The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1889-06-15
The COnemaugh Flood.

ing In, ana tnere is, beside thu 10
parture of visitors and sight.seen 4
the trains continuous exodus ofho
Johnstown people, who. penplass
are Fastening to their friends M.
side. Some of the poor distrsetad
residents have got over the stolidubss
that followed the first exciteuent
and are utterly heartbroken.
II 60, ''said one old man at theda.
pot, with my wife to meet friend in
middle Pennsylvania, who are emil.
grating to Nebraska. They have
kindly offered to bear the expenses
of our passage, and we will leavsbe.
hind forever our native hills far a
distant territory. We have lost
everything save the clothes we wear.
Thank. God, our whole family was
saved. 1t included four boys, The
youngest of whom is fifteen yean of
age. They remain here. I am aftaid
we have bid them the last farewell.
They are young and can wait fo,the
complete rehabilitation of the place
that is promised by the sanMine
within five years. I cannot ben i
view the effects of the yisitatis2 NJ
other moment" Here the old6an'
dropped his voice and glance at his
wife down whose cheek a tea or two
trickled as she affected in choked
voice to speculate upon bhe time
when Johnstown would be itself
again.
There were hundreds of leases sim.
liar to this in all except that most of
the people proposed to 90 to settle
either permanently or temporarily in
adjacent parts of Pennsylvania.
Every train that comes in by the de-.
vastated region about Hornerstown
is packed with passengers standing
and sitting. Here the glut of freight
trains and the wreckage, of which
fragments strew the track in the
course of removal. causes the engine
to slack up. So great is the anxiety
of the incomers to view the sights
that men, women and children drop
off the cars fully a mile below the
town proper and walk. On the 9th.
er hand there is such a pressure of
traffic from the town that the train
is met by hundreds of "exodusters"
who climb up the steps at the peril of
their lives to seize the seats that are
being vacated.
Now and then the crowded plat.
forms are suddenly emptied as the
train passes by one of the immense
bontires that are kept burning night
and day. being fed by the laborers,
not only from the worthless rubbish
on the streets. but by the millions Of
feet of disable lumber. /.
These fires are raging over tAs
whole of the region. On every pile
of debris stands a loud mouthed boss
yelling at the work gangs. The men
pass ropes over projections of houses
whose Notwithstanding, rafters,
joists and flooring are almost perfect.
Then fifty or a hundred men pull the
ropes, rending the house asunder
with a terrific crash that Is followed
by loud hurrahs. The louder the
crash the more strenuous is the yell,
and the boss joins in the gIee. Even
magnificent white pine boards that
were a part of the million feet of
lumber that f1oated away on the day
oithe freshet add fuel to the fires.
The writer saw a two-inch board
fully Sc feet long and IL inches wide,
almost unmarried by knot, placed
so that the fire would eat through its
middle.
The future rebuilding of the town
will be certainly hampered by wait.
ing for building SUP plies, and by an
increase in the price of lumber.
There are plenty of men in BaIti.
more who are experts in tearing
down buildings. If such men would
hasten to Johnstown with laborers.
carpenters and lumber teams, they
could make little fortunes by saving
and storing the lumber, and. after
things have quieted down. by re.
building, for they could 60 promptly
to work at comparatively small
cost. Col. Enoch Moore, a ship.
builder of Wilmington, who saw the
ruinous clearing up. said he would
guarantee to clear the town for the
salvage.
The cupidity of the people has
been aroused to such a pitch by the
indiscriminate distribution of sup.
plies that many of them who live up
high and dry on the mountain side
have carried home in the matter Of
clothing alone more than they ever
had in the world before, and women
can be seen going from the supply
depots quarreling with each other.
and each claiming that the other was