1 omer SOMERSET, PA., MONDAY, JUNE 3, 18S9. Pi r a. f Ji. LU; -11- V (I'll T Mi Oi ...i art I'8 1,1 :j i mi XT AWFUL CALAMITY. )hnstown Wiped Out! HE CAMBRIA IRON WORKS A COMPLETE WRECK! p "Old Fowler" Dam Calves Way Carrying Death and Destruction Through the C'oiiemaugh Valley. oM 3000 TO 5000 PEOPLE REPORTED DROWNED t OaluTjny't Iuily llrrahl Extra. , be most awful calamity that has , vi-itcd on the country for occurred at Johnstown about 1 o'clock yesterday evening, re- n; in the complete destruction ,at thriving city, aud the death umlrcds of men, women and hen. The old feeder dam, : iu the davs of the old State 1 and used to supply the canal, ,o. For more than 30 years :H ople of Johnstown have lecn Jinj; the Invoking of this dam, lone familiarity with the danger robbed it of iu terrors, 80 that k-luie came uKn the doomed as unexpectedly as it was un- !ued. This dam was more than ) feet in length and 75 feet in at. Tlie immense body of wa uhed with awful force down narrow ravine in which runs :li Fork Creek into the Conc Au A!mot in a 3ash the space eon the hills was filled with a tig. seething flood, and a solid " of water man v feet high moved appalling rapidity on the fated Houses in the course of the 1 were cracked like egg-shells, their fragments in an instant J a driftwood on the bosom jc waters. AVh.cn the flood k Kat-t Conemaugh the dwel- i- and business houses along its s were picked up like chips and d downward ; house after houe down in the prip of the giant, each one as it fell acted as a ring-ram to drive down its Wire ; the bridges at East Con di and the station were shot their foundations, and the vast - of drill, to w hich clung men, on and children, dashed on i they eucountercd the solid 1 arch of the V. 1L R. bridge ; bridge served as a barrier for J rift, and the ruins of house af- 't T ohm; were dashed against it un iey w ere piled in a mass a mile nirth : over the obstruction, and :o Cambria Citv and Morrell- . canviiij death and destruc everywhere, ed the mad wa- IHE TIMXHS OK MSASTER. out one o'clock white-faced Misers pushed through the ts of Johnstown and screamed irninir to the inhabitants of the ied city to flee to the hiirhcst ds. Through the valley of manga spread the warning by and messengers. Pcoi.le rush- om their houses seeking safety le higher grounds, but all were able to get there. Horrible ensued when the hill of wat atne rolling with irresistable igth. overwhelming the lower of the town and sweeping houses in the vast mass of kage in which were hundreds lpless human beings, t points below, the bodies of iies and the debris of their -s came floating down iu full view of the affrighted people along the banks. Telegraphic advices were received from Johnstown from Miss IIorU'le,a lady operator there. At 6 o'clock she w ired : " Must li-are, the u-alcr it coming (ft. lioott iiy. This was the last word received from the doomed citv. FKIEXDS Df THE FLOOD. The feeling of suspense that took hold of the community on receipt of the first rumors of the aw ful calamity at Johnstown, has grown and spread, until the whole town seems under a pall. Scarcely a family here but had one or more of its mem)er3 living in Johnstown. All d.iy long the streets have been filled with ashen-faced people ask ing for news from friends. Lar gess Wclfley consulted a number of the most prominent citizens in re gard to calling a public meeting to see what it was possible for our people to do to relieve the suffer- ing and destitution. It was thought best not issue the call until more definite news was received. Learn- ing that the Daily Herald was sending a reporter to the scene, the burgess sent a request with him to have any rcsjtonsiblc person he could find iu Johnstown send word as to what was best to be done. The Somerset and Cambria Kail- road is blocked aud all telegraphic communication is cut off. All day long telegrams have been pouring in on people here from all pni'ts of the country asking after friends known to have been in Johustowu. A later report from Lockport says that the residents succeeded in rescuing five people from the flood two women and three men. Une man succeeded in getting out of the water. Thcv were kindly taken care of by the people of the town. A little girl passeil under tne bridge just before dark. She w as kneeling on a part of a floor and had her hands clasped as if in pray er. Evorv effort w as made to save her but they all proved futile. A railroader who was standing by re marked that the piteous apjarance of the little waif brought tears to his eyes. Mr. Robert Pitcairn, Supt. of the Pittsburgh Division of the Pennsyl vania Railroad, telegraphed to Pitts burgh, as follows : New Florence, May 31. 