The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1892-06-15
THE LAST SAD RITES.
Pathetic Scenes at the Cemeteries.
Many Occupy Places in
Common Tomb,

On Wednesday rain extinguished the fires
at Oil City. They had burned for ~ hours
Business houses resumed operations. Mer.
chants contributed literally to the relief of
the destitute. Two hundred men started to
clear away the debris Tramps arrived in
large numbers and terrJrlZed the citizens.
The total relief fund amounts so far to t7,-
900. At Titusvilie - victims were buried.
Eight hundred destitute are being cared for
by the Relief Committee Three more
bodies were recovered. The total list of
missing to date is 81. Sixty-fiveper cent of
the relief fund Is to be spent here and the
balance at Oil City. Labor is scarce and
many bodies are supposed to be in the
debris.
President Harrison has telegraphed to
Gov. Pattison expressing his sympathy with
the flood sufferers and transmitting the sum
of 5000 as his personal contribution 10 the
relief committee.
on Cry, June 3, lS92.-There were three
yarying episodes connected with the horri-
BILE calamity which has befallen this unfor-
tunate city. The first of these episodes was
the frightful death, the second was the
heartrending Identification, and the thir1
was the intensely solemn interments. The
last awful act of this terribly realistic traS-
edy was enacted at the graves to-day, with
pathos that scared the mind of man at the
recital.
The people of the city are bowed down
with the terrible grief, to the lowliest posi-
ton of humble contrition, There is an ex'
preston of the greatest grief upon the face
of every passcrby. Everyone exhibits the
same emotions. The faces of the very
school children, as well as those of their
elders bear the same unmistakable imprint
of sorrow.
The buildings are draped in the heavy
black folds of mourning. The houses bear
the same pitiful aspect and the moving
breezes from the valley set the graceful
draperies in rythmic motion that Is con-
ducive to tears in its very self. Oil CITY Is
as a city of the dead. The calamity and its
dread results are upon everybody tongue.
Naught else is thought or spoken Of Poll
tics, business and serial matters are relegat.
ed TO other times and the only words heard
are those of sympathy with the dead. The
two cemeteries lay picturesquely upon the
side of lowering hill and separated by a
rude wood fence. Thirty interments took
place to-day between the hours of and
o'clock. Every hour and half hour marked
the approach of some weeping funeral pro
cession. Some walked over the rough, stony
ground and others rode in carriages. Some
came in with their faces drenched with
tears. and their hands spamodically clasped
| Others came IN with their eyes bent stoicai-
| ly before them and their dry, parched lips
| motionless The scene was indescribably
pathetic. Words will never tell the tale.
The grave diggers looked worn and weak
| A special staff Of Is men were started e
work Monday morning in the Grove HI
| Cemetery and special stan OF eight work
| ed in the Catholic burial grounds The mel
worked steadily from Monday morning at
| o'clock until to-day at noon, when the las
! ominous receptacle was finished. They Oh