A corpse is dug from the bank. It is
covered with mud. It is taken to the anteroom of the school, where it is
placed under a hydrant and the muck and slime washed off. With the slash
of a knife the clothes are ripped open and an attendant searches the
pockets for valuables or papers that would lead to identification. Four
men lift the corpse on a rude table, and there it is thoroughly washed
and an embalming fluid injected in the arm. With other grim bodies the
corpse lies in a larger room until it is identified or becomes
offensive. In the latter case it is hurried to the large grave, a grave
that will hereafter have a monument over it bearing the inscription
"Unknown Dead."

The number of the latter is growing hourly, because pestilence stalks
in Johnstown, and the bloated, disfigured masses of flesh cannot be held
much longer.

Levelled by Death.

Bodies of stalwart workmen lie beside the remains of refined ladies,
many of whom are still decked with costly earrings and have jewels
glittering on the fingers. Rich and poor throng these quarters and gaze
with awe-struck faces at the masses of mutilations in the hope of
recognizing a missing one, so as to accord the body a decent burial.

From Death's Gaping Jaws.

We give here the awful narrative of George Irwin's experience. Irwin is
a resident of Hillside, Westmoreland county, and was discovered in a
dying condition in a clump of bushes just above the tracks of the
Pennsylvania Railroad, about a mile below Johnstown. When stretched upon
two railroad ties near the track his tongue protruded from his mouth and
he gasped as if death was at hand. With the assistance of brandy and
other stimulants he was in a degree revived. He then told the following
story:

"I was visiting friends in Johnstown on Friday when the flood came up.
We were submerged without a moment's warning. I was taken from the
window of the house in which I was then a prisoner by Mr. Hay, the
druggist at Johnstown, but lost my footing and was not rescued. I clung
to a saw log until I struck the works of the Cambria Iron Company, when
I caught on the roof of the building. I remained there for nearly an
hour, when I was knocked again from my position by a piece of a raft. I
floated on top of this until I got down here and I stuck in an apple
tree.

Preferred Death to Such Sights.

"I saw and heard a number of other unfortunate victims when swept by me
appealing for some one to save them. O