Meadville Saturday Night from Meadville, Pennsylvania • 1

MEADVILLE, JUNE 1, 1889. PRICE FIVE CENTS. VOL. I-O. 17.

JOHNSTOWN FLOODED. mm out specials, but up nothing reliable as to the details of loss of life or property had been ascertained. The difficulty in sending pressdispatches was overcome by an expedient, familiar to the Associated Press in trying times THE COURSE OF THE TORRENT. Derby, May 31. The course of the torrent from the broken dam at the foot of the lake to Johnstown is about eighteen miles, and with the exception of at one point, the water passed through a narrow shaped valley.

Four miles below the dam lay the tewn of South Fork, where the South Fork itself emptied Into the Conemaugh River. The Information received early in lh evening, however, indicates that there are washouts and landslides all along the line, completely suspending travel. ALARMING REPORTS. Williamspobt, May 31. The reports at 10 o'clock are alarming from points on the river.

At Clearfield the water is considerably higher than In 1885. Two bridges have been carried away and there are fears for the safety of the boom at Lock Haven. A large force of men are at work on the boom trying to make It secure. The water is expected to reach sixteen feet by morning. It is feared that fifteen million feet of logs in Loyal Creek will be lost.

CONNEAUTVIXLE. thentic news was from W. N. Hays, of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, who reached New Florence at 9 o'clock. He says the valley towns are annihilated.

The Associated Press now has the only wire between New Florence and Pittsburg and has it connected with its circuit. Details are meager, but will be furnished at the first moment possible. New Florence, June 1. The gray morning light docs not seem to show either hope or mitigation of the awful fears of the night. We are here.

We drove across the mountains in the darkness of the early morning, at New Florence, fourteen miles from THE SCENE OF DESOLATION at Johnstown. It has been a hard night to everybody. The weary, overworked newspaper men who have been without water is forty feet deep This street is in the center of the town, and on it are located the opera house, Merchants' Hotel, and all of the principal business houses in the city except the Cambria Iron company's office. Five, thousand men have been detailed by the Pennsylvania company, to clear away the wreckage. Superintendent Pitcairn has called upon the citizens of Pittsburg to hold a mass meeting, at their earliest convenience, to devise ways and means of relief.

Chief Brown, of the department of public- safety, of this city, and Chlof of Police Kirsohlor, of Allegheny, this morning, ordered the relief forces to patrol the banks of the Allegheny to look out for floating bodies. Up to 1 o'clock seventy bodies have been taken from the river. At Nineveh one hnndred dead bodies are waiting identification. Only about two hundred houses are left standing in Johnstown, raft, which floated on down the river. The current washed their frail craft in towards the bank.

The young man was enabled to seize hold of a branch of a tree. The young man aided the two women to get up into the tree. He held on with his hands, and rested his feet on a pile of drift wood. A piece of floating debris struck the drift, sweeping it away. The man hung with his body immersed in the water.

A pile of drift soon collected and he was enabled to get another unseeure footing. Up the river there was a sudden crash and a section of the bridge was swept away and floated down the stream, striking the tree and washed it away. All three drowned, All three were thrown into the water and were drowned before the eyes of the horrified spectators just opposite the town of Bolivar. Early in the evening a woman with her two children were seen to pass under the bridge at Bolivar clinging to the roof of a coal house. A rope was lowered to her, but she shook her head and refused to desert her children.

It was rumored that all three were saved at Cokeville, a few miles below Bolivar. A later report from Lockport says that the residents succeeded in rescuing five persons from the flood, two women and three men. One man succeeded in getting out of the water. They were kindly taken care of by the people of the town. A little girl passed under the brldgo The Reservoir Above the Town Bursts, Causing Terrible Destruction.

Pittsburg, May 31. The flood at Johnstown has resulted in an awful catastrophe. It is said that the reservoir above the town broke about 5 o'clock this evening, and immense volume of water rushed dowa to the city, carrying I with it death and destruction. Houses with their occupant were swept away, and scores, probably hundreds of people were drowned. There is no connection with Johnstown, but a telegraph operator in the Pennsylvania Railroad depot at Sang Hollow, twelve miles this side of Johnstown, says at least seventy-five dead bodies'have floated past.

