The Charlotte Democrat., 1889-06-07
The Storm.

During the past week on both sides of
the Sea, city and country have been de-
vastated by fire and flood. Johustown,
Pennsylvania, suffered most of all. In
this country the storm over a certain
area was general, and proceeded from a
storm centre which took shape on the 2sth
of May in Colorado. The natural course
of the storm would have been along the
lakes and out to sea north-easterly by the
way of the St. Lawrence valley, but the
area of low barometer was met by one of
high barometer, and the storm was
pressed back from it's natural course, tax.
ing it's way over Missouri, the Ohio
valley, Penpsy lvania, aud at this writing,
is about exhausting itself on the coast Of
New England. The country suffered
from West to East, especially Pennsyl-
vania, Maryland, West Virginia and Vir-
ginia The terrible results at all points
will probably never be known. Even the
disaster at Johnstown is too enormous
and startling to admit of satisfactory re-
port. AT first there was reported lost
200 lives, then 5000, then 2,OuO. then TO-
900, which is the latest. Johnstown is sit
uated between two mountains on Cone
maugh River in the western part of
Pennsylvania, between Pittsburg and AL
tooDa. 1t has some 10000 inhabitants,
many manufactures, and dam or reser-
voir just above about by miles. This
reservoir broke with the flood and the
whole town was submerged at once, with
out effective warning.
Both at Johnstown and at other points
over the storm area, the waters are sub
siding, and at Johustown the lower the
water tails the higher the death-rate rises.
The town is surrounded by hundreds COM
ing in to help, and is guarded by officers
of the law, who keep out all except those
who have business. Body after body
comes to view, and they lie as mercilessIy
and insigni6cantly dead after the head
long rush of waters as a colony of
drowned ants. In addition TO food came
fire, and people lay charred in consumed
structures, confined under the debris of
house wrecks and stretched under decay.
ing cloudy warmth on the slopes that SO
lately were sunny with life. One mother
was found with her babe in her arms and
her husband lying near; the remnant OF
families stand frantic, and looking for the
bodies of their dead; the doctors cay
burn the wrecks that cover the dead and
thus kill with cremation the deadly germs
that sleep pregnant in the corpses now
just giving out their stencil over the
whole section; the masses cry no; hum
dreds are hurrying pestilential bodies
| into quickly dug graves; the Hungarian
hound prowls around and sacks the gar.
ments of the dead for gain, and some OF
them are lynched or shot; trains come Ia
laden with food and help; the women OF
the Red Cross are caring for the suffering G
in the church hospital, and in the midst OF
the chaos and tumult, there comes back
the picture of group of Nuns in the
Convent who, when the waters were in
sight, began to pray; the Convent was
destroyed, but their praying room escaped
damage.
This catastrophe is colossal-certainly
nothing of the kind so awful has evel
before occurred in America. The hearts
of the world are with the wretched sur
vivors, and to common lamentation W.
add our word of sorrow.