Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-06-13

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ooNrEAcToRs-wHAT IS BEING DONE IN THE
| coMNIssARY DEPARTMENT IN FEEDING THE
| NEEDY-MoRE BODIES RECOVERED.
Ihe arrangements for systematic employ
ment of laborers and division of the work OF
| clearing up the debris in the Conemaugh val
ley were completed by Gen. Hastings yesterday,
and it is expected that by Monday morning
| from five to seven thousand men will be at
work.
James Mcknight will have 1000 of them. He
| Will start to work on the gorge this morning,
! with 80 men. No more can be employed on it
| at one time. There are fully as many men here
as can be employed at present and others will
be added as facilities for maintaining them
multiply. Electric lights will be strung
| throughout the city and over the gorge and
after next Monday, night and day reliefs viii
! be worked
| The work of Booth Flynns men in the
| principal streets has left little to be done in
| most of them. and attention will be turned to
| clearing out the cellars of houses and business
| blocks that have not been looked into since
/ the great flood. 1t is thought that in the slime
and mud are many bodies. This will be the
! hardest work that the contractors look for.
| Colonel Douglass will have entire charge of the
| contractors and their work.
| THE CoNEMAUGH-DAM INQUEST
| DIR. Evans, the coroner of Cambria county,
failed to get his jury together yesterday and
gave notice that the inquest on the body Of
Mrs. Hite was postponed till June &c. Dr.
Evans said this evening that to prove anything
or to do anything of tangible nature he must
have expert testimony as to the past and pres
ent condition of the dam. He has no funds to
pay the attendance of witnesses to testify in
| this particular and no power to compel attend
ance, and was very doubtful of what he is to do
in the matter. The verdict of the jury hinges
therefore, upon the possibilities of the evidence
| of experts. In the meantime. the Jury will be
| likely to paya visit to the dam and make its own
inventory of affairs and be ready to size up the
| estimates of the witnesses that they may ex-
anime.
DIR. Lowman, by order Of the medical au-
] thorltles Of the national guard. yesterday took
charge OF the Bedford-Street hospital, which
| is now the general hospital. DIR. McCuskey
VIII be his assistant, and if other assistance is
necessary the medical outfit of another regi-
ment will be ordered to the hospital.
THE CoMMIssARY DEPARTMENT..
The commissary department worked like
machine. The different posts Of dis
tribution supplied all the wants of the
people, distributing 10000 pounds of salt
meat, 200 pounds OF coffee. 80 barrels of sugar
and 10000 loaves of bread Nine bodies were
taken from the ruins Yesterday. One of them
was that of Frank Statler a well-known citizen.
He was found i'll the basement of the Presby-
terrain church, where 1t is thought he was
drifted by the flood. Ills brother, who had
been searching for his body had walked over
the place dozens of times. The body Of Mrs
Cope was taken from the debris at the bridge
She had large sum of money in the bosom of
her dress.
Last night the place had a double line of
guards around 1t. and company patrolled the
deserted streets. i heavy guard, with ten
rounds OF cartridges. guard the pay car rs
many OF the discharged men are still here To-
day The Grand Army men will hold a meeting
with those comrades who are interested i'll the
Cambria IRON works to devise some means of
restoring to them their interest in the company
DISTINCT RELIEF SYSTEM.
The seven assistant commissaries located in
the towns in and around Johnstown have been
ordered to take a census of ali applicants for
relief. register them and send duplicates to
the headquarters and other stations i'll order
TO prevent fraud At each of the five contract
divisions Tomorrow a corps of men with
stretchers will be stationed TO take charge of
bodies for the mOrgUe. 4 citizen will attend
with the stretcher corps to take charge OF valu-
aDlcS. Sheriff Stclnman to-day discharG ed all
OF his deputies. Tomorrow the military will
be Withdrawn from the suburban boroughs
and they VIII have to take charge of their own
police affairs. Gen. Hastings will furnish as
slstance on the request OF local authorities
Mrs. Clara Barton has organized a Woman's
Home l'ehef Society of Johnstown. It's object
Is to devise means and measures for home sup
port and relief. and Gen. Hastings has promised
her all the assistance she NAV need
The rain that fell all dav has again soaked
the dismantied city and the vast area still un-
covered Is rocking with noxious odors The
state board of health still insists that there is
surprisingly little sickness in the town no
dangerous diseases having been reported in
tNenty-fOur hours. There are a few cases of
dlphtherla, of measles, of pneumonia, and of
chicken-pox. There does not seem to be anv
fear on the part of DR.. Lee and Dr. Croft of an
epidemic.
PROPERTY-OwNERs' MEETING
The property-owners of Conemaugh borough
held meeting last evening to discuss the adj
visibility of vacating certain streets in their
borough in order TO enable the Cambria iron
company 10 extend their works. The company
propose erecting several new mill buildings If
the borough will give them the ground
After considering the matter the meeting
unanimously agreed to report the matter favor
ably to the borough council. as the addition to
the works will build the borough up. 1t was
said after the meeting that there would be no
opposition to the vacation of the streets. and
that III a short time the busy hum of machinery
would again be heard i'll the big works.
The Official report of the bureau of registra-
ton, which places the total number of bodies
recovered at 1872 and the survivors at Is S7s
causes considerable comment about the CITY
Those who have been accounting the lost away
up IN the tens of thousands have been set to
thinking.
Last night Col. Rogers said: Il have been
estimating the number of lost at $1,000 and re-
cent developments have not caused me 10 alter
my opinion. OF course that estimate does not
include the smaller boroughs. | think the
greatest number of bodies have been recoy-
cred"
Crazed by Their Losses.
Three more of the Johnstown sufferers now
IN Pittsburg have survived death only to lose
their reason. They the Rev. Mr.. Kunz.
his son, and Mrs. Saeger.
The family of Rev. Kunz, n German Lutheran
minister. consisted of father, mother and five
children. OF these all persisted except the
father and one son, boy of ten or twelve
wears OF age. After striving to recover the bod
les OF his dear ones, and waiting to bury two
children-all that could be found-Rey. MIR.
NUM- was persuaded to come with his little
son to this city. He was among those given
refuge at the Home of the Friendless At first
he appeared merely dazed at the terrible Attic
ton that had befallen him, but now his mind
Is completely unhinged, and he chatters nm
ceaslnSly IN a sad. unmeaning monologue.
The boy, too, has become mentally unbalanced,
AT the st. Francis hospital one of the patients
from Johnstown is Mrs. Saeger. She has been
raving almost constantly since her arrival and
Tor the past two days has been violently insane