The wires are all down and no trains are running out of Blairsville, which is twenty-five miles west of Johnstown. There is no way to get to the scene of the disaster, and full particulars cannot be obtained to-night, although every effort is being made to do so. There will be no trains through before to-morrow. Latest reliable information received from Johnstown eomes from the Pennsylvania Railroad employeswho averthat 300 dead bodies have been counted floating down stream at Johnstown, while along the line many additional lives have been lost. It is asserted that there are but two houses in Johnstown entirely above the water line.

A special train bearing Pennsylvania Railroad officials and a large number of newspaper men, has left this city for the scene. Telegraphic communication is entirely cut off, and until telegraph repairmen and operators with necessary instruments reach the nearest point, but little reliable information can be obtained. AT BLAIRSVILLE. Pittsburg, May 31. A Blairs ville, special says: The river was never known to be so high as now at this point.

The island is flooded, and the inhabitants have fled. This evening, about 6 o'clock, the bell was rung and the announcement made that seventy-five men were afloat in the river from Johnstown. Men filled our bridges with ropes and preparations to rescue them and waited. About 7:30 a woman and a dog were seen floating from the railroad bridge one-fourth mile above the Coketown bridge with the drifting logs. The men called to her to duck her head from the pier, which she did, but they could do nothing for her.

The men at the Coketown bridge saw nothing of her, and it is thought she may have drifted ashore and caught on a tree. The dog was caught. The water at 6 o'clock was running up to within two feet of the Coketown bridge and kept steadily rising. About 8 it gave a loud crack and swung off the piers and floated off. This bridge cost It was taken by a cyclone about two years ago, and was rebuilt.

Ten carloads of coal was run on the Blairsville Railroad bridge to keep it down, and it all went down with the bridge. All manner of things have been floating on the river: Furniture, doors, windows, sashes, etc. The Blairsville bridge has just succumbed to theseething caldron whose maddening roar can be heard a long distance. The water is still rising. It is thought the West Penn Railroad will be without a single bridge in the morning.

The cries of the woman who went down were heart-rending. She was floating on something not discernible and her cries were heard until lost in the deafening roar. It is said John Still, a young man, went off on the Blairsville bridge. He was adjusting a headlight. THE LOCATION OF THE RESERVOIR.

Greensburg, May 31. Superin tendent Pitcairn promply took charge of the railroad end of the work and began the double duty of clearing tracks and making preparations for sending all possible aid to those in danger. His prompt work and intelligent comprehension of the danger and his strenuous efforts to spread the alarm, no doubt saved many lives. In order to understand the nature of this calamity, it is necessary to describe the respective locations of the reservoir and Johnstown. The reservoir lies about twelve and one-half miles northeast of Johnstown, and is the site of the reservoir which was one of the feeders of the Pennsylvania Canal.

It is the property of a number of wealthy gentlemen in Pittsburg, who formed themselves into a corpcration, the title of which is the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club. This sheet of water was formerly known as Conemaugh Lake. It is from 200 to 300 feet above the level of Johnstown. Being in the mountains, it is three and one-half miles long and from a mile to one and one-fourth miles in width, and in some places it is 100 feet in depth. It holds more water than any other reservoir natural'or artificial the United States.

The lake has been quadrupled in size by artificial means, and was held in check by a dam from 700 to 1,000 feet wide. It is ninety feet thickness at the base. The height is 110 feet, and the top has a breadth of over twenty feet. Recognizing the menace to the lake region below, the South Fork Club had the dam inspected once a month by the PennsylvaniaRailroad these investigations showed that nothing less than some convulsion of nature would tear the barrier away and loosen the waves of death. The steady rains of the past forty-eight hours increased the volume of water in all the small mountain streams which were already swelled by the lesser rains earlier in the week.

From the best in formation obtainable at this time it is evident that something in the nature of a cloud-burst must have been the culmination of the struggle of the water against the embankment. The difficulty of obtaining definite information, added tremendously Ito the excitement and apprehension of the people in Pittsburg, who had relatives and friends at the scone of the disaster. Members of the South Fork Club and among them some of the most eminent in the Pittsburg financial and mercantile world were in or near Johnstown, and several of them were accompanied by their wives and families. There happened to be also quite a number of residents of Johnstown in Pittsburg, and when the news of the horror was confirmed, and the railroad bulletins announced the fact that no trains would go east to-night, the scene at the Union Depot was profoundly PATHETIC AND EXCITING. But two trains were sent out by the Pennsylvania Railroad from the Union Depot at Pittsburg, and the first of these was the special train of the Associated Press.

