houses in JOhns.oRn is some
/ thing awful to contemplate and de-
! scribe. 1t makes one feel almost
| ashamed TO call himself a man
| and know that others who bear the
| same name have converted themselves
| into human vultuTes, preying on the
| dead. Men are carrying shotguns and
revolvers and woe betide the stranger
! who looks even suspiciously at anv arti-
| Gle. Goods Of great value were being
sold in town to-day Tor a 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 .or
money and jewelry. Three of the
| riscreants were shot when caught in
the act, another was hanged by ca in
| furiated mob, and three others driven
| into the river and drowned. II is
| charged that fingers and ears were de-
| liberately cut from the bodies of women
| for iewelry
JoHNsTowN, Pa, June 3.-The devel-
| opments of every hour make 1t more
and more apparent th&t the exact num-
| Der Of lives lost IN the JoLnstoWn hOr-
/ ror viii never be known. All estimates
that have been made up to this time
are conservative and when all is known
will doubtless be found to have been
too small. Over l 600 bodies have been
| found since sunrise to-day, and the most
| sceptical cOucede that the remains Of
| thousands more rest beneath the
| debris above Johnstown bridge. The
| population OF JOhnstown, the surround
ing towns and the portion of the valley
| affected IL, or was, from 50,O0o to 5000.
| Associated Press representatives to-day
| interviewed numerous leading citizens
| of Johnstown. who survived the food,
| and the unanimous opinion was that
folly 80 per cent. OF the residents Of
| Johnstown and Cambria had been VIC
| TINS of the combined disasters of fire
and water. If this be true, the total loss
| of life in the valley cannot be less than
7,GCO or 5000, and NAV possibly be
much greater. OF thousands who
| we're devoured by the flames and whose
ashes rest beneath the smoking debris
above JohnstOwn bridge. 10 definite
information can ever le obtained. As
| little will he learned OF the hundreds
| who sank beneath the current and were
| borne down the Conemaugh only to be
| deposited hundreds of miles below, on
the banks and IN the driftgood Of the
Ohio. Probably one-third of the bodies
| viii never be recovered, and 1t will
| take a list of the missing, weeks hence,
| to enable even a cio8e estimate to
| be made Of the number Of lives
that were suufed out IN that
| brief hour. An estimate cannot be
accurate when 1t Is understood that IN
| many instances whole families and
| their relatives were swept away and
| toseDl a cOr0u1rst Grave bpnpath the