Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-06-01
JUST ONE YEAR AGO.
A Tale of Two Entirely Different
Trips Taken TO JOhnstown.
NEWSPAPER MEN HAVE A REUNION
And Revisit the Places Where They La
bored and Suffered.
HOW THE STRICKEN CITY is GROWING

Through the gatnerlng DUSK OF May 81
1889, a special train stole out OF the Union
depot, changed across the intersecting
rails, and rushed with headlong speed
along the track toward the East.
In the single, swaying car, which
formed the train, sat a handful of Pitts
burg reporters, silent and apprehensive.
Vague news of Johnstown's awful fate had
been flashed over the wires, and these few
newspaper men formed the vanguard of the
great press army which was soon to pour
into that ill-fated city of the Conemaugh.
Needless to tell how these pioneers found
the object of their quest; needless
to repeat that woeful tale which
the world already knows SO we'll.
That wild trip by special train, along the
flooded valley, was but the beginning OF
hardships innumerable for the reporters who
made it, and for those who followed them.
Sleeping in wrecked limekilns, or rat
haunted mill garrets; tramping through
mud between huddled corpses, or up to their
knees in the seething torrent; eating when
they could get for food, and not infrequently
half famished with hunger; such were the
lives of the reporters who made such memoir
able excursions TO .Johnstown during the
may and June OF 1859.
AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT SCENE.
A very different scene was presented oil
the Q nion depot yesterday when over 40 Pitts
burg newspapermen, with host of guests,
principally ladies, boarded another special
train, drawn by the same engine which last
year conveyed the earliest flood reporters to
Johnstown. The occasion was a reunion OF
the reportorial and editorial stats of Pitts
burg papers, in memory of the trials and
labors of the press during the food.
On this latest 31st of May there was no
furious rush of the special along the Penn
sylvania Railroad tracks to Johnstown; no
dread of lurking danger weighed at the
heartstrings of these holiday-makers. In
the two coaches, and the combination smok-
ing car, laughter and small talk resounded
merrily, while from the dining and kitchen
cars in the front, came the sounds of busy
preparations for lunch. Then, too, the trip
was not made through the twilight, but be-
meath the full glare of glorious summer
sun.
The train started at Sic A. M, and rolled
leisurely out of the depot yards, quickening
its pace but little while passing through the
suburban districts. Pretty orange-colored
badges were distributed by Messrs. W. S.
Connolly and A. S. McSwigan, the respect
i've Chairman and Treasurer OF the Reunion
Committee. Then everybody settled down
to quiet enjoyment; "reminiscences of the
flood and comments on the exquisite wood
land scenery of the Conemaugh being rife
in the coaches and smoking car.
Many faces we'll known in the news
paper profession were recognized among the
excursionists. the most prominent among
the guests were: Colonel Thomas E. Watt,
II
Francis Guffy. Mr.. Robert Pitcaln, Super
intendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad,
who had kindly supplied the special train,
was unable TO accompany the party.
OUT OF THE RUINS.
About 1915 A. NJ. Johnstown was reached,
and as the train ran into the Union station
many were the expressions of surprise from
reporters who had seen the shattered
city. The marvelously rapid growth of
second Johnstown from the ruins of the
first astonished them considerably. Indeed,
when the party lett the train and scattered
over the city,, it was amusing to note how
reporters, once very wise in the topography
of tumble down streets, were wholly at fault
regarding the newlv-built thoroughfares.
1t was TOO late for the newspaper men to at
tend the memorial services held in the diff
erent churches, but they visited many old
scenes and old acquaintance during the
interval preceding lunch.
Lunch was served on the cars at noon.
Mr.. Albert Menjou, of the Hotel Duquesne,
was the caterer, and under his direction, it
is hardly necessary to say, the lunch proved
a splendid success.
Lunch over, the city and suburbs were
again traversed. Much hospitality was
shown by the residents, in spite of the fact
that so many of their houses were draped
with black.
ON THE RETURN TRIP.
At 4 O'Clock the train lett for South Fork,
where a short stay was made, after which
began the return trip to Pittsburg, perhaps
the most enjoyable part of the whole excur-
sion. The sun had sunk almost to the
horizon; the air was deliciously cool; it
was that pleasant hour,
"'Tween the gloamin' and the mirk
When the kye come hame."
The shadows lay darkling down the long
glens through which the train raced a
madcaP race with the foaming mountain
stream. Overhead, on either side, swelled
wave upon wave of foliage, the towering
bluffs being clothed to their SUBMITS with
trees and brushwood.
Lounglng back in their cushioned seats,
the excursionists were swept by Johnstown
and Latrobe, along the sinuous Conemaugh
and down through the East Liberty valley,
So the reunion ended, as all such delightful
things must end; but those who had partici-
pated in its pleasures, did not part without
a solemn covenant to renew the pleasant e1-
perience when the 31st of May again comes