The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1889-06-12
The COnemaugh Disaster.

Later reports from the scene Of the great
flood in the Conemaugh valley prove that
the estimates in the earlier dispatches as to
the loss of life and destruction OF property
were too high. The exact number Of the
victims can never be known, as many
bodies were burned to ashes in the conha-
grafton at the bridge and others were doubt
less washed down to the Ohio and on into the
Mississippi. The best estimates place the
death-roll at from four to five thousand.
The work OF clearing up the debris and
Identifying the bodies was begun as soon as
possible and progresses slowly. 1t will take
ten thousand men many weeks to bring
order out Of the chaos.
AT PRESS HEADQUARTERS.
The difficulty to which representatives Of
the press have been subject in their efforts to
depict the horrors of the situation are almost
beyond description. For the first forty
| eight hours eight or nine correspondents
| struggled frantiCally for precedence over
the single wire in operation, and when the
associated press finally obtained possession
! OF this only means of communication from
the desolate valley there was chagrin and
! disappointment on every side. But the
! troubles of this bureau, instead of being
now ended, were really only begun. The
! electric fluid was subject to Interruptions
that were as frequent as they were terrfy-
! ing, and at times itseemed as though the only
wire that connected chaos with the universe
was to be severed. The improvsed Office of
the associated press is in an abandoned tile
factory that first became morgue As the
| wind blows from the blackened ruins on
the river the emanations Of burning and de-
caying flesh steal through the open windows
and add to the horrors of the experience.
| A narrow board that rests upon the heads
of upturned barrels is the table at which
are seated the representatives Of the assoc
| ciated press, and tallow candles in the neCks
of bottles have usurped the gas and electric
light. Harry w. Orr of Pittsburgh, the OPP
orator who in this crisis has distinguished
himself by display of fortitude and endur-
ance seldom Witnessed, is seated on a low
stool and grasps firmly the box relay on the
circular that surrounds him as he ticks
away at the rate of forty words minute to
the eleven operators that receive smulta-
neously on the great associated press circuit
that radiates from Johnstown to New York
Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Toledo, Columbus,
Cincinnati, Detroit, Chicago Milwaukee,
st. Paul and Minneapolis.
THE DAM
The character of the great dam which gave
way and caused this enormous loss of life is
now receiving thorough investigation. A
| NeU YORK Sun reporter inspected the ruins,
and here is what he says: There was no
massive masonry nor any tremendous eX-
hibition of engineering skill in designing the
structure or putting it up. There was no
masonry at all in fact, nor any engineer
ing worthy of the name. The dam was
simply gigantic heap of earth dumped
across the course of mountain stream be-
| tween two low hills. 1t was faced on each
side with layer Of heavy, rough stone
loosely thrown together and uncemented
This pile of earth was, as has been stated
about seventy-tive feet high and ninety feet
thick at the base. AT the summit it was
leveled off so as to be about twenty feet
wide, and wagon road crossed it, 1t was
an ordinary dirt road, and there was no rock
or masonry beneath it, The width of the
stream at the bottom of the dam was about
forty feet. At the top the dam was
about four hundred feet long. 1t was built
nor back was curved. The slopes were
about the same on both face and back.
When the South Fork Hunting and Fishing
Club leased the lake the waste-gates were
permanently stopped 1t would probably
have been an expensive job to repair them
and the reporter says that the further
alleged reason was that when they were
opened the game fish with which the lake
was stocked would escape. If these state
ments are true the sporting club can hardly
escape the responsibility for the dreadful
catastrophe.
THE SCENE IN THE VALLEY.
Dore never dreamed weirder, ghastliei
picture than exists in the valley since the
flood desolated it. Darkness falls early
ever since it became a vast bier, charne
house fifteen miles long. The smoke and
steam from the smouldering debris above
the bridge aids to hasten the night Few
lights CLEAN out, except those of the scat
tered fires, that still flicker fitfullv in the
mass of wreckage. Gas went oat with the
flood and oil has been almost entirely lack
ing since the disaster. Candles are used in
those places where people think it worth
while to stay up after dark. Upon the hill
around the town bright sparks CLEAN out
like lovely stars from the few homes built
so high. Down in the valley the gloon
settles over everything, making it look from
the bluffs around like some vast death pit
the idea of entering which brings a shud
der. The gloomy effect is not relieved, but
rather deepened, by the broad beams Of
CHASTITY pale light thrown across the gulf 10y
two or three electric lights erected around
the Pennsylvania railroad station. They
dazzle the eye and make the gloom still
deeper. Time does not accustom the eyes
to this CHASTITY scene. The flames rise and
fall over the ruins like witches bale-fres
The smoke-burned depths in the valley
seem deserted by every living thing, except
that occasionally, proving ghoul-like about
the edges of the mass of debris, may be
seen, as they cross the beams of electric
light dark figures of men who are drawn tC
the spot, day and night, lowering oy er the
place where some chance movement may
disclose the body of a wife, mother OF
daughter gone down in the wreck. They
pick listlessly away at the heaps in on,
spot for awhile and then wander aimlesslS
off, only to reappear at another spot, pulling
feverishly at some rag that looks like
dress or poking stick into some hole Il
feel if there is anything soft at the bottom
At one or two places the electric light:
show, with exaggerated and distorted
shadows, firemen, in big hats and long rub
Der coats, standing upon the edge of the
bridge, steadily holding the hose, from which
two streams ofwater shoot far out over tn,
mass, sparkle for moment like silver il
the pale light, and then drop downward
into the blackness. For noise there is tn,
heavy splashing of the Conemaugh over tn,
rapids below the bridge, the petulant gasp
ping of an unseen fire engine pumping
water through the hose, and the even more
rapid, but greater, putting of the dynamo
engine that, mounted upon "A fiat car at one
end of the bridge, furnishes electricity fol-
the lights. Movement about is almost i'm
possible, for the ways are only footpath'
about the bluffs. irregular and slippery
Every night people are badly hurt by falls
over bluffs, through the bridge or down
banks. Lying about under sheds, in ruined
buildings, and even in open air, wherever
one goes are the forms, wrapped in blankets
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