1883--Izard, Sharp and Clay Counties, Arkansas; 5 killed, 162 injured; 60 buildings destroyed; loss $300,000.
1884--North and South Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky and Illinois; 800 killed, 2,500 injured; 10,000 buildings destroyed.
[Illustration: HOMES RUINED AND FAMILIES KILLED]
[Illustration: A STREET OF STORES IN RUINS]
[Illustration: A TYPICAL SCENE AFTER THE DISASTER]
[Illustration: HOUSES DESTROYED BY THE FLOOD]
[Illustration: SOLDIERS ENCAMPED IN THE STRICKEN CITY]
[Illustration: DESTRUCTION ALONG THE WHARFS]
[Illustration: THE DESTRUCTION BY THE WATER]
[Illustration: A STREET AFTER THE DISASTER]
[Illustration: EXODUS FROM GALVESTON THE NEXT DAY]
[Illustration: CREMATION OF BODIES HAULED TO THE WHARF FRONT]
[Illustration: BODIES OF VICTIMS OF THE HURRICANE BEING CARTED TO SCOWS FOR BURIAL IN THE GULF]
Overwhelming of Johnstown, Pa., by the Waters from Conemaugh Lake--One of the Most Peculiar Happenings in History--Actual Number of Deaths Will Never Be Known--About Twenty-Five Hundred Bodies Found.
On Friday, May 31, 1889, at 12:45 p. m., the stones in the center of the dam which confined the waters of Conemaugh Lake began to sink because of leaks in the masonry; at 1 o'clock the dam broke and the flood rushed fiercely down the beautiful Conemaugh Valley to Johnstown, two and a half miles directly to the southwest--but thirteen miles by way of the winding valley--and within a few minutes nearly 2,300 men, women and children (this many, it is known, perished, although it is probable the loss of life was much greater) were lying dead in the wreckage of the city; millions of dollars' worth of property were destroyed and thousands of people beggared--and all because the members of the fishing club which controlled the lake were too penurious to have the leaks in the dam repaired. The coroner's verdict was to the effect that the club was to blame for the disaster.
Hundreds of business buildings and residences were destroyed, and less than a score of the structures composing the town were uninjured; complete paralysis followed, and many said, as in the case of Galveston, the city would not be rebuilt; hundreds were crazed by their sufferings and never regained their reason; thieves swarmed to the place and looted the bodies of the dead until the arrival of several thousand State troops put an end to the carnival of crime; the impoverished survivors were cared for until they could get upon their feet again, relief pouring in from everywhere in the shape of hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and thousands of carloads of supplies of all sorts; the business men plucked up courage and went to work with a will when the apathy succeeding the calamity had worn off, and to-day Johnstown is greater than ever, and has added to both her wealth and population.