St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-10-11
A BABE OF THE FLOOD.
Krs. Turner'S Thrilling Tale Of the
J01nsiown Torrent.
AN AWFUL EXPERIENCE.
Hcr seven-Dayg-0ld Infant Ploa'ed
Across he Water On a
Pillow.

e. Louis Republic.
Mrs. George i. Turner and her Three
months-Oid son are 10 the city stopping
nt ~ South Jefferson Avenue. They
were At JobnstOWn. Pa, at the terrible
food that wiped ut that city ana
drowned 80 many Of it, inhabitants, and
their escape from death may well be get
down A. a modern miracle. Mrs. TuT-
ncr is on her way To ii Paso, Tex, 10
ioln her husband, who h one Of the best
known residents Of that city. To Re
public reporter she yesterday reluct-
sntly told her story:
II never cared about having anything
printed about our dreadful experience"
che said, but don't suppose Il VIII do
any harm, 80 ! VIII tell you something
about IT.. on tie dreadful afternoon
when the dam ii the South Fork Hunt
ing and Fishing Clubs lake gave way
was III fn 4 room ia my fatheT-in-laW's
house. Ny baby, then only seven days
old. was 1t my side. ] heard about
noon that the water was rising rapidly
In Stony Greek aud the COnemaugh
Tiver, but never dreamed tor minute
that tie town was % BE- swept away ny
the angry waters. IT was ten minutes
after ! O'Clock when the torrent came
down thu valley from the mountain.
TIE FLOOD LPOS THEM.
81 heard the rash and roar Of the
water ana the shouts Of the people.
Such heart~rending cries ] never heard,
and I sincerely hope that ! will never
hear them again. ! was frightened
and nervous, and scarcely knew
what 70 do. There lay sick and weak,
with NY helpless infant at my SIDE.
] had fallen into "A dOZe before the
breaking Of the dam, and it was the
roar Of the angry torrents and the shouts
Of the people that aroused me. Our
house was large frame structure bulit
on a solid foundation. The great wall
Of water rushed down with almost in
dcscribablc speed aud force. When
heard the roar the great waves had
reached our house. A frame house
came down with the current and
struck our kitchen, delaching u
from the building proper. When the
water had nearly reached the second
floor Of our house my fathcr-ln-law came
INTO the room and begged him 10 save
NY child. He grabbed tie little fellow
aud ran 20 the next room, the door
slaInmng az ne went out. Just then
the water poured into my room, tearing
out the window and knocking down the
plaster. An this time the house was
rocking, and the timbcrs were creaking
rs though the whole siTuctnr Wd5 about
20 callapsc. Notwithstanding my weak
condition I jumped up and tried to
reach the door. The water was then
very deep, aud it had 50 sprung tie door
aud frame that could not open IT, pull
as hard as / might All the time ! was
thinking of nay child aud relatives in
the house.
HAsGGSG 10 A EAFTER.
"When / saw ! could not open the
door / Jumped back To the bed
and soon the water had it floating. The
plaster on the ceiling then began to
drop, and as the water continued Ia rise
higher in the room J saw that had but
one chance i'm thousand to escape.
When the water was mp TO my knees
aud ! ~as standing on the bed, ] saw
n rafter where the plaster had fallen
from the ceiling. / made a herculean
eifoit and reached it, holding 10 it with
all my might. The water kept rising
until IL reached NY neck, nOtWithstand-
ing that my head Vas almost touching
tie ceiling. | held TO that rafter three
hours and forty minutes. Oh, but IT was
terrblcl When ] saw that the waters
were rising all the time Instead of re-
ccding, concluded that ! was liable to
drown even if my strength enabled me
10 hold 10 the rafter. / was standing
near the wall and when the plaster fell
let 10 with one hand and off,
tore out the laths with the
other. My father-in-law. who
was on the top Of house outside, knew
was i'm that room, and made an effort
60 get 10 me. He pulled off the boards
and ! crawlcd through the aperture
with the assistance of those on the out
side, Of course. My aunt was rescued
at the same time from another town.
now THEY WE'RE SAVED.
ave were assisted 10 a hOuse-tOp,
which threatened 10 topplc over at any
minute and throw US into tho raging
torrent. TO get 10 place of safety we
had TO Jump nearly eight feet, TO an
other hOusc-tOp, where we found shelter
IN an attic. In going from one house
top 10 another / ilOated across on
washstand.
''When my fathcr-in-law took the
baby out Of The room he with the as
Bislancc Of NY mothcr-ln-law, flOated
him across a stretch of water on a pill
low. When he reached the nearest
housc-top he was passed from person TO
person until nc reached MoXham, three
miles distant, where he was on high
ground and out of danger. My rela-
lives and myself had other try
Ing difficulties TO overcome, but
we were all saved except my
aunt Miss Mary Turner who was
drowned. The flood occurred on Friday
and IL was the following Sunday after
noon when ] again saw my child.
Strange TO say the little fellow, although
he was given thorough drenching,
never suffered seriously from ITS effects.
One thing ! did not tell you.
During the long period j was hang
ing 20 the rafter, with the water up
tomy neck, my clothing was almost en-
tircly torn off me. and when j was as
sisted through the aperture
was given pair OF my father
in-law's pants and my aunts winter
cloak for clothing. IL was all that
could bc had. and this was the garb /
wore when ! reached terra firma. 1t
was no time 10 think of such matters
we were fighting between life and
death.
Married n Man Who Snubbed Hcr.
A romantic story is told about Nine.
IN Marechalc Canrobert, whose death
was recently announced in Paris. TWEEN
ty-six years ago the marshal, at that time