10 :5G p. ii. In going to the trouble, with water west of Lilly's, I could not get further than Sang Hollow. Our tracks west of this point are also obstructed. While at Saug Hol low over 100 people, men w omen nnd children, passed there on de bris; seven were recovered at Sang Hollow, two at Conemaugh Furnace and two here. Onlv forty-seven of the 100 and over passed here. From my supervisor, who was at Johnstown, I learn that Johnstown is literally wiped out. Our track between Johnstown and Conemaugh is filled with buildings and drift 40 font iii rh or more, which is on fire. All our tracks, as I have said, are badlv blocked between Sang llol low and Johnstown. I fear there will lie terrible suffering among those saved, which should be re lieved as soon as possible. In the interest of humanity I think a pub lic meeting bhould be calleu eari) to-morrow to wnu loou, ciouim etc., to these poor people, which we will be glad to lorwaru 10 .o.ni- stown and neighborhood as soon as we get a clear track there. Robert Pjtcairx. Spw.al to the PsJljr Hersld. Pittsburgh, June 1. All hotels and telearaim offices at Johnstown nr ctlll inii:id:itd. So names of missing persons yet received ; Cam bria Iron Works complete wreck estimated fullv two thousands lives lost Dispatch. Bprclsl to lb DsIiT Hcrmld. r-TTsurRon. June 1. The dis aster at Johnstow- is appalling be yond desnption ; onr reports are so meagre than we can give you noth in"- definite before morning. J. II. Poftn:astr J. K. Coffroth, came in en tlie 4 p. hi. train from Johnstown, lie uvs that lie was standing on tne out Bedford Tike near w here the 8. & C. It. crosses; faw me miglitv rueli oi wa- tercoming and ran up the abrupt "Green II ill" ns f.ist as his egn would carry him. From here tie had a full view of the aw ful scene. The great volume of water came rushing twenty feet high, pwooj.inp everything before it. Building toppled over like jwiper Ikx' and were carritd by the current with frightful speed. Thousand'of msn, women and children were running for the hill on w hich lie was standing, to encape from the terrible death that waa bearing down on them with lightning speed. Hun Ired were overtaken by the anjrry w aters, and www swept awav when within a few feet of sufetv. The few men on the hill with Mr. CunTrutli u.d every elLirt at their command to assist the terror-stricken people. Dozeus wen; helped out of the water juct as they were about to be car ried away by the resistless current. In the course of a half hour the hundreds of frame building" that had been swept by came flouting up the Stonycreek, their downward course having been checked by the massive stone bridge of the l'enn Ivania Uuilroad Company, which tt'ted as a dam, and forced the water back up the Stonycreek for a dis tance of several miles. Not a building in the new town of Moxhara was left standing on its found ation : all were Ooatinz about in tlie swollen river. Almost every house con tair.ed from two to a dozen people tnd their shrieks for help were agonizing to hear. On the side of one upturned build ing were a man and four small children, all on their knees praying for deliverance from the terrible death before them. Their appealing prayers could be distinctly heard by those on the hill top, who were powerlere to assist them. All night long men, women and chil dren, by the thousands, were running up and down the river bunks, carrying lan ters and humid. BC-arching for their friends. Mrs. Benford, her daughter and son, Lou, of the Ilulbert House, arc thought to be certainly drowned. Out of the forty- two ron!e in their hotel only eiiflit were saved. Among these are Postmaster Cof- froth and Frank Benford, the manager of the house. A daughter of John H. Hus ton, of Somerset, was a domestic in th'ui hotel ; nothing has been heard of her. Col. John 1'. Linton, the most promi nent attorney in Cambria county, and liU entire familv. excepting 'Rube.' who in in Somerset, are reported missing. Clark Benford and w ife were carried Iroai one building to another by the wa ter ; both were saved A passenger train on the P. It. U. from tlie east came dashing around the curve ju a few ro.ls from tin Johnstown sta tion, and ran into the sea ahead. Aotn ing has jet been learned of the train or its paieng'r. All are fupposeJ to have perished. Freight cars from the P- & C. were carried down into the heart of the tow n, and are rtill standing there. "Will Endslcy and Potter Walter aought shelter on