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EDITORIAL C<>MMKNT. There will be I races of I lie dead in the Conemaugh Valley for years to corns. Just tliink of it; 12,000 coffins ordered in one day for the dead ot Johnstown! A human mass ot several thou sand bodies biuued to charcoal in the Johnstown ruins. The Johnstown tragedy is the greatest record on American histo ry. Johnstown was a place of 30,- 000 inhabitants—a manufacturing town. Hie greater portion as la borers. New York in s subscribed over $200,000 to the Johnstown suffer ers, Now, if the sufferers will on ly get the money. The Journal a< knowledges a copy of‘-The American Press, a month ly journal published in Atlanta by Frank J. Cohen. It is a neat sheet, well edited and tastily gotten up. The Mutual Life Insurance of New York, and other companies all summed up, will lose several million dollars fiom the Johnston n disaster of human life. Birmingham, Ala., June 4, — There may be a double lynching at Gadsdens to-nigbt. Last Saturday night two negroes, Grant Gann and J >ha White, entered the residence of Mrs. Jones, a respectable widow lady, living near Gadsden, lhe only persons in the house ware Mrs. Jones, her eighteen-year-old daughter and a son ten years old. The negroes entered the room ol the young la Iv and, after chloro forming her, attempted to outrage her. Her little brother heard the noise, and with a pistol in his hand drove the negroes away. John White, one ot the negroes, was cap tured Sunday and lodged in jail. This morning Grant Gann was cap tured in a box car m this city, hav ing stolen a vine here on a freight train, A Gadsden officer was in the city looking for Gann and he lett with the prisoner this afternoon. Be said the crime had caused the greatest excitement in Gadsden, and lie thought an attempt to lynch both prisoners would certainly be made to-night. The Hushing Waters —Carry Death an <] Dost ru ct i on—J oh nst own. lenn . Submerged—H,ooo lives Destroyed, Johsfown. Per.n., was a wealthy nianv.faeturirigcity of 30,000 popu lation. on the Baltimore & Ohio railway, and near the Conemaugh rive.*, east oi the Alleghany moun tains A sudden freshet occurred the 31st of May, causing an im mense dam several miles above the ei iv. on the North Fork, to burst turn loose its waters in a rag ing torrent 30 leet high, submerg ing Johnstown and several smaller towns and hamlets in the valley, and destroys g thousands of lives, it is impossible for language to por tray the amount of human suffering caused by this immense ireshei. The daily rs since last Sal urduv arc gw g with description of it, but the half will never bo told. Charles Read, the great novelist, a few years ago described such a scene in a book called “Put your self in II is Place,” but it has never been supposed that such an acci dent could occur in the actual course of human events. In this jpp.tiling case truth surpasses fic tion. It is even worse than the de struction of Herculaneum and Pom peii by volcanic eruption, so graph ically described by JBuiwerLytlou. Heartrending shrieks, sobs and moans pierced the gloomy darkness on that fatetul night. The prayers and supplications ot the dying ming led with the roaring waters. For miles and miles along the valley, where once stood the beautiful cit ies, towns and manufactories there remains not a single thing to mark the ground except heaps of debris and putrefying, dead bodies; here and there the bodies are collected together ami laid in rows for recog nition. The mourners passing be tween, are often unable to recogn ize the laces or forms of dear ones, so cruelly are they mangled and lorn. It is said that amid all this sor row and suffering the worst side of human nature is shown in those human fiends who prowl among the dead to rob and plunder, cut ting off the fingers and ears to ob tain jewelry. But at last account organized plans of relief were in action; clothing and food is being transported to the suffering ones, and everything is beingdone that is possible to alleviate suffering. It is supposed that at least 14,- 000 people were destroyed. Charleston, S. C., June 3. —Dr. J. S. Owen it Anderson, was killed by bis step-son. lie was beatinghis wife. sew York, June 3 —Mayor Qrant sent out invitations to 250 gentlemen to meet him in consultation about re lief for Johnstown. Among the invi tations sent oat was one to ex-Presi ijeat Cleveland, which, gentleman, it is believed, will be made chairman of the cwnamittee. it took but a lew mo ments for the committee to subscribe nearly ,$55,000 for the sufferers hv the flood in Gout tnangh '' alley. The contributions by the Martime exchange to-day were about 35,000 dollars. Isidore Wornaser announced that the stock exchange had raised 15,003 dollars in a few moments to day. Alexander E, Orr announced that his exchange had 10,000 dollars ready. JUDGE LYNCH IN .PENNSYLVANIA. Judge Lynch is not a southern product. Once in awhile he makes a # dash in this direction, but his home is in the north, in one of the raost conservative of states—in the God-fearing commonwealth of Pennsylvania—the community founded by the peaceful Quakers and Dutchmen, whose quiet influ ences have blessed the republic from file landing of Penn down io the present time. Perhaps Judge Lynch has been misunderstood and unjustly abus ed. Speaking frankly, and in a general