The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1889-06-06

men and some ladies and children quietly
seated themselves, apparently contented.
One gentleman, who was Ill, had his berth
made up and retired, although advised
not to do so. Soon the cry came that the
water in the reservoir had broken down
the barrier and was sweeping down the
valley. Instantly there was panic and
rush for the mountain side. Children
were carried and women assisted by few
who keep cool heads. 1t was a race for
LIE There was seen the black head of
the flood, now the monster of destruction
whose crest was high raised ID the air
and with this In view even the weak
found wings for their feet. No words
can adequately describe the terror that
filed every breast or the awful power
manifested by the flood. The round
house had stalls for twenty-three locomo-
tives. There were eighteen or twenty of
these standing there at this time. There
was an ominous crash and the roundhouse
and locomotives disappeared.
LITERALLY SWALLOWED Up.
Everything in the main track of the
food was first lifted in the air and then
swallowed up by the waters. A hundred
houses were swept away in a few minutes.
These included the hotel, stores and sa-
looms on the front street and residences
adjoining. The locomotive of one of the
trains was struck by house and demol-
ished. The side of another house stopped
| in front of another locomotive and served
as a shield. The rear car of the mail
train swung around in the rear of the
| second section of the express and turned
| over on its side. Three men were observ-
| ed standing upon it as it tioated. VIII
| they trust to it or the still upright Pull
| man cars? The coupling broke and the
car moved out upon the bosom of the
| waters As it would roll the men would
shift their position. The situation was
| desperate and they were given up for lost.
| Two or three hardy men seized ropes and
| ran along the mountain side to give them
| aid. Later it was reported that the men
| escaped over some dIiftwood as their car
| was carried near a bank. 1t is believed
| there were several women and children
| inside the car and of course they were
| drowned. As the fugltives on the noun
| tain side witnessed the awful devastation,
| they were moved as never before In their
| lives. They were powerless to help those
seized upon by the waters. The despair
of those who had lost everything except
| life and the waiIing of those whose rela-
| tives or friends were missing filed their
| breasts with unutterable sorrow.
PANIC SIZED THEM.
The rain continued to fall steadily, but
shelter was not thought of. Very few
passengers saved anything from the train,
so sudden was the cry: Run for your
| lives! The reservoir has brokenr' Name
were without hats, and, as their baggagy
was left on the trains, they were without
the means of relieving their unhappy
| condition. The occupants of the houses
still standing on the high ground threw
them open to those who had lost all and
| to the passengers of the train.
During the height of the food the
spectators were startled by the sound of
| two locomotive whistles from the very
midst of the waters. Two engineers with
characteristic courage had remand at
their posts, and while there was destruc-
ton on every hand and apparently no
escape for them, they sounded their
whistles. This they repeated at intervals,
the last time with triumphant vlgor, as
the waters were receding from the sides
of their locomotives. By $50 o'clock the
force of the reservoir waters had been
spent on the village of Conemaugh, and
the Pullman cars and locomotive of the
second section remained unmoved. This
was because being on the highest and
hardest ground, the destructive current
of the reservoir flood had passed between
that and the mountain, while the current
of the river did not eat it away. But the
other trains had been destroyed. A soil
tary locomotive was seen Embedded In
the mud where the roundhouse had stood
THOUGHTS OF JOHNsTowN