The story of Johnstown : its early settlement, rise ... - JohnstownCafe

200 Tin: STORY or JOUXSTOWX.
burgh undertakers in cinhalniing the dead rendered it j)()ssible to keep them
two or three days Linger, in cases wliere identification was dubious or no chuniants
appeared. Rev'. Di'. IJeale had general super\isi.'n of the morgues and
to hir.i reports were sent of all botiies rcco\ered, with such particidars as coidd
be obtained.
Tile body of Hugene Ilannon. ttunid near the First Freslnterian Church,
was identified b_\- his father. The _\oung man was a member of the League of
American Wheelmen, anil his bic\cle was \\ithin a few yards >.)f his bod\ . The
father laid the wrecked wheel on the coffin of his son
Let us enter some of these morgues tnree or four da\s after the flood.
This brick school-house in Millville. which saved three hundred li\es, is now
the abode of that niuiiber rU the dead. Crowds linger around and watch each
corpse the carriers or the wagons bring in. The \'ard is packed with coftins
of stained pine. Piled up on one side are coffins — little cot'fins, medium coffins,
large coffins — coffins for children, coffins for men. coffins for women.
Stretched on boards in the lower school-room are corpses dragged from the
creek, the ri^ er. tbe debris and the burned wreckage. Some have great bruises
and welts and are co\'ered with blood. Some are decaxing and discolored —
past recognition. The air reeks with insufferable odors anil the desks are
biers. Three of the former pu[Mls lie on the desks with pieces of jiaper
fiinned to tlie white sheets that cover them, gixin'.; their names. On the blackboard
are figures and writing, chalked by hands now stiffened^ and niouldering.
One of these reads:
'
Home>, Sueet Home "
.\ye. the deft fingers which wrote these words woulil write no more. The
little child had indeed reached ••Home" — the home tliat emlure^. Who
knows but he was lying on one of these desks, just read\- to be coffined and carried
to the narrow home Till sunset on Mondas' ever\- desk in the classroom
supported a coffin. Each coffin was numbered and each lid turned to
show the face within. Uetwien the piett_\ drawing and the neat writing of
the schoolchildren was scrawled the bulletin: ••Hold Xo. 5y • ' as long as
possible; supposed to be Miss Paulson, of Pittsburgh." But ••59" wasn't Miss
Paulson. A citizen of johnstow n claimed it as his sister's corpse, and the
casket was mo\t.d out to make room tor another.
At tlie Presbyterian church the first floor is washed out completeb' and
the second damaged. The walls, tloors and pews were drenched, mud collecting
on the matting and carpets tw(;) inches deep. The chancel is filled with
coffins, strips of muslin, boards and all undertaking accessories. Across the
tops of the pews are a dozen pine boxes, each containinu a \ ictim. Printed
cards are tacked on each. I'pon them is a description of the enclosed bod\',
with the name if known. Nine are uuuameil and will be buried to-morrow.
The great number of bodies not identified seems incredible. Some of these