Chalmer L. Dick, the ghouls’ nemesis, bid good-by to this ill-fated town last night. He will hereafter reside in Mount Pleasant.
Already twenty barrels of embalming fluid have been consumed, aggregating 800 gallons. It requires from half a pint to a quart for each corpse.
A Masonic relief committee has been organized and solicits aid for distressed Free Masons and their families. Remittances should be made by New York or Pittsburgh drafts to the order of Col. John F. Linton, treasurer, or Wm. F. Myer, secretary. Knights of the Mystic Chain are requested to forward all subscriptions to the Supreme Recording and Corresponding Scribe, box 321, Pittsburgh.
Fifteen bodies were received at the Fourth ward morgue, of which seven were unidentified, as follows: James Murray, of Philadelphia; William Marshall, Johnstown; Mrs. J. J. Llewellyn, Johnstown; Jas. Dillon, Somerset; Marion Root, Johnstown; Miss Annie McKinstry, Mrs. McKinstry and Jessie Hipp, Johnstown. At the Pennsylvania Railroad morgue six bodies were received, and two identified as E. M. Thomas and Howard J. Roberts, cashier First National Bank, Johnstown. At the Presbyterian Church morgue ten bodies were received, and one identified as Sheriff John Ryan, of Johnstown.
At 10.30 p. m. forty-seven bodies were discovered in a hole on the site of the Hurlbut House. They are supposed to be the bodies of guests.
The number of persons who have so far registered is 20,110.
The population of Johnstown and the neighborhood effected by the flood is about 35,000. The registration of 20,110 leaves almost 15,000 to be accounted for. It is not claimed that those who have not registered are dead, for many had left the town before the system of registration began, and it is safe to say that 8,000 people have left.
Among the most interesting relics of the flood is a small gold locket found in the ruins of the Hurlbut House yesterday. The locket contains a small curl of dark brown hair and has engraved on the inside the following remarkable lines; “Lock of George Washington’s hair, cut in Philadelphia, while on his way to Yorktown—1781.” Mr. Benford, one of the proprietors of the house, says that the locket was the property of his sister, who was lost in the flood, and was presented to her by an old lady in Philadelphia, whose mother had herself cut the hair from the “Father of his Country,” and there is no doubt that the statement is reliable.
Up Stony Creek Gap, above the contractors, the United States army engineers began work yesterday under command of Capt. Sears, who is here as the personal representative of the Secretary of War. The engineers, Capt. Bergland’s company from Willett’s Point and Lieut. Biddle’s company from West Point arrived last night, having been since Tuesday on the road from New York. Early this morning they went to work to bridge Stony Creek, and unloaded and launched their heavy pontoons and strung them across the streams with a rapidity and skill that astonished the natives, who had mistaken them, in their coarse, working uniforms of overall stuff, for a fresh gang of laborers. The engineers, when there are bridges enough laid, may be set at other work about town. They have a camp of their own on the outskirts of the place. There are more constables, watchmen, special policemen and that sort of thing in Johnstown than in any three cities of its size in the country. Naturally there is great difficulty in equipping them. Badges were easily provided by the clipping out of stars from pieces of tin, but every one had to look out for himself when it came to clubs. Everything goes, from a broomstick to a baseball bat. The bats are especially popular.