the roof of the Hulbert House when that building was swept from nn- der them. They swam across the street to the Leuther building anJ weresaved Nothing has ln-en learned of Ferg Par ker or Rurll Uhl. A young son of John Kifer, of Somer- mfL who is emt.loved in a Johnstown livery stable, iaveJ hia life by holding on to a horse, w hich swam to a place of safety. Milt Young, another Somerset man, escaped. Jack CoffrotU went overtothe Hulbert House this morning, and assisted in re moving seven bodies. He saw two wo men taken from a lot of wreckage, still alive. Telegrams received from Hooversville at 7 o'clock this evening, announce the escape of Frank Mcl Kmald, " Tip " Parks ami Charley Kidinger. M. H. Hartzell, of Kockwood, when last seen, wag w ith McDonald, in Johnstown. He has not yet been heard from. Mr. V. V. Knable the postal agent on the S. fc C. R. It, gives a graphic descrip tion of the flood and ileatlen.lar.t horrors." He says: The waters were higher in Johnstown yesterJay morning than ever known before; the filling np of the banks of the river make a spring flood an an nual occurrence ;ski!fs were gjinglabout the streets and extemporized rafts and floats were to be seen on every side; every one took it good naturedly and made sport of it. Finding that the rail road w as blocked and that there was no chance of my getting out that day I started up toward my rooms on upper Main street. Plopping at Curt Camp bell's drug store, I stepped in for a few minutes chat. At dinner time Friday the water had risen so that I could not goto my hotel without a soak ing so I con cluded to spend the afternoon w ith Mr. Ca:npbell. Shortly before 4 o'clock I w as at the door and saw the water come down the cross street iu an almost perpendicu lar wall twenty feet in highth ; buildings were crashed like egg shells ; frame and brick alike going dow n in the mad rush of the torrent. The building in w hich Charles .Griffith's Drug Store, the old Frazier stand, wag one of the first on Main street to go down ; building after building on that side of Main street went down until the ones left standing were the front part of the Merchants Hotel, Ben's saloon and John Stenger'a dry goods store on tlie other side of the street. tne upiier end ol the tenn isiock was knocked out ; from there to, and includ ing, John Thomas' store building every thing, with the exception of a part of the building is still standing ; from Thomas' to Alma Hall not a building U standing, and from Alma Hall to the river the on ly buildings staudingaie the Club House, and theMorrell house and I 'r. Lawman's. On Clinton Street the Hulbert House, Geis, Fosteri J linn's, and nearly every other building went dow n. The B. A O. station is left stand as a lone monument on Washington SlreeL TUe l ost Umce is still standing but la badly w recked ; nee rly ail houses on the river in Kernville were washed away ; it was said that not a house was left stand ing in Wood vale, and hardly a sign of one in Conemaugh ; South Fork, Cone maugh, aud Mineral Point, tow ns on the bank of the stream bstween the dam and Johnstown have not been heard from and are thought to be totally de Btoyed ; the destruction of human life was terrible, there being probably sev eral thousand people lost : the streets were full of dead this morning ; I saw seven at one point. Among the people know n here at home w ho are supposed to be lost are Mrs- II. M.Ogle and daugh ter, Mrs. M. K. Hurst and grand-chil- ilren ; Cyrus Elder's family, Virg. Elder. John Shaffer, Charles Griffith, the Recks, John Dibert and family, Scott Dibert, Jacob Swank, Abel Young, Mrs James Beuford, her daughters Maria and Mar, and son Lou, Mrs. DeFranlz, Ed. Hef- tley, from Stoyestown, Messrs. Eld ridge i Young, Harry Rosenstcel, Henry Wor den and family. Tlie residence of Mr. F. W. Hay is down, and his family unheard of. Only five people escaped from the Hulbert House. I did not hear anything of Ferg Parker, but suppose he escaped, together with Capt. Kuhn and wife, as they all boarded at the Ciub Iloue. Foily-two persons were saved at Gen. Campbell's residence, but I did not hear their names. The Mansion House was picked np and carried by the back water out to the Sandyvale Cemetery. The Catholic church and parsonage and Mr. Foster's house took tire last night. and fire either was started or occurred by accident in the debris gathered at the railroad bridge lighting up the heavens and adding additional ghastlimns to the horrible scene. Hundreds of people were compelled to stay on tho housetop all night. We are unable, owing to