The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-06-05

town, or remnants of it, to write with ac-
curacy, is one vast charnel house. The
scenes at the improvised morgue are be-
yond the power Of description in their
ghestliness. while the means and groans of
suffering survivors, tossing in agony with
| bruised and mangied bodies. or screaming IN
dellrium of fever as they issue from the
numerous temporary hospitals make even
the stoutest hearts quail with terror.
Nearly 1000 bodies have already been re-
covered, and as the work of examining the
wreckage progresses the conviction grows
that the magnitude Of the calamity has
been approximated. A conservative
estimate this morning puts the
number OF the lives lost at 1000, and many
men of cool Judgment, and who are not apt
to exaggerate and who have been upon the
ground from the first. place the number at
10000.
BURNING OF THE DEBRIS.
The debris wedged against the big Penn
sylvania railroad stone bridge is still burn
ing and the efforts of the firemen to quench
or stay the flames are futile. The mass,
which unquestionably forms the funeral
pyre OF thousands of victims who are
buried beneath it, is burning and is likely
to burn for weeks to come. The flames are
not active, but burn away in sullen, de-
termined farhion, as though bent upon
proving how futile are mans efforts when
the fire-god is aroused and perhaps, after
all, the hand Of Providence is in it, for
the suggestion made by the physicians
yesterday that the bodies not buried be
allowed to be cremated in the interest of
the public health, and which aroused such a
storm Of indignation among the surviving
populace, is viewed with more calmness to-
day and there is growing sentiment that
it is, after all, the best solution of the
problem. Weeks and months will be re-
quired TO remove the stupendous mass by
artificial means, and meantime the putrefy-
ing remains of poor humanity buried there
in would be dealing pollution and death to
all the surrounding country.
AWFUL DEsoLATIoN.
The awful desolation of the scene has
been described often enough already to
render q repetition Of the attempt here un-
necessary. The descriptions have been as
truthful and graphic as it is possible for
man to make them, but none have been
adequate, none could be. Where once stood
solid, unbroken business blocks for squares
and squares, with Easements and sub-cellars,
there is now level plain as free from OBJ
struction or excavation as the fair fields of
Arcadia after they had been swept by the
British flames The major and prettier
portion of the beautiful city has literally
been blotted from the face of the earth.
Crowds of strangers are curiously watch
ing the wreck this morning from the rail-
road bridge, and as far up the river on both
sides as the eye can reach. At Johnstown
proper the rescuers continue to bring in
bodies by hundreds this morning. Thomas
Williams lost his wife and family. He re-
covered his wifes remains, and took them
up the mountain, where he dug a grave
and buried them himself. He said: "This
is the most terrible thing I ever heard done,
but when bury them all has been donen
Mrs. Fredericks, an aged woman,
was rescued alive from the attic
in her house yesterday afternoon.
The house had floated fr ON what was for
merly Vine street to the foot of the noun
tains. Mrs. FTedericks says her experience
was terrible. She said hundreds of men,
women and children hoated down the tor
rent to meet their death, some praying
while others had become raving maniacs.
WreclIers are working nearer the bridge
to-day than at any time since the disaster.
THE MASONIC RELIEF COMMITTEE.
The special train of the Masonic Relief
Association, which left Pittsburg at
o'clock yesterday afternoon on the Balti-
more and Ohio road, did not reach here
until just before midnight, at which time
it was impossible to do anything Under
the circumstances the party concluded to
making themselves as comfortable as pos
sible with packing boxes for bodies and
candle boxes for pillows. The party is in
charge of w. s. Brown 1t was met early
this morning by Charles McFeely, who
is in charge of the distribution of relief
here, and spent the morning placing
the RELIEF S~ought up yesterday among the
masonic sufferers where it would do the
most good. In addition to large quantity
of cooked food, sand wiches, etc., as well as
-four and provisions, of every description,
the relief committee brought 100 outfits of
clothing for women and similar number
for girls, and a miscellaneous lot for men
and boys.
THE OUTFITS COMPLETE.
The women's outfits are complete and in
clude underwear, stockings, shoes, dresses,
wraps and hats. They are most acceptable
in the present crisis, and much suffering
has already been relieved by them. All the
gentlemen composing the committee are
indefatigable in their efforts to relieve suf-
fering, and under the energetic and capable
direction of Messrs. Brown and McFeely,
are doing excellent work to-day.
The searchers started to work early, and,
up to o'clock, $50 bodies have been taken
from the ruins Most of them are unrecog-
nizable, but they are being taken away and
buried as fast as possible. One of the fortu-
nate things about the whole affair is that in
a vast number of cases where the bodies are
almost completely burned there is some
clothing, or something of this kind, which
makes the identity Of the body almost COM
plete.