Sacramento daily record-union., 1889-06-07

wreckage which will be the pyre of hun
dreds of dead bodies.
| Dr. Morrell, Deputy Chief of the State
| Board OF Health, said to-day: The point
has come in this horror when sentiment
must be laid aside; to endanger the lives of
the living that the dead may be identified,
is u o longer ,justifable, besides the bodies
| are ali past being embalmed, and friends
can scarcely recognize their features any
longer. Identification is possible only by
the clothing and iewelry on their persons !"
| THE DANGERS OF AN EPIDEMIC.
Dr. Croft, who is now in charge of the
Johnstown Bureau of the State Board of
Health and Sanitary Inspections, said to
the Associated Press correspondent this
afternoon: There is no immediate dan
ger OF an epidemic in Pittsburg. The dan
ger" said he, lis that the people will be
scared into being sick. We need thousands
OF men to work on the debris and clear it of
| carcasses"
An inspector who has just arrived from
the Wooddale District reports great destitu-
ton. There is nothing in the town but
flour and bran and very little of that.
| About noon to-day it was reported to
Chief Gogeby, of the Police Committee,
that body CT alleged rescuers at the foot
| OF Main street were removing the iewelry
from the bodies they carried away.
| Gogeby ordered the police to 60 and pre-
tend TO superintend the work for the pur-
pose OF experimenting the thieves. Special
| police had to be selected to prevent the
stealing from the debris back of the general
| hospital.
| THE LOSSES.
Following is the best estimate of the loss
[ OF life and property yet prepared:
4 L.. q
100000.
| East Conemaugh and Franklin, the town
borough-Lives lost, 3S property, 81 ,20O,-
| 600.
Woodvale Lives lost, 800; property,
| s., 100000.
Johnstown and Millville-Lives lost,
| 1000; property, SIS, 600 600.
| Kernyille-Lives lost, GOO; property, $780,
| 600.
Cambria - Lives lost, 1,10O property,
| $3.50 600.
Minersville-Lives lost, S; property, $15,-
| 600.
Morrellville Lives lost /; property,
$4,000.
Sheridan and Coopersdale-No lives lost:
property, $4,000.
Pennsylvania Railroad. $15,0OO.OOO
Total lives lost, $685. property, $34,-
075,OOO.
The loss of life in Johnstown proper is
but little more than guess. 1t is too large
place for anybody to know everybody,
| and the survivors are so scattered that the
| registration of the living, which has
| reached 1900 in the district, indicates
| nothing. The loss in the smaller towns
named is obtained from the leading men
in each, who have in a measure got their
heads again and are able TO think with
some GOODNESS.
ANOTHER ESTIMATE.
P. E. Chaplin, of Washington, who built
| the Gautier Steel Works, and until jan
uary, 1888, was General Superintendent of
| the Cambria Iron Works at Johnstown.
said last evening the loss was about as fol-
lows: Johnstown proper, $4,000 600;
Pennsylvania Railroad $4,000, COO Gau-
tier Steel Company, $2,5OOOO0; Cambria
Iron Company, $4,000 The general
losses at Mineral Point, East Conemaugh,
Woodville, Conemaugh Borough, Kern
vile, Grubtown, Buckstown, Millville,
Sheridan and Morrellville, are about 81
100000.
1t is doubtful if twenty years will enable
the valley to recover from this shock.
INSURANCE MEMS FIGURES.
A large number of representatives of
| life accident and fire insurance companies
are here, trying to reach an approximate
| idea OF the losses. The greatest uncer-
| tainty still exists. In many cases whole
| families were eXtingulshed, and the bene-
| ticiaries reside at such distance that COM
munication with them cannot be had at
once. To get the number of unrecognized
| dead adds TO the complication. The repre-
sentative of one fire insurance company
says that the liabilities of the fire insur-
| ance companies will be small, because the
property had all been destroyed by water
before the fire broke out at the bridge.
The accident policies are supposed to reach
| fully 100000.
THE HEALTH OUTLOOK.
i, The State Health authorities unquestion-
ably have stupendous task here In ad-
dition to the bodies of the dead persons
there are thousands of carcasses of animals.
The Sanitary Inspectors yesterday removed
| fifty dead animals from one small space in
mass of debris.
The Surgeon-General at Washington has
telegraphed that every pound of disinfect-
ants procurable at Washington has been
| forwarded and is now on its way here
CROWDED CONDITION OF HOUSES.
In the house-to- house canvass, being Or
dered by the sanitary authorities it was
found that four and even six families were
| being crowded irto single house AS
| many as fifty slept in one room and the
doors and windows were left closed to shut
out stencil and dampness.
Pneumonia is gaining an alarming foot
hold. There are at least one hundred we'll
defined cases in Johnstown.
The cellars are filled with water, and the
| river bed is filled with bodies. Acres of
debris contain uncounted bodies which it
is difficult to locate if not impossible, be-
fore decomposition has already spread dis
ease.
NO GREAT DANGER FROM EPIDEMIC.
An officer of the State Board of Health
| who inspected the towns above Johnstown
yesterday, concluded that no great danger
of epidemic originated above the city, ex-
cept perhaps at lockwood, where an i'm
| mense amount of wreckage was filled with
| dead horses.
There is great danger to all towns below
here for many miles, on account of the GER
| tain contamination of all the sources of
water supply.
MEASLES AND SORE THROAT.
In four of the outlying districts of
| Johnstown visited to-dey by the Asso-
ciated Press correspondent the affairs
are Frightening slowly and moving
| forward with some system. Supplies have
| arrived at Mineral Point and accommoda-
| tions are being provided for the survivors.
The same arrangements are being made at
Conemaugh and Woodvale.
One or two cases of pneumonia are re-
ported at these places, but none are serious.
Measles and sore throat have broken out
among the children, and an epidemic is
| feared
NATIONAL RELIEF COMMITTEE.
The Relief Committee is to be made ma
| tlonal IN its scope. Action to that effect
| will be taken at a meeting of the Finance
| Committee of the local relief organization
this evening. The plan was proposed by
parties high in authority, and has been
given the official sanction of the Finance
Committee by the following clauses of this
afternoons resolution
The survivors of the flood are now and
| must be for some time wholly dependent
| upon the issue to them of food and cloth
| ing, as there are no goods here except those
brought by the Relief Committee, and no
places in which commerce can be carried
on, and agencies for making such distribu-
| tions should receive prompt consideration
STATE REPRESENTATION.
1t is by the unanimous consent of this
committee that another committee should
| be appointed for this purpose, composed in
arf 0f os4 80 ~. looo \