The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1889-06-08
The Pennsylvania Horror.


1t is impossible to picture the dis
aster that so recently overlook the
6ourishing city Of Johnstown, Penn
sylvania. In our news columns we
give what we can, which conveys but
a snght idea of the devastation visit
ed upon that city and it's surround
ing boroughs. The comments of the
Pittsburg Post are SO much to the
point that we reproduce them below:
Horrors on horrors accumulate.
Those who cherished the delusion
that the first reports of the Johns
town calamity were exaggerated find
they have no ground to stand on.
Their hopes are shattered as the
news pours in that cxaggeration is
impossible. The fearful and sicken-
ing facts outstrip the Imagination
of the sensationalist Rumor for
once hardly keeps pace with reality.
1t will stand out as the most fear.
full calamity of American history, as
well in the number of the dead, and
the vast destruction of property, as
in the tortures and sufferings through
which so many passed to the happy
release. 1t is illustrated by acts of
devotion, love and courage-by self
sacrifice and fortitude-that cast a
halo of glory and Christian resigna-
ton about the death scenes of brave
men and women, hurled to unknown
and nameless graves.
In Johnstown and the boroughs
adjacent, which are in reality part of
the town, there were on Friday noon
10000 inhabitants and probably g.
600 houses. When the sun went
down the same day few hundred
struggling houses were left and 5000
men, women and children had been
sent to their last account. Oh, it
was fearful Some by drowning,
some by having their lives beaten
out by the force of floating debris,
and very many by being bruised to
death in mass of ragged and crum-
bling houses piled ON each other by
the flood. Bodies were taken from
the water so miles from the scene
Is hours after the raging torrent
carried them away. Hundreds have
been rescued along the river dis.
figured and mangled beyond recog-
milton. Buried in the sand or hid
den in the water grass there are
scores yet to be found. And saddest
Of all, hundreds were burned-think
of it, 1900 is the estimate-past
recognition in the piled up debris of
| houses and drift on the outskirts of
the fated town. Death came in all
shapes. Peaceful to some. Torture
to Others. Family groups were found
united in death. The babe clinging
to the bosom of the young mother;
brother and sister with hands clasp
ed, old age united in death as in
life. One thing noticeable was the
great excess of women, children and
old people among the dead. They
were swept away by the torrent
while fathers, brothers and husbands
were seeking methods for their
rescue.
The cause of the horror is easily
made clear The town is encircled
by mountains-is in gorge as it
were. The outlet from the valley is
narrow. The dam formed at the rail
road bridge quickly flooded the town,
to various depths, unsettling houses
and alarming their inmates. This
drove the people to the upper parts
of their homes. Then came the ter
rifle tidal wave down the Conemaugh
valley sweeping every thing before it
with irresistible force and with the
speed of an express train. There
was no time to escape. People were
of no more account in the water, as
resisting force than straw thrown
in the Allegheny at flood height
But interviewer with this bare skele-
ton of facts were tragedies as heart
breaking, heroism and devotion as
true, agony and suffering as intense,
death met as bravely as the history
of our race records. Much to be
proud of, in these death struggles,
for humanity's sake. Nothing is
told that takes from the dignity
and nobility of man or woman.
The Kanawha Gazette says: 1t
may not be known to the Intelligen-
Ger, but tits to us, that the farmers and
workingmen in this county are wiser
than when they voted the Republican
ticket last fall. The idea is at work
in their minds that they were betray-
ed. The results are not answering
the promises made to them of good
times to come. If the dissatisfae-
tion now prevalent in Republican
ranks in this county continues to
increase as it has in the past few
months, there will not be any Re-
publican majority in this county in
1892.
An exchange wants to know if it is
Irvine that binds the farmers Of the
West to The Republican party. And