St. Paul daily globe., 1889-06-16
BLOWN UP.
Tons of Dynamite Used and the
Dam Above Johnstown Is
Broken

lam hUOVC OOuuStOWn 1S
Broken.
JoHNsTOwN, Pa, June 15.-By the
hard work of several hundred men and
the skillfuI use of about one ton of dy-
Mantle the jam above the bridge was
broken about 5 o'clock this evening.
Not all of the mountain of debris has
been moved by any means, only small
part of it, almost imperceptible in COM
parison with the vast quantity that re-
mains, but channel fourteen feet wide
has been forced through it from one
end to the other. The monster explo-
sions of dynamite worked wonders,
scattering the debris in all directions.
Railroad ties shot I'D into the air higher
than the summit of the mountains which
surround the city. So heavy were the
conclusions from the frequent explosions
that people were compelled to vacate
their houses and flee for their lives.
No one was injured, but considerable
damage was done in shattering Win
dows, chimneys and crockery ware in
some of the private residences. At 5
o'clock the last shot was fired. and un-
der the pressure of the high water the
mass of wreckage parted, and huge
section of it f1Oated down and lodged
against the bridge. When the debris
began to move John Troses, lumber
man was standing in the midst of it.
The logs and boards began to roll from
under him, but he leaped from one to
another until he passed under one of
the arches of the bridge and swept
along with the torrent of water. In
less than minute, however, he very
uneXpectedly-tO the crowd of specta
tors-made his appearance below the
bridge. He continued to jump from log
to log, until he finally reached the
shore. His was very narrow escape
from death. The foreman of the gang
working ON the raft thinks that after
the loose debris now lodged in the chan
mel at the bridge is removed the men
will not object so Strenu0uSly as they
do now to work On the sides of the
creek that has been opened. All day
long while the men were at work in this
place, not one body was recovered, but
it is safe to say that many human
mite. Some of the workmen say that
they saw pieces of human bodies and
SHREDDED garments falling after several
of the shots, and none who were at
work with the dynamiters will deny but
that many human bodies were blown
to pieces by this afternoons work.
The opening up of the drift pile by
cutting the channel through it has
served to intensity the terrible odors,
which, if possible, seem to grow worse
and extend farther with each succeed
ing hour. At Z O'Clock this evening the
fires which were partially extinguished
by the heavy rainfall were again light
ed aid are now burning furiously. The
object is to burn as much as possible of
the debris, so that it can be more easily
f1Oated down tomorrow. Gen. Hast
ing's order suspending work tomorrow
eXcites much criticism. The citizens
claim that not only the river, but every
portion af the town should be cleared
out with the least possible delay. 1t
is supposed that hundreds of
bodies yet remain in the
cellars and unexplored piles of wreck
age, and the longer they are permitted
to remain the more terrible will grow
the stencil and the more frightfully de-
composed will he the bodies when they
are reached. A good example of what
may be expected to be found in nearly
every sand pile in the streets. was de-
veloped at 7:30 tonight when the body
of boy baby was found right in front
of the Western Union Telegraph Office.
on the road which thousands Of people
have been tramping over for the past
two weeks. The stencil arising from it's
little body was so great that 1t was with
difficulty that men were found to re-
move it to the morgue.