The Johnstown Horror!!!: or, Valley of Death, being A Complete and Thrilling Account; of the Awful Floods and Their Appalling RuinWalker, James Herbert
History
The Johnstown Horror!!!: or, Valley of Death, being A Complete and Thrilling Account; of the Awful Floods and Their Appalling Ruin
In the midst of this scene of death and desolation, a relenting
Providence seems to be exerting a subduing influence. Six days have
elapsed since the great disaster, and the temperature still remains low
and chilly in the Conemaugh Valley. When it is remembered that in the
ordinary June weather of this locality from two to three days are
sufficient to bring an unattended body to a state of decay and
putrefaction that would render it almost impossible to prevent the
spread of disease throughout the valley, the inestimable benefits of
this cool weather are almost beyond appreciation.
The emanations from the half mile of debris above the bridge are but
little more offensive than yesterday, and should this cool weather
continue a few days longer it is possible hundreds of bodies may yet be
recovered from the wreck in such a state of preservation as to render
identification possible. Many hundreds of victims, however, will be
roasted and charred into such shapeless masses as to preclude a hope of
recognition by their nearest relative.
Getting Down to Systematic Work.
The work of clearing up the wreck and recovering the bodies is now being
done most systematically. Over six thousand men are at work in the
various portions of the valley, and each little gang of twenty men is
directed by a foreman, who is under orders from the general
headquarters. As the rubbish is gone over and the bodies and scattered
articles of value are recovered, the debris is piled up in one high
mass and the torch applied. In this way the valley is assuming a less
devastated condition. In twenty-four hours more every mass of rubbish
will probably have been searched, and the investigations will be
confined to the smoking wreck above Johnstown bridge.
The Westmoreland Relief Committee complained of the Indiana county
authorities for not having a committee to search the shores on that side
for bodies. They say that all that is being done is by parties who are
hunting for anything valuable they can find.
Up to two o'clock this afternoon only eight bodies had been taken out of
the drift above the bridge. None of them was recognized. The work of
pulling it out goes on very slowly. It has been suggested that a
stationary engine should be planted on the east side of the pile and a
rope and pulley worked on it.
The Keystone Hotel, a huge frame structure, was rapidly being pulled to
pieces this morning, and when this has been done the work of taking out
the bodies will be begun at this point.
The immense wreck will most undoubtedly yield up many bodies. The bodies
of a woman and three children were taken from the debris in front of the
First National Bank at ten o'clock this morning. The woman was the
mother of the three children, ranging in age from one to five years, and
she had them all clasped in her arms.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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