Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1889-06-08
LATER DETAILS.

"0'A'
LATER DETAILS.
JOHNsTowN, Pa, June 4.-Death, ruin and
desolation are but meagre words as applied
to Johnstown proper Weeping men, women
and children are at all places looking for
their dead, FROM kerlhsvllle 10 New flor-
ence, bodies are being picked out every leW
minutes. The first tour that mas Deeh maze
through the southeast emu OF lhe Town was
made Monday morning. The school house
in the southest part OF the town is now
morgue andin 1t are notless than 25O bodies,
most OF Whom are undermined Inc stfeeuat
the loot OF tne hill IS patrollcd by cltlzehs
with loaded muskets. Without pass from
General Hastings it is impossible to get to
the morgue. About 800 men are working
here, clearing away the debris in order to
make a wagon road for the bodies 10 be
hauled away from the morgue' In front OF
the school house is posted llst OF the dead
In this part OF the town Is located the
~ Ca"'iic chusch aiiu convent. q re
marklbie story is told about tnese sisters.
The mother of the convent saw the wave
coming, which she says was mountain hlgh'
She at once called all the sisters INTO the
chapel. Here the dozen nuns began 10 pray
as they possibly never prayed before Tor
protection from the water "heh the water
struck the building 1t shattered the entire
structure and every room except the one
where the sisters knelt in prayer
The horrors of this part OF the town are
beyond pen picture ordescription. What is
Just now going on can be best felt when it
is told that string of men two miles long
are carving collins to the school house,
where the hundreds of dead are lying One
after another the dead bodies are identified,
and moment after moment dead men,
women and children are being taken into
the temporary morgue Three sisters VINO
were saved from the food yesterday morn
recognized the dead body of their mother
As if struck by an electric shock the three
fell TO the ground when they saw her re
mains Before their names could be
learned they were carried away to house
and physician summoned.
Around this part of the city the flood ap-
pears to have been the worst Trees fully
five feet at the butt were uprooted and are
lying in the places where the streets at one
time were. Here more bodies are belng
found than at any place else so far, but it is
thought the loss of life in the burning debris
must be terrible.
One would not suppose that two days and
three nights after the occurrence of so DIRE
a disaster people would be taken from the
ruins alive, yet two persons were rescued
one last night and one Monday morning
Both are still living, but one will probably
die \ woman was rescued Sunday pight
in the vast pile of debris above the bridge,
buried under the wreck of her house. She
was living on her side, and was almost dead
from hunger and exposure. She was taken
| to the hospital Her name is not known and
she is not likely to recover
From the banks many charred remains of
victims of flames and flood are plainly visi-
Bile as the receding waters give up their
dead. Beneath almost every log or black
ened beam glistening skull orthe blanchcd
remnants of ribs or limbs mark all that re
mains of lifes hopes and dreams
Since ten o'clock Sunday night the fire
engines have constantly played on the burn
ing ruins. At times the fire seems almost
extinguished, but fitful flames suddenly
break out afresh in some new quarter. The
sensation of the day was the united re
monstrance of the physicians against the
extinguishment of the burning wreck. They
maintain that hundreds if not thousands of
| lfeless and decaying bodies lie beneath this
mass of burning ruins. ut would be bet
ter,n they say, "to permit natures greatest
scavenger-the flamcs-to pursue his work
unmolested than to further decay the horde
of purifying bodies that lie beneath this
debris. There can be but one result Days
will clapse before the debris can be sufii-
GENTLY removed to permit the recovery OF
these bodies, and long ere that every corpse
will be putrid mass, yielding forth those
frightful emanations Of decaying human