The Pittsburg papers also sent The Buried City! THE GREAT FLOOD AT JOiSTOWS, PA, Forty-Two Feet of Water in the Streets, ONLY TWO HOUSES OF THE TOWN CAN BE SEEN. HUNDRED'S OF PERSONS DROWNED AND BURNED. Awful Scenes of Deatli and Desolation Near the Submerged City Scores of Floating Codies Picked Up Buildings Swept Away-Hor-rors Almost Indescribable. (ASSOCIATED FKESS TO TUB SATURDAY New Florence, June. 1.

The calamity of yesterday was as singular as it was fatal. It is now very evident that more lives have been lost because of foolish incredulity than from ignorance of the -danger. For more than a year there has been fears of an accident of just such a character. The foundations of the dam were considered to be shaky, early last spring, and many increasing leakages were reported from time to time, according to people who live in Johnstown and other towns on the line of the river. Ample time was given to the Johnstown folks, by the railroad officials, and by other other gentlemen of standing and reputation.

In dozens, yes, hundreds of cases, this warning was utterly disregarded, and those who heeded it early in the day were looked upon as cowards and many jeers were uttered by lips that now are cold among the rank grass beside the river. ONE POOR NAMELESS WOMAN, who had looked with sightless eyes at the gray clouds from the slimy bank of a meadow just below New Florence, wore a smile which perhaps had its birth in the spiral of "Who's afraid?" which had such awful results. An awful, mud bedraggled, ghastly burden was it that came in among the meadow grass, and yet there was a look of peace on the features that brought tears to the eyes of the rough men who found her and who fastened the body by a short string to a post. She had a work-a-day's life poor oreature, her hancs were rough, her face thin and worn, and her hair was as streaked with gray as the stormy sky just after dawn. Whether incredulity and foolhardiness numbers its flood victims by scores or by the hundreds, no one yet knows, and it will be many days before the writing upon tombstones and the tracing of "the unknown dead" are ended.

There has grown a feeling among the surviving sufferers against those who owned the lake, and damage suits will be plentiful by and by. The dams In Stony Creek, above Johnstown, broke about noon yesterday, and thousands of feet of lumber passed down the stream. It is impossible to tell what the loss of life will roll up, but at 9 o'clock the Coroner of Westmoreland County sent a message out, saying that 100 bodies had been recovered at Nineveh, half way from here to Johnstown. Sober-minded people do not hesitate to say that 1,200 is moderate. "How can anybody tell how many are dead" said a railroad engineer, this morning.

"I have been at Sang Hollow with my train since 11 o'clock yesterday and I have seen fully 000 persons lost in the flood." J. Ech, a brave railroad employee saved 16 lives at Nineveh. The most awful culmination of the awful night was the roasting of HUNDRED OR MORE PERSONS in mid Sood. The ruins of houses, outbuildings and other structures swept against the new railroad bridge at Johnstown and from an overturned stove, or some such cause, the upper part of the wreckage caught fire. There were crowds of men, women and children on the wreck, and their screams were were soon added to the awful chorus of horror.

They were literally roasted on the flood. Soon after the fire burned itself out, others were thrown against the mass. There were some 50 people in sight when the ruins suddenly parted, broke up, and was swept under the bridge into pitch darkness. The latest news from Johnstown is that at 1 o'clock BUT TWO HOUSES COULD BE SEEN IN THE TOWN. It is also said that only throe houses remain in Cambria City.

The Dm au town contained about 2,000 inhabitants. It has not been heard from, but it is said that four-fifths of it have been swept away. Four miles further down. On the Conemaugh River, which runs parallel with the main line of the Pennsylvania railroad, was the town of Mineral Point. It had 800 inhabitants.

Ninety per cent, of the houses were on a flat and close to the river. It seems impossible, at this time, to hope that any of them have escaped. Six miles further down was the town of Conemaugh, and here alone was there a topographical possibility for the spreading of the flood and the breaking of its force. It contained 2,500 inhabitants, and must be almost wholly devastated. Woodvale, with 2,000 people, lay a mile below Conemaugh on the flat, and one mile further down were Johnstown and its cluster of sister towns, Crambria City, Conemaughborough, and Prospect, with a total population of On made ground and stretched along right at the river's verge were the immense iron works of the Cambria Iron and Steel Company, who have 85,000,000 invested in their plant.

