The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1889-07-24
MisteIlamp.
A Million People Drowned.

While travelling through Ohio on
my way to the Johnstown disaster"
says correspondent of the Phila-
dephia Press, {" met a Chinaman,
Ching Low, member of a manufacture
ing firm of Pekin, now travelling for
health and observation. / found him
exceedingly eager to learn all details re-
garding Johnstown and the surround
ing country. He had lost two sisters
and a brother in the great flood in
China in the latter part of 1887, the
greatest disaster of the kind of which
history has any account. Ching Low
is man past fifty years of age, and
was raised in Ho-Nain, the section that
was deluged by the great overflow of
the Hoang-Ho river. A portion of the
family still remains there He was the
eldest, and for some years had resided
in Pekin, where he was in business.
This flood, he believed, entailed loss
of fully 100000 people. Alongside Of
such calamity the Johnstown dsas-
ter, terrible as it is, seems insignificant.
Among the attending horrors was can
nibalism. In the agonies of hunger
that even the government was unable
to alleviate hundreds were devoured
by fellow-creatures A brother of
Ching Low was in a section where
many persons were eaten, and he be-
lieved his brother was one of the vic
Tins. This extraordinary flood was
caused by the bursting of retaining
walls and overflow of the banks of the
river, which Ching Low thought was as
large as the Ohio. The country was
very flat, and the disaster coming in
the night, there was little chance to
escape. The devastation of the couu-
try was so great that it was weeks be-
fore outside aid reached the wretched
district. The district submerged was
known on the map as Ho-Nain, but, on
account of its fertility, was styled The
Garden of China Anything that
would grow in China would grow in
| Ho-Nain. There were over 2 800 pros
| porous towns in the valley, and all
these were destroyed, even as COM
pletely as Johnstown is destroyed. The
overflow covered about 10000 square
miles, and the population on this area
was equal to that of one of our largest
states. In a few hours all this was
under water, even the tops of the trees
| Hoang-Ho overlooking had never oc-
Cured to the inhabitants of the valley
and means of escape and rescue were
meager. Thousands upon thousands of
people were drowned like rats in trap
and thousands more who escaped from
the waste of waters died of starvation
To add to the horror, a strange and
fatal epidemic broke out among the
distressed, and vast numbers were
carried off by the disease. The govern.
ment organized system of relief, and
it was two years before it could relax its
labors. For months the valley OF
Hoang-Ho was a charnel-house where
bodies lay rotting by the thousands
The dead were buried and burned as
far as possible, but the loss of life was
so great that many bodies were nevel
touched. 1t was such fearful thing
that hundreds who escaped with theil
lives were driven mad by the terrible
scenes, and maniacs were everywhere
encountered. 1t was many months be-
fore all these unfortunates were Sc
cured. Many of them were murdered
by their fellows, and others, helples;
and harmless, died of hunger and dis
ease. Ching Low reached the de-
vastated country as speedily as possible
but was powerless to do anything
toward seeking his lost relatives. The
town in which they had lived-a town
of several thousand people-was almost
completely wiped out. The family con
sisted of four These were all sup
posed to have been lost; but yeal
after the food a brother turned up, bu
his mind was deranged, and he is now
an inmate of private ayslum in Pekin
He has never been able to give any &C
count of his escape, and his condition
does not improve. The loss of prop
erty by such calamity was, of course
tremendous. The government under
took to estimate it, and it ran into thu
billions. 1t was as if dozen cities
like Cincinnati, Buffalo, Cleveland anC
Pittsburg had been utterly destroyed
Ching Low said this horror had been {
constant nightmare to him, and its fear
full scenes came back to him as ht
heard of the misery of Johnstown."