Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1889-06-15

agcsy - . ssW incnD oe fooohold TN
they were al engulfed toesths. Hiehse
and higher russ tie aood. b0xs sftse
houDo came csashing down, end the
shrieks u those who were pertaining b.
meath the ruins were heard above al the
roar Of wind and storm. And SIN the
alarm bells pcaled and the alarm gums
boomed In the distance. - n calling In
vain for the help that none could give.
But al at once large boat was sssn
TO como gliding around the corner q the
vonesenskaya Oolitxa (Assumptin
street), rowed by eight strong men, and
steered BY the Gear Alexander himself.
Just at that moment . huge mas a
wood work, torn from some fallen house,
bore right down upon the boak A col
lision would have been certain death 70
all; but the cxar saw that there were
two children clinging 10 the drifting
mass, and with one turn Of the tiller he
brought the boat alongside, and, at the
risk Of his own life, snatchcd the poor
little waits from destruction. Then, TAX
ing them on his knees, and wrapping his
gold laced cloak teuderly around them,
he went bravely On into the Jaws Of
death.
Several other boats were soon at work
and the men who guided them, steering
close to tho submerged houses, shouted
to those at tho windows and on the roofs
to let themselves down. But 20 utterly
unncrved were these poor creatures by
mortal terror that many Of them. instead
Of lowering themselves quietly into the
hands Of those who were ready 10 70
ceive them. leaped headlong into tho
rushing waters and thus perished with
safety actually within theft grasp. Ono
struggling woman was clutched by q
brave fellow In the bow OF ono Of the
boats, but ero no could drng her in the
skirt by which he held her gave way aud
she sank forever. A number Of people
who had taken refuge on wooden roof
were espied by a boats crow, who ran
alongside and were just shouting to them
to lower themselves down, when the
whole roof fell In with horrible crash,
overwhelming the rescuers and tho rec
cued In one common ruin.
But tho horror was. not at its height
even now. With the coming Of night
came bitter north wind and frost Of
unparalleled severity, which completed
tho deadly work that the food had be.
gun. Many who had escaped tho waters
died by the cold Of that fearful night;
and when morning dawncd upon that
wild scene scores of dead men were
drifting through the dead city on broken
planks or capsizcd boats, with their livid
faces and sightless eyes turned blindly
upward to tho cold and cruel splcndor
Of tho wintry sunrise.
A few figures were seen clinging to tho
trees along the front Of the Admiralty
building, and the passing rescucrs hailed
them, but there was noreply. The boats
were hastily run thither, and they were
told to leap in, but not ono Of them
spoke or moved-they were all frozen
corpses. Nearly five hundred Of these
CHASTITY fruits were gathered from the
trees Of tho various boulovards when
the flood went down. and in many cases
tho stiffened fingers that still clutched
the boughs broke short of like those OF
a statuel
How many lives were lost during that
fearful day and night (Which still stands
alone in the memory Of the Russian pco
pie like the burning of Moscow can never
be known now; but, apart from the null
titudes that were destroyed in the capital
itself, hundreds upon hundereds must
have perished inCronstadt and the low fat
islets at the mouth Of the river. Count
less bodies were whirled away by the fu.
rious current Of tho Nova, to DO found
far out to sen by shuddering fishermen
many days later; and, judging Of tho
total havoc by the very small part Of
It which can be accurately reckoned,
those few hours must have swept away
many thousands Of human lives.
DAVID KxR.