The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1889-06-11

smaller, they have often been swept into
o1t-Of-the-way recesses that are almost in
accessible. AS they are more easily car
rled away, very great proportion of the
children have been swept down the river
and their bodies driven in under oyerhanp-
ing banks, under thickets, and in other
places where there is only sparse popu-
latiOn, and where the search is not carried
on in careful and organized manner.
WORK AT THE DEATH BRIDGE.
The enormity of the devastation wrought
by the food is becoming more and more
apparent with every effort of the laborers |
to preserve order out of chaos. Oyer 100 !
men have been all day engaged in an |
effort TO clear a narrow passage from the |
death bridge upward through the sea of |
debris that blocks the Couenaugh for |
nearly half mile. Everything known TO |
man has been resorted to by this crew.
Giant powder or dynamite was brought |
into requisition, and at frequent intervals |
the roar of explosion reyerberated through |
the valley, and sticks, stones and logs
would fly high in the air. Gradually a /
lew OF the heaviest timbers were de-
molished, and the fragments permitted to
float downward through the center arch.
At nightfall, however, the clear space
above the bridge did not exceed an area of
90 feet in length by 40 feet in width.
When one reflects that fully twenty-five
acres are to be cleared in this way, the
task ahead seems an interminable one.
But there is no royal road, and if the hun
dreds or thousands of bodies beneathlthese
blackened ruins are to be recovered for
Christian burial, the labors of to-day must
De continued with increased vigor. There
aae conservative minds that recommend
the use OF the torch In this work of clear
ing the river, but they are not among the
sufferers, and when such counsels are heard
BY those whose wives, children, sisters or
brothers rest beneath this sea of ietsam, the
of cremation meets a wild fu-
rore of objection. 1t is only In Difference !
10 them that clearing the river by means
IF the dynamite and the derrick is persist.
ID in. There is no hope in the calmer
minds that this task can be pur-
ued to the end. The progress of to-day is '
hardly discernable, and ere two more DAYS G
lave elapsed there is little doubt the en- !
nations of putrid bodies will have become S
o frightful as to drive the hardest work.
nan from the scene. Until that time ]
,rief-stricken populace will abandon the /
herlshed hope of again gazing upon the t
erms OF the loved ONES whose lives went
ut in the fire and food of the Conemaugh. Z
The pleadiDgs of sanitarians and the logic
I engineers alike fail to find an echo in ]
he minds of the grieviug and afflicted, bat T
n few more days the sterner logic of ma l
ure will assert itself, and in the face of i'm t
the task Of cremation will be- a
ONE christian duty. r
DROWNED BEFORE HIS EYES, 7
Johnstown, June 5.-On a cot in the
ospital there lies at present man injured ];
ably, almost to death, but whose mental "
offerings are so great as to shadow those
hysical to insiguidcance. His name is Ii
erning. He lost In the flood his whole n
.mily, wife and five children. The look
despair and agony on that poor mans
ce would cause tears to flow from ADAM
ut. In an interview he states C,
81 was az home with my wife and chill
rem when the alarm came. We hurried -
ON the house, leaving everything behind !,
J. As We reached the door gentleman u
lend was running by. He grasped two II
mailer children, one under each arm, and b
lrried on ahead of US. | had my arm 8
ound my wife supporting her. Behind IT
We could hear the flood rushing upon us. =,
enc hurried glance as passed a corner "
could see the fearful flood crunching and 81
ackling my house in its fear S.
| grasp. then could see that there was s
possibility OF our escape, as we were too
r away from the hillsides In very few
oments 1t was upon us. In flash / saw NJ
rec dear children licked up by it and dis
pear from sight, as / and my wife were tn
rown into the air by the vanguard of -,
shing ruins. We found ourselves -
long lot OF drift, driving along DE
tn the speed Of race horse. In -
moment we were thrown with 81
crash against the side of a large SO
me building, whose walls gave way be- -,
e us as II they were made OF pie crust. =
the timbers began to fall about us in III
directions. Up to this time had re-
ned strong hold on my wife, but as A.,
Ound myself pinned between two heavy .n'
lbers, the agony caused my senses to u "a;
We me momentarily' / recovered in. r.
ntly, only to see my wife's head dissp- az a..
ring nnder the water. Like lightning g.
rasped her by her hair, and as best / - ~,
Id, pinioned as / was above the &c
Ter BY the timbers, raised her above it. rem rem
2 weight proved too much and she sank .a4
in. | pulled her to the surface and Sa.
In she sank. This 1 did again and Ia.
In with no avail. She drowned in nv W
sp and at last she dropped from nv ecu
yeless hands to leave my sight forever. syn
ii had not suffered enough, few mo- =
rs after L saw some objects whirling tics
md in an eddy, which circled and and
md until, again reaching the current Ca
7 hOated past me. Ny God, nsr,
/, would you believe me? ID was three ana
az children, all dead. Their dear lit anu
aces aae before me. now, distorted in a
of agony, that no matter what / do, n
nts nae. Oh, if | could only have re- .,w
ed myself at that time I would have 49,,
lngly died with them. was rescued ali ,
!, - anu nave peeh mere ever rem