davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-06-14
Everxthin. succu,nbs.


- Is now known that two passenger
aus two sections of the day express on
~ pennsylvania railroad, were thrown
Nv 'ne maddened torrent and the passen-
~ drowned. These trains were held at
s.ns'own and were laying on the siding
Tween Johnstown and Conemaugh sta
WIS., The water, like a catapult, came
h., .n - upon them with such resistless force
,sr e me heavy trains, locomotives, Pull
Own WI with the torrent.
Nv ue low arches of the stone viaduct be-
pd -. tbohnstown choked up Immediately
ero, ne water backed back over the entire
fo ea OF the valley upon which the city
or,sS 20 depth of what from the water
Il ths indicates about tnirty-eight feet:
so ,ne great sea thus formed thousands Of
Tbpa were struggling for life.
&c Two trains were lodged against this
Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-06-14
Saw tho Flood Come.

Frank Mcdonald, conductor on the Bal
tlmore and Ohio, was at the Pennsylvania
depot when the storm came. He said he
was the first to see the flood. 1t was thir-
ty feet high and gradually rose to height
of forty feet. There is no doubt that the
South Fork dam broke" said Mcdonald.
Fifteen minutes before the food came,
Decker. the Pennsylvania railroad dis
patcher, read me telegram just received
saying that the South Fork dam had brok-
en-. AS soon as he heard this, people in
station eleven, numbering 300, made a
rush for the hill. think 1 saw 1,OnO
bodies 90 over the bridge. The first house
that came down struck the bridge. and at
once was on fire, and as fastas others came
down they caught fire. The people in the
drift reminded me of flies on fly paper,
struggling to get away with no hope and
no chance to save themselves. I have no
idea that had the bridge been blown uo the
loss of life would have been less. They
would have foated little farther with
the same certain death. Then. again,
it was impossible for any one to reach the
bridge in order to blow it up.
Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-06-14
" up together md wouldn't speak,

Grew up together nd wouldn't speak,
,Courted sisters, nd mnrr'd 'enl, TOO;
Tended same meetin' house oncet week,
A-hatin' each other, through nd through
b4t when abe Lnkern asked the West
F.r soldiers we answered-me nd Jim
he havin' his opinyin Nv me
Nd hnvin' my opinyin Nv himl
But down in Tennessee one night
Iher wuz sound NV fi.in fur away,
M the Sergeant allowed ther'd be a fight
With the Johnnie Rebs some time mex day
No Gs wuz thinkin NV Lizzie nd home
Jim stood afore me, long nd slim
He havin his opinyin NV me
md I hayin' my opinyin Nv him!
Seemed like we knew there wuz goin' to be
Serious trouble f'r me nd him
Us two shuck hands, did Jim nd me,
But never II word from me or jim
He went his way nd went mine,
Nd into the BATTLES roar went We
havin' my opinyin NV jim
Nd he havin' his op;nyin Nv mol
Jim never come back from the wnr again.
But haint forgot that last, last night
When, waitin' tr orders, US two men
Made up nd shuck hands, afore the fight;
ND, after it all, it's soothin' to know
That here bs md yonders Jim
He hnvin his opinyin NV me
Nd havin' my opinyin Nv himl
Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-06-14
heath List at Johns
|ov,, May Reach 49,
400 if not $1,000.
, ,,or,, of Death and Destruc.
,ion Unparalleled in
Our History.
,,,c,,ring City of $4,000 Blo.ted
Bursting Reservoir the
Corse.. Henrtrcnding In.
cidents and Scenes.
.o nrchcn s,ble Loss of LILO.

- surrounding conditions should
nossible the loss of eight or ten
.,na lives in single fatality is incom-
'ansible: and yet such is the calamity
:, :. reported from the mountainous
sns If Pennsylvania, and which oc-
"A on Friday evening, May 31st.
Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-06-14
An Indescribabla Wreck.

language fails to depict the horrors re-
Fl'snt upon the giving way of the reser-
pr dam. The torrent poured down the
PROV dehle sweeping everything before
/ With a fall of 800 feet in the distance.
Fom the reservoir to the town the food
Eept away the villages of South Fork,
tlneial Point, Woodvale and Conemaugh,
[aslng but one building standing, wool
ni'li' where but an hour before had
Eooa hundreds, and dashing on with the
E S OF q cataract and the speed of the
|tuo ~ came almost unheralded upon the
Pif city at the foothills.
Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-06-14
Sneak Thieves at Work.

