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


Mutilated and Robbed.
The disaster caused by the breaking
of the dam which held in check the
waters of Conemaugh Lake, i'll the val
ley of the same name, as returns con-
tinue to come in, proves to have been
the most horrible in the number of
lives lost and the amount of property
destroyed which this country has ever
the great foods in China last year. Six
towns in the valley, filed with manu-
| featuring establishments in which iron
| mills predominated, and peopled with
| the families of those who depended
upon them for their bread, were swept
| out of existence before Johnstown, the
| scene of the most appalling destruction,
was reached.
It is now believed that first reports of
| the disaster were entirely too low in
| their estimates of the number of lives
lost. Dispatches ofthe 1st inst. estimate
the number of drowned at from 5000 to
700.
1t appears that ample warning of the
| danger which threatened the valley had
been given. For more than year past
| the great dam, 100 feet high, holding
| back the immense lake, was known to
| be unsafe, and many leaks have been
| reported from time to time. The mere
| repetition of the warnings caused them
| to be disregarded by the people, who
| paid the penalty of their carelessness
with their lives.
When the flood came it struck the
villages of South Fork, Mineral Point,
Woodyale and Conemaugh, sweeping
everything before it. Then came Cam
| bria City and YOUNGSTOWN. From that
moment till the next afternoon no news
| could be got from the latter place,
which was largest of those destroyed.
An Associated Press reporter was final
| ly able by means of basket swung on q
| cable such as is used by the ocean life
saving crews, to reach the site of Johns
| town, and for the first time the awful
| extent of the catastrophe was made
| known.
| The Hotel Hubert, brick structure,
had sixty five guests and sixty-three of
these were killed by the falling in of
the floors and walls. The Morell Lii
brary, the schoolhouse, Alma Hall, gen.
eral stores and offices of the iron com
pany and one other brick building, are
not been foated from their foundations
| or caved in.
1t is now known. at A. M, that two
passenger trains, two sections OF the day
| express on the Pennsylvania railroad,
| have been thrown into the maddened
| torrent and passengers drowned. These
trains were held at Johnstown from
| Friday at Ii A. NJ, and were laying on
siding between the Johnstown and
| Conemaugh stations. The awful torrent
came down the narrow defle between
the mountains, distance of nine miles
and with fall of 500 teet in that dis
tance, sweeping away. the villages
of South Fork, Mineral Point,
Woodville and Conemaugh, leaving but
| one building standing, a wooden mill,
where but an hour before had stood
| hundreds, and dashing on with the roar
| of cataract and the speed of the wind
upon the fair city at the foothills.
The plain in which but yesterday sat
Johnstown, sits IN the mountains like q
| jewel in queens diadem. The great
Gautier steel works sat in this plain and
the city below it, the railroad tracks
bounding it at the base of the mountains
| on the north.
Here is where the trains were stand
| ing when the tide Of water like cata-
| putt came down upon them with such
resistless force that the heavy trains.
locomotives, Pullmans and ALL were
overturned and swept down the torrent
and were lodged against the great stone
vladuct along with forty-one locomotives
| from the Johnstown round-house, the
heavy machinery and ponderous frame
work Of the Gautier mill, the accu-
mulated debris of more than 1000
| houses. furniture, bridges, lumber, drift
and human beings. The low arches of
the stone viaduct closed up immediate
| ly and the water backed over the entire
valley where the city stood to the depth
of what from the water works indicated
about SO feet. In the great sea thus
formed hundreds, perhaps thousands of
people were struggling for life. The
scene is one of the most narrowing pos
| sIble for the imagination of man to con-
celve. The accumulated drift gorged UP
at the viaduct to height of forty feet,
and then took fire from the upsetting of
| stoves or lamps.
| Some idea of the force of the flood
may be had from the statement made
by Mr.. Foley when he said freight cars,
loaded and empty, had been lifted
| from the track and carried distance
of several blocks and deposited in a
| graveyard in the outskirts of the town.
| where they were lying in a mass, mixed
| up with tombstones and monuments.
The most awful elimination of the
awful night was the roasting of 100 or
more persons in mid~food. The ruins
Of houses, buildings and other struc-
| lures swep5 against the new railroad
bridge ct Johnstown, and from an over
| turned stove or some such cause the
upper part of the wreckage caught
| fire. There were crowds of men,
| women and children on the wreck, and
their screams were soon added to
| the awful chorus of horror. They were
| literally roasted alive on the food.
soon after the fire burned itself out
| others were thrown against the mass.
There were some fifty people in sight
when the ruins suddenly parted, broke
up and were swept under the bridge in
| to pltchy darkness. Sixty-fve RATS
broke loose from their moorings near
| Wrightsvile and were carried
down the Susquehanna, involv-
| ing loss OF over $50 OOO.