The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1889-06-18

difficulty that they were paid. number
of them forgot their number and it caused
no end of trouble. The pay roll altogether
amounted to about $50 600.
Johnsiogn, Pa, June 1l.-Next TO the
broken dam the scene which holds its own
| in interest is .the drift" Work has been
going on there ever since the water went
down. In fact, ii was the place where work
began. Acres of i: yet remain solid. As
hey can be spared men are sent from the
street clearing to the drift. So extensive
is this mass that the whole 5000 wrecking
force might be put TO work upon it without
crowdiDg. From the stone bridge, or
viaduct, the drift extends up to the forks
of the Conemaugh and Stony creek, and for
some distance above the mouth of the lat
ter. 1t not only covers the river entirely,
but il spreads over the banks. So densely
packed is this drift that il can be crossed at
almost any point. So strong is Il that in
three places the tenders OF locomotives rest
upon it, while the river flows below.
Ten acres is a moderate estimate OF the
space covered by the drift. Ii will afford
some idea OF the tenaciiy with which the
conglomerate mass clings together to state
that the rail;oad men, with the assistance
OF dynamite, cranes, stationary engines and
other appliances, have been able, in six
days, TO start less than quarter OF an acre
of the mass and send il floating piecemeai
down the liver.
Three of the six stone arches which form
the barrier against which the drift collect
cd have been cleared. The others remain
Z =,
a spectacle which few care to examine
Iron bars, braces, rails, and telegraph wire
have formed complete network across the
arch. So close is this network that no
clearing can be done unless by files and
cold chisels, a. one would attack a Jail cage
without keys. Behind this grill, as 1t
might be termed, can be seen three bodi :.
Disinfectsn,s have been freely used, or the
stencil would be unbearsble. How long
they must remain nobody knows. That
part of the drift has not been touched, and
will not be until the channel is opened.
0i all the sickeniug sights which the drift
presents, this beneath the arch is the worst.
Ii was on this drift that the FIRE broke
cut and burned for twenty four hours, des-
troying many who might have been res
cued otherwise. These people had tioated
down In the houses and upon the roofs
which piled up against the stone bridge.
They were caught in a great net work OF
wreckage, and before they could be reached
by recuers the fire spread and claimed
them as its victims. If you ask survi-
vors who had hair-breadth escapes of their
own, what flood feature made the most ter
rible impression upon them, they tell you
it Vas standing on the banks overlooking
the field of drift that Friday night and
listening to the shrieks of those who were
burned TO death hours after the fJod had
passed. A thousand times better was the
fate of those who were caught in the front
of the wave and crushed or drowned.
The fire burned only the lighter sur face
of the drift. 1t left the tree trunks, the
iron-work of the cars, the wires, the tin
roofs and the heavier timbers. As the
water went down the drift settled into Its
present compact form. Those who came
here first, and who viewed the matter from
purely practical and sanitary point OF
view, said
"Let the fire burn itself out and remove
as much as it will of the drift" -
But the people of Johnstown would not
hear to this wholesale cremation. So en-
gines were brought from Pittsburg and the
fire was put out. Ii the problem was to be
solved again. everybody would favor let
ting the fire do its work. Weeks will be
consumed in breaking up the drift. The
bodies as they are reached become more
and more repulsive. They are already be-
yond Identification save by the clothing or
by jewelry. The remains found where the
fire extended are charred. and in some
cases reduced to skeletons, No
more sickeuing sight can be imagined
than to see a body thrown up into
the air when charge of dynamite is ex-
ploded beneath the drift. This happens
frequently. The charge is set by being
securely fastened in bag to the end of a
long pole. A small opening in the drift
and the loaded end of the pole is thrust
downward nearly to the bottom of the
river. A wire extends from the charge up
the pole. over the drift to q battery on the
bank. The workmen scatter to safe distan-
ces. The key is touched. There is an up
ward movement of that immediate portion
o. the drift, The water is thrown as by a
monster fountain. Sticks large enough to
make considerable noise when they fall,
60 200 feet in the air. There is q minia-
ture rain storm. The mass drops back,
and perhaps il is found that one of the al
most shapeless objects is body. The
stretcher is always ready. The body is re-
moved from the water and covered with q
white cloth. Four of the workmen raise
the stretcher and start on their way up the
bank and over the bridge to temporary
morgue, where the undertakes are wait
ing. The other workmen pick up their
long poles and push the loose stuff out in
TO the current so that il will float down.
When this has been done another blast is
set, and 20 the work goes on all day.
But the blasting and loosening of the
drift at the bridge is only a small part of