Numerous cases are reported where
sneak thieves were caught dispoiling
corpses of jewelry and money. In every case
where the marauders were caught quick
justice was melted out by rope or gun. No
mercy was shown and none should be.
Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-06-14
By j. j. BOURNE.


self by waiting with friend behind
our rear guard at convenient turns in
the road and picking off the leaders of
the advance guard of our pursuers,
mostly Kansas troops. After while
the pursuers found out where they
could expect these little ambuscades,
and so one day when the butcher and
his friend, a man named Dick Shack
let, came to place in the road which
was exactly suited to their purpose,
they were somewhat surprised when
some of the Kansas boys dashed into
sight on fall gallop with their re-
volver-rifes ready to fire as soon as
they caught sight of our men.
Vaughn rode fine mule, and
his friend was we'll mounted. They
had hardly time to shoot, and, in
fact, I am not sure that they did shoot
before they put spurs to their horses
and tried to get away as fast as they
could. One of the Federals got very
close to Vaughn, when the cylinder of
his gun, being caught by a piece of
cap or something, refused to revolve.
The other pursuers were left in the
rear, and Vaughn's friend was already
| quite distance in advance. The lead
| ing Federal had fired several shots,
but without serious effect, and as he
drew nearer Vaughn in desperation
turned in his saddle and fired at his
pursuer. The latter dropped from his
saddle, and his horse was the first to
reach our lines, in which he afterward
did good service. Vaughn had such a
fright in this case that he never cared
to amuse himself in the same way at.
terward.'
MONROE COUNTY, Mo.
Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-06-14
A Wrecked City.

Johnstovn is the most complete wreck
that the imagination can portray. froo-
oh,v 5o0 houses have been swept from the
face Of tho earth as completely IS II tney
had never been erected. MaIn street, from
Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-06-14

rifices Of that kind. He could and did
make them, let it be remembered to
his honor, but he never learned how to
do it in the Western mood of ready
and tonic buoyancy"'
Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-06-14
Incident, of the Horror.

1t will be weeks, months or even wears,
before all the tales of suffering and horror
will have been told concerning this great
est calamity by flood which has ever over
taken an American locality. A few of the
earlier and more striking incidents only
can be given in this account.
In st. Columbis church, a new structure
depth of six feet in the auditorium, the
water had receded and the door was COW
cred with Shiny ooze to the depth Of
seven or eight inches. On boards stretch
ed along the top of the pews were thirty
bodies which had been snatched from the
stream by Father Thomas Darling and
some of his parishioners whom he mad
pressed into service. While in the pres
ence of the dead, and amid the solemn
surroundings of desolation, Joseph Smith,
man of extraordinary size and strength.
entered. He said not word, but went
from corps to corpse, lifting the stained
and muddy covering of the dead. At l'ss
he came to the corpse of child about
years old-his daughter. He looked at
the swollen and blood stained features
moment. and then, with q voice Of most
unutterable agony, cried, MY Maggie, my
little Maggie, at the same time Pressing
the inanimate form to his bosom and Civ
ing expression to alternate carressmgs and
CALCULATIONS Of grief. The man took his
child AMI went with it to what had once
been his home. He placed it there beside
those of his wife and two other children,
all of whom had been drowned.
A beautiful girl came down on the roof
of building which swung in near tire
tower. She screamed to the operators to
save her, and one brave fellow walked as
far into tho river as he could and shouted
to her to guide herself in to shore with n
bit of plank. She was piucky girl, and
stood upon her frail support in evident
ODE iience to the command of the operator.
She made two or three bold strokes and
actually stopped the course of the raft for
an instant. Then it swerved AMI went out
from under her. She tried to swim ashore,
but in few seconds she was lost in the
swirling water. Something hit her, for
she lay quietly on her back, ner face pallid
and expressionless.
Men and women in dozens, in pairs and
singly, children, boys big and little, and
wee babies were there in among the awful
confusion, drowning, gasping, struggling
and fighting desperately for life. Two
men on q tiny raft shot into the swiftest
part Of the river. They crouched stolidiy,
looking at the shores, while between them,
dressed in white and looking heavenward,
was o girl 6 or years old. When she
came opposite the tower she turned her
face toward the operator. She was so
close they could see big tears on her cheeks
and her pallor was as death. The helpless
men on shore shouted her to keep up her
courage and she resumed her devout atti-
tude and disappeared under the trees of a
projecting point a short distance below.
1--WE could not see her come out again, Z"
said the operator, "and that was all Of it,.
Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-06-14
Downed by q Rebel Girl.
BY A. B. pLArr, srH ILLINOIS.

