THE GREAT DISASTER IN PENNSYLVANIA.

Timaru Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 4556, 4 June 1889, Page 2

THE GREAT DISASTER IN PENNSYLVANIA.

« (Pbr Electric Teleqbafii — Copyright.) (Per Press Association.) (Eccoived 1 p.m., Jnno 3rd.) New Yobk, June 2. Debris from wooden houses at Johnßtown was washed up by the floods into an embankment three-quarters of a mile long and 40 feet high. This caught fire, and hundreds of unfortunate people who had taken refuge on it were burned to death. So far 1100 bodies have been recovered. It is reported that 70 people suffered a similar fate in debris at a placed called Minerva. (Received 9 p.m., June 3rd.; June S. It is conjectured by some that 25,000 persons were drowned by the flood at Johnstown, and that 800 peiished in the burning debris. (Beceivod 11.89 p.m., Juno 3rd.) Communication with Johnstown has been restored. The distress from the flood is appalling, in Conemaugh Valley farms, mills, hamlets, and towns being n vast scene of desolation. Thousands of people have beon swept away. The Cambria ironworks at Johnßtown, at which seven thousand men were employed have been completely destroyed. The suddenness with which the disaster overtook the residents was something terrible. A waterspout broke tho dam of the reservoir on Friday afternoon and a torrent of water forty feet deep struck Johnstown within half an hour, sobmerging the town. Only two roofs remained abore water.