way, we aro against him. And yet it must be admitted that there are times when his methods are the very salvation of society. His work in the Conemaugh valley during the past few days is the most hopeful sign of promise that has cheered the desolate survivors of the food since their great disas ter. Let us group together the inci dents of one day on the spot where Johnstown stood less than a week ago. When tiie wafers began to recede, thousands of brutal radians, the wildest scum ot creation, rush ed in to plunder the living and the dead. They stripped the bodies of women and children, and hack ed them with knives and hatchets. Did the religious and law and order loving people of Pennsyl vania wait to have these wretches arrrested, indicted, fried and con victed? Not a bit ot it A happy inspiration caused them to forget fiat they were citizens, and to remcin bpr only that they were men! Trie good ffieu —the sturdy fathers and husbands of Conemangh during this red flurry of anarchy, have be Coiao their own avengers, and the lightning of their just judgment has been as deadly as if is merciless. One man was caught in the act of robbing and mutilating corpses. There was no time waited—the county was put to no expense—the brute was simply strung up to a telegraph pole. The citizens fouud another gang of these thieves and drove four of them ino the raging river. where they were drowned like so many rats. Five citi zens with shot guns pursued two rob bers, and found in the pocket of one of them a baby’s finger with a lingon it. The two were hanged to a tree and left there. A Hungarian was teen trying to blow up a hank safe. An other iree was utilized as a gallows. S;x thieves hacking and mangling corpses were run down and bot dead, ix-ilayor Dick saw a man robbing a dead woman. Ho forgot the lessons of his earner as a magistrate, and pull ei out his pistol snd shot the fellow through the heart. If Dick wants to be mayor again he will get there by a unanimous vote. sothing could be more lurid or hor rible than this brief chapter. But it is all right. Desperate emergencies re quire desperate remedies, and the law of self preservation is the law of ne cessity —the supreme human law. These glorious Pennsylvanians have bees made to feel, at least for once in their lives, that there are rate and crit ical moments when Judge Lynch with a skat gun or a rope, is worth more to a community than a dozen courts. We are playing with tire when we discuss this matter. But v e do not fear the consequences. The people of this countiy, with their strong, com mon sense and love of justice, are able to deal with these exceptional eases. When the men who.resort to lyuch law are clearly right, they will be up held. When they are clearly wrong, they will be punished. The lynchers of Conemaugh wdl never stand behind the bars or be seen in a prisoner’s dock. —[Constitution. The Journal does not indorse the above on the grounds of carrying out the laws of the iaad—trial by jury—- neither can it be indorsed by the Christian law. The robbers should liaye pturedbeen ca and tried. The people were dead. Must the wretches be shot do7/a for the worth of a triak det? Will good citizens and Christians bear the responsibility of murder as being justified in the stea ling of a trirrk Ist? Certainly not. While it may bo indereed by the laws of Pennsyl vania as an exception, yet there is mo provision in her laws, nor in the con stitution of the United States, fora crime of this sort. The divine law, which neither the Constitution or any other instrument under thasua, knows nothin of its justice, has yet to speak. The potter may have control cyer the clay, bat the clay has not eontrcl over the clay. Philosophy is the bane of wisdom, and die Atlanta Constitution’s editor ! is cot a philosopher, though 1)3 sits ! behind the throne of a much populated 1 city. Buy Your Shoes from 1.1. Smith. & Comp’ny And Save Money, _ Athens Consult Yonr Interests by Buying your DRUGS AND MEDICINES FROM— Wade And Sledge, ATHENS, C GEORGIA. We sell at the lowest possible price, and gnrantee every article to be abso lutely Pure. Orders by Mail will receive prompt, attention. Remember the name and place.—WADE & SLEDGE, Druggists and Pharmacists. Between Hodgson Bros., and Talmadge Bros,, Clayton Street. 10 A, *33 ta epixp thens Music House, 112 Clayton Street, Next Door to Pestoffic 0 , Athens, Georgia. Haselton & Dozier, Proprietors. QvU/i Violins, and all kinds of musical instru ments on hand and for sale at greatly re duced prices for cash, or on the install ment. Special rates to churches and schools. Picture frames on hand or made .. .. to order at short notice. A fell and com* cijfhbki 111 l Jete stock of Artists’ M.-teiial tor draw ing and painting i'd oil and water colons. D. P. Haselton, Tkos. H. Dozier. MoneY SavcD! We Sell Goods to Compete With Any House in the Country, v QvVwQ* Vc? 0 wlv-J wv vh’VL QAvl Merchants Can Buy Blank Books, School Books, Paper Bags, Wrapping Paper, Twine and Stationery of Every Description From us at N. Prices MCGREGOR & ROBERTSON (Burke’s Old Stand,) ATHENS, GEORGIA. Stock Larger Than Ever! Stoves! Stoves! —Stoves Bought by Car-Loads: — And Prices That are Bound to T AN’- V", - '' Attract Jones’ Standa’d Tinware. Tin Hoofing, Guttering and Job-Work. Call oi Write for Trices. E, E. Jones, 209 B’oad St. ATHENS