Besides this there are many other large Industrial establishments on the bank of the river, how badly they are damaged cannot be estimated. At 11 o'clock a railroad man says the loss of life will reach hundreds and possibly over a thousand. The report of loss of these towns above cannot yet be confirmed. The tidal wave struck Bolivar just after dark and in five minutes the Conemaugh river rose from six to forty feet, and spread out over the whole country. Soon houses began floating down and clinging to the debris were men, women and children, shrieking for aid.

A large number of citizens at once gathered on the county bridge, and they were reinforced by a number from Garfield, a town on the opposite side of the river. They brought a number of ropes and these were thrown over into the boiling waters as persons drifted by, in efforts to save some poor beings. For a half hour ALL EFFORTS WERE FRUITLESS until at last, when the rescuers were about giving up all hope, a little boy astride a shingle roof, managed to catch hold of one end of the rope. He caught it under his left arm, and was thrown against an abutment, but managed to keep hold and was successfully pulled onto the bridge, amid the cheers of the onlookers. His name was Hessler, and his rescuer was a train hand named Carney.

The lad was at once taken to the town of Garfield and was cared for in the home of J. P. Rogers. THE BOY 8 STORY. At midnight your correspondent secured an interview with him.

His story of the frightful calamity is as follows: With my father I was spending the day at my grandfather's house in Cambria City. In the house at the time were: Theodore, Edward and John Kintz and John Kintz. Miss Mary Kintz, Mrs. Mary Kintz, wife of John Kintz, Miss Tracy Kintz, Mrs. Ria Smith, John Hirsch and four children, my father and myself.

Shortly after 5 o'clock there was a noise of roaring waters and screams of people. We looked out the door and saw persons running. My father told me to never mind as the waters would not rise further. But soon we saw nouses oelng swept away and then ran up to the floors above. The house was three stories, and we were at last forced to the top one.

In my fright I jumped on the bed. It was an old-fashioned one, with heavy posts. The water kept rising and my bed was soon afloat. Gradually I was lifted up. The air in the room grew close and the house was moving.

Still the bed kept rising and pressed the ceiling. At last the posts pushed the plaster. It yielded and a section of the roof gave way. Then suddenly I found myself on the roof and was being carried down the stream. After a littlo this roof commenced to part, and I was afraid I was going to be drowned, but just then another house with a shingle roof floated by and I crawled on it, and floated down until nearly dead with cold, when I was saved.

After I was freed from the house I did not see my father. My grandfather was on a tree, but he must have been drowned, as the waters were rising fast. John Kintz, was also on a tree, Miss Mary Kintz and Mrs. Mary Kintz I saw drowned. Miss Smith was also drowned.

John Hirsch was on a tree, but the four chil dren were drowned. TERRIBLE SCENES. The scenes were terrible. Live persons and corpses were floating down with me, and away fr me I would see a person shriek, ey would disappear. All along nne were people who were trying' to save us, but they could do nothing and only a few were caught." This boy's story is but one incident; it shows what happened to one family.

God only knows what has happened to the hundreds who were in the path of the rushing water. It is impossible to get anything in the way of news save meagre details. ACCOUNT OF AN EYE WITNESS. An eye witness at Bolivar block station tells a story of unparalleled terrorism which occurred at the lower bridge which crosses the Conemaugh at this point. A young man with two women were seen coming down the river on part of the floor of a house.

At the upper bridge a rope was thrown down to them. This they all failed to catch. Between the two bridges he was noticed to point towards the elder woman which it is supposed was his mother. He was seen to instruct the woman how to catc the rope, which was being lowered from the other bridge. Down came the raft with a rush.

The brave man stood with his arms around the two women. As they swept under the bridee he reached up and seized the rope. He was jerked violently away from the two women, who failed to get hold of the rope. Seeing that they would not be rescued he dropped the rope and fell back on the Memorial Day Hop Personals Tannery-Troubles. Connkactville, May 31.

Mr. Brower, a student of Allagheay College, met with what might what might have been quite a 'serious accident Tuesday evening. He had driven up to the residence of Mr. W. H.

Darby and jumped out, when the horse started on the run. In turning the corner the horse fell and tipped the buggy over, but fortunately the only thing injured was one of the thills. After repairing the damage he resumed his journey homeward in safety. Mrs. John E.

