The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1874-08-07

their voices and they were unable to maxi
themselves heard. He and his brothe
then picked up clumps of earth and threw
them at the window, but just then tn,
house was swept away and disappeared il
the flood, and the three children were
crushed to death in its crumbling ruins
Their mangled bodies were found about
$50 yards below the scene of the heroic eff
forts for their rescue.
ANOTHER THRILLING INCIDENT
was the miraculous escape of the watch.
man of the glue works. He thought the
flood was a small affair, and started ur
stairs to get beyond the reach of it Just as
there was about a foot of water in the
lower story. He had scarcely reached the
second story when the stairs gave way
and he was compelled to jump down to a
coal house which stood in the vicinity of
the boilers. Out of this he crawled through
an aperture while the water was up to his
chin. Fortunately he secured a plank,
and with that he made for the shore, which
he reached in safety.
The sudden rise of the water in Butch
er's Run is well illustrated by some Incl
dents related by German family who re-
side in stone dwelling opposite Haveler's S
glue works. The husband told the wife
to go to the cellar to obtain some kindlings
for the cooking stove, as he desired to go
to work early Monday morning. The wife
placed the wood in the stove, but by the
time she had completed her work the
ed her husband of the fact, and suggested
that they had better vacate the house as
the food threatened to destroy it. The
husband, who had retired, jumped out of
bed into water knee deep, and with the
help of his wife got the children out of an
upper story window on the high ground in
the rear. After they had accomplished
this, the husband returned to the bedroom
to get some clothing out of wardrobe,
but in the mean time the water reached
such height as to upset it, and he found
1T impossible to get the article he wanted.
being compelled hastily to vacate the apart
ment.
FAMILY OF SIX DROWNED.
The EceniHg Chronicle has the following:
short distance from the Schanapperts,
whose house proved the tomb of family
of six, we learned the particulars of this
sad episode in the history of the Butchers
Run tragedy. Schanapperts' house stood
below the oil refinery of Hald-
ship & Co., and was struck by the flood
with force enough to carry it completely
IL.
and hurl it down the torrent Mangold,
hearing shrek upon shrek rend the air,
looked out from an upper wi ndOw. The
doomed house careened along within
stones throw. At :he upper windows
stood poor Schanapperts and his wife, each
holding aloft child over the raging water
and shrieking, ''God Almighty help US ~
'God save us ~ In a few seconds the
building reached the bend where the food
turned south at the foot of Buena Vista
street. Here it struck against slaughter
house and dissolved like pile of snow in
the boiling water The shrieks were
silent and only the crash and grinding of
timbers were heard.
MIRACULOUS ESCAPE.
The Branigan family Hive on O'IIara
street, and occupy the last house saved on
the left going down the street. The fam
lily consists of Mr.. and Mrs. Branigan and
four children. A neighbor, Patrick Nc
Manus, was alone in the house when the
water tore up the back wall on the ground
floor and dashed toward the front of the
room on O'Hara street. Had the couple
not speedily opened this door aud broken
out the glass the whole family would have
been drowned like so many rats. Across
)ne window was the iron bar used for Sc
curing the shutters. Swiftly the water
.ose until it stood five feet in the room,
With a current like a mill race setting
through the apartment. Mr.. and Mrs.
3ranigan ins tin ctiyely seized each child I
md clung to this bar with the grip of des- /.
,air while the cold, muddy torrent swept /.
,ver them. For four hours these two /
lung to that prov identially placed bar,
md were all rescued. McManus, who ,
With the remaining child, rushed to the !
treet, was swept into an alley and ON to .
he roof of shed, where they also were
aved.
One singular feature of the flood has not
,een alluded to. So far as we are able to
scertain only one person who escaped
rom the flood was injured. The dead all
ore marks of bruises and mangling, but
Notwithstanding the toppling of houses and
of timber and debris, those
7ho escaped from the wreck came out un-
urt.
HOW THREE CHILDREN ESCAPED.
About 10 o'clock on Sunday night, after
he water had subsidized from the streets,
Ir. Walters, while sitting in his house in
,utcher's Run, heard the cries of a child,
nd going to the window raised 1T just as
he form ofa boy fioated past in the current
fr. Walters reached out through the open
,indow, and grasping the boy dragged
i'm into the house, and thus saved his