The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1889-06-05

"
built without fearing the tremendous power
OF the water behind 1t. / doubt II there |
was a man or woman in Johnstown who at |
some time or other had not feared and |
spoken of the terrible disaster that has now
come"
SCENES AT THE WRECK.
The modern deuge has done its worst for
Johnstown. The waters are rapidly sub
siding, but the angry torrents still eddy
around Ararat, and the winged messenger
of peace has not appeared to tell the pa
thetic tale Of those who escaped the devas
tation of Black Friday. 1t is not hack
neyed utterance to say that no pen can ade-
quately depict the horrors OF this twin
Observation-Disclosures and deluge. The deep
emotions that swell from the heart of every
spectator find most eloquent expression in
silence-the silence that bespeaks mans
recognition of his subserviency to the ele-
ments and his impotence to avert catas-
| trophe. The insignihcance of human life
| is only fully realized by those who witness
such scenes as Johnstown and Chatsworth
and Ashtabua. Every one feels relieved
that the weather still remains cool and that
the gradual putrefaction of the hundreds of
bodies that still line the streams and lie hid
den under the miles of drftwood and debris
is not unduly fastened. Monday morning
| the peculiar stencil of decaying human flesh
was plainly perceptible to the senses as one
assembled the bank of Stony creek for a half
mile along the smolderng ruins of the
wreck, and the most skeptical then con-
ceived the worst and realized that thou
sands of bodies lie charred and blackened
beneath the great funereal pyre Searchers
wandered YEARLY over the smoking mass,
and as occasionally sudden shout came
over the waters the patient watchers on the
hill realized that another CHASTITY discovery
had been added to that long list of revela-
tons that chill every heart and draw tears
to every eye. From the banks many
charred remains were plainly visible, as
the receding waves reluctantly gave up their
dead. Beneath almost every log or beam
skull or blanched remnant of rib or limb
marked all that remained OF LIES hopes
and dreams. From Sunday night until late
Monday afternoon the fire engines were
busy playing water on the burning ruins.
At times the fire seemed almost extin-
guished, but ftful flames suddenly broke
out afresh in some new quarter, and again
the water and flames waged fierce combat.
The chief sensation of Monday morning was
the united remonstrance of the physicians
against the extinguishment of the burning
wreck. They maintained, with philosophy
that to anxious searchers seemed heartless,
that hundreds, il not thousands, of lifeless
and decaying bodies lay beneath the mass of
burning ruins. 1t would be BETTER they
said, "to permit natures greatest scaven-
ger-the tiames-to pursue his work unmo-
Tested than to expose to further decay the
horde of putrefying bodies that lay beneath
the debris. Days will elapse before the rub
biSh can be sufficiently removed to permit
the recovery of the bodies and long ere
that every corpse will have become putrid
mass yielding forth those frightfu ema-
nations of decaying human flesh that in a
crowded community can give but one re-
suit, the dreadful typhus. Every battle
field has demonstrated the necessity of the
hasty interment of decaying bodies, and
the stencil that already arises is a fore
runner of impending danger" A loud cry
| of INDIGNATION from tlp Inns of the
vast multitude, and the warnings of sci
ence were lost in the eager demands of those
that sought the remains of the near and
dear. The hose was again turned upon the
kissing mass, and rapidly the flames yielded
to the supremacy of water. 1t is almost i'm
possible to conceive the extent of the smok-
ing ruins. An area of eight or ten acres
above the dam is covered to depth of
forty feet with shattered houses, borne
from the resident center of Johnstown, and
in each of these houses II is estimated that
there were from one to twenty or twenty
five people. This is accepted as data upon
which to estimate the number that persisted
on this spot, and if the data be correct the
.. bodies that lie beneath the ruins must run
, well up into the thousands. Adjutant-gen-
eral Hastings, who has charge Of every
thing, stated Monday morning that he sup
, posed there were at least two thousand peo-
pie under the burning debris, but the only
way to find out how many lives were lost
, was to take census of the people now liv-
ing and subtract that from the census before
the flood.
! DRAINED IN AN HOUR.
. A spectator of the beginning of the catas-
| trophe says: 1.-THE lake is completely
1 dried out. The dam broke in the center at
3 three o'clock on Friday afternoon, and at
four o'clock it was dry. That great body
of water passed out in one hour. Messrs.
? Park and Van Buren,, who are building a
| new draining system at the lake, tried to
4 avert the disaster by digging asluice-way on
3 one side to ease the pressure on the dam
I They had about forty men at work and did
a all they could without avail. The water
a passed over the dam about foot above its
= top, beginning at about half-past two
3 o'clock. Whatever happened in the way OF
: cloud-burst took place during the night
: There had been but little rain up to dark
S When the workmen awoke in the morning
e the lake was very full. and was rising at the
t rate of a foot an hour. 1t kept ON rising
$ until at two o'clock it first began breaking
e over the dam and undermining it. Men
4 We're sent three or four times during the
: day to warn people below of their danger
e When the final break came, at three o'clock
= there was sound like tremendous and con
g tinued peals Of thunder trees, rocks and
: earth were shot up into midair in great
, columns, and then the wave started down
e the ravine. A farmer who escaped said
: that the water did not come down like 9
Il in fragments in an instant. He was safe
+ upon the hills, but his wife and two chill
$ dren were killed. At the present time the
e lake looks like cross between the crater
: of volcano and huge mud-pudde, witt
n stumps of trees and rocks scattered over il
+ There is small stream of muddy water
e running through the center of the lake site
h There is but a small portion of the dam lief
n on either side. The whole South Fork /,
e swept, with not tree standing. The res
e cung parties who are at work on the mass
= of unburned wreckage in the river above
$ the stone bridge are finding bodies ant
J, fragments of bodies at the rate of from tel
$ to fifteen an hour. In other parts of the
d submerged districts many bodies are being
taken out. They are being picked up il
pockets, like ore, in all sorts of unexpected
places"
SECOND PAUL REVERE.
a A nameless Paul Revere lies somewhere
g among the nameless dead. Who he is may
V never be known, but his ride will bt
e famous in local history. Mounted on a bay
r horse, he came riding down the pike which
h passes through Conemaugh to Johnstown
n like some angel of wrath OF old, shouting
a his portentous warning, I" Run for youl
: lives To the hills" " Run to the hills!