Kissel visited her parents in Erie this week. Mr. W. R. Jackson, of Meadville, erected a fine monument on the grave of his son Harry, in our cemetery Wednes- day.

Memorial Day passed off about the same as usual. Colonel Frank Mantor, of Harrisburg, a former resident, delivered the oration at the Opera House in. the afternoon. The rain had been falling most of the time during the forenoon, but quit until after the exercise? were over. The Jolly Six Social Club gave a dance at the Opera Hall Thursday evening.

On account of the rainy weather the attendance was not so large as usual, but pleasant time was had. A prize was given to the best lady waltzer, the judges awarding it (a silver spoon holder) to Mrs. Maud Andrews, of Coldbrook, N. Y. The R.

T. of T. fed the hungry people during the day and evening. The County Commissioners were in town Wednesday. Mr.

Frank Power is visiting relatives in Cleveland. Mr. W. A. Jackson and wife and Mr.

Frank Lowry, of Meadville, and Ammi Parker and Fred Carey, who are working in Cambridge, were here Thursday. The interior of tne First National Bank is being painted. Rev. R. C.

Smith preached the memorial sermon Sunday morning at the M. E. Church. The G. A.

B. and S. of V. attended in a body. Mr.

F. Eichleman died here last Friday night, of dropsy, in his 71st year. The funeral was held Tuesday, He leaves a widow and several grown up children. Several years ago the company operating the tannery here told our citizens that unless $1,000 was raised for they would move the tannery. The requisite amount was subscribed, and paid, by our merchants and others, and everything went along smoothly until last fall, when the tannery was shut down.

Several of those who subscribed and paid their money, have entered suit against the company to recover the money, as the company did not continue to operate the tannery as agreed. Mr. R. C. Frey, of Meadville, came over Friday te act as prosecuting attorney.

KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS PICNIC. The Twentieth Anniversary to be Commemorated June 28th. The founding of the order of Knights of Pythias in Crawford County occurred in this city on June 29, 1869, and to commemorate the event Crawford Lodge No. 164, the oldest lodge in this section of the State, Intends to hold a reunion of the members and families of the order In this vicinity, at Saegertown, on Friday, June 28th. Grand Chancellor Perry, of Wheatland, and Supreme Representative Thomas G.

Sample, of Allegheny City, and others have signified their intention to be present, and no doubt the occasion will be one of great enjoyment to all, especially to the children of the members. It is intended to have a regular old-fashioned basket picnic, and all who attend may anticipate a day of pleasure. There will be dancing, boating, speaking and amusements for the elders as well as the youngsters. The committee who have the matter in hand are hard at work and no doubt their efforts will be crowned with success. Crawford Lodge is in the front rank of fraternal societies in this vicinity and merits the approval of all, in their good work.

Tickets can be secured from the following members: J. M. Maxwell, Charles Peltier, John F. Hoffman, W.H. Chick, Frank Brown, J.

F. Affantranger, Henry Hartman, A. G. Strachan and John Miller. Live and Dressed Hogs.

Kansas City; Junel. The Inter-State Commerce Commission continued its hearings in the case of John P. Squire of Boston, here, yesterday. The question was the difference of rates between live hogs and the dressed product, the present rates being 27X and 20 cents respectively. The Chicago Board of TVarlp waa rpnrpnnt.pd at vest.erdav's proceedings in the interest of a reduction i of rates on live hogs to a point nearer tho rhte on the products.

The Kansas City packers claim that if the rates on live and dressed were the same it would ruin them, as they could not compete with Chicago for the eastern trade in dressed meats while laboring under tho disadvantage of thirty-two hours. Work of Robbrrs. Chicago, June 1. A dispatch from Omaha, says: In Keya, Pohaha County, a settler named John T. Newell, who had been quite outspoken in hisdenunciation of the vigilancecoinmittee In thatcounty, was found dead in his bed, Thursday i morning, with twenty-four bullet holes in his body.

About o'clock the same morning a body of masked men called at the house of a neighboring settler and captured George Babeock. who was visiting there, and carried him ofi. He has not been heard of since, and he is siip- posed to have been put out of the way. lie was also charged with sympathizing I with the Rustlers'' or cuttle thieves. and food since Thursday afternoon, and the- operators who have handled the news, are even- now praying for tha work of the day.

