Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1889-06-07

JoHNsTowx, June "A sad and
gloomy sky, almost as Sad and gloomy as
the faces under it, shrcrded Jamestown
yesterday. Rain fell all day and adj.
ded 10 the miseries OF the wretched
people. The great plain where the
best part OF Johnstown used to stand
Is half covered with water. The few
sidewalks that escaped the flood were
few inches thick with black. sticky
mud, through which tramped steady
procession of people. Many women
are left utterly destitute. The tents
where people arc housed who cannot
ind other shelter were cold and cheer
less. The town seemed like a great
tomb. The people OF Johnstown have
supped so full of horrors that they go
about in a sort OF daze, and only half
realize their griefs.
As one goes through the streets he
hears the neighbors greeting each
other and then inquiring, without a
show OF feeling. how many each had
lost in his family. heard gray
haired man hail another across the
street with this question. Il lost five.
all are gone but Mary and l." was the
reply 81 am worse off than that"
said the first old man; 81 have ONLY
ny grandson left. Seven of us are
gone And SO they passed on with
out excitement. They and every one
| else had heard SO much of these melan-
choly conversations that somehow the
calamity had lost its significance to
them. They treat it exactly as if the
dead persons had gone away and were
coming back in week.
The melancholy work OF searching the
ruins for more boGies went on during
the day in the soaking rain. There
were little crowds of morbid curiosity
hunters AROUND each knot of working
men. Even those who came in from
the neighboring towns with an idea o.
the days strange and CHASTITY expert
ence did not care 10 be near after the,
had seen one body exhumcd.
There are hundreds and thousands
| OF these visitors from the country to-
day. The effect OF the dreadful things
they saw and heard was to drive most
| OF them to drink. BY noon the streets
were beginning to be full of boisterous
and noisy countrymen, who we've try
ing to counteract the strain on their
nerves with Unnatural excitement. One
half of the police force, seeing the un-
scemly sights that were likely to dis
grace the streets, drove out and kept
out all visitors who had not good reas
sons for their presence. After that.
and far into the evening all the streets
were filled with drunken stragglers
who were trying TO forget what they
had seen.
One thing that makes the work OF
searching for the bodies very slow is
the strange way that great masses of
objects were rolled into intricate masses
of rubbish. As the food came down
the valley of the South Fork it obliter-
ated the suburb of Woodville, where
not house was left nor a trace of one.
The material they had contained
rolled on down the valley, over and
over, grin ling it up to pulp and fin
ally leaving it against firm founda-
ton or on an eddy. These masses con-
tain human bodies, but it is slow work
to pick them to pieces. Inside of one
OF them to day saw remnants of a
carriage, the body of harnesse.i horse,
a bahy-cradle and doll, rocking-horse
a tress OF woman's hair, and a piece
OF beefsteak still hanging to hook.
The city is much better patrolleL
than it has been at any time since the
flood. Many members OF the police
force of Pittsburg came in and offered
their services. One OF them showed
his pluck by striking man whom he
saw robbing n trunk among the rub
bish. tremendous blow over the head
which knocked him senseless. Several
big trunks and safes lie in full sight
on the desolate plain in the lower part
OF the town but no one dared to touch
them after that.
There is but one street left in the
town. About 155 houses are standing
where once stood thousand. LOO
is the lowest estimate of the number of
lives lost from this town. But few
bodies were recovered.