ary ride of eight or nine miles over the worst of
country roads New Florence, fourteen miles from Johnstown, was reached.
The road bed between this place and Bolivar was washed out in many
places. The trackmen and the wreck crews were all night in the most
dangerous portions of the road.

The last man from Johnstown brought the information that scarcely a
house remained in the city. The upper portion above the railroad bridge
had been completely submerged. The water dammed up against the viaduct,
the wreckage and debris finishing the work that the torrent had failed
to accomplish. The bridge at Johnstown proved too stanch for the fury of
the water. It is a heavy piece of masonry, and was used as a viaduct by
the old Pennsylvania Canal. Some of the top stones were displaced.

The story reached here a short time ago that a family consisting of
father and mother and nine children were washed away in a creek at
Lockport. The mother managed to reach the shore, but the husband and
children were carried out into the Conemaugh to drown. The woman is
crazed over the terrible event.

A Night of Horror.

After night settled down upon the mountains the horror of the scenes was
enhanced. Above the roar of the water could be heard the piteous appeals
from the unfortunate as they were carried by. To add also to the terror
of the night, a brilliant illumination lit up the sky. This illumination
could be plainly seen from this place.

A message received from Sang Hollow stated that this light came from a
hundred burning wrecks of houses that were piled upon the Johnstown
Bridge. A supervisor from up the road brought the information that the
wreckage at Johnstown was piled up forty feet above the bridge.

The startling news came in that more than a thousand lives had been
lost. This cannot be substantiated. By actual count one hundred and ten
people had been seen floating past Sang Hollow before dark. Forty-seven
were counted passing New Florence and the number had diminished to eight
at Bolivar. The darkness coming on stopped any further count, and it was
only by the agonizing cries that rang out above the waters that it was
known that a human being was being carried to death.

An Irresistible Torrent.

The scenes along the river were wild in the extreme. Although the water
was subsiding, still as it dashed against the rocks that filled the
narrow channel of the Conemaugh its spray was carried high up on the
shore. The town