the lateness of the hour, to publish the entire inter view. Eu. Mr. Jacob Zeijjler, who came fmm Johnstown this afternoon, rays that it is lieyond thp power of man to describe the awful devastation. Whole sections rf the town are toVily obliterated. The trce!i in the npper part of the city ar filled with frantic people searching for loved oTies ; strong men weep nnd are utterlv prostrated by the gigantic calam ity. It was impossible at the time he left to get into the lower part of the city. HUNDREDSOFLI YES SWEPT FE0M THE FACE 01 THE EARTH. A DAM GIVES WAY. Carrying Death and Destruc tion With It. JOHSTOWXjPAVIPEDOUl People Floating Down the Eivei Shrieking for Help. Some of the Scenes Indfwnbable Tlw Work of Rmcim Going On 'o Train. A Mo to Rearb tlia Smw and All Othoj Direct Communication Cnt OAT As Utnnce Asked for bjr Superintendent I'itcaim. ' H.iEBlsnrRa, Juno 1. An extensivt laud slide is reported at Lillys station. The water is said to be ten feet over tht Pennsylvania railroad tracks. Bra l) dock. Pa., June 1. Telegraph wires are down or unworkable twelvt miles from Johnstown. News received here by tho Pennsylvania railroad officials corroborates the statements that Johnstown is nearly wijied out. The signal tower people at Sang Hollow stato that up to 8 o'clock they had counted 113 persons floating past on wreckage, somo nlive and sonio dead. They rescued a boy, name unknown, who said he and hU father, mother, brother and two sisters were swept away w-ith their house. II 3 was washed oft from the building, but tho others were in it when it waa carried over tlie new stone railroad bridge at Johnstown. The hnx-te went to pieces then, and he thinks all were drowned. Tbe First Alarm. The clarm of danger seems to hav reached Johnstown about 1 p. ru. Tin railroad officials at once began carrying J l- ottt of town, '"8om on regnJar trains, others on hastily improvised spe cials. Superintendent Pitcairn hap pened to be in the vicinity and took charge of the work. Tlie water finally came dc.w n like a tidal wave, sweeping evcTTthing before it. As Seen from Dollrar. Bolivar, Pa., June 1. The water It hither here tiian was ever known, and two-story houses, barns, stables, whole forests of trees, outhouses, smokehouses, railroad bridges, rafts, inverted skiff? and driftwood by the acre are rushing past, from all of which imploring hands were held out to those on the banks will ing but impotent to help, and the in stability of tracks east of this place ren ders tho only information to be got of a fugitive nature, but for the most part very accurate. At Lockport, two miles east, the con ditions for saving the people are more favorable, and more tlian twenty persona have been taken from the flood. The First Great Kusk of Water was observed last evening at 7 o'clock, and this came from the burst dam, just above Johnstown. It came like a fren zied whirlpool, and before the people could realize it they were in its grasp. Fortunately, cool heads and resolute hands were on the alert to save, and be fore any of the people living on the low- lying ground were caught, all were taken out in skiffs and in tlie arms of gum booted and coated men to the high ground. Their furniture was also largely savKl, so tliat the kiss will fall ujKin houses alone, and such live stock as was carried out of tbe stream. So terrible was the force of the current that the county bridge over the Cone maugh, apparently a most substantial structure, withstood the rush of waters and the battering of logs for a few min utes, bnt finally it let go and its parts were cast out into tlie river, and part of the debris already choked the waters. As early as 7:20 o'clock a great pile of drift wood that the whirl of waters them elves imported into the drift was swept along, and from it Shriek I'poa Rhrlek for "help, help for God's sake!" came. Tbe horrified spectators on the shore saw three women, to one of whom were clinging two children, neither of whom was apparently more than an infant. The rapidity of the current and the position of the raft, together with tlie luck of facilities for rescuing, precluded the possibility of even thinking of the matter, and tlie raft passed out of sight Tho screams of the women and children, Mending in their pleadings for aid, were heard long after their craft was around the bend. The stream then became thickly strewn with men, women and children, clinging to all torts of tempo rary means of salvation, and two men and a woman clung madly to the tops of huge trees, tlie men emulating the fe males in their shrieks for help that it waa