. Over one thousand bodies
have been found since sunrise to-day, and the most skeptical concede
that the remains of thousands more rest beneath the debris above the
Johnstown bridge. The population of Johnstown, the surrounding towns and
the portion of the valley affected by the flood is, or was, from 50,000
to 55,000. Numerous leading citizens of Johnstown, who survived the
flood, have been interviewed, and the concensus of opinion was that
fully thirty per cent of the residents of Johnstown and Cambria had been
victims of the continued disasters of fire and water. If this be true,
the total loss of life in the entire valley cannot be less than seven or
eight thousand and possibly much greater. Of the thousands who were
devoured by the flames and whose ashes rest beneath the smoking debris
above Johnstown bridge, no definite information can ever be obtained.

Hundreds Carried Miles Away.

As little will be learned of hundreds that sank beneath the current and
were borne swiftly down the Conemaugh only to be deposited hundreds of
miles below on the banks and in the driftwood of the raging Ohio.
Probably one-third of the dead will never be recovered, and it will take
a list of the missing weeks hence to enable even a close estimate to be
made of the number of lives that were lost. That this estimate can never
be accurate will be understood when it is remembered that in many
instances whole families and their relatives were swept away, and found
a common grave beneath the wild waste of waters. The total destruction
of the city leaves no data to even demonstrate that the names of these
unfortunates ever found place on the pages of eternity's history.

"All indications point to the fact that the death list will reach over
five thousand names, and in my opinion the missing will reach eight
thousand in number," declared General D.H. Hastings to-night.

At present there are said to have been twenty-two hundred bodies
recovered. The great difficulties experienced in getting a correct list
is the great number of morgues. There is no central bureau of
information, and to communicate with the different dead houses is the
work of hours. The journey from the Pennsylvania Railroad morgue to the
one in the Fourth ward school house in Johnstown occupies at least one
hour. This renders it impossible to reach all of them in one day,
particularly as some of the morgues are situated at points inaccessible
from Johnstown. At six o'cloc