7E were lying at
II Alatoona Pass
v after Hood had
his raid against
that place, and my
regiment had been
detailed to clean out
the rubbish along the
after his ar
my had done what
mischief thew could.
Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-06-14
BLOODY BATTLE-FIELDs
ENTERTAINING "REMINISCENCES on
TIL REBELLION.

Graphic Accounts OF tho Stirring Scenes
Witnessed on the Battle Z c:.l anu in
Camp-Old Comrades Recite Experiences
OF . Thrilling Nature.
Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-06-14
,,ow the Calamity was Pos.ible.

n 10. 600 to 10000.
How the Calamity was Possible.
order to understand the nature Of
calamity it is necessary to describe the
Uec,ive locations Of the reservoir and
CITY of Johnstown. The reservoir
about eighteen miles northeast of
ustown and is the site of the old reser-
which was one of the feeders of the
hnsvlvania canal. This sheet of water
formerly known as Conemaugh lake.
from 200 to 800 feet above the level of
bnstown, being in TIE mountains. It is
but three and one-half miles long and
IN one mile to one and one quarter
es ia width, and in some places it is 100
deep 1t holds more water than any
er reservoir, natural or artificial, in the
tied States. The lake had been quad
lied in size by artificial means and was
b III check by a dam l, 900 feet wide. 1t
lnety feet in thickness at the base and
feet in height. The top has breadth
over 20 feet. Recognizing the men,
which the lake held to the region be-
South Fork, the club which owned the
Ervoir had the dam inspected once a
nth by the Pennsylvania railroad engi-
rs, and their investigation showed that
B;hing less than some CONFUSION of ma
re would tear the barrier away and
osen the weapon Of death. The steady
fns of the forty-eight hours preceding
|scalamity increased the volume of water
all the small streams, which were al
|aly swlen by the lesser rains earlier in
L week. From the best information at
lis time it is evident that something in
nature of cloud burst must have been
e elimination of the struggle of the
Rter against the embankment.
Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-06-14
The Culminatin Horror.

The most awful elimination of the night
was the roasting of one hundred or more
persons in midfood. The ruins of houses,
outbuildings and other structures swept
against the new railroad bridge (the stone
viaduct) and from an overturned stove or
some other cause the upper part of the
wreckage took fire. There we're crowds of
and their screams we're soon added to the
awful chorus Of horror. They were liter
ally roasted in the food. Soon after the
fire burned itself out others were thrown
against tie mass. There were some fifty
people in sight when the ruins parted,
broke up and we're swept under the bridge.
Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-06-14
Our Two Opinions.
By EUGENE F1E1.D.

S two wuz boys when
we fell out
Nigh to the age Nv my
youngest now;
Don't rec'lect what 'twuz
about,
Some small difference
I'll allow.
lived next neig b bors
twenty years,
A-hatin' each other, me
nd Jim
1e havin' his opinyin Nv
ME
Nd 1 hnvin' my opinyin
Nv him.
Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-06-14
Acres of Ruins Piled I'm.

Acres OF Ruins Piled UP.
1t is almost impossible to conceive the
eight or ten acres above the dam is covered
to the depth of forty feet with the shatter-
ed houses bourne from the neighborhood
of Johnstown, and in each of these houses
it is estimated there is from one to twenty
or twenty live 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 these
ruins must run up into the thousands.
Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-06-14
1nchlsnt of the War in Missouri.