not possible to give. AN AWFUL SIGHT. People VTamed of Its FneatbUltr of Bant ing, tut To Late. PlTTSBrRa, June 1. It was stated at tlie office of tlie Pennsylvania railroad, at an early hour this morning, that the deaths would run up into the thousands rather than the hundreds, as was at first supposed. From private dispatches re ceived, it is said that the stream of bu rn:! n beings that was swept before the angry floods was something most piti ful to behold. Men, women and chil dren were carried along frantically shrieking for help, bnt their cries availed them nothing. Rescue was impossible. Husbands were swept past their wire and children were borne rapidly along going at a terrible speed to certain deatk before the eyes of their terrorized and frantic parents. It was said at the depot that it was impossible to estimate tht number whose lives were lost in tin flood. It will simply be a matter of coa jecturc for several days as to who wen lost or who escaped. Dispatcher Culp received several tele grams last night, detailing tlie flood at Johnstown. The recent heavy rains had swollen the old canal reservoir at Soutl Fork, on tlie Conemaugh river, and fean were entertained for its safety. Warned to Tio Purpose. Tlie basin contained water measurinf two miles across by five miles in lengtl and was seventy feet deep in the deepest place. Tlie people of Johnstown wert warned of its possibility of bursting dur ing the morning, but very few, if any of the inhabitants, took the warning seri ously. Shortly after noon the dam gavt way about five miles above Johnstown and sweeping everything before it burst upon the town with terrible - force. Everything was carried before it, an not an instant's time was given to seek safety. Houses were demolished, swept from their foundations and carried ii the flood to a culvert near the town. Here a mass of all manner of debris soot lodged, and by evening it bad daminec the water . . . Brk Int Ctx. over the tops of many of the still remain ing chimneys. A dispatch to Dispatcher Culp.received about 11 o'clock lost night, said the blockade at the Johnstowt bridge was three-fourths of a mile Ions and forty feet high, and was all on fire Tlie extent of tho . damagt could not possibly be -estimated, . At Ulnlrsvllle. Blaiksville, Pa.; June 1. The ioci in the Conemaugh river at this point If the heaviest ever known here. At thi hour the railroad bridge between here and Blairsville intersection has bees swept away, also the new iron bridge at Coketon, half a mile below. It is now feared the iron bridge at the lower end of this town will go. About 7 o'clock living woman and dead man, supposed to be her husband, were seen going un der the railroad bridge. They were aces to come from under tlie bridge safely, but shortly disappeared and were eeef no more. A great many families lose their house hold goods. The river is running full of .imber, houses, goods, etc. Tbe lose will be heavy. The excitement here is very great. The river is still rising. Then are some families below town in the second-story of their houses and eant get out. It is feared If the water goet much higher the loes of life will be very great The raiboad company hid four teen cars os coal on their bridge when rt went down, and all was swept down tht river. Tbe Town of Sooth eerk VTIpod Oat, Derrt, Pa., June 1. The town ol South Fork, which contained about 2.00t inhabitants, lay in the cours of the flood which swept down from the broken dam to Johnstown, and it is believed that four fifths of the town waa carried away. Four miles lower down is the vil lage of Mineral Point, with 800 inhabi tats. It seems difficult to hope that any of them escaped. Six miles furthei down was Conemaugh, with 8,500 peo ple, but in this case the formation of tlx country afforded some chance for es cape. The town it ten was devastated. Wood vale, with 3,600 peopte, lay still further down. It suffered greatly. From Wltllemsport. WlLUAMSPORT, Pa., June 1. The biggest flood since the memorial one of 1865 is now in ' progreea on the west branch of the Susquehanna river. Hock damage is reported from pointe north of here, but communication of all kinds b interfered with. Land slides are reported all along the Pennsylvania roads north of here. At Clearfield tbe water is ris ing at the rate of one and one-half feet per hour. A half dozen bridges have been swept away and the etreete of the town are overflowed. The people ars going about in boats. Silk Ban trnbrtUas, from $1.25 np. Mas. A. . Vat. f. t- I i rtni .ii:
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