Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-02
THRILLING INCIDENTS.
TWENTY Nine on a Floating Island-AH Lost
"A Little Gives Boy Way for His
Mother to Grasp the Rope
Scenes that Brought Many
Manly Tear.


Mother TO Grasp the Rope
Scenes that Brought Many
Manly Tear.
tFRoM STAFF CORRESPONDENT.
DERRK, June 1-2:50 P. NJ.
Incidents can be collected by the score.
Every person met has some new and horri-
bic detail to relate. Reporters are scurry-
ing back and forth between the telegraph
Offices on engines, wreck trains and the few
passenger trains running. Many of the
boys have been up all night. The sights
are SO sickening and horrifying that none
but the strongest men can stand it to see
them.
A short time ago the bodies of three men
and woman were picked up above Cone
maugh furnace Two dead girls were found
between Nineveh and New Flor
ence yesterday. J. D. Berry counted
29 fearful people floating past Nine
veh on what to him looked like
big island, but was probably large raft.
No word has been received from any of
these people.
An old man. with long gray beard, and a
babe in his arms, was seen floating by. Fol-
lowing him came a beautiful girl with
her long hair hanging down her back.
She was standing on small
raft. When she saw the men on the shore
she threw out her arms and screamed for
help. In her excitement she lost her bal
ance and disappeared beneath the food
with long, loud shrieks of dispair. 1t is
such scenes that the people and railroaders
have been seeing along the banks of the
Conemaugh.
A PATHETIC APPEAL.
At Lacolle, during the night, the wreck
ing crew heard children crying in the brush
in the neighborhood. The brave fellows
waded into the mud end water as far as they
dared; but, in the darkness, they could
not be rescued. The poor little things
were too far out in the stream, and it won't
be long before some kind person will pull
their tiny bodies out of the mud and return
them to their homes, if they can be identi-
fed.
All through the night, anywhere
along the Conemaugh, people listening
on the railroad could hear hoaters
moaning and crying, and occasionally some
one could be heard singing or praying. Be-
low were the roaring waters, and the voices
mingling with the noise of the food struck
terror into more than one heart.
Foreman Wyand saved q mother and
child at Lacolle. This man saw Is
people die in one spot together at this place.
The food sucked them under and they were
never seen afterward.
A young boy just from school took rope
and SWAN out into the stream at Johnstown.
He succeeded in saving a mother and her
daughter. Twice he entered the food with
his rope, and each time was rewarded. The
railroad officials are so well pleased with
the young fellow that they intend to look
after him.
The wrecking crew found little infants
torn to pieces. The limbs were severed from
the body in some cases, and many of them
looked as if they had been put through
sausage machine.
A mother and her little son were floating
past Sang Hollow. A rope was thrown out
to them; but there was chance for only one
of them to be saved. The little boy grabbed
the rope; but he turned to his mother and
gave it to her. The woman was
pulled through the water to the
banks to see her son disappear
around bend in the river. Fortunately,
he too was rescued at New Florence, and
mother and son were reunited.
ANorurp Pov,s HEPoTs1T
A mother, son and daughter were float
ing down on raft. A rope was held out,
and the boy caught it; but when
he saw his mother and sister behind him
he let go. They drifted down below Boli-
var, where they were stopped by tree in
the stream. In few minutes the county
bridge, short distance above, was swept
away. The structure swooped down upon
them and killed the three outright.
In some places when the water subsided
there were so many bodies collected that
the ground looked like great battlefield.
Just below Nineveh, John Hesker was
rescued. He lost his wife and five children.
The wrecking train picked him up along
the road, and gave him something to eat.
He tried to swallow the food,
but he could not. He said that his
home was about the last one
in Cambria City to be carried away. There
he said there was not building left except
a row on the hill.
The lumber dams in the mountains were
broken and the mass of stuff in the swift
current acted like battering ram. The
force of boards raised many of the frame
structures almost in an instant.
This morning some of the wrecking
men waded into the mud and drew
out from clump of bushes
young mother about 20 years old.
Her arms were clasped tight on her breast,
as if she had been cIutching a babe; but
God only knows where that baby's body is
at present.
S. II. Thompson, trainmaster at Pitts
burg, during the night walked from Blairs-
vile to Bolivar He heard repeated cries
for help; but alasl DO mortal man could
help the suffering and dying.
Steve Glucis was rescued at Nineveh.
His wife and three children were drowned.
More than once during the night men
ventured among the thick bushes and the
meadow grass, seeking for people. They
were guided by the cries; but very few were
saved. The men had to turn back. Steve
Glucis' wife and three children were asleep
when the food came. In an instant the
house was turned up, and they were gone.
ISRAEL.