There has been a long Wrangle over the possession of a special train of the press between rival morning paper men, and it has delayed the work of the others who are anxious to get further east. Even here so far from the washed out towns, the horror is in our midst. Seven bodies have been found on the shore near this town, two being in a tree a man and woman where the tide had carried them. The country people are coming into the news centres in large numbers, telling stories of disaster along the river banks. John McCartney, a carpenter, who lives in Johnstown, reached here about 4 o'clock.

He left Johnstown at 4:30 yesterday, and says the scene when he left was indescribable. The people had been warned early in the morning to move to the high lands, but they did not heed the warning, although it was repeated a number of times. Up to 1 o'clock, when the water poured into Cinder Street, several feet deep. Then the houses began rocking to and fro, and finally the force of the current carried buildings across streets and vacant lots and dashed them against each other, breaking them ihtd ffagmentsi These buildings were freighted with the poor wretches who so shortly before laughed at the cry of danger. McCartney says that in some cases he counted as many as fifteen persons CLINGING TO BUILDINGS.

McCartney's wife was with him. She had three sisters who lived near her. They saw the house these girls lived in carried away, and then they could stand it. no longer, so they hurried away. The husband feared his wife would go crazy before he could drag her away, and they left the flooded district and went inland, until they reached here.

It is said to be next to impossible to get to Johnstown, proper, to-day, in any manner except by row boats. The roads are cut up so that even the countrymen refuse to travel over them in their roughest vehicles. The only hope is to get a special train as close as possible to Johnstown, and then by means of hand cars, to the town itself. This the Associated Press agent will do within an hour. A 80RROWFUL SCENE.

Lang Hollow, 10:30 a. m. At 9:30 the first train passed New Florence east. It was crowded with people from Pittsburg and places en route, people who were going to the scene of the disaster, with but little hope of finding their loved ones alive. Rich and poor were on board that train, all thinking but one thing, and that was what we see.

It was a heart-rending sight, and not a dry eye was in the train. Mothers moaned for their children, husbands paced the aisles and wrung their hands in mute agony. Fathers pressed their faces against the windows in an endeavor to see something, they knew not what, that would tell them, in a measure, of the dreadful fate that their loved ones had met with. All along the raging Cone- maugh the train stopped and bodies were taken on the express car, being carried by the villagers who were out along the banks. Oh! the horrow and infinite pity of it all.

What a journey has been that of the last half hour. Swollen, awful I corpses lay here and there in piles of cross ties or on the river banks among the tangled greenery. It was about 9 o'clock when the first passenger train since Friday came to the New Florence depot with its load of eager passengers. They were no idle travelers, but each had a mission. Here and there men were staring out of the windows, with red eyes.

Among them were tough looking Hungarians and Italians who had lost friends near Nineveh, and who are weeping on all sides. Two of the passengers on the train were man and wife from Johnstown. Ho was quiet, dignified, and more or less self-possessed. She was petite, anxious, and tried hard to control her feelings. From every new corner and possible source of information she sought news.

"Ours is a big new brick house," said she, with brave effort, but with loving brown eyes, moist and red with trembling: "It is a three-story house and I don't think there is any trouble, do you?" she said to me, and without waiting for my answer she continued, with a sob: "There are my four children in the house, and their nurse, and I guess father and mother will go over to the house, don't you?" In a few moments all those in the car knew the story of the pair, and many a pitying glance was cast at them. Iheir house was one of the first to go. Just before reaching Sang Hollow, the end of the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad, is signal tower and the men in it told stories of what they saw so piteous that I could not listen to half of it, and command my attention. THE SITUATION AT JOHNSTOWN. Pittsburg, June 1.

Latest reports of last night's flood confirm what was at first only feared. The disaster is unparalleled in the history of the nation. Johnstown is literally wiped out." The greatest loss of life is in Johnstown, Conemaugh, Kernville, Cambria, Coopersdale, Sheridan; Bolivar, Woodvale and Morrelville. What the aggregate will amount to is at present utterly beyond conjecture. The rivers are still rising rapidly.

The Allegheny, as it flows through Pittsburg, is literally hidden beneath the debris. The Postal telegraph company's advices came from its operator at Ligioner, twenty-one miles from Johnstown. He wired the information that the first reported loss of life was not in the least exaggerated. He says that AT LEAST 3,000 PEOPLE WEP.K DROWNED, and that there are only 200 houses left in mill PiTv I bined. On Main Street, Johnstown, the and the water on Main Street is thirty feet deep.

