St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-06-04
AN EYEWITNESS.
A Baltimore Drummer Tells a
Thrilling Story.

A Baltimore Drummer Tells q
Thrilling Story.
BALTIMORE, Nd, June SC. W.
Linthicum. drummer for Bal
timore firm, arrived home to-day.
He was a witness to the disas-
trous flood at Johnstown, of which
he tells the following story:
My train left Pittsburg Friday morning
for Johnstown. The train was due at
Sang Hollow at 4:O3, but was five
minutes late. At Sang Hollow, just as
we were about to pail out. we heard
that the flood was coming. Looking
ahead, up the valley, we saw an immense
wall of water thirty feet high. raging,
roaring, rushing toward US. The engi-
neer reversed his engine and rushed
back to tbs hills at full speed and we
barely escaped the waters. We ran
back 800 yards, and the flood swept by,
tearing up track, telegraph poles,
houses and trees. Supt. Pitcairn was
on the train. We all got out and tried
to save the floating people. Taking
the bell cord we formed a line
and threw the rope out, thus saving
seven persons. We could have save
mo re. but many were afraid to let go OF
the debris on which they were floating.
1t was an awful sight The immense
sum of water was rolling along, whirl-
ing over huge rocks, dashlng against
the banks and leaping hlgh
in the air, and this seethlng
trunks of trees, parts of houses and hun
dreds of human beings, cattle and al
most every living animal. The fearful
peril Of the living was not more awful
than the horror of hundreds of distort-
ed, bleeding corpses whirling along the
avalanche of death. We counted 10Y
people floating by and
DEAD WITHOUT NUMBER.
A section of roof came by OH which
were sitting a woman and girl. A
man named G. w. Heppenstall. of Pitts
burg, waded and swan to the roof. He
brought the girl in first and then the
woman. They told us they were not
relatives. The woman had lost her hus-
band and four children and the girl her
father, mother and entire family. A
little boy came by with his mother.
Both were as calm as could be and the
boy was apparently trying to comfort
the mother. They passed, unheeding
our preferred help. and striking the
bridge below went down into the vortex
like lead. One beautiful girl came by
with her hands raised in prayer and
although we shouted to her and ran
along the bank, she paid no atten-
ton. We could have saved her if she
had caught the rope. An old man and
his wife whom we saved said that eleven
started from Cambria City on the roof,
but the others had dropped off. About
p. m. we started for New Florence. ALI
along the river we saw corpses without
number caught in the branches of
trees and wedged in corners in the
banks. A large sycamore tree in the
river between Sang Hollow and New
Florence, seemed to draw into it nearly
all who floated down, and they went I'M
der the surface at it's roots like lead.
Whe II the waters subsidized, 200 bodies
were found at the root Of this tree. All
night, living and dead foated by New
Florence. At Pittsburg on Saturday
seventy-eight bodies we're found, and
as many more were seen floating by.
Hundreds of people from Inflated Johns
town are wandering homeless and starv-
ing on the mountain side. Very few
saved anything. and I saw numbers go
ing down the stream naked. The suf-
fering within the next few days will be
fearful unless prompt relief is ex-
tended"