Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-06-06

port on the 9th at 8 a. m for work" This
order has twofold object One is to have
the men report in order to ascertain what
mel OF the company's force are still alive,
and the other Is to restore confidence 1t is
possible, too, that the men may be paid Off
The monthly pay roll Of the Gautier mill was
$23 0O0 In this mill about l 300 men were
employed.
Total Number of Bodies Found.
Two hundred and forty-six more bodies
were found yesterday, of which the major
ity nave been identified This swells the list
| 3,113 bodies
TWO MILES OF THE DEVASTATION.
The Scene from Johnstown to Conemaugh
Freaks of the Flood.
JoHNsTowN, Pa, June 6.-From Johns
| town up the valley easy communication has
been opened as far as Conemaugh, two miles,
and it is possible for any one now to readily
| see Il sight never before seen in this world.
and which no one who does not see it himself
will ever believe did really exist. 1t is de-
scribed here as well as words can describe it,
but merely as a duty to history and not with
| the idea that any one who cannot look at it
| will ever think it true
Steel Twisted Into Knots.
Every one has seen the light iron beams,
shafts, and rods in a factory, lying in twist
| ed, broken, and criss-cross shape after fire
has destroyed the factory. In the gap above
JOIN stown the water has picked up four
track railroad, covered with trains, freight
and passenger; machine shops, round house,
and other heavy buildings with heavy con-
tents and has torn the track to pieces, twist
ed, turned, and crossed it as fire never could
Swept Away Like ChaG.
1t mas tossed huge freight locomotives like
barrels, and cars like packing boxes; torn
them to pieces, and scattered them over miles
of tie ritory. 1t has in one place put a stream
of water city block wide between the rail
road and the bluff, and in another place it
has changed the course of the river as far in
the other direction, and left 100 yards in
land the tracks that formerly skirted the
banks
Through the Deluge to Safety.
Adj to this that in the midst of this,
fire, with the singular fatality that has made
it every where the companion of the food in
this catastrophe, has destroyed train of
vestibule cars that the flood had wrecked
that the passengers who remained in the cars
through the food and until the fire were
saved, while their companions who attempted
to flee were overwhelmed and drowned and
that through it all one locomotive stood, and
still sands, comparatively uninjured, in the
cente- of the wreckage.
Stood the Brunt of the Catastrophe.
That locomotive stands there on its track
now with its fires burning smoke curling
from he stack and steam from its safety
valve all ready to go ahead as soon as
track is built down to it. 1t is No 1909, a
4-ton, eight drivers, class r, Pennsylvania
LOGON otive. George Hudson was its engin-
eer, and Conductor Shelly had charge of
the train. They, with all the rest of the
crew, escaped by flight when they saw the
flood
Remarkable Monument.
This playground where giant force
played with masses of iron as a child might
play With pebbles, begins with a bridge, or a
piece of a bridge, about thirty feet long, that
stands high and dry upon two ordinary abut-
ments at Woodvale, a monument to the De-
culiar action of the deluge. The part of the
bridge that remained spanned the Pennsyl-
vania tracks. The tracks are gone, the bridge
is gone on either side the river is gone to a
around has been scraped off and swept away,
but this little span remains perched up there
twenty feet above everything, In the midst
of desert of ruins, the only piece of a
bridge that is standing from the railroad
bridge to South Fork 1t is light iron
structure, and the abutments are not unusu-
ally heavy. That it should be kept there
when everything every thing else was twisted
and tom to pieces, is one of the queer freaks
of this flood
The Wrecks of Freight Trains.
Near by are the wrecks of two freight
trains that were standing side by side when
the food caught them The lower ends of
both are torn to pieces the cars tossed
around in every direction and many Of them
carried away The whole of the train on the
track nearest the river was demolished Its
locomotive is gone entirely. But the force
that did this left the light, wooden box
cars themselves unharmed They were
loaded with dressed beef and provisions
They have been emptied to supply the hun
CRY in Johnstown.
Destruction of the Railway Track
The rack is absolutely gone from the
front Of engine l ,3Os clear up to beyond
Conemugh Parts of it lie about every
where, twisted, turned upside down. stacked
crossw1'e, one piece above another, ana IN
one place a section of the left track has been
lifted clear over the right track, runs along
there for some distance, then twists into its
proper place.
The Plain Is Now a Gulch.
There is little to indicate the late presence
of a railroad from here to the upper part of
Conemsugh. The little plain into which
the gap widened here, and In which stood the
bulk of the town is wiped out There is not
the slightest indication that IL center of the
plain was anything but aood-washed gulch
in some mountain region.
Where the Trains Were Struck.
At the upper end stands fantastic collec-
ton of ruined railroad equipments. Three
trains stood there when the food swept down
the valley. On the outside was local pas
senger, with three cars and locomotive. 1t
stands there yet, the cars tilted by the
washing of the track, but comparatively I'M
injured. A freight train stood on the track
wherein a large collection of smashed cars
has its place now. 1t was broken all to
pieces.
Fifteen Passengers Lost.
Inside of all was the day express, with its
baggage and express CARS and at the end
three We stibule cars. 1t was from this train
that a nj mber of passengers, fifteen certainly
and no enc knows how many more, were lost.
When IL alarm came most Of the passengers
fled for the high ground. Many reached it;
others ri n back and were lost. Others stayed
on the c. rs, and after the first rush of the
flood were rescued alive. Some of the freight
cars were loaded with lime, and these set on
fire by the water quickly had the cars blaz-
ing. Three of the vestibule cars burned
downed 10 the trucks These and the peculiar
shaped iron frames of the vestibules are all
that show where the cars stood
The Wave OvO Forty Feet High.
The reason the food did not wipe out these
f1ran ms anti 10 he hat