The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-06-05
BURIED HIS OWN FAMILY.

foot.
BURIED HIS OWN FAMILY.
William Gaffney an insurance agent at this
place, had very pitiful duty to perform
this morning. Onshis fathers and wife's
side, he lost fourteen relatives, among them
being his wife and family. This morning
he got man to take his deceased relatives
to the grave, and he had the mournful duty
OF digging his wife's and children's graves
and burying them. In speaking of the
matter this morning, he said: II never
thought that could perform such duty,
but had to do it, and Ibid it. No one has
any idea of the feelings of a man who acts
as undertaken, grave digger and pail bearer
for his own family"
THE CoRPsEs OF HIS DEAR ONES DUG OUT.
The saddest sight to be seen on the river
bank this morning was the case of Mr..
Gilmore, who has lost his wife and family
of five children. Ever since this old man
has been seen on the river bank looking for
his family, he has insisted on the firemen
| playing stream of water on the place
where his house formerly stood and where
he supposed their bodies lay. The fremen,
recognizing his feelings. played a stream on
| the place for several hours this morning,
and at last rescuers got to the place where
the old gentleman SAID his house formerly
stood. II know the bodies are in there and
| you must find them" On went the rescuers
| after this plea. When az last
one of the men picked up a charred skull,
| evidently that of child, this stirred the
old man up, and he exclaimed, "That is
my child. There lies my family; go on and
get all of them.n The workmen continued,
and in few minutes they came to the re-
mains of the mother and the children.
| Their heads were burned completely off,
but there was enough of their clothing left
| to recognize them by. What was left was
picked up and placed in coffins, the old
| gentleman following closely the men who
| were carrying the coffins.
BETTER PATRoLLED.
The city is now very much better
| patrolled than it has been at any time since
| the food occurred. Many members of the
police force of Pittsburg came in and
offered their services. One of them showed
| his spirit during the first hour by strikinga
man whom he saw opening a trunk among
the rubbish tremendous blow over the
head, which knocked him senseleSs. Several
big trunks and safes lie in full sight on the
desolate plain In the lower part of town, but
no one dared to touch them after that
The Panhandle Railroad Company has
ten cars lying between Merritville and
Johnstown which are fitted up
with stoves and cooking utensils, in
charge of lot of railroad men, who are
giving eatables to hundreds of families.
WORK OF THE NEWSPAPER MEN.
The difficulty to which the representa-
tives of the press have been subject in their
efforts to depict the horrors of the situation
here are almost beyond description. For
| the first forty EIGHT hours eight or nine cor
| respondents struggled frantically for prece-
| dence over the single wiro in opera
| ton, 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. Tho
electric fluid was subject to interruptions
| that were as frequent as they were terrify-
| ing, and at times it seemed as though the only
wire that connected chaos with the universe
was to be severed.
sICKENING oDoRs.
The surroundings even now are not such
| as to encourage careful literary production.
| The improvised office of the Associated
Press is an abandoned tile factory that first
became morgue before the disciples of
Fabian shared the quarters with the
dead. AS the wind blows from
the blackened ruins on tho river
smanations of burning and decaying
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 Asso-
ciated Press, and tallow candles in bottle
necks have usurped gas and the electric
light Harry w. Orr of Pittsburg, an
operator, who in this crisis has distinguished
himself by display of fortitude AMI en-
durance seldom witnessed, is seated on
low stool, and grasps firmly the box relay
on a circular table that surrounds him as
he ticks away at the rate of forty words a
minute to eleven operators that receive
simultaneously on the great associated press
circuit that radiates from Johnstown to New
York. Pittsburg, Cleveland. Toledo, Colum.
bus, Cincinnati, Detroit, Chicago, Mil
waukee, st. Paul and Minneapolis. After
seventy-two hours of almost con-
tinuous service, broken at no
time by more than couple
of hours hasty slumber, w. G. Connolly,
Jr., the Associated Press agent, who char.
tered train to beat all competitors to the
scene of horrors, was forced yesterday
afternoon to succumb to the mandate of
nature and seek repose at his Pittburg
home.
mpOnpG OpnEprn OTTr