Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-06-04
RUIN AND DESOLATION
Thousands Dead and Thou
sands Homeless.
IDENTIFYING THE BODIES,
Latest Details OF the Flood
and Fire.
A PESTILENCE FEARED.
Prep arations for Burying the Bodies
Being Pushed.

Being Pushed.
TEN THOUSAND DEAD AND TwHNTI THOUSAND
HOMELESS IN THE coNHNAuoH vAILHY-ENER-
aETIc WORK BEING DONE UNDER GEN. HAST
mos DIRECTION, THOUGH MANY MEN ARE tx
HAusrED FROM ovER.woRK.
JoHNsrowN, Pa, June 4, a.m.-Delay il no
longer possible. The decomposed corpses will
undoubtedly breed pestilence II longer exposed
to the air. At the first break of dawn this
morning orders were issued to push prepara-
tions for the gigantic burial with all possible
speed. Where there is no reasonable hope for
Identification the bodies will be buried at once.
1t is probable that by evening there will be at
least 5000 new graves in the valley, many Of
which will be unmarked for all time. The sit
uation this morning 10
MORE HEARTRENp1Na THAN EVER.
Every hour reveals new horrors Of the disas-
ter. The total number Of dead cannot be less
than 10000, and may be many more. Not one
per cent Of the buildings in the valley, from the
reservoir to Sang Hollow, are left standing,
and the only ones tenantable are the few strag-
Cling residences high up ON the hill side. To-
day the fear Of pestiIence has increased the hor-
ror OF the situation. The stencil from the
putrefying bodies awaiting burial and those
lying partially burned in the debris is terrible.
Many men who have worked heroically for the
past forty-eight hours have absolutely given
out. The sight and smell of the remains have
made them sick. Heroic efforts are being put
forth to bury the bodies as fast as possible.
Gen. Hastings has distinguished himself by
bringing order out Of chaos, and the work is
now progressing systematically. Every hour
brings to light new stories Of hair-breadth es-
capes, heroic deeds and horrible fatalities. In
one short hour there were more tragic scenes
than ordinarily occur in century.
TEN THOUSAND DEAD AND TWENTY THOUSAND
HOMELESS.
Summing the whole situation up il may be
said that at least ten thousand persons are dead
and twenty thousand are homeless and will be
dependent on charity for weeks. Enough pro-
visions are at hand for the present, but more
will be needed soon. The greatest difficulty is
in finding shelter for the homeless at night,
but owing to the excellent arrangements being
perfected it is hoped that actual suffering will
soon be at an end It is now definitely settled
that only about four lives were lost on the
train that left Pittsburg Friday morning last.
lls
stated yesterday that in his opinion
only four passengers were lost. Said he:
"We were between Conemaugh and Johnstown
when the engineer saw the food coming He
gave US word, and we ran through the train
and told the passengers to run to the noun
tains for their lives, but the majority of them
thought it was only q wave and remained in
their cars while the trainmen ran to the noun
tains. When the food came it washed away
the car next to the smoking car and left the
others remaining. The people in the Pullman
car were ducked, but none Of them was other
wise injured The three or four passengers
who were lost were men, but 1 do not know
their Names" -Four young ladies who were on
the train were saved, but, owing to fright, were
unable to leave Prospect, where they were taken
until yesterday, when they were taken to Ebens-
burg.
SYSTEMATIC WORK OF RESCUE.
large force Of workmen is putting forth
all their time in the work of systematically res
cuing the bodies from among the ruins at the
railroad bridge. The fires are nearly extin-
guished but break out again at short intervals
When finally extinguished the work will pro-
gress rapidly. The bodies taken from the ruins
ognition is impossible on account of the horri-
BILE manner in which the flames have mutilated
them. The smell Of purifying and burned
flesh is terrible, and several of the workmen
have already been compelled to leave their
work on account Of sickness. With this condi-
ton of affairs taken into consideration alto
gether with the fact that work in the vicinity
of the bridge has been begun while the weather
becomes warmer, and a week or more must
elapse before the stupendous task is completed
THE AWFUL DANGERS OF AN EPIpEMIc
and horrors Of the situation are not pleasant to
contemplate.
party of gentlemen from the east arrived
this morning, coming across the mountains in
wagons. They report a terrible condition of
Affairs between this point and Harrisburg Not
train OF any kind is running ON the middle
division OF the Pennsylvania railroad, the
tracks have been washed out for long distances
In many places. and great many bridges are
gone entirely and will need extensive repairs
before they can be again used with safety.
kilograms were sent to various quarters this
morning asking that physicians be sent on at
once Those who have been on duty at the
hospital are actually worked out. They have
in the different towns, but have had frequent
calls from persons injured in the outlying dis
tricts.
NARROWING SCENES CONTINUE.
The narrowing scenes which have been iden-
tilted with the morgue still continue there and
grow, if anything, more intense as the days go
on. In the Pickering rays of light which eman-
ated from smoked lanterns last night could be
seen the figures OF the men who are doing all
they could to put the remains Of the dead in
condition for Identification a. rapidly ~ possi-
bic and attending to their wierd and sad duties.
The scene does not change materially at the
morgue. many Of the actors who have played
In it have played the last act, but instead Of
the curtain being dropped the awful tragedy
continues, the same scenes being contin-
uously re-enacted by different people. Eight
cen bodies were taken away last night by their
friends. The following Il . list Of those iden-
titled up to last reports:
John Riddle, MIRA James Fronheiser, Daisy
owings, Frank ". Wheat George unverdG-
sand, Jonathan NeCaslin, Charles Beck. A
very large woman, about $50 pounds, Il sup