Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-06-04

sea Of mud, broken but rarely by a pile Of
wreckage. Your correspondent wsded through
mud and water up the valley to-day over the
site OF the former village. As has been often
stated, nothing Is standing but the old wooden
mills: The place is swept bare of all its build
! lngs but the ruins of the Gsutier wire mill.
The boilers of these great works we're carried a
hundred yards from their foundation. Pieces
\ of engines, rolls, and other machinery we're
swept far away from where they once stood.
he wreck OF q hose carriage is sticking up out
of the mud. 1t belonged to the crack company
/ of Johnstown.
The engine house is swept away and the cell
lar Is filled with mud. so that the site is oblter
| ated. German Waterman was on guard at
the mill when the waters came. He tells a
| graphic story of the appearance of the water
as it swept down the valley. He declares that
| the first wave was as high as the third story of
house. The place Is deserted. No effort Is
| being made to clean off the streets. The mire
has formed the grave of many poor victim.
| Arms and legs protruding from the mud make
the most sickening of pictures.
| A rope ferry Is now being operated in the
/ lower part of the town. An effort is being
| made to construct a bridge across the Cone
mangh at the point where the old country
| bridge stood
| THE HERO OF SOUTH FORK.
The name of the hero of South Fork is John
G. Parke. He it was who first saw the danger
! ley by the bursting of the DAM and took all
possible precautions to prevent catastrophe.
( Early Friday morning Mr.. Parke, who is young
PhIladeIphian and civil engineer, discovered
that the DISTINGUISHING waters of the lake would
either have TO have an additional outlet or that
| the dam proper would give way and swallow up
the population of JohnstOwn and vicinity.
Hastily securing force of thirty Italians be
| set to work to prepare another sluice. In half
an hour his purpose was accomplished, but
still the water continued to rise. Up and up it
| came at the rate of six, seven. eight and ten
inches an hour. Something had to be done
and that quickly. So giving orders to his men
to cut another outlet, MIR. Parke jumped into
the saddle and started at breakneck speed
| toward South Fork.
As he rode he warned the people on every
hand OF their danger. Soon hundreds of fami-
lies were fleeing to the hills for safety. Reach
ing South Fork station he telegraphed the
warning to Johnstown. Two men there
| started out upon horseback through the city,
giving warning that the dam about to
burst and urging them to flee to the hills for
safety.
No blame can be attached to any one" said
Mr.. Parke, IN conversation yesterday, for this
greatest OF horrors. 1t was calamity which
couid not be averted. For several days prior
to the breaking of the dam, storm after storm
swept over the mountains and overlooked every
creek and rivulet.
BURSTING ITS BOUNDS
The waters from these varied sources grad
uaily flowed into the lake. which finally was
not able to stand the pressure forced upon it.
On Friday morning | realized the danger that
was threatened and although from that time
until o clock every human effort was made to
prevent flood they were of no avail. When
at last found the dam was bound to go, /
started out to tell the people, and by u o'clock
everybody III Conemaugh valley knew or
should nave known OF their imminent dan
ger.
Three hours later my gravest fears were
more than realized. 1t is an erroneous idea,
however that the dam burst. 1t simply moved
away. The water gradually eat into the en-
ban6ment until there WAS nothing left but
trdll bu.wark OF wood. This finally split asun-
der and sent the waters hurrying down the
mountain, carrying death and destruction in its
wake
AN ALLEGED MIRACLE.
The miracle, as it is called. that happened
at the Church of the Immaculate Conception
has caused tremendous sensation A large
number of persons will testify 10 the nature of
the event, and. to put it mildly, the circum-
stances are really remarkable. May devotions
were III progress on Friday night when the
water descended on Cambria City. The church
was filled with people at the time but when
tie noise Of the food was heard the congrega-
ton hastened to get out of the way. They sue
ceeded as Tar as escaping from the interior is
concerned. and in few minutes the church
Was partially submerged, the water reaching IS
feet up the sides and swirling around the cor
nerS furlOu>Iy. The building was badly wrecked,
the benches were torn out. and. in general the
entire structure. inside and outside. was fairly
olsmantied. Yesterday morning when an en-
trance was forced through the blocked doorway.
the ruin appeared to be complete One object
alone had escaped the waters wrath The
statue OF the Blessed Virgin that had been deco
rated and adorned because OF the Nav devo-
tons was UnsUlhed as on the day it was made
The hOwcrs. the wreathes, and the lace veil
were undIsturbed and unsoiled. Not wrinkle
was observable i'll its outlines. The marks on
the wall showed that the surface of the water
had risen TO a height OF fifteen feet while the
statue had been saved from all contact with the
liquid. Every one that had seen the statue
and Its surroundings is firmly convinced the
incident was miraculous one and even to the
most skeptical the affair savors of the SUPER
natural.
Losses i'm Maryland.
Now that the water in the Potomac has fallen
the extent of the damage in western MARYLAND
is beginning to be manifest At Harper's
Ferry from one end of Shenandoah street to
the other but little could be seen but damaged
buildings and thick mud When the flood was
at its highest the water stood in the street to a
depth OF between 10 and 20 feet. and nearly
every resident suffered more or less. Among
the principal losers were James McGraw, mer-
chant. $4,000; II. V. Daniels. $1,000: T. VI,
Connor, $1,000; J. C. Childs, $500; r. Cava-
her. $1,000; Charles Drew, $500; Thomas
Burnley. $1,000; George McGiency, $1,000: Mrs,
Kate Cockeren. $500; Joseph Myers. $500;
George ". Green, $500; Thomas NcGavv,
?l,50O; t. W. Beall. $500: Daniel Hood.
$1,000; I. A. Kirwan, $500; NJ Walsh. Il 900:
u. Kane $500; j. q. Hurst, ~, 500; J. p CIeve-
land. $500; John Dolls. $500; Albert Bussard.
600. and numerous others from $500 to 81 900.
The loss sustained by the Shenandoah Pulp
bill company is estimated at from $4,000 to
$4,000.
At Sandy Hook most of the railroad sidings
were washed out and carried bodily consider
able distance. The loss TO the railroad at this
point Will probably amount to S1j0,0OO, while
that sustained by the canal company. in the