FTER Cen
eral Price
left Spring
field, Mo-, in
the spring of
1862, we were
followed by
the Federal
troops, a n d
had a rear
guard to,cov-
er our re-
treat. T h e
utch err of
our brigade,
q man named
V a u 6 h n /,
amused him
Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-06-14
The Death List Growing

HE later estimates put the loss of life
|asoned by the Johnstown horror at
n II, 000 to 10000.
Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-06-14

"A haSlS tOr EStlmaC1nS tue Loss OI Lie.
Developments every hour make it more
and more apparent that the exact number
of lives lost in the Johnstown horror will
never be known. All estimates that have
been made up to this time are conservative
and when all is known will doubtless be
found to have been too small. The popu-
lation of Johnstown, the surrounding
towns, and the portion of the valley af-
fected by the food is, or was, from $4,000
to $4,000. Associated press representa-
tiyes interviewed numerous leading citi-
zens of Johnstown who survived the flood,
and the concensus of opinion was that
fully 80 per cent. of the residents of the
city and Cambria had been victims of the
combined disaster of fire and water. If
this be true the total loss of life in the en-
tire valley cannot be less than 1000 or
5000, ana possibly much greater. OF the
thousands who were devoured oy the
flames and whose ashes rest beneath the
smoking debris above the Johnstown
bridge no estimate can ever be obtained.
AS little will be learned of hundreds who
sank beneath the current and we're bourne
swiftly down the Conemaugh, only to be
denosited miles below on the banks and in
the driftwood of the raging Ohio. Proba-
bly one-third of the dead will never be re-
covered, and it will take list of the miss
inc. weeks hence, to enable even close
estimate to be made of the number OF lives
that we're snufed out in that brief hour.
That This estimate can never be accurate
ia understood when it is remembered that
in many instances whole families and their
relatives were swept away and founo
common grave beneath the wide vase .eo e; ..
waters. The total destruction OF me clsy
leaves no data to even demonstrate that
tha names of these unfortunates vii! hnd
a ,,,aca IN the pages Of eternity's history.
Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-06-14
"Ji,s,mie b., of the c. S. A."

~ U1O llC4A VI L GIL
\ vile, when the State
- of kentucky was put
up and battled for between
the Federal and Confeder-
ate armies, we found the
body of a young Confeder-
ate soldier, writes San
ford 5tanburg in the
Sammy South. He was
| not over eighteen years
old, medium height and
weight, blue eyes, golden
yellow hair, with hands
more fit to grasp the pen
|cil of an artist than the
|musket Of a. soldier He
Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-06-14
A Sensational suece stion.


The chief sensation Of the third morn
ing after the disaster was the united re-
monstrance of physicians against the ex-
tinguishment of the burning wreck. They
maintained with philosophy that to anx-
ious searchers seemed heartless, that
hundreds if not thousands of bodies lie
beneath this mass of burning ruins.
1T would be BETTER" they said, "to per-
NIT natures greatest scavenger, the flames,
to pursue its work unmolested than to ex-
pose to further decay the horde of putre-
flying bodies which lie beneath the debris.
Days must elapse;before the rubbish can be
sufficiently removed to permit the recovery
of these bodies, and long ere that every
corpse will be putrid mass, yielding forth
these frightful stenches from decaying
flesh that in such crowded community
can give but one result-dreadful typhus.
Every battle field has demonstra-
ted the necessity of the hasty in
terment of decaying bodies, and the
stencil that already arises is forerunper
of impending danger. Burn the wreck!
Burn the wreck"
A loud cry of Indignation arose from the
lips of the multitude and warnings of ply
siclans were lost in the eager demand of
those who sought the remains of near and
dear. The hose was again turned upon
the kissing mass and rapidly the flames
yielded to the supremacy of the water.
The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1889-03-21

