as not until people stopped to think and to
ask themselves questions, which startled them in a ghastly way, that the
fact became plain that instead of a pitiful hundred or two of victims at
least a thousand were in that roaring, crackling, loathsome, blazing
mass upon the surface of the water and in the huge, inaccessible arches
of the big bridge.

Charred Bodies.

Charred bodies could be seen here and there all through the glowing
embers. There was no attempt to check the fire by the authorities, nor
for that matter did they try to stop the robbing of the dead, nor any
other glaring violation of law. The fire is spreading toward a large
block of crushed buildings further up the stream. There is a broad
stretch of angry water above and below, while over there, just opposite
the end of the bridge, is the ruin of the great Cambria Iron Works,
which have been damaged to the extent of over $1,000,000.

The Gautier Steel Works have been wiped away, and are represented by a
loss of $1,000,000 and a big hole.

The Holbert House, owned by Renford Brothers, has entirely disappeared.
It was a five story building, was the leading hotel of Johnstown, and
contained a hundred rooms. Of the seventy-five guests who were in it
when the flood came, only eight have been saved. Most of them were
crushed by the fall of the walls and flooring.

Hundreds of searching parties are looking in the muddy ponds and among
the wreckage for bodies and they are being gathered in ghastly heaps.

In one building among the bloated victims, I saw a young and
well-dressed man and woman, still locked in each other's arms, a young
mother with her babe pressed with delirious tenacity to her breast, and
on a small pillow was a tiny babe a few hours old, which the doctors
said must have been born in the water. It is said that 720 bodies have
so far been recovered, or have been located.

The coroner of Westmoreland county is ordering coffins by the carload.

In the Raging Waters.

A dispatch from Derry says: In this city the poor people in the raging
waters cried out for aid that never came. More than one brave man risked
his life in trying to save those in the flood. Every hour details of
some heroic action are brought to light. In many instances the victims
displayed remarkable courage and gave their chances for rescue to
friends with them. Sons stood back for mothers, and were lost while
their parents were taken out. Many a son went down to a watery