Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1889-06-14
Some Individual Experiences.

At Bolivar the COnemaugh rose from six to
forty feet, the water spread in five minutes
over the whole country, and houses went
floating down, men, women and children
clinging to the debris, shrieking wildly for
aid. The people of Garfield on the opposite
side of the river, rushed to the stone bridge
below the town with ropes and these were
thrown over into the boiling water in en-
deavOr to save some poor beings. But all eff
forts were fruitless until lad astride shin
gle roof managed to catch a dangling rope.
So swift was the speed Of the torrent that
he was hurled violently against an abutment.
But he managed to retain his grip on the rope
and was hauled up on to the bridge. He was
John Hessler and he related an awful ex-
perience He is sixteen years old,
and was spending the day with his
grandfather at Cambria City. There
were also there Theodore, Edword
and John Kintz and John Kintz, Jr. Miss
Mary Kintz, Mrs. Mary Kintz, Miss Treacy
Kintz Mrs. Rica Smith, John Hirsh, four
children and the father and grandfather of
young Hessler. All were lost in the flood.
''ShOrtly after o'clock, says young Hess
Ter, there was a rush and roar of waters
and we heard screaming people outside. Our
home was on the side hill and my father said
the water would not reach us. The houses
further down were being swept away,
story. I was scared and I jumped upon
q bed. 1t was an old-fashioned bed, with
big, stout posts. The water reached that
floor and kept rising till my bed was afOat
Ny grandfather, my father. John Kintz and
John Hirsch climbed out of window with
Mary and Mrs Kintz but staid on the bed.
1t kept rising, and finally the big posts
were pushed through the ceiling. I crawled
out through one of the holes made that way
and got on the roof. There [ saw the men
who got out of the window on trees. Mary
and Mrs. Kintz must have drowned, and
Miss Smith was also drowned. The water
kept rising and the roof began
to float down on the tide. saw grandfather
and father, caught in the tree by the water,
and the four children were also drowned
in tree. My roof parted and then I
sailed away at awful speed. Live bodies
and corpses were all about me in the
water. l would hear somebody shrek in the
water and then see him disappear. All
along people on shore tried to save us, but
they could do nothing, the water carried us
along SO fast. Only few were saved
A man named Young, living in Johnstown,
f1oated down the food on a bit of floor He
held two women in his arms. At the upper
bridge, at Bolivar, a rope was thrown
to them. Young tried to grasp it
and hold fast to the women, one of whom
was his aged mother, but he was jerked away
from them. Then he bravely dropped the
| rope and fell back upon the raft again tax
ing the women in his arms. A little
further down the frail raft foateftoward
the edge of the flood. Young seized the
ONeTnduSluS DTduCueS Ol d IfS0 anu uaQ
succeeded, by Herculean efforts in placing
the women on the upper boughs, when the
heavy debris of a bridge came down on the
flood, struck the tree, tore it from the ground
ard hurled it into the water, drowning all
three.
Youngs heroism filed the minds of the
distracted spectators only few moments to
give place to admiratio to that of a mother
| who, floating under the bridge on the roof of
| shed with her two little ones in her arms,
shook her head sadly when rope low
cred to her and chung more closely to her
babes. The mothers sacrifice was averted
at Cokeville, little further down, for all
| three were rescued.
| A little girl, kneeling, her hands clasped in
| prayer, passed down on the torrent on a bit
| of flooring. There was beatifc expression
on the white, frightened face as she passed on
| to death little further on, where her raft
| was shattered against a tree
| At Lockport, about eighteen miles from
Johnstown, Elel Benson, an old man, Mrs.
Boyle, Paddy Madden and two Hungarians
We're rescued. Mr.. Benson said:
| Il live in Cambria City. I think not less