Instant, while peculiar CLEAN OF satisfac-
ton came into his dark eyes. He did not
answer for moment, but let the boy have
time to hide his blushing face from his gaze.
The other day you were tired of work;
now you're tired Of play. Isn't that rather
contradictory, Jim1"
Yes, but I didn't know what wanted
then. scant to york xow. I've got to hev
somethin' ter do. It's too lonesome up here
to loaf. 1t don't agree with me-"
The tmpulsive boy blurted out the sentences
so forclbly that his father could not doubt
his earnestness, and the two rode away tc
the woods together. It was clear sum-
mer's day, and the air was sweet with the
scent OF wild mountain flowers. Similar
days had been enjoyed before in the woods,
but mono seemed so bright to Jim as this
particular morning, when he chopped the
great trees down by the side Of his father
and forgot all Of his complaints in his work.
His two holidays had taught him a lesson
that he never forgot, for, after oil, he con.
cluded that work was the greatest blessing
that is given to young men on this earth.
His love and respect for his father were
also increased by the little incident in his
monotonous life. Instead of reproving him
IN violent words, Mr. Poulder had taught
him the folly Of his wishes by letting him
feel it himself, which, after oil, is the keen
| est punishment that can be devised. Jim
was bright enough to see the subtlety OF
his fathers actions, and he admired the
| scheme no less than the originator of it,
George Ethelbert Walsh, in Youths Com.
DaniOn.
The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1889-03-21
Editor Clugston's Revenge.

'.Mr. Clugston,' said the foreman of
the Doodleville Yelper Office, ''the
Pinhook Jigger says you didn't have
money enough to pay the express on
you: paper last week and had to shin
around among the merchants for loan
of forty cents before you could get it out
of the express office and go to prcss.'
Mr.. Clugston, the editor and propri-
etor of the Yelper, calmly sat down and
wrote the following whitening article:
doc reeves the half-baked imbecile-
doc reeves, the laundering gourdhead-
doc reeves, the pusillanimous donkey
that ahlicts the good people OF
Pinhook with a miserable apology of a
thumb paper he calls the Jigger, says
but who the Sam Hill cares what doc
reeves says!
There" says Editor Clugston, as he
leaned back in his chair, exhausted,
"that'l II finish the blamed cuss."
The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1889-03-21
A Pointer.

A. every reader of this paper knows. Il
has become one Of the fine arts to write at
tractive and interesting advertisements
especially medical ones. .s.< r.
Now 1t seems to US that if, for instance,
the worldwide advertisers of Warmers
Safe Remedies would adopt style where
by they could work in startling story of,
say-wolves, we believe the immense sales
Of their medicines could be still more large
" increased. We give them the benefit Of
the idea ct any event. Let it commence
like this:
Patterl Patter! Patter!
There it Is again. 1t is not fifty yards
from where he last halted. The steps arc
too light for those Of an Indian. A grizzly
would rush upon it's victim with roar Of
defiance and anger. A panther would hurl
himself through thirty feet of space, with
9 scream to unnerve the hardest hunter.
"Wolves." whispers the hunter, as howl
suddenly bursts upon his ear. ~
Wolves the gaunt grizzly wolves of the
tootrhllls-thin and poor and hungry and
savage-the legs tireless-the mouth full of
teeth which can crack the shoulder-bone
OF buffalo. He can see their dark forms
fitting from point to point-the patter of
their feet upon the parched grass proves
that he is surrounded no more in dan
ger, and no more effectually surrounded
than he who trifles with the symptoms OF
kidney disease. And you, reader, know
whether or not you are a victim to its in.
sidious encroachment If your back aches,
if your eyesight is failing, if your appetite
is tickle, if your urine is not clear and of a
pale straw color, do not hesitate on the
prairie of danger, but fee to the nearest
haven of safety, and resort to the only
known cure for kidney and liver troubles
Warmers Safe Cure. 1t is duty you owe
not only to yourself but to your family and
society at large.
Delays are dangerous.
Had the traveller not been overtaken in
the night, and unarmed, the wolves would
have had no terrors for him. We warn
you just now, in broad daylight, before the
wolves of disease sink their poisoned fangs
deeply into your flesh and the night Of
death settles down upon you, to stop you,
ears to prejudice and bigotry, and to fly t.
safety through the means we have pointed
out.
The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1889-03-21
Sweet Bells tangled Out of Tune

Produce a shocking disturbance. So do
nerves unstrung. Their weakness, orig
mating with the stomach's inactior usually,
is reflected by perturbation of the organ
Of thought and by general organic dishar-
mony. They may be strengthened and
quoted by restoring vigorous digestion with
Hostetter's Stomach Bitters, also a leading
preventive and remedy for malarial dis.
orders, bilious and kidney ailments, consti.
patton and a rheumatic tendency. It is a
prime appetizer also.