Johnstown weekly Democrat. (Johnstown, Cambria County, Pa.) 1889-1916, 1889-07-05
THE GREAT CALAMITY +!
THE yasTNEss or THE DISASTER
NOT CoMPREHENDED.

tray it. or even how can IL oc laihlF Wv
scribed2 Whose mind can comprehend
Il and whose vivid imagination can paint
il? The pen is not yet made to write up
its general features, much less TO put inc
fearful "Details un paper; nor mas 'he
brpsh heen manufactured To place II on
canvass. I'm snne remote agr wnen audl-
tional alus anG iaciilcS t"r performing
such work, or when SOME one Win M
raculous uruius for describing unparal
,eled marveis shall be born, the story of
Johnstown's destruction may hc chi"i /
cled. But until then the full horrors t
the kinetic energies of the Pillsbulah
sporting club-lnke on the south or"hch "i
the Conemauah creek, will remain uhde-
scribed.
Already many able pens from all see
tions of the country have been called INT"
reouisition in an effort to give to the out
side world some idea of the fate OF tlr
Conemaugh valley, but with all that has
been so well written the half has not been
told. In try ing to grasp the magnitude %
the mighty death-dealing and property
DESTROYING wave that struck the towns
living on the banks of the little stream, OF
the ill-fated Friday afternoon of MAY 81.
one is confronted with the inadequncy %
words TO do anything like justice to th
subject. The yastness of tie disaster Is
really too great tor II finite mind to grasp.
Has it ever had an equal? In the
United States certainly never; IN the
worlds history, since the days OF A"ah'
possibly, yes. At most it can he safely
said it is only rivaled by one or two ca
tastrophies in human history. The over
flow of the Yellow river, in China, a few
years back, caused IL greater loss OF lite
but the destruction of property VIA
slight in comparison with that OF Johns
town and its vicinity. For eighteen hun
dred years Pompeii and Herculahcun
have been luvoritc references as instances
of unparalleled disasters in the annals oi
the world; but it was shown by an MtI
Gle in the New York llOrI}, some day.
ago. that the Concmaugh valleys whelm
ing tide tlat broke from the accurscd dam
wrought greater ruin than the ashes AND
lava of Nesuvius-that the Conemau%h
water avalanche was more startling and
ruinous TO life and property than the ava,
lanche of led.hol lava that poured upon
those cities with their ten Thousand in
habitants.
But what of the scene itself - tbs
sweeping away of strongly-built houses.
the engulfing of hundreds upon hundreds
the thousands of men, women and chlI.
dreu who were hurled with an irresistible
force into the swelling flood to be crushed
or drowned Their cries of anguish coul1
not be heard amid the deafening roar OF
the angry water, or if heard by those in
their immediate vicinity fell upon ears OF
others as helpless as themselves-the dis
play of pent.up energies being utterly
deaf to the walls of the feeble and tine inn
precautions Of the strong.
Never can we forget the trying ordeal of
that sorrowful Friday afternoon and
night. Little did we think when prepar-
ing for Saturday mornings issue, that the
matter being set up then would fail to be
put upon the press. Though the rise in
both the Conemaugh and Stonycreek was
backing the water up Washington street
and closing around the DEMOCRAT office,
and causing a suspension of traffic and
travel, not for one moment did anyone in
the office or press room dream of any
more serious damage to the town other
than that occasioned by former overfows
Remembering the flood of two years ago,
we thought at four o'clock the water
would soon recede, hence gave very little
thought to it.
But at about five minutes before four an
alarm was sounded, and running to u
window in the east end of the building
we were appalled, at what our eyes be-
held. A huge wave, seemingly almost as
high as the surrounding hills was rolling
down upon us-surging, foaming, roaring
and filed with buildings, wrecks of build
ings, large trees, and logs, with scores
and scores of men, women and children
clinging to wrecked matter as they we're
swiftly and ruthlessly carried along.
Above us, below us, around us we saw
building after building torn in the twin
kle of an eye from their foundations and
falling in crushed masses in some instan-
ces, and in other cases tumbling forward,
backward, then turned on their sides and
anon whisked with the velocity Of lightn-
ing upside down, and hundreds hurled to
death in moment, and others enrried
along amid the wreck of matter down
toward the stone bridge. Then when the
current changed, houses, parts of houses,
stables and wrecks of stables, shops, Of
fees, cars in countless numbers were
tumbling, twisting, creaking on every
side of us. South Fork, Mineral Point,
East Conemaugh, Franklin, Woodvale,
Conemaugh borough, the upper ondlower