The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1874-08-05

i LAA ALAa ~ 0h1EA8
and mingled in an unacceptable
mass Of debris: in sewers burst and
eayed in; 10 heavy stones from the
masonry of the sewers and Of the
houses from the pavements of the
streets; carried away as if they were
chips. East street a short distance
below where it opens into Madison
avenue is filed by a mass Of debris,
consisting Of an indistinguishable
mixture of roofs, window casing,
weather boarding, furniture and
household goods. How many build
ings were destroyed, and utterly torn
to pieces, it is not possible as yet to
tell; but some idea of the ravages
may be gained by the fact that this
street, forty feet wide, is utterly
ehoked up for a length Of more than
a hundred and fifty feet, with a pile
o. what were once houses, sheds,
barns and o~uthouses, and Of which
there is not q distinguishable feature
save this mass of broken and confus-
I ed material. This pile is at some
points ten and fifteen feet in height,
and the force with which it was
thrown together is shown by great
timbers twisted up and snapped off
as if they were straws.
The houses along this portion OF
East street were considerably dam
aged and all were submerged, but
none were swept from their founda-
tons. Further on is the buildings
where the Woodville Oil Works were
located, the building are swept away,
and Hoevler d Coles glue factory
lies a complete wreck, some Of it
swept away, and the rest Of IT lying
in ruins on the spot. Going on up
East street to Madison venue and
keeping on up Madison avenue, every
foot Of ground repeats the same mo-
notonous tale Of devastation.
Butchers Run, as many Of our
readers know, runs in a northerly di-
rection from 0'Hara street. The
character of the ground is that Of a
narrow valley, or rather gully, from
fifty TO a hundred and fifty feet in
width. shut in on each side by high,
p~recipitous hills more than two hun
dred feet high. Along the bottom Of
the same is the creek, its course follow
Gu by Madison avenue, which frequent
" crosses the run in its course up the
ravine for some miles. For a consid-
cradle portion of the way the run
was conducted through sewers, and
the entire ravine, for two miles from
its opening, was closely built up with
houses fronting Immediately IN the
street, and built up close against the
hills on either side.
Not a single bridge is left Of the
numerous structures by which Madi-
son avenue crossed the run. All are
swept away so completely that hardly
vestige Of them remains, and had (
it not been for the assurance ofthose |
acquainted with the locality, that at {
all these places bridges were built, /
we should hardly have thought it
possible that there were any bridges I
there. I
The work Of devastation commence 6
ed some two miles up the run. To f
attempt to give an account Of the
property destroyed would be an al t
most hopeless task. Every house c
bears the marks of the food, and |
blocks were swept away, hard {
" leaving a foundation stone to mark t
the spot where they stood. I
The %suddenness of the flood is des- :
most graphically by those who
we're in its course. A few minutes '
lfter the storm commenced, word was
passed from house to house that the
in the u was rising, and that s
he ravine might be flooded. The '
lext minute a raging flood swept {
Town the %ravine, carrying everything I
it, flooding the lower portions {
the houses, destroying buildings, s
lifting others from their foundations, '
Ind sweeping them down the run to
hopeless destruction. The proximity
Of many of the buildings to the hills
proved the salvation of hur-
dreds Of people, as many who would s
otherwise have been drowned escap-
ed by their back doors and windows. :
climbed the hillsides out of reach of
the storm and waited there in the :
terrible storm until it was over and s
the food went down. The first loss
Of life occurred at the house where '
C. Mattern and his entire fam F.,
ly were destroyed. Mr.. Mattern's
consisted of himself, his wife t
and two children. Mr.. Mattern was {
young man Of twenty-four years of !
his wife was aboutthe same age, {
ais boy Charley was three years old {
md his babe Clara was six months |
I'D. A few minutes after the food q
commenced a COW stable located i'm J
.nediately above the house was I
brown against it with such force as !
o tear the house from its foundation. |
As the house was being swept down r
he street, the father of the family /
vas seen with a child in bis arms at @
window, calling for help and cry
ng, "If you can't save me, save my I
.hildren." About a hundred feet e
Town the street, the floating house b
struck against the corner of a brick n
building, which stood fast against the s
lood. The floating frame structure S
weakened, was dashed into (,
.'ieces, and the entire family was q
wept away down the run. The i,
Of Mr.. Mattern was recovered p
quarter of a mile below, while o
hose Of the mother and one of the v
.hildren were swept down to the oil q
works nearly annie below. p
Mr.. j. Carver, one Of those who t
aw Mattern's house go TO pieces. a
ras at that time at the window OF Il
is own house. He says that be had is
zen watching some barrels of hams Il
nd pork which he owned, and which Ii
e had stored farther up the run, float d
asst. He saw Mattern's house go D
asst, heard his piteous but unavailing Il
~ for help, and saw his house dash b
d TO atoms. Tire next moment it
ccurred to him to seek safety. and "
lking his wife he escaped with her V
0 the hill side. When the storm sub {,
and while a stream was still Z
weeping breast deep down the road, b
e waded up to where relatives of d