Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1889-06-08
Johnstown a Ruined City.

buildings and railroad cars at the
bridge near the town. Hundreds
more floated down the streams, and
we're buried in the mud and swamps
far below. The work of searching
for the dead has but just begun, and
by Sunday afternoon the floors of
the churches and the largest build.
ings lett standing were filled with
corpses laid out in rows. On lot at
the edge of town lay rows of collins,
each containing victim of the dis
aster, and were guarded by state
troops. The Identification of the
dead proceeds slowly. About five
hundred have been recognized and
claimed by friends and relatives.
The dissertation and mutilatiOn of
bodies by Hungarian thieves has
resulted in the lynching of six of
the fiends. Four others seen in the
act Of cutting off the fingers of dead
women and children, to steal the
rings upon them, leaped into the
water, and were drowned, in trying
to escape the desperate men in pur-
suit of them. The inhuman work of
these brutes has been stopped by
the military, who now patrol the
place and guard the hastily.imprOvis-
ed morgues. Adjutant General
Hastings is in command of the troops.
The railroad companies and the state
authorities are doing everything
possible to provide shelter and food
for the thousands of homeless people.
The appeals for relief are meeting
with ready response in all parts OF
the country. The Cambria Iron
Company's loss is now estimated at
80, 600, 900, while the losses to prop.
erty, personal and otherwise, will
amount to many millions more
Along the Susquehanna river the
damage is incalculable, every city
and town on its banks having suffer
ed heavily. Six thousand miners
have been thrown out of work by
the flooding of the collieries neal
Mt. Carmel
| RObbing the Dead.
| YOUNGSTOWN, Pa, June 2.-The
way of the transgressor in the desc
lated valley of the Conemaugh is
hard indeed. Each hour reveals
some new and horrible story of suf
fering and outrage, and every sue
ceeding hour brings news Of swift
and merited punishment meted out
to the fiends who have dared to des
ecrate the stiff and mangled corpses
in the city of the dead and torture
the already halfcrazed victims of thu
cruelest of modern catastrophes. Al
the roads to the lands around abou
are opened tales of almost indescri
able horror come to light, and deeds
of the vilest nature, perpetrated il
the darkness of the night, are
brought to light.
just as the shadows began to fal
upon the earth last evening a party
of thirteen Hungarians were noticed
stealthily picking their way along
the banks of the Conemaugh to
wards Sang Hollow. Suspicious Of
their purpose, several farmers arm
ed themselves and started in pursuit
Soon their most horrible fears were
realized. The Hungarians were out
for plumber. Lying upon the shore
they came upon the dead and mangl
ed body Of woman upon whose
person there were a number of trink
cts of jewelry and two diamond
rings.
In their eagerness to secure the
plumber the Hungarlans got into q
squabble, during which one of the
number severed the finger upon
which were the rings and started on
a run with his fearful prize. The
revolving nature of the deed SC
wrought upon the pursueing farmers
who by this time were close at hand
that they gave immediate chase
Some of the Hungarians showed
fight, but being outnumbered, were
compelled to flee for their lives
Nine of the brutes escaped, but four
literally driven into the surging riv.
er and to their death. The inhuman
monster whose atrociOus act has
been described was among the mum
Der of involuntary suicides. Anoth
er of even greater moment has just
been brought to notice. At $3.50
! O'Clock this morning an old railroad
er who had walked from Sang Hol
low stepped up to a number of men
who were congregated on the plat.
form station at CurranvilIe and said:
Gentlemen, had 1 shot gun
with me half an hour ago, l would
now be a murderer, yet with no fear
OF ever having to suffer for the crime.
Two miles below here | watched
three men going along the banks
stealing the jewels from the bodies
of the dead wives and daughters OF
men who have been robbed of all
they held dear on earth.u He had
no sooner finished the last sentence
than five burly men, with looks of
terrible determination written on
their faces, were on their way to the
scene plumber, one with a coil of rope
on his shoulder and another with a
revolver in his hand. In twenty min.
utes 1T is stated, they had overtaken
two of their victims, who were then
in the act of cutting pieces from the
ears and fingers from the hands of
the bodies of two dead women. With
revolver leveled at the scoundrels,
the leader of the posse shouted:
"Throw up your hands or I'll blow
your head off, With blanched faces
and trembling forms they obeyed
the order, and begged for mercy.
They were searched, and as their
pockets were emptied of their ghast-
ly finds, the indignation of the crowd
intensified, and when a bloody
finger of an infant encircled with
two tiny gold rings was found among
the plumber in the leaders, pocket a
cry went up:
"Lynch them Lynch them!w
Without moments delay, ropes
were thrown around their necks, and
they were dangling TO the limbs of a