The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1870-06-18
CHAPTER XLYI.

Round great tire in the Town Hall
were huddlcd a number Of halt.nakcd
creatures who had been driven out of
their dilapilldtcd homes; some Of them
had seen children or relatives perish in
the flood theyhad themselves so narrowly
escaped, and were bcmoaning them with
Chattcring teeth.
Little SPOKE them n word Of comfort,
promised them ull clothes us soon us the
shops should open, and hurried off to the
lower part Of the town in search of Ran,
some.
Hesoon found the liuc the flood had
taken. Between Poma Bridge and Hills
borough it had wasted itself considerably
in broad valley, but still 1t had gone
clean through ITillsborough twelve feet
high, demolishing and drowning. It's ter
ri6le progress was marked by layer of
mud 4 foot thick, dotted with rocks, trees,
wrecks of houses, machinery, furniture,
barrels, mattresses, CarCasSes OF animals,
and dead bodies, most of them stark ma
ken, tho raging flood having torn their
clothes off their backs. 49, ~
Four corpses and two dead horses were
living In lake ofmud about the very door
Of the railroad station; three of them
were females in absolute nudity. The
fourth was IL male, with one stocking on.
This proved TO bc5HillsbrO' Harry, warn
ed in vain up at Damilask. When he
actually heard the flood come Kissing, he
had decided on the whole TO dres, and had
got the length Of that ono stocking, when
the flying like cut short his vegetation.
Not far from this, Little found Ran
some, working like horse, with the tear
Hc uttered shout Of delight and sur
prise, and, taking Little by both shoulders,
gazed earnestly NJ him, and said,@ "Can
this ben living man Iseeyh,, H-nIC
"Ycs, | am alive" said Little, "but | had
10 work for it! feel MY clothes" 1UE
"Why, they are dryer than mine"
"Aye; yet l have been in water to the
throat; the heat Of my body and my great
exertions dried them. I'll tcll'you allan
other day; now show me how TO do a bit
Of good; Tor It Is not one nor two thousand
pounds I'll stick ut, this night"
"Comc on
Strange sights they saw that night.
They found dead body curlca round the
TOP frame of Il lamp.post, and, in tho ST.
burbs, another iammed between Il beam
and the wall of house.
They found some houses with the front
wall carried clean away, md on the sec
ond floor, such Of the inmates MS had sur
vived huddlcd together in their night
clothes, unable to get down. These Ran
some and his men speedily relieved from
their situation. al "a ES5E.r.
And now came iii word that the whole
villnge Of Poma Bridge lad been de-
strOycd.
Little, with Ransomo and his men, hur-
ricd on ut these sad tidings as fast rs the
mud and rims would allow, and on the
way one oC the policemen trod on some.
thing soft. 1t WINS the body Of q woman
imbGdded in the mud. ..s
4 little further, they saw, at some dis.
lance, two cottages in q row, both Quilted
and emptietl. An old man was alone in
ono; seated on the ground. AOOrin the deep
mud.
They went to him, and asked what they
could do for him. ............
DO? Why, let me die" he said.
They tried to encourage him; but he
answered them in words that showed
how deeply old Shylock's speech is found
ed in nature n I .t... yt-IFIe d :,
"Let the water take me-ithas taken al
| had" 'aa ..-.-. .....
When they asked after his neighbors, he
said he believed they were all drowned
Unluckily for him, he had been out when
the flood came
Little clambored into the other cottage
and found little boy and girl placidly
asleep in cupboard Up stairs.
Little yelled with delight, and kissed
them, and cuddlcd them, rs If they had
been his own, so sweet was it to see theiI
pretty innocent faces spared by death
The boy kissed him in return, and told
him the room had been fnll Of water, ant
dady and nlanmR had gone ont OF thu
window, and they themselves had hoatet
in the bed so high he had put his little sis
ter on the top shelf and got on 1t himself
and then they had both felt very sleepy,
"You arc a dear good boy, and | take
you into custody" said Ransome, In
broken voice. IN ur,
Judge if this pair were petted, upat thu
Town Hall,
At Poma Bridge the devastation wa
horrible. The food had bombarded arrow
Of fifty houses, and demolished them 81
utterly that only one arch Of one celia