, 1889-06-06

unteers. VIM. Flynn, the Pittsburg con-
tractor, arrived in the wrecked city this
morning and at once took charge of the
army of laborers.
The contractors estimates show more
than anything the condition of this city.
IL will a 10000 menthirty days TO clear
the ground 80 the streets can be made
passable and the work of rebuilding can
he commenced. He said. Il am at a loss
to know how the work is to be done.
This enthusiasm will soon die out and
the volunteers will want to return home.
Ii would take all summer for my men
alone to do what work is necessary.
Steps must be taken and at once to fur.
nish gangs of workmen, and to morrow |
shall send a communication to the Pitts
burg chamber of commerce asking the
different manufacturer of the Ohio valley
to take turns for a month OF SO 10 fur
nishing rellefs of workmen. These gangs
should come for a week at n time. as no
organization can be effected if workmen
arrive and leave when theo please.
h Flood Sufferers.
WASHINGTON. June 5.-The president
had a conference with the attorney gen
eral, secretary Of war, secretary of the
navy, and surgeon general in regard to
measures for the relief Of the Johnstown
sufferers. Army rations and disinfec-
tants were considered and prompt action
will be taken. Ten thousand pounds of
copperas and 200 pounds OF corrosive sub
Innate for disinfectants will be shipped to
Johnstown Immediately.
-
Slow Progress ut the Death Bridge.
YOUNGSTOWN, June 5.-Altnough the
funerals OF the morning relieved the NOR
CUES of their crush, before night they
were as full of the dead as ever. The
enormity of the devastation wrought by
the Conemaugh flood is becoming more and
more apparent with every effort of the
laborers TO resolve order out of chaos.
Over 100 hundred men have been all day
engaged in the effort to clear a narrow
passage FROM the death bridge upward
through the sea OF debris that blocks
the Concmaugh Tor nearly half a mile.
Every ingenuity known to man has
been resorted 10 by this crew. Giant
powder and dynamite have been brought
into requlsition, and at frequent intervals
the oar of the explosion has reverberated
through the valley, and sticks, stones and
logs would fly high in the air. Gradually
a few OF the heaviest timbers were demol-
lshed, and the fragments permitted to
float down through the center arch.
At nightfall, however, the clear space
above the bridge did not exceed an area
60 feet in length and 40 feet in width.
When one reflects fully that twenty five
acres are to be cleared in this way, the task
ahead seems an interminable one. But
there is no royal road and If the hundreds
or thousands of bodies beneath the black
ened ruins are to be recovered for chris
tan burial the labors of to-day must be
continued with increased vigor.
There are many conservative minds that
recommend the use of the torch in this
work OF clearing the river, but they are
not among the sufferers; aud when such
c%ounsels are heard by those whose wives,
children. sisters or brothers rest beneath
this sea OF flotsam and ietsam, the sugges-
ton OF cremation meets with a Juror OF
objection. 1t is only in Difference to the
unreasoning mandate of grief that the
heroic labor of clearing the river by means
of dynamite and derrick is persisted In.
There is no hope in calmer minds that
this task can be pursued to the end. The
progress of to-day is hardly d~iscernable,
and as two more days have elapsed there
is little doubt that the emanations of pu-
trid bodies will have become 50 lrightiul
as to drive the hardest workmen from the
scene Until that time arrives, however,
there is no hope that this grief stricken
~populace will abandon the hope OF again
gazing upon the forms of the loved ones,
whose lives went out in the fire and flood
of Conemaugh.
The pleadings of ssnitarians and logic
Of engineers alike fail to find a response
in the minds of the grieving and afflicted;
but in a lew more days the stronger logic
of nature will assert itself and in the face
OF an impossible task, cremation will lie
come a christian duty.
The Unknown Dead.
YOUNGSTOWN. June 5.-A fact that has
hpretntnre boon nvarln,Eod ;o tbo omgnl