The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1889-06-13
sICKENlNG SCENES.
Horrors Increasing as the Work of
Recovery Progresses at
J0hnstown.

ratified down, except q few faithful priests
who had followed some angled representa-
tives OF their faith to the grave. All day
long the corpses were being hurried below
ground. h unidentified bodies were
grouped on a high hill west of the doomed
city, where q epitaph suited for all, and that
the word unknown" There are hundreds
of these graves already, and each day will
increase the proportion. The possibility of
identification dim.nishes every hour. Fires
are raging over the mangled graves of hun
dreds, and the partial cremation of MANY
bodies is inevitable. Others are becoming so
blackened in their contact with the debris
or through qualification that q grinninp
skeleton would show as much resemblance
to the persons in life as they. Almost eyerv
stroke of the pick in some portions of the
city to-day resulted in the discovery of an
other victim. Wherever one turns the mel
anchOly view of q coffin is met. Every train
into Johnstown was laden with them the bet
ter ones being accompanied by friends of the
dead. Men could be seeu staggering over
the ruins with shining mahogany caskets on
their shoulders Several stumbled and fell
into the Astounding pits. The hollow houses
of the dead went bounding over the stones
like drums in a funeral march. The coffin
famine appears to be alleviated.
H NoRM1TY OF H DEVASTATION
Wrought by the Conemaugh f1ood is becom-
ing more and more apparent with every ef-
fort Of the laborers to resolve order out of
chaos&y Over one hundred men have been
nl day engaged in an effort to clear a mar
row passage from the death bridge upward
through the sea Of debris that blocks the
Conemaugh for nearly half a mile. Every in
genuity known to man has been resorted to
by this crew. The giant power of dynamite
was brought into requisltion, and at fire.
quenu intervals the roar of explosions re-
verberated through the valley, and sticks,
stones and logs would fly high in the air.
When one reflects that fully twenty-five
acres are to be cleared In this
way, the task ahead seems an
interminable one. But there is no roya
road, and if the hundreds or thousands of
bodies beneath these blackened ruins are to
be recovered for Christian burial. the labors
OF to-day must be continued with increased
vigor. 1t is only in Difference to the unrea.
sonlng mandate of grief that the Herculean
labor Of clearing the river by means Of
DYNAMITE N DERRICK
Is persisted In. There is no hope IN the
calmer minds that this task can be pursued
to the end. The progress of to-day is hardly
observable, and ere two more days have
elapsed there Is little doubt the emanations
of putrid bodies will have become 40 fright
full as to drive the hardest workman from
the scene. Until that time arrives,
however, there is no hope that this grief
strike %populace will abandon the cherished
hope Of again gazing upon the forms of the
loved once whose lives went out in the fire
and food Of the Conemaugh. The work of
clearing up the wreck and recovering the
bodies is now being conducted most
systematically. Over six thousand men are
ut work in the various portions of the
valley, and each little gang Of twenty men
is directed by a foreman who is under orders
from the general headquarters. As the rub
bish ia gone over, and the bodies and scat
tered articles Of value recovered, the debris
is piled up in one high mass and the torch
applied In this way the valley is assuming
q less devastated condition.
LON DEATH LIST.
Conservative men are of the opinion that
the number of people destroyed will reach
from IL. 900 to $4,000. This view of it is
based on many fragments of evidence OBJ
tanned from over one hundred citizens, be-
ing careful to select a. Intelligent men
and women as could be found. They
were chosen from as many occupations
as possible and from as many social classes.
They were asked to estimate the percentage
: of loss to the total population, to tell how
many people of their acquaintance have
disappeared, and how the gathering Of resi-
dents on the streets and in public places
compare with the same in former times.
Their statements of fact and estimates were
proved as far as possible, and the pendulum
of calculation seems to be beating time
when it swings from II, 200 to $4,000. 1t
must be rene mbered that q very large pro-
portion of this loss ia made up of children.
Being lighter and smaller they have been
swept into out of the way recesses
and are almost inaccessible, and they
are more easily carried away. The
drift OF opinion among Intelligent men,
physictans, engineers and railroad men. ia
that from 1000 to !. 500 of the bodies will
never be found. To-day fifty bodies were
taken from the debris in front of the Catho-
lie church in Johnstown borough. About
forty of the bodies were those OF women.
They We're Immediately removed to the
morgue for Identification. Eve bodies were
taken out of the wreckage near Diberts
bank on Main street this morning. MISS
Clara Barton of Washington, u. G., the orig
jnator Of what is known as the Red Cross
corps, known all over the world, arrived
here this morning and will at once assume
charge of all female relief corps.
MANY IN WANT.
Notwithstanding the fact that nearly every
prominent city in the United States Is raising
C1.und for the relief of Conemaugh sufferers,
ahe wants OF the homeless and afflicted are
far from being alleviated At the various
relief stations to-day crowds Of appli-
cants WIS continuous from morning
Till night. aud many Of the Needy cy
hours before their turn came and their little
portion was allotted out to them. Hundreds
of thousands of dollars must pour into this
stricken valley If positive suffering and
privation is to be avoided. Thousands OF
people are homeless, and in these devastaGe a
homes thousands also last their all.
Labor and manufacturing OF nearly
every kind is at a standstill in the
valley, and weeks or months must elapse be-
fore the Cambria Iron works and other IN.
dustrial institutions can possibly resume and
pend upon them for support Ieiegrapnic
expressions Of commiseratlon arg
borough throughout the broad land,
but substantial evidences OF sympathy ar 9
'sadly wanting. 1t is not possible .naD wmi.s
people read, wonder and pity every man
expects his neighbor to give. or thinks that
ere his donation would arrive in the valley
actual necessity would he at IN enc. Inc
mayor Of Johnstown to-day received by
cubic q copy OF resolutions aooPteo al
n public meeting to-day in Paris, France.
The w~arm-hearted Parisians express theii
deep sympathy with the homeless and al.
ficted Of the Gonemaugh valley, and state
o ms. a suD ! psiot the republic tor the relief Of
their American neighbours. > z
IDENTIFIED BODIES.
Two hundred bodies were recovered IRON
the ruins to-day. Some were tdent'f1ed. gu.
the great majority we're not This NUMBER
fn1n,,,dad aI the morg1es, the ONT