FLOATING BODIES. Pittsburg, June 1. The body of a Welsh woman, 60 years old, was taken from the river near the suspension bridge, about 10 o'clock this morning. Four other bodies were seen floating in the mass of wreckage which is coming down the river. They could not be recovered and passed down the Ohio River.

A citizens' meeting has been called at the old City Hall, at 1 o'clock, to devise means to aid the sufferers of the Johnstown flood. The poor officials have already placed cars on Liberty Street for the purpose of receiving provisions and clothing, and up to this hour many prominent merchants have come forward with heavy donations. JOHNSTOWN, PA. The following description of Johnstown, the scene of yesterday's frightful disaster, is taken from Polk Gazetteer of Pennsylvania: This extensive manufacturing town, the most Important place In Cambria Countyj is located on the Pennsylvania Railroad and S. C.

branch of the B. 6 O. R. thirty-six miles (by rail) from Ebenubnrg Court House, seventy-eight miles from Pittsburg and 276 from Philadelphia. Johnstown is comprised of towns and boroughs covering a large area, known as East Conemaugh, Franklin, Woodvale, Grubbtown, Morrellville, Conemaugh, Millville, Prospect, Cambria and Coopersdale, all of which are connected by street railroads, and which contain in all 30,000 inhabitants.

It is an active business town, supplied with handsome churches, good public schools, a library of 6,000 volumes, 2 opera houses, a public hall, 7 hotels and 3 banks. The bonded debt of the city is only 30,000. It is well lighted by electricity (Edison's), is heated by natural gas, and has good water works, and fire district departments, 3 of which have each a steamer. The iron and steel rail works here employ 7,000 hands, and these with 5 planing mills, 2 woolen mills, 1 pottery, 1 fertilizer factory, 1 tannery, pulley works, 4 breweries, 2 flour mills, soap factory, 1 iron factory, barbed wire and boiler works, 2 brick yards and a cement works, comprise the principal manufacturing industries. The Johnstown Steel Street Rail Co.

is now erecting a plant here for the purpose of manufacturing their merchandise. It will, when completed, employ about 400 hands. The press is represented by one daily and weekly Tribune and two weekly newspapers Freie Presse and Democrat. VESSELS WRECKED. East Tawas, June 1.

The heaviest northeaster for several years has prevailed since Thursday morning, accompanied by rain and snow. The tug Music let go a large raft off Harrisville, as it was dragging her on shore. The life-saving crew left here yesterday in tow of the tug Music, and rescued the crew of the schooner Mary Hattie ashore at Whiteston point from the rigging. The men were nearly perished, when rescued, but are receiving all possible attention. The vessel is a total wreck, with no insurance on vessel or cargo.

The steamer Kate Williams let go tne schooner General Siegel, 35 miles out. A sailor named Munday, of Sandusky, was lost overboard from the schooner. Frank McLean was struck by a boom and badly injured. CHILDREN DROWNED. Kansas City, June 1.

Thursday afternoon, two sisters, daughters of a farmer named Dickson, living south of Leroy, attended the Decoration Day exercises in that place, and started to walk home. The bridge across the Neosho river had been washed almost away, and two planks were stretched across the stringers. The girls started across these, the older holding the younger's hand. Half way across, one was seized with dizziness and lost her balance. Both fell into the water and were drowned.

A FAMILY CRUSHED TO DEATH. Chicago, June 1. A special from New Orleans says: Wednesday afternoon a severe storm swept over- a portion of De Soto Park, in this State, doing considerable damage in some localities. A large red oak was blown down on the cabin of Joe Raff ael, a negro, who, with his family, were within at the time. The cabin was demolished and the inmates were crushed in the' ruins.

Raffael's wife, his daughter 17 years old, a son 11 years of age, another 5 years old, and a third 15 months old, were instantly killed, and the oldest son, Joseph, slightly wounded. The only person in the cabin who escaped injury was Kaffael himself. HEAVY LOSS. Hillbboro, June 1. The storm in this part of the country has been destructive.

The damage cannot be estimated. Hillsboro has suffered severely from loss of houses, stock, barns, fences and other property. Will be Rigidly Enforced. Chicago, June 1. A dispatch from Jefferson City, says: The Secretary of State has issued a circular letter to all county clerks in the State at once to return to him a complete list of all corporations doing business in their respective counties.

