The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1889-06-04
TERRIBLE SCENES
The Story of ths Destruction Of
Johnstown the Most Awful Tale
of Modern Times.
A Funeral Pyre of Debris, Forty Feet
High. Covering Four Acres, Filled
With Victims.
A NameIess Rider who Lost His Life In
An Effort to save Thousands
Prom Death

JoHssTowN, Pa, June 3.-The midnight
| terrors of AshtabulA and Chatsworth
evoked tears of pity from every fireside in
Christeudom, but the true story of Johns
/ town, when all is known, will stand soli-
| tary and alone as the acme of mans anni-
hilation by the potent forces to which
humanity Is ever subject Menscing
clouds still hover darkly over the valley of
death, and the muttering thunder that
ever and anon reverberates in the distance
seems the sardonic chuckle of the demon
of destruction. But the modern deluge
has done its worst for Johnstown. The
waters are rapidly subsidIng but the angry
torrent still eddies around the scene OF de-
struction and the time is not yet arrived to
tell the pathetic tale of the devastation of
Black Friday. 1t is such that no pen can sde-
quately depict the horrors of this twin dis
aster-holocsust and deluge. The deep
emotions that swell from the hearts of
every spectator find their most eloquent
expression in silence-the silence that be-
speaks mans recognition of his subserv-
ance To the elements and his impotence TO
avert catastrophe.
Morning opened dark and dreary. Great
drops of rain fell occasionally, and an
other storm seemed imminent Everyone
feels thankful, though, that the weather
still remains cool and the gradual putre-
faction of the hundreds of bodies that still
line the streams and lie hidden under miles
of driftwood and debris is not unduly
fastened.
This morning the peculiar stencil of de-
caying human flesh was plainly preceptia-
BILE TO the senses as one ascended the bank
of Stony creek. For half a mile are the
smoulderng ruins of the wreck. and the
most sceptical now concede the worst and
realize that perhaps thousands of bodies
will be found charred and blackened be-
meath this great funeral pyre.
Searchers wander wearily over the smok-
ing mass, and as occasionally a sudden
shout comes over the waters, the patient
watchers on the hill realize that another
CHASTITY discovery has been added to the
long list of revelations that chill every
heart and draw tears TO the eyes Of pessim-
ists- From the banks many charred re-
mains of the victims of flame and flood are
plainly visible as the receding waters re-
AuSeohdy blNC DChCdtu
almost every log or blackened beam a glis-
tening skull or the blanched remains of
ribs or limbs mark all that is left of lIfes
hopes and dreams.
Since 10 o'clock last night the fire engines
have been busy and water has been kept
playing on the burning ruins.
At times the fire seems almost extin-
guished, but the ftfuI flames suddenly
break out afresh in a new quarter, and |
again the water and the flames wage a |
fierce combat.
The chief sensation of the morning was |
the united remonstrance of the physi- |
clans against the extinguishment of the |
burning wreck. They maintain that to |
the searchers 1t seems heartless that hun
dreds, If not thousands of lifeless and de-
caying bodies be left beneath this mass of /
burning ruins. 1t would be better, they |
say, 10 permit natures greatest scavenger,
the flames, TO pursue his work unmolested |
than to expose to further decay the horde of
putrefying bodies that lie beneath this de-
bris. There can be but Que result. Days
will elapse before the rubbish can be suffi-
ciently removed TO permit the recovery of
these bodies, and long ere that every corpse
will be putrid mass, yielding forth those
frightful emanations of decayIng hu-
man flesh that In a crowd
ed community like this can give
but one result-dreadful typhus. Every |
battlefield has demonstrated the necessity
Of the hasty interment of decaying bodies,
and the stencil that already arises Is the
forerunner of impending danger.
"Burn the wreck, burn the wreck" say
the physicians, and q loud cry of indigna-
ton arose from the vast multitude. The
Of science were lost in the eager
demands of those that sought the remains
Of those near and dear. The hose was
again turned upon the Kissing mass and
rapidly the flames yield ed to the suprem-
scy of water.
1t is almost impossible to conceive of the
extent of the smoking ruins. An area of
eight or ten acres above the dam is covered
with forty feet of shattered houses, borne
from the neighborhood of Johnstown. In
each of these houses it is estimated there is
from one 70 twenty people. This is accept
ed as the data upon which to estimate the |
number that perished upon this spot, and
II the data Is correct, the bodies that lie be-
meath must run well up into the hundreds,
II not thousands.
There Is no telling how many have been /
lost. Adjutant-General Hastings, who has
charge of everything, said this morning
that he supposed there were at least 1000 /
people under the burning debris; but the |
only way to find out how many lives we're
lost was to take a census of the people now
living and substract that from the census
before the flood. Said he: ssln my opinion
there are any way from 1000 to 5000 souls
lost"
The sheriff took charge of Johnstown
this morning and armed men are now pa
trolling the streets. A deputy sheriff shot
two Hungarians this morning for robbing
bodies. People who have hA property
within the limits are permitted to enter the
city, but otherwise it Is impossible to get
Into the town. The city is under martial
law, and every one who goes about the
place Is challenged and required to give
an account of himself. The water
subsidized to-day TO great ex-
tent, and the streets in the main part
Of the town, free from water, laid bare the
terrible work of the flood and the full ex-
tent of the disaster is only being ascer-
tanned now. The streets are a foul-smell
ing mass Of wreckage and debris. and the
work of searching for bodies has only fair
ly begun. The latest estimates place the
loss of life at 1000 to 1900 1t is impos-
sible to get any account of those lost Ey-
eryone Is 30 thoroughly tired out and over
come by the weight of the disaster as TO be
utterly unable to give any accurate details
or figures. Comparatively few bodies have
been identified.
Frank Mcdonald, conductor on the
Baltimore & Ohio, was at the Pennsyl-
vania depot when the flood came. BE said
when he first saw the flood il was thirty
feet high and rose to at least forty. "There
Is no doubt the South Fork dam broke"
said Mcdonald. Fifteen minutes before
the food came, Decker, the PeunsyIvania
railroad agent, read me q telegram Just re-
ceiyed sayidg the South Fork dam had