Sacramento daily record-union., 1889-06-05
The Nation Bows Its Head in Sor-
row from Maine TO California
Names of the Dead.
ESPECIAL DISPATCHES TO rHE BEcoRD-us1oN.l

d very vigorous effort was made to put q
stop to the work. 1t is true that the leader
in this movement was not a citizen of
Johnstown, but he was and is a
large mine owner in Cambria county.
His mine adjoins the reservoir
property. He related to me Saturday the
story of his labors in an effort to protect
the lives and property of the people in that
valley. He was frequently on thesp and
his own engineer inspected the work. He
says the embankment was principally Of
shale and clay, and that straw was used to
stop the leaking OF the water while the
work was going on. He called on the
Sheriff of Cambria county and told him it
was his duty to apply to the Court for an
The Sheriff promised to give the matter
his attention, but instead of going before
the Court went to the Cambria Iron Com
pany Tor consultation. An employe was
sent up 10 make an inspection, and as his
report was
FAVORABLE TO THE RESERVOIR WORK
The Sheriff went no further. The gentle
man referred tO said he had not failed to
make public his protest at the time, and to
renew 1t frequently. This recommendation
Tor an injunction and protest were spoken
OF by the citizens of Altoona as hack
neyed subject. A consultation was GER
talniy held at South Fork, Conemaugh,
Millville and Johnstown on
THAT FATAL FRIDAY,
When rumor of an expected break WAS
prevalent at these places early in the day.
but citizens remarked that the rumor was
a familiar incident of the annual freshet
It was the old classic story of Wolf!
Wolff
They gave up the first floors to the water
and
RETIRED UP STAIRS
To wa!E until the river should recede as
they had gone often before, scouting the
ott-told story of the breaking of the res
ervOlr.
The reader will note the story of the
mine owner referred to above, and the
published statement of General Morehead
who had charge of the construction, that
the machinery was of solid granite and
limestone and was believed to be as endur-
ing as the Pyramids of Egypt.
The awful disaster would seem to con-
firm the allegation OF
THE USE OF UNFIT MATERIAL
In its construction.
The number of passengers on the day
express known to have been lost is six.
Besides these, there are two ladies missing
and unaccounted for, but who may yet be
alive.
The conductor who was at Conemaugh
on the fateful day claims to have run
through the cars and told the pas
sengers to run to the mountains.
The passengers who survived are
anxious to make the acquaintance of that
conductor. They certainly never saw him
or heard of him. His intentions NAV
have been good, but his good deed was
omitted. When the passengers reached
the mountain side they found there the
two conductors
IN THEIR BEAUTIFUL WHITE CAPS.
Their manner was calm and their clothing
unspotted. | asked one of them WHY he
did not notify the passengers of the break
ing OF the dam. He replied in some con.
fusion tnat he had no time. His compan-
ION made report to his superior, which
report was carried over the mountains by a
passenger that night, but there was moth
ing IN 1t to indicate that any of the passen-
gers were any OF his concern. He reported
the loss of the two trains.
lu striking contrast to the neglect of duty
OF these two conductors, il is pleasant to
note
THE MANLY CONDUCT OF OTHERS.
First, always first, mention should be
made of the locomotive engineer and fire.
man whose bravery and devotion were con-
splcuous. They never neglected to give
such warning as they could in the face of
danger, and in some cases certain death.
brakeman who was riding deadhead,
whose name cannot be recalled, rendered
splendid service in rescuing women and
children at the risk of his own life. ]. s.
Aber, the Pullman conductor, was
EFFICIENT AND COOL HEADED.
W. H. Woodyer, the cook of the car
Aragon, and John H. Waugh, the porter of
the parlor car Chloris, stood manfully by
g. I. Gritfiths of the Norwich line in
resculng the passengers. 1t was Woodyer
who stood on the top OF the car Aragon
with an ak IN hand ready to cut the roof to
prevent the smothering of those within.
We think better of cur race with such ex-
amples before us.
JoHNsTowN, June 4th.-Up to the ragged
sides of Prospect Hill, the same to which
several hundred of the terrified people fed
to escape the flood, the Associated Press
correspondent scrambled this afternoon.
He came upon a pneumonia scourge,
Wnlcn olds falr to do for number of the
escaped victims what the flood could not.
DEATH HAS PURSUED THEM
To their highest places, and the terror will
not die. Every little house on the hill,
and there are hundred or two of them,
had thrown its doors open to receive the
bruised and half-clad fugitives on the dark
day of the deluge, and every one was now
a crude hospital.
Half of the women who had scaled the
nights were so overcome with fright that
they had been bedridden ever since. To-
day several fresh cases developed among
the poor fugitives, and the local physician
said
THE PROSPECTS FOR A scoURGE
Are all too promising. The enfeebled con-
dition of the patients, the unhealthy at
mosphere pervading the valley and the
necessary close quarters in which the peo-
pie are crowded render the spread of the
disease almost certain
To-day the first ray of light came in the
nature of carload of provisions, and an
other from Columbus, Ohio, containing
clean mattresses and bedding-all specified
for the Prospect Hill sufferers. On this
emInence stands the Cambria City Hospi-
tai. In 1t great work is being done,
through the combined agencies of
MEDICAL SCIENCE AND BRorHERLY LOVE.
The wards are full of bruised and suffer-
ing ones who were dragged from the teeth
of the flood.
This evening the charred body of young
woman was unearthed a short distance
above the stone bridge. On her finger was
found slender gold ring, on the plate of
which were engraved the initials K. J. B.
She wore striped woolen dress and black
underskirt. The body was taken to the
Fourth Ward school, house.
YELLOW FLAGS.
Several yellow flags were noticed stick
ing up from the black wreckage above the
stone bridge. This was the new plan
adopted by the Sanitary Corps to indicate at
what point bodies had been located. As it
grows dark the flags are still up, and an
other day will dawn upon the Imprisoned
remains.
People who had lost friends and sup
posed they had drifted into this fatal place
peered down into the charred mass in n