St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-06-01
Men, Women and Children
Perish by the Score in
the Maelstrom
In Plain Sight of the Shudder-
ing Hundreds on the
Streams Bank.
Railroad Tracks Washed
Away and Many Trains
Laid Up.
Number of Lives Lost Esti-
mated at From 200 to
1900.

Special to the Globe.
PITTsBURG, May 51.-The heavy rains
in the mountains have caused one of
the most appalling calamities. ever
known iD America, and one OF the
greatest in the history of the world. A
dam above Johnstown broke at 5o'clOck
this evening. and a mighty volume OF
water came rushing down the course OF
the little stream that winds through
the village, sweeping everything i'll its
path. Houses. bridges, trees-every
obstacle in the path of the Irresistible
torrent disappeared in an instant, or
went whirling down the boiling
maelstrom. In an instant hun
dreds of people were strug-
Cling in the water, and the
loss of life is simply sickening. 1t is
estimated that not less than 200 persons
have been drowned. and some place the
number as high as 1,5O0. There was
DO communication with Johnstown early
in the evening, but telegraph oper-
ator in the Pennsylvania railroad tower
at Sang Hollow, twelve miles this side
of Johnstown. said at least seventy-five
dead bodies had f1oated past. Latest re-
liable information received from john
stown comes through Pennsylvania rail-
road officials, who aver that
OVER 200 DEAD BODIES
have been counted floating down the
stream at Johnstown alone, while along
the line many additional lives have
been lost. 1t is asserted that there are
but two houses in Johnstown proper
entirely above the water line. A special
train. bearing Pennsylvania railroad
officials and large number OF news
paper men left this city early for the
scene. A special from Greensburg says:
A report has just reached here that the
greatest portion of JOhnstown has been
flooded and
HUNDREDS OF LIVES LOST.
Houses are floating about, and the
people who are free are panic-stricken
and are fleeing to the mountains. At a
point near New Florence eighty-five
persons have been seen floating down
the river on drift wood. One report
comes that but two roofs of the houses
in Johnstown can be seen. The Cove
town and the New Florence
bridges have been washed away,
and all the buildings along the
Conemaugh, between New Florence
and Johnstown have been carried away.
The railroad towers have been aban-
doned by the operators. En- route to
the scene Of the disaster, the telegraph
wires were down absolutely for six or
seven miles below the immediate scene
of the calamity. and being in an un.
workable shape for three OF four miles
distant, it was at least 1880 o'clock be-
fore
AN ACCURATE OUTLINE
OF the effect of the tidal wave could be
learned. The chief officials of the Pitts
burg end of the main line of the Penn
sylvania railroad received most of their
first information from the signal tower
at Sang Hollow, six miles west of Johns.
town. At 7:45 o'clock boy was res
cued by men in the signal tower of the
railroad company. His name is un.
known, but he said that with his father,
mother, brother aud two sisters, he
was swept over the breast of the new
stone railroad bridge at Johnstown;
that it capsized a few seconds later and
they were all drowned, so far as he
could tell. The railroad operator off
cially reports, that before dark, they
were able to count 119 persons clinging
to buildings, wreckage or. or drowned
and floating in the current. If this in.
formation is to be credited, the damage
In the town proper must be in the
nature of
A CLEAN SWEEP.
AS early as l o'clock the alarm was