The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-06-06
CLEARING AWAY THE DEBRIS.
1t Would Take 10000 Men to do the
Work in Thirty Days.

Work in Thirty Days.
JoHNsTowN, June 5, s P. M.-The enor-
nifty Of the devastation wrought by the
Conemaugh flood is becoming more and
more apparent with every effort of the
laborers to resolve order out of chaos. Over
100 men have been engaged all day in an
effort to clear new passage from Death
BRIDGE" upward through the sea of debris
that blocks the Conemaugh for nearly half
mile. Every ingenuity known to man
has been resorted to by this crew. The
giant power of dynamite was brought
into requisition, aud at frequent in-
tervals the roar of explosions
reverberated through the valley, and sticks,
stones and logs would fall4igh in the air
Gradually few of the heaviest timbers
were demolished, and the fragments per-
mitted to float downward through the
center arch. At nightfall, however, the
clear space above the bridge did not exceed
an area of go feet in length by 40 feet in
width. When one reflects that fully
twenty-five acres are to be cleared in this
way, the task ahead seems an intermible
one. But there is no royal road. and if the
hundreds or thousands of bodies beneath
these blackened ruins are to be recovered
for christian burial the labors of to-day
must be continued with increased vigor.
USE OF THE TORCH.
There are many conservative minds that
recommend the use of the torch in this
work of clearing the river, but they are not
among the sufferers, and when such
counsels are heard by wives. children.
sisters or brothers of those who rest beneath
this sea of fotsam and zetsam, the sugges-
tion of cremation meets with objections. 1t
is sonly in Difference to the unreasoning
mandate of grief that the Herculean labor
of clearing the river by means Of dynamite
and derrick is persisted in. There is no hope
in calmer minds that this task can be pur-
sued to the end. The progress of to-day is
hardly discernable, and before two
more days have elapsed there is little
doubt that the emanation from the putrid
mass will have become SO frightful as TO
drive the hardest workman from the scene
Until that time arrives, however, there is
no hope that this grief-stricken people will
abandon the cherished hope of again gazing
upon the forms of the loved ones, whose
lives went out in the fire and food of Cone
maugh. The pleadings of sanitarians and
the logic of the engineer alike, fail to find
an echo in the minds of the grieving and
afflicted, but in few more days the sterner
logic of nature will assert itself, ard in the
face Of the impossibility of the task, crema-
tion will become a christian duty
TENTS WHERE STORES STOOD.
Where the principal stores stood last
Friday are pitched one thousand tents, and
before tomorrow night this number will
probably be doubled. Under this shelter
are accommodated the members of the mill
tia and the thousands of workmen who are
trying to clear the streets of the wrecked
city. Over 5000 men are thus employed in
Johnstown proper, 1,500 of these being
regular street hands, employed by con-
tractors Booth q Flynn, of Pitts
burg, the others being volunteers. Mr..
Flynn in an interview told of the work that
has to be done, and the contractors esti-
mates show more than anything the chaotic
condition of this city. sit will take 1000
men thirty days to clear the ground so that
the streets are passable and the work of re-
building can begin," said he, land am at a
loss to know how the work is to be done.
This enthusiasm will soon die out, and the
volunteers will want to return home. 1t
would take all summer for my men alone to
do the work that is necessary.
GOOD WORK BY VOLUNTEERS.
The volunteers are doing noble work.
Nearly every town in West Pennsylvania is
represented by from ten to 100 men, and
many towns in Ohio and New York have
also furnished their quota of laborers.
These volunteers are working with will,
but before the end OF the week they will
want to return home. Men who come here
will be paid 50 day and board. All labor
ers who have been toiling with wreckage
are quartered tonight, some in barns and
others in the tents above referred TO.
When supper was ready the long pine tables
were crowded with men. Stoves were
erected in the open air and coal fires heated
gallons of coffee Coffee, bread and cheese
was the fare tonight, but more substantial
rations will be given out tomorrow.