Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1889-06-14

THE places where cross lines to be seen are
the parts that utterly destroyed, not leaving
dozen houses standing, except at the place shown
by the dark square, where dozen or so of dam
aged buildings stand Johnstown borough proper
occupied about the space bounded by the railroad
and the two rivers, and contained practically all
the business blocks and fine residences of the
cityl
The survivors of each town in the path of
destruction have different story to tell as
the observers saw the food from different
points of view. First are the few residents
In the cottages by the fated reservoir Next
is South Fork, the hamlet where the flood
entered Conemaugh creek. Below that Min
eral Point, Conemaugh and Woodvale were
completely swept away; then the food driv
Ing before it mass of rolling houses and tim
Der broke in full force on Johnstown, swept
it to ruin and lodged all this accumula ted de-
bris of destruction against the great railroad
bridge. And that Judgment is probably re-
sponsible for one-half the deaths; for of those
who had free course to float, whether below
or above the bridge, majority were saved.
In the whirlpoos created by the water seek
ing an outlet under the bridge, and in the
crush of timbers the stoutest swimmer Jared
as the weakest child-it was death to all
Below the bridge lie Cambria City, Sheri
dan, Cooperdale, Sang Hollow, Conemaugh,
Furnace and Nineveh in the order named,
and it is a curious fact. but quite natural,
that the people of those towns realized the
full force of the calamity sooner than those
in and near Johnstown. They had awful
proof of it. Think of being suddenly reused
by the roar Of a coming food, of fleeing to
the hillside and looking down upon valley
filled by raging torrent in which hundreds
of corpses were visible, whirled about and
mangled against floating timber, and on the
surface of which hundreds of people on logs,
planks and RATS were vainly screaming for
help. Then was illustrated that strange
truth that man is seldom so weak in great
emergencies as he would naturally expect to
be; while few were completely unnamed,
very many felt their nerves strung to the
tension of steel and did and dared most no.
bly,. Many boy, many an humble man
proved that day that the material of hero
was in him.
Perhaps the clearest view of the calamity,
in historical order, may be gained by taking
the testimony of the first witnesses at each
point as the food moved, and then the view
at that point after it passed. Aside from
the residents at the reservoir who seem re-
luctant to speak there is an important ques-
ton as to responsibility the first to realize
what was coming were Engineer H. NJ. Ben
nett and Conductor S. W. Keltz, of an extra
freight train that was lying at South Fork
when the dam broke. Suddenly they heard,
above the sound of falling rain, roar COM
ing down the valley and soon saw huge
wall of water-''it looked $50 feet high
rushing on them with the speed of a race
horse.
With loud cry to waken the men in the
caboose at the rear, but in vain, they de-
tached the engine and rushed down the valley.
Looking back they saw the train dashed to
fragments before the food. Theirs was an
awful race for life, the food gaining rapidly.
With less than half minute to spare they
reached high grade, checked the engine,
jumped to the hillside and climbed to safety.
Then they saw curious sight: the watery
volume had driven houses and trees before it
till they were massed so tightly in the narrow
gorge as to form a moving dam; a compare
lively small amount of water passed through
it, but the awful force behind drove it on,
rolling it over and over till it was ground to
splinters and scattered in the wider section
below.