Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1889-06-07
EFFECTS OF THE FLOOD.
Thousands ofPersons Drowned-Fir'
Aids the Destruction.


Not only were thousands of persons
drowned in the food but fire, even more
dreadful to contemplate, aided in the de-
struction of precious lives.
When the scores of homes had been torn
from their foundations and were rushing
down with the torrent, they were thrown to-
gether with many obstructions and timbers
against the new railroad bridge in the town.
This checked their onward course and in less
than an hour an immense heap of wooden
structures was formed.
From some unknown cause, probably an
overturned stove, the VI per part of the wreck.
age caught. AT first it burned slowly, and q
long line of smoke was seen slowly mounting
into the air. 1t looked to those who wit
messed the scene from the opposite side of the
Conemaugh as if funeral pyre had been
lightel, and it was indeed that for in the
mass of houses and other wreckage were
crowds of men, women and children. They
had remained in their almost des royed
houses, thinking it was better to remain
there than to trust themselves to the rush
ing waters.
When they saw the timber on fire they re-
allied their awful situation, and their
screams were soon added to the awful chorus
of horror They were literally roasted on
the flood.
Other buildings and their half drowned in
the terrible scene was repeated.
The fire suddenly went out, the ruins
parted, broke up and were swept under the
bridge into darkness.
There were fully 10000 people living in
and around John,t3wn whose houses were
either swept away or flooded.
Where the thousands Of people who were
living in happy ignorance of the ap' reaching
disaster have been scattered, if living can
only be conjectured. But the dead, they
have for several days been floating silently
down the Conemaugh, turning around in its
swirling water, catching in the bough5 of
trees whose trunks are hidden in the river,
and presenting their CHASTITY faces to the
view of any who could stand on the banks
and witness the beartrending spectacle.
At Nineveh, nine miles down the stream,
1O6 bodies, mostly women and children, were
laid out in q sawmill, and additions were be-
ing made by wagon loads at a time, which
were being picked up on the meadows over
which the great tide had surged with the
fury of demon. They We're found with
their hands yet clinging tenaciously to
branches of trees and shrubs. In one case a
young couple were found locked in each
others arms. In another case a mother was
found with a child clasped in ch arm and
held closely to her bosom.
Some of the bodies were horribly mangled,
and the features twisted and contorted as if
they died in the most eXcruciating agony,
and others are found lying in stretched-out
positions with calm faces. Many tear was
droppedby the men as they worked away
removing the bodies An old lady with fine
gray hair was picked up alive, although
nearly every bone in her body was broken.
Judging from the number Of women and
children found in the swamps of Ninevah
the female portion of the population suffered
most.
The horrors of the scene will not cease
when the waters recede, or when the dead
are buried and the living provided with
shelter, food and clothing. A man was
caught by the arm and p eaded piteously for
a knife to sever the member. Others were
literally all smashed and squeezed to death
beneath the grinding timbers and surging
waters. Some were pressed deep into the
water and the flood soon ended their misery,
but, to add to the horrors of this scene, a fire
broke out in the mass of timbers and nobody
escaped Flames soon devoured the people,
and nothing now is left but the charred and
scattered remains floating somewhere on the
water.
The cries of suffering and pain only doubled
the horror of the great disaster. Long after
dark the flames shot high above the burning
mass of lumber, lighting up the vast food of
| rushing waters on all sides.
The city of Johnstown is annihilated.
There is scarcely frame house left in the
| town. There is only one frame house stand
ing in Cambria City. Every house is said to
have been washed away in Conemaugh and
Morrellville. All along the river, between
the Allegheny and Johnstown, dead bodies
are being picked up,