Connecticut western news., 1889-06-05
THE VALLEY OF DEATH.
WOE WROUGHT BY THE WRATH
 OF WATERS AND FIRE.
mangh Valley, as Now Esti. mated. May Very Likely
 Foot Up 10000.

1itcy, oS KNoW CsNis
 mated. May Very Likely
 Foot Up 10000.
 A sudden freshet is reported; in the North Fork River cast of Jobustowu, Pa, in the Allegheny Mountains. The food hus resulted in an awful catastrophe. The North Fork reservoir above the town. broke, and tho immense volume of water rushed down to the city, carrying with it death and dcstructon. Houses with their occupants were swept away, and scores. probably thousands, of people were drowned.
 As further information concerning the dis nster in Western Pennsylvania becomes more and moro precise. it does not abate one titts of its horror. Rather it adds to it. Not only do the scenes which are described appear all the moro dreadful, os is natural, the nearer they are brought to the imagination, butit seems only too probable that the final rcck. oning in loss uf lifc and material wealth will prove far more stupcudous than has even yet Teen supposed.
 Tho very greatness of the destruction pre- vents the possibility of an accurate estimate. Beneath tho ghastly ruins Of the once happy towns and villages along the pathway of the delugc. who shall say how many victims lie huriedf Amid the rocks and woods thnt border the broad track of the waters who shall say how many more lie bruised and manged and unrecognikabe, wcdged between powders, or masscd amid debris and rubbish, or hidden beneath the heapcd up deposits of earth, and whether all of them shall ever ba found and given the last touching rites3
 Already the air of the little valley, which few days ago was smiling with all the health of nature and the contcntmcnt of industri. ousman, is waxing pcstiferous with the awinl oder of decnying human bodies. BnErurds, invited by their disgusting instinct. gather for promised feast. and sit aud glower on ncighboring perches or else circle round md round in the blue empyrean over the loca- tion of unfricnded corpscs. known only to their keen sense of smell or viSion
 To say that Johnstown is wreck is but stating the facts of the case. Nothing like it was ever seen in this country. Where long rows of dwelling houses and business blocks stood n few ssdnys ago, ruin and deso- lation now reign supreme. Probably fifteen hundred houses have been swept from the facc of the earth as completely as if they had never been erected. Main street from end to end is piled fifteen and twenty feet high with debris. and in some instances it is as high us the roofs or the houses This great mass of wrccknge fills the street from curb to curb, and frequently has crushed the buildings in and filled the space of the remainder, adding new terrors to ! h who can give any reliable estimate of the number of houses that had been swept away. City Solicitor kurhn, who should hc very good authority in this matter, places tue number at fifteen hundrcd.
 From the woollen mill above the island to the bridge, distance of probably two miles, strip of territory nearly half n milein width has bcen swept clean, not n stick of timber nor one brick on top of another left to tell the story. 1t is the ,l.sfa hut fi.,f, could portray. All day long men. women md children were plodtling about the deso- lnte waste looking in vain to lncate the boundaries of their former homes. Nothing but a wide expanse of mud, ornameu.ctl here and there with heaps of drift wood, remained. however, for their contemplation.
 It is perfectly safe to say thnt every house in the city that was not located well up on the hillside was either swept completely away or wrecked so badly that rebuilding will he absolutely necessary.
 IIerc and there bodies can be seen sticking in the ruins. Some of the most prominent citizens are to be seen working with might and main to get at the remains or relatives whom they have located. There is no doubt that, wild as the estimates of the loss of life and damage to property havo been. 1t IS even larger than there is any idea or Close on to 2,000 residences lie in kintlling wood at the lower end of the town An idea of the cccentricity of the Hood may be gathered from the fact that houses that were situated at Woodvale and points above Johnstown are piled at the lower end of the town. while some massive houses have been lifted md carried from the lower end as far as the cem. etery at the extreme upper portion of tue town, All through the ruins scattered the most costly furniture and store goods of all kinds.
 number of Hungarinns collected about number of bodies at Cambria which had been washed up and began rifing the trunks. Alter they had secured all the contents they turned their attention to the dead The ghastly spectacle presented by the distorted features of those who had lost their lives during the food had no influence upon the ghouls. who acted more like wild beasts thau human beings They took every article lrom the clothing on the dead bodies, not aving anything of value or anything that would serve to identify the remains. Af.er The ntis. creants had removed all their plunder 10 dry ground a dispute arose over n division Of tho spoils. A pitched battle followed and for time the situation was alarming, Knives and clubs were used freely As n result srv eral of the combatants wcro seriously J wounded and left on the ground. their fellow countrymcn not making any attempt to remove them from the field of strife. They have inst hung q man over near the railroad to the telegraph pole for cutting the finger of of a dead woman in order to get a ring.
 Just the shadows began 10 full mp on the earth a party of thirteen Hun garinns were noticed stralthily picking thcil way along the banks of the toncmaugh toward Sang Hollow. Suspicious of theiI u.pose several farmers armed theniselvei and started in pursuit. Soon their mUsI horrible fears were realized The llungari ans were out for plunder. Lying upon tn, shore they came upon the dead and mangleo body or a woman npon whose person there were q numberuf trinkets of icwclry and two diamond rings. In their eagerness to sccur, the pnnder the Hunsarians got into squabbc. during which one of the number severed the finger upon which were the rings and sIattcd on a run with his fearful prize The rrvolting nature of the deed so wrought upon the pur sning farmers, who by this tim, were close at hand, that they gave immedi ate chase. Some of the Hungarians showed fight. but being outnmmhercd were eompele, 10 flee for their lives. Nine of the brutes es capped, but four were literally driven into tn surging river and to their death.
 An old railroader who had walked iron Sang Hollow stepped up to number or mel who were congregated on the platform sta tions at Curranville and said "Gentlemen hadl a shot gun with me half au hour ago would DOW be a murderer, yet with no fear 0 ever having to suffer for my crime. Two miles below here watched three men goin, along the banks stealing the jewels from tn bodiesof the dead wives and daghters of mel who have been robbed of all they held dea on cart h."
 He had no sooner finished the last sentenc than five burly men, with looks of terribl determination written on their faces, were o their way to the scene Of plunder one with coil of rope over his shoulder and anothe with a revolver in his hand. In twenty. min utes they had overtaken two of the wretches who were then in the act os cutting piece from the ears and fingers of the bodies of tw dead women
 With revolvers leyelled at the scoundrel the leader of the posse shouted. Throw III your hands or I'll blow your heads of T With blanched faces and trembling form they obeyed .he order and begged for mercy They were searched, and as their pocket were emptied of their ghastly finds the indig