It is the duty of the Secretary of State to enforce the new law for the punishment of pools, trusts and trade conspiracies, and this is the first move to ascertain the nature of each organization so as to open the way for a full enforcement of the law; great uneasiness is felt in certain business circles as to the extent to which the law will be enforced. The Secretary of fn will be enforced. just before dark. She was-kneeling on a part of a floor, and had her hands clasped as if in prayer. Every effort was made to save her, but they all proved futile.

A railroader who was standing by remarked that the piteous appearance of the little waif brought tears to his eyes. The wrecking train3 of the Pennsylvania railroad are slowly making their way to the unfortunate city. At 2 o'clock this morning they were held at Bolivar. No effort was being made to repair the wrecks, and the crews of the trains were organized into rescuing parties, and an effort will be made to send out a mail train this morning. The chances aro they will get no further east than Florence.

There Is absolutely no news from Johnstown. The little.city 19 utterly cut off from communication with the outside world. The damage done is inestimable. No one can tell Its extent. The Cambria Iron Company's works are built on made ground.

It stands near the river, and many fear It has been swept away or greatly damaged. The loss of this works alone will be in the millions. A courier to Bolivar, from the scene of the flood at Johnstown, reports 1,500 lives lost. TERRIBLE DESTRUCTION. Piedmont, W.

May 31. The destruction by the flood resulting from last night's storm in this vicinity is terrible, and the loss will scarcely fall short of a quarter of a million of dollars, and may greatly exceed that snm. The Baltimore Ohio and the West Virginia Central railroads are blocked in several different places. There are many rumors of loss of life. OVERFLOWED ITS BANKS.

Pittsburg, May 31. A Tyrone, special says: The Juniata River has overflowed its banks at this place and flooded the entire southern portion of the city, causing great destruction to property and the streets. People living in the flooded districts had to be re moved from their homes in wagons to places of safety. NEARING HIGH WATER MARK. Leechburoh, Mav 31.

The water here at 11:30 is within about two feet of the highest water mark and rising five inches in twenty minutes. People along the river are all moving out. Jennings, Beal Co. mill has shut down. The gas company is putting lights at the upper bridge to help rescue any persons should they be afloat.

The bridge will probably be swept away. WIRES ALL DOWN. Philadelphia, May 31. All the wires of the Pennsylvania Railroad west of Wilmore, a section of the Pittsburg di vision, twenty-live miles west of Al- toona, have been down since morning, and the information in regard to the destruction of that place is very meagre. Enough has been learned, however, to indicate that the rush of water is the worst ever known in that section.

At Broad Street station the following bulletin for the information- of travelers, was posted about 3 o'clock. On account of the unprecedented storm prevailing in the western part of the State the lines west of Al-toona have been damaged; to what extent cannot be ascertained until the water subsides. The storm is still raging and it is thought no trains will be passed until Sunday. HOURLY GROWING WORSE. Dispatches received up to midnight at the office of the general manager of the Pennsylvania Raiiroad, indicate that the situation is hourly growing worse.

The effects of the storm are now being felt on the middle division of that road, extending between Harrisburg and Al- toona. Landslides and washouts are reported along the line between these two places. No trains will be sent out west of Harrisburg until the storm abates, and the extent of the damage can be ascertained. A telegram from Pittsburg places the location of the various east bound through trains as follows: The New York limited safe at Wilmore; the Atlantic express, which left Pittsburg at 3 o'clock this morning, and the seashore express, which left Johnstown at an early hour this morning, are both laid up at Portage; the day express from Chicago and the mail train leaving Pitts burg at 1:30 this morning, are at Conemaugh, at the foot of the western slope of the Allegheny Mountains; The Philadelphia express, which started east from Pittsburg at 4:30 a. is at Bolivar Junction.

The same dispatch says: We have had no wire east of Cone-maughboro and Johnstown are entirely washed away and many lives lost. The water is now falling. The New York limited eastbonnd, which is now at Wilmore, had a NARROW ESCAPE FROM DESTRUCTION. The conductor reports that immediately after his train bad passed over tne bridge which spans the river at South Fork, that structure was swept away by the rushing water. General Manager Pugh said at midnight that no train would be allowed to proceed until the tracks were cleared away and rendered safe for travel.

The telegraph lines on the road between Harrisburg and Williamsport were lost shortly before 9 lock, and no information has been received from the latter place since that hour,.