The Portland daily press., 1889-06-03

windows. A reporter could step from the
wreck into the auditorium Of the opera
house. The ruins consist of parts of
houses, trees, saw logs, etc. The railroad is
laying tracks from Johnstown station to the
washout, and by tomorrow evening trains
will run into Johnstown. The Baltimore &
Ohio tracks are now open, and a train was
run to the city free of charge at 1 O'Clock.
Mails are getting through
BY CARRIERS ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS,
and pony express line has been establish
ed. A Catholic church was burned Satur-
day. A burning house drifted down against
1t and set 1t on fire. A funeral was being
held at the church at the time of the flood.
The congregation deserted the church, and
the body burned with the building. Two
large trees passed entirely through a brick
Catholic church located near the center of
the town. Many houses have their side
walls and roofs torn up, and one may walk
directly into what had been the second story
bed rooms, or go In by the way of the top.
Further up town raft of logs lodged in the
street did great damage. At the commence
of the wreckage at the opening of the valley
of C0nemaugh one can look up the valley
for miles and not see house. Nothing
stands but the old woolen mill. The fire
spread steadily all day and the upper part
gine is stationed on the river bank with a
line of hose laid up the track. The natural
gas has been shut of owing TO many leaks
in Johnstown. No fire Is allowed in the city.
Thirteen bodies were taken from the river
at New Florence, 16 miles below. Several
were placed in rough boxes and buried on
the hillside opposite New Florence. Several
recovered below that point were brought to
Morrellville. Five hundred tents arrived
from Ohio tonight In charge of Adjutant
General Axline. Sixty-fve were put up on
lies.
City Solicitor Kuehn places the number of
buildings swept away here at 1900. From
the woolen mill above the island to the bridge
. distancelof probably two miles, strip Of
land nearly mile wide was swept clean.
Conservative people place the loss Of life at
5000 at least.
An utterly wretched woman, Mrs. Fem,
stood by muddy pool today trying to find
some trace Of her home. She was half
crazed with grief.
Her husband and seven children were
swept down with the flood and she was left
alone. The family were driven into the at
tic and the water kept rising until their
heads were crushed against the roof. She
raised ,s, window and placed the children on
and she fioated outside. She was
RESCUED 10 HOURS LATER
from the roof OF the house.
The scenes at supper time showed that
hunger is beginning to drive the sufferers to
desperation. They surrounded the freight
cars fitted up to feed the hungry and began
to shout for bread. At first those in charge
tossed the provisions into the crowd. An
awful scramble followed. Children were
trampled on and women were unable to get
food. Finally the Allegheny and Pittsburg
police stopped the throwing of food and
forced the crowd to pass in single file before
the car doors. There was no more trouble.
1t Is very cold here tonight and many poor
women and children are suffering. 1t Is es-
timated by Councilman Jas. Williams and
Undertaken McNulty that they washed and
prepared 250 bodies today
Hungarians attacked the cars standing on
the tracks tonight to seize clothing and pro-
visions. One was turned over to the deputy
sheriff and others were dubbed. The num-
Der of persons who searched the debris for
plnnder today was surprising. Poorly clad
laboring men were seen carrying away fine
ornamental clocks and rich bric-a-brac.
Pianos by the dozen are scattered along the
river and ruined. Hungarians and negroes
are causing the most trouble. All day they
have been filling up with whiskey taken from
the river Saturday and tonight they are in
dangerous mood. Negroes in Johnstown
were selling sacks of -four sand dress goods
for whiskey. They drove a wagon to the
rear of a wrecked store and loaded it with
goods. They were hauling it away when
stopped.