Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1889-06-08
he sMARTINsBURG HERALD, SATURDAY, JUNE s. 1884,
HAPLESs HABPER,s FERRY.

HARPER s FERRY, June o.-Unhappy
! Harper's Ferry.
| Scourge of war and fury of flood
have been its constant curse Peculiar
ly unfortunate in its location for both
these terrible evils, it has been sad suf-
ferer in the past quarter of century.
The converging point of three states
Maryland. Virginia and West Virginia
the red tide of war surged fercely over
swift-fowing and mighty rivers, the Po-
tomac and the Shenandoah, the remorse-
less torrent of their combined force has
more than once swept death and destruc-
ton oyer its people. Its condition now
is pitiable. That it is no. more so is re-
markable. Like a stricken widow, the
little town, half-hid amid its surround
ing heights, is desolate and pleading for
help. But slowly recovered from the
burden of its accumulated woes, yes
terday it smiled and was happy in the
maximum of its prosperity /; to-day, all it
has gained, and more, is swept into utter
and hopeless ruin. The memories of four
years of war, flood in 1870, and another
in 1877, were well nigh forgotten in the
uninterrupted course of business and
comfort that have followed, only to be
revived in the most disastrous rush of
waters that has ever yet engulfed it, of
which there is any record.
On Friday, and all Saturday until the
| day was nearly done, and darkness AID
despair were again about to settle down
upon the town, the place, from Maryland
| Heights on the one side. to Bolivar and
Loudon Heights on the other, was wild,
seething, leaping waste of waters. Moth
ing can describe the magnificence of the
scene, that even the poor houseless hui
man beings themselves were forced to
admire. Down came the remorseless
| waters, bringing on their bosom bridges.
fences, railroad ties and wreckage of
every description. Deeper and deeper it
gathered around the fated houses, into
the cellars, over the floors, driving the
panic-stricken and frantic occupants to
the higher floors, only to follow them
there. Up to the second floors, even over
the house tops, in some instances, the
uninterrupted torrent rushed swirling,
roaring along, eddying around in thous-
and currents and fantastic shapes, as if
thirsting for its victims.
Many people who saw that the worst
was coming, vacated their houses in time,
and some of them were fortunate enough
to remove some of their household effects
and goods. Then followed sight pitt
full in the extreme. Driven from the
homes to save all that they could save
life-the poor fugitives gathered along
the hills. Weeping women, with chill
dren in their arms, clinging closely to
their bosom strong men not ashamed to
weep, as they saw all they had on earth
carried away, while the merciless rain
came down in torrents, wetting and chill
ing them to the skin, and raising the saw
age current higher and higher. Then the
fires kindled in the mountains to warm
and dry the sufferers glimmered across
the waters and through the west as night
set in, and added a strange and weired
appearance to the frightful scene.
The greatest damage is on Shenandoah
street, the chief street of the town,
which runs parallel with the Shenandoah
river. This looks like an extricable mass
of ruins. Some houses have been swept
entirely away, others submerged, while
railroad tracks, roofs, trees, pig-pens,
wood, and almost every conceivable
thing but human life, is blent into one
indiscribable mass. A portable photo
graphic outfit was taken up from its
stand, wheels and all, and landed on the
railroad track in ruins, the photographer
being happy in the rescue of his camera.
John Browns old fort is intact, and the
old gun carriage and its twelve-pounder
that have stood in front of the fort since
the days of John Brown is left unmoved
in the rush of waters that swept away
all like straws. Fully one hundred
people have suffered by the flood-some
for large, some for small amounts, and at
least twenty-five have lost all they had in
the world. Many of these were people
in extremely destitute circumstances.
who are left even without their daily
meals. Among the heaviest losers are
A. Spencer & Co., general grocers, &C.,
$4,000 William Allen and James Stead
man, whose houses are entirely gone.
The Shenandoah Pulp Mills, run by
VIM. A. Luke, and Armstrong Brothers,
$4,000 James McGraw, groceries and
hardware. So 900; T. w. Beale, stoves,
$500 M. Walsh, dry goods, $4,000 Fl.
V. Daniels, who had the prettiest drug
store west of Washington, $4,000 R. Fl.
Cavilier, drugs, $4,000 Alex. Murphy,
general grocery store, 81 200 T. NJ. Con-
ner, saloon, 81 900 Thomas Burleigh's
saloon, almost total wreck George w.
Green, proprietor of the Mountain View
Hotel, and who also had store, So, 900
Charles j. Drew, saloon, $4,000 William
Drocer, who offered a bet of five to one
that the water would not get up into the
streets, has lost nearly all he had. The
loss of the pulp-mills is chiefly in the
washing out of their railroad siding,
dams and waste-gate, and in stock, hun
dreds of cords of poplar wood having
been swept away and stranded by the
falling waters all over the town. The
total loss of property at Harper's Ferry
and vicinity cannot be calculated for
days, but cannot fall far below half
million dollars. A meeting of the Town
Council and Mayor McGlinry will be
held tonight, to devise some plan of sue
cor for the suffering town. The Western
Union Telegraph office on the platform
ad joining the trestle over the Baltimore
and Ohio main stem was broken loose,
and sent twirling down the stream, leav
ing only the sign on high post in from
of it, Another office was quickly rugged
up, and two operators have been at work
ever since. Byrne's Island, popular
Baltimore and Ohio summer resort, is
laid level with the water, and pavillions
and every solitary thing on it carried
away.
At II 80 o'clock Saturday morning the
first span in the Shenandoah bridge
cracked, and the next moment yielded
to the pressure against it. Another and
then another followed, leaving a solitary
span standing. The porch and rear of
John Kahlman s house was carried away,
and the beds, all nicely made up, foated
out of the second story and went down
with the current without, as long as they
were in sight, even being turned over,
and with the clean, white pillows and
holsters in place and unsoiled by the wa
ter.
Friday night there was big landslide
at the lock house near Sandy Hook. three
quarters of mile from Harper's Ferry,
throwing hundreds of tons of rock on
the railroad. This wrecked number of
coal-hoppers, and necessitated great deal
of labor.
The picturesque Baltimore and Ohio at
Harper s Ferry, is sadly disfgured. The
great trestle, 1900 feet long, on the main
stem, was lifted up bodily and hurled
over to the south side of the west bound
track on top of the east bound. 1t was
in total state of collapse. A mile and
half of the track on the Valley Branch,
from Harper's Ferry to Shenandoah City,
is covered by sand washed out, the rails
twisted'and broken, and generally wreck
ed. The bridge at that point was kept