The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1889-06-14
DEATHS HARVEST.
Thousands of CofIins for Groups of
Nameless, Mutilated Dead at
JOlnstOwn.

NaMeless, Mutilated Dead at
JOhnstOwn.
JoHNsTowN. Pa, June 3.-The dcyelop.
ments Of every hour make 1t more and more
apparent thut the exact number IT lives lost
in the Johnstown horror will never be
known. sAll indications point to the fact
that the death list will reach over 5000
names, and IN my opinion tho missing will
reach 5000 in number" declared Gen. D. II.
Hastings Tonight At present there urc said
10 be 1900 recovered bodies The great
difficulty experienced in getting correct
list is the great number of morgues There
is no central bureau Of information, and to
communicate with the different dead houses
ia the work of hours. At @ o'clock in Tho
evening the 63Oth body had been received
ut the Cambria City depository for corpses.
KERNvIL1S's DEsoLATIoN
KERNvILLE, Pa. June 3.-KerMville is 10 o
deplorable condition. The living are unable
to take care OF the dead. The minority of
the Inhabitants Of the town were drowned.
A lean-to Of boards has been erected on the
only street remaining in the town. This is
the headquarters for tho committee which
controls the dead. As quickly as the dead
are brought to this point they are placed In
boxes. and then taken to the cemetery und
buried. A supply store has opened in the
town. The body OF the Hun" who was
lynched in IN orchard last night was re-
moved by his friends during the night. There
is but one street left in the town; about one
hundred aud fifty-fve houses, where once
there stood thousand None OF the large
buildings in what was once q thriving little
borough have escaped One thousand
people is low estimate of the
number of lives lost from this
town. But few of the bodies havo
been recovered. 1t is directly above the
ruins, and tho bodies have fioated down into
them, where they burned. A walk through
the town revealed n desolate sight Only
about twenty five abe-bodied men have sur
vived and are able to render any assistance.
Men and women can be seen with black eyes,
bruised fuces and cut heads. The appenr-
ance Of nome OF the ladies is heartrending.
They We're injured in the flood, and since
then have not slept. Their faces have turned
a sick.y yellow and dark rings surround
their eyes, Many have succumbed to nerv-
ous rrostration. For two days but little u.s.
istancc could be rendered. No medical ut
tention reached them. The wounded re-
manned uncarcd fer in some houses cut off
by the water and died from their injuries
alone. Some were alive on Sunday, and
their shouts could be heard by the people on
the shore. Services in the chapel from
which the bodies were buried consisted
merely Of q prayer by one of the survivors
No minister was present Each coffin had n
descriptive card on it. and on the graves
similar card was placed so that bodies can
be removed later by friends
THE HOSPITALS FULL.
JoHNsTowN. June "a committee from
he citizens OF Altoona and Mountain Lodge
No. 2S.. L. and 4. NJ, nave arrived in Johns
town and driven over the mountains They
brought physicians and medicine, and both
were badly needed. The hospital in the up
per part of Johnstown is full To Oovcrti owing
Many have been carried to the surrounding
houses. One of Their raticnts died on their
hands, and several are very low. Hospitals
huve been established at Conemaugh and
Mineral Point. but little could he learned of
how mnny patients they contained ami how
they were faring. The Cambria hospital has
now 800 patients. DR.. Buck, with an eff
Gent corps Of aides, is in charge Two Of
the patients dcl yestcrday-Miss Hughes, u
young lady aged twenty, and Mrs Tcaters, a
Lady aged cighty-thrce. She was suf-
fciing from compound fracture of
tho arm. The remainder Of the pa
ticnts are dsing we'll Several injured
people have had operations performed upon
them. Bishop Phclan, who reached here on
Sunday evening. has returned to Pittsburg
He has organized the Catholic forces in this
neighborhOod and all arc devoting them
selves to hard work a. .sduOusly. What the
hospitals would have done without the Sis
ters is n difficult question. There are nine
Charity, seven Franciscan and seven Bene-
dictine sisters There was much comment
over the fading OF the body of a nun cut in
two. 1t WAS ut first thought that she was II
resident Of a John>town community. but ns
none of them have been reported missing
the sllppost:on is that she Was travelling at
the time of the accident on the day express
A broken hearted couple are Thomas Ley
den and his wife. bard working people of the
little town of Miac,svle. All day they have
been trudg:ng over the slippery ooxe in
Johnstown. asking every person for news OF
their daughter Mary. Mary WAS n disnwasher
in the Hurlbut house and the porter states
that he saw her pinned beneath falling TIM
bers. MIR. Leyden wnnts the remains sent to
his house, No PSI Company.
THE DEADLY ALARM.
JoHNsTowS, Pa. June 3.--About ! / r. IN,
Thursday, May 80, tho storm burst upon the
city OF Johnstown and continued until IL 80
q. IN. Friday AT 3 a. Ill. the torrent began
10 pour into the city from the creeks and
rivers At 10 n IN. there was no outlet for
the people. The frs, message from the lake
at South Fork was received at 10 u. IN. Fri
day that the dam was weakening But the
people. or the few who heard the report,
laughed 10 scorn this message, saying they
had heard such news before. The second
came mt l:3O J. m 1t was that the dam
was likely to burst at any moment
At 2:3O tho final messaSe was re-
ceived, advising the people to flee TO
the mountains for their lives, as the dam must
surely burst within the Eour There was no
such warning TO the people US should have
been given. The messages were held by
few officials about the railroad, who
neglected to sound the alarm until 1t was too
late. At that time the water had reached
the second stoiy Of some of the dwellings in
the lower part of the city. All bridges had
been swept away by the avalanche OF wafer
then pouring through the city The warn
luEs, were lcCelfcu III ioA
ali to have escaped. were sneercd at and cast
aside aa being an old story. About 3::iO the
whistles and bells gave IL warning that the
dam had broken, but then 1t was too late
There was a roaring sound, and before the
people could realize the danger the water
was upon them in o mass, carrying every
thing before it. Hud they taken warning in
the morning from messages received thou
sands of lives would have been saved.
THE FATAL LAKE
The lake is completely dried out The dam
broke in the center at 3 O'Clock OF Friday
afternoon and at 4 o'clock 1t WAS dry. That
great bory of water passed out in one hour
Messra parkcs and Van Buren, who are
building q new draining system at tho lake
tried to avert the disaster by digging
sluiceway on one side to case the pressure
on the dam. Whatever happened in the
way of cloud burst took place during the
night. There hal been but little rain up to
dark When the workmcn woke in the
morning the lake Was very full, and was
rsing at the rate of II foot un hour. 1t kept
on rising until at 4 O'Clock it first began
pourjng over the dam and undermining II,