Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 18??-????, 1889-06-03

recovering them.
Among other questions on the lips Of
everybody, but which cannot be answer
ed with any degree of clear approxima-
ton, il, how many lives were lost? The
writer can only say that one party
at Johnstown put it as high as ten ihous-
and, Mr. John D. Roberts said it would
! probably reach five thousand. and Mr..
John Fulton, superintendent ofthe Cam
bria Iron works. thought and hoped il
would not exceed two thousand. The
writer's opinion from what he saw and
heard that it would run from three to
four thousand.
WASHED UP ny THE FLOOD.
A little before O'Clock Saturday even
ing there fioated into the HERALD two
weary, worn and foot-sore victims Of the
food. They we're printers, who had been
employed on the Johnstown Tribune, and
were at their cases when the food swept
down on the town. Editor Swank and
his full force ofmen, eighteen in number,
were all busilY engaged getting out the
paper for the evening. Their attention
was attracted by the roaring of the wa
tiers, and one of the men went to the win
dow to lock out, and reported that the
reservoir had broken.
We then, says one OF the boys, ran
down stairs, without thought of danger,
anxious to see the waters rise. Scarcely
had We reached the door when, on look
ing up the street, wesaw first roof, then
house, rushing down the street We all
ran back to the second story of the build
ing, and went 70 the front windows,
where we could get view up and down
the street The water, after the first wild
rush, rose rapidly at the rate of about a
foot a minute, for fifteen or twenty min
utes- Ii came up the stairs about at the
rate a man would walk UP them As the
water was forced up the Main street a
current was formed in the alley above
BenshOohs book store; that in its mad
rush knocked in the whole front end Of
the Tribune office; there vas startled
cry, and each man grasped his neighbor,
expecting the next moment to be his last
but the rear part Of the Office stood firm,
and in a few minutes ladder was pro-
cured and thrown across to the second
story Of the Moses building and the whole
force crossed oyerin safety. After some
time spent here We all got back to the
roof of the Tribune bailding, and from
here we crossed over into the third floor
Of the Moses building, where we spent
the night.
/ There were 81 or 80 people saved in
Moses building. 1t was an awful night.
Every little while we would hear the
crash of falling wall as some brick
building collapsed. In the intense dark
ness we could not tell if it was ten feet,
or hundred yards away. Every crash
was a reminder that the walls Of the
building in which We had taken refuge
were liable to give way, and drop US into
the now sullen food. As each succeed
ing wall fell most of us rushed to a COM
mon centre, as chickens gather aroGnd a
mother hen when danger threatens. The
editor, Mr.. G. T. Swank, sat in the rear
Of the room pulling away at his cigar, as
coinplacently as in his own Office Once,
when he walked 10 window, he point
ed to building that was being tossed to
and fro further down the street, and said
There goes my house" and resumed
his chair and cigar. One man, mail
carrier, in his bare feet, and with his
clothes all bedraggled, played the part of
4 SECOND NERO.
Seating himself at the piano he drum
med the Irish Washerwoman." From
an adjoining building came the cry,
Whose voice is that ?" Moses y went
back the reply. Where was Moses
when the light went out p rang back
across the waters
One of the strangest sights was two
children that were seen floating around
on a roof. Time and time again, as some
vast piece Of wreekage floated near them,
it was thought that their frail craft must
be crushed, but each time it seemed as if
some unseen hand had been stretched
out TO save them, and their place of ref
uge was swept aside; finally they float
ed out Of our sight, and we do not know
whether they we're saved OF not
When morning lme we descended to
the top of the piles of debris that filed
the street the first thing our feet touch
ed was b. & O. freight car; people were
busy getting the dead from cellars and
other deep.pools where they had foatedi
the scene was one Of sickening horror,
hands and feet could be seen sticking out
of the debris and water; We were glad to
get away from the place and started at
once for Somerset
After a supper and good nights rest
they were given sits on the DAmY HER-
AID and are now sticking type as though
they were used to being drowned out Of
a job.
Two kilograms were received from Rev.
Appleton Bash, one By his wife announcing
tf,a saEsfv of hfs fafhar .nf family or,f the