Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1889-06-07
HOUsE-CO-HOUsR CANVASS.
Great Efforts Made to Approximate the
Number OF Dead.

Great Efforts Made to Approximate the
Number OF Dead.
JOHNsTOWN, June 6.-There was con-
siderable activity st the headquarters Of
the Citizens Committee this morning.
Chairman Scott ws3 kept busy answering
questions and appointing committees. In
an interview, be said: "Adjutant General
Hastings will have soldiers placed to guard
the outskirts OF the city and no one will
be permitted to enter the city unless he
has a pass, or be identified by a member of
the local citizens committee who will he
stationed at each entrance. Amateur
photographers snd sigh-seers are not nee
essary end We will not have them"
Some doubt has been expressed as to the
estimate that ~, 600 10 10, 600 people have
been lost In the flooded district. OF
course, there is at present no way OF de-
termining with any degree Of exactitude
how many dead, but the guessing is res-
sonable end conservative. Said Adjutant
General Hastings this morning; I'm my
opinion the loss is greater than we csn now
show figures.
William Jones, of BraddOck, thinks
that at least 10, 600 to 900 were lost.
The statement that $4,000 persons hsd
registered az the registration bureaus yes
terday was incorrect. One of General
Hastings aides said at 10 O'Clock that so
many persons registered twice or more
that the list had TO be revis' d, ana that
the total was not more than $4,000, and
perhaps 1880 This registration not
only comprehends the population OF
Johnstown and adjoining towns-Which
was about 80, 3,0OO-but embraces places
further away in the flooded region, the
total population Of which was at least
As. 600, including villages, struggling ham
lets and farms. Chairman Hicks, OF the
Altoona delegation, who has been sil over
the districts since Sunday morning, Gays
the loss is u, 500 to II .0OO and he bases
il on talk with scores of all sorts Of peO-
ple. The absence of former residents and
Of a fixed ana familiar population is most
striking. There are thousands of strangers
and workmen from distance here. bat
for the three first days the one perpetual
ouestion was: "Where are the people?
Here are about ten thousand. Where are
the rest?"
The real work Of ascertaining who the
living and dead Of JOhnstown are was
started this morning. A corps OF clerks
under the direction of the Relief Commit
zee started out this morning and they will
20 TO every house in the vicinity and Sc
cure the names of the living. Another
CORPS of men will endeavor to find out who
the missing are, and in this manner 1t can
be nearly definitely known just how many
lives were lost in the flood. A revision OF
the register list shows that only $1,000
people had registered up until one O'Clock
this afternoon at the different registration
stations. By this list it is plainly appar-
ent that a large number Of the survivors
will not take the trouble to 90 and regis
ter at one of the stations. Consequently
the plan Of having registers make can
vss5 was adopted The great number OF
bodies not identified seems almost incred-
ulous and impossible Some of these bod
les have laid for four days in the different
morgues. Thousands of people from the
different sections of the State have seen
them. vet they remain, unidentified. at
Ninevah they are bury all the uniden-
titled. bat in the mOrgues IN this vicinity,
no bodies have been buried unless they
were identified