Evening journal., 1889-06-04

- 49, 6V "a Nh DuluhR Ieiitills sIiudlnRs Dut
ruined. 1t is all that Is left of one OF the
biggest wire mills and steel works in the
country. Turning around below the bridge
are the works of the Cambria Iron company.
The buildings are still standing, but they are
pretty well ruined, and the machinery, with
which they were filed, is either totally do
stroyed or damaged almost beyond repair.
High up on the hill at the left and scattered
up on other hills in sight are many dwellings,
neat, well kept and attractive places appar-
emily, and looking as bright aud fresh now
as before the awful torrent wiped out Of ex-
istence everything in the valley below.
This is Johnstown and its immediate vicin-
ity as nearly as words can paint it II is a
single feature, one section out of fifteen miles
OF horror that stretches through this once
lovely valley Of the Allegheny. What Is
true OF Johnstown is true OF every town for
miles up and down. The desolation OF one
town may differ from the desoation In
Others as one death may differ from an
other; but it is desoation and death every
where-desolation SO complete so relentr
less, so dreadful that il is absolutely boz
yond the conception Of men who have
not seen it-death in forms more varied,
more painful, and more horrible than they
ever were devised by the most atrocious tor
turer of the lnquisition. Many have been
burned 10 death and many have been
drowned, but few have been called upon To
die with the water surging about their faces
while fire burned their limbs, a death that
scores suffered after the flood heaped them
up against the bridge hera
There IS one thing even those who have
been longest here and who have plunged
deepest into the horrors that fiji the valley as
completely as did the floods have not yet for
gotten, and that they say they never can
forget-that is the shrieks OF the victims
whose fate IL was to die by fire and water at
once The pitifal sound filed the valley at
this point for hours above the roar Of the
flames and the din and smash OF the debris
laden torrent Hundreds were reached and
rescued Hundreds died within sight OF men
who would almost have given their own lives
to save them
The Number of Victims Mover BE Known.
The worst about the disaster win probably
never be known, for the reason that the flood
and fire have so scattered the victims through
such a wide extent of territory that no record
can be made and only list made OF a few
thousand missing Many people, too, have
left Johnstown never to return, their all
having ben destroyed. It would require q
census taker six months TO complete any.
thing approaching a detailed statement OF
the dead, and no tabulation has been
attempted yet Burned and ground Il
pieces at the great dam Of debris at the Penn
sylvania railroad bridge are the remains oi
hundreds Of people. Underneath the ruin:
of the town are manv more. Swept alons
down the river, lodged in driftwood on th'
banks, caught in dams, and lodged in tree
and houses at the bottom are still more.
Ghouis Among the Dead.
Some measures should be taken at once I.
eifectually squelch the flendsh relic hunters
They are here in full force and larg
numbers, and some Of the tricks they resor
to in their efforts to secure momentoe
Of the flood are almost criminal il
their cruelty. While working amid th
smoldering ruins about the stone bridge.
reporter saw monomaniac take the charre
bones Of an infant from among the smokin
debris, and, wrapping them carefully
a newspaper, carry them away with loo
Of triumph on his face. At this plac
where the dead almost outnumber the livinl
some frightful deeds have been perpetrate
By the searchers for relics One man sto
an old bandanna kerchief from about Il
head OF dead colored woman. Another r
moved a shoe from an old, gray haired ma
whose stiff and mangled corpse was fouI
dangled in tree, while still another po
sessed himself Of the sheet which was throw
over the remains Of child, leaving the bod
at the mercy Of weeping heaven.
Nor are the relic hunters the only class VIII
desecrate the dead. The heartless crowds
excurs. onists who have thronged the region
round about for the past few days would |
more at home in jail than anywhere else
their actions go for aught Some Of the
have gone through the town singing, whis
ling and cracking the coarsest Of jokes, viii
Others have trampled DER the collins strew
about the roads with an utter disregard f
their sacred contents