Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 18??-????, 1889-06-04
THE IlHHST0HH HORROR.
WHAr A HEaALD REpozrEr Saw AND
HEAED X TUE UxFoEruSATE CRY.

no Imagination Is able to con-
ccive Of the devastation of Johns
town, and once the wreck is viewed
no pen viii be able to describe the
awful ruin caused by the waters. If
any subject ever beggared descrip-
ton il is the wreck Of Johnstown.
Standing on any of the hilltops to
the South, and looking up the mar
row valley of the Conemaugh, a
barren waste greets the eye, where
once stood a busy, prosperous city.
Where the great wire mills stood
the day before, turning out ten
thousand yards of wire, each day
Of the week, nothing is left to
mark the spot. The lines of the
many boroughs that go to make
up Johnstown have never been
dawn, excepting on paper, and it is
impossible to tell where one ended
aad the other began.
As VIC stood on the hilltop above
the steel works looking towards
Conemaugh, not the sign of house
was to be seen in the valley, where
forty-eight hours before three thous-
and had stood. Only a few Gotta
yes that dotted the hillsides above
the river were left Below our feet
stood Catholic Church, nothing
left but the bare walls, while its
muddy floors were lined with the
victims of the waters, waiting to be
shrouded. The clock in the tower
was marking the minutes, and peal
cd forth nine mournful strokes as a
newly discovered body was carried
into the windowless house of God,
to lay there until identified by
friends and prepared for burial.
Looking west, not even the foun-
dation walls of the many handsome
structures that had been erected be
tween st. Johns Church and the
Company Store, remained. The
surface looked as if it had been
freshly narrowed and sown witt
grain. Towards the southwest, Main
street is packed TO the second story
windows with debris of every de
scription. Freight cars are piled VI
in the principal streets, quarter oi
a mile from the track on which the,
had been standing. Not a singl,
house in the business and better
class Of dwelling portion ofthe city
escaped injury, and SO out Of ever,
100 Of them will have to be rebuil
from the foundations. The walls o
the buildings occupied by the Com
/ pany Store and the General Office.
are still standing. just below whcr'
stood the beautiful Library Build
ing, aud the elegant residence o
Cyrus Elder, Esq, is pile of drift
wood and wreckage thirty feet high
while not a brick remains Of tn
two handsome structures. Betweel
this pile Of debris and the Clul
House a rapid river was runnin;
all day Sunday, across which threl
or four scows, roughly constructed
were transferring messages anC
bodies from the hospitals on bot
sides Of the river. The actual chan
mel Of the Conemaugh is crossed b,
a temporary rope ferry, the boa
fused being an ordinary skiff tha
viii hold but four or five passen
gers. 1t. requires about two hour
to get from the Club House to tn
2. r. Station, distance of abou
three squares.
The p. r. Station contains thin
ty-three dead bodies, while as man,
more are on the floors of tw
freight cars. This number is BE-
ing added to every few minutes a
bodies are removed from the grca
pile of wreckage in front of the Z
4. bridge. The railroad track fror
the station to the bridge is cntirel
E washed away, aud the main channC
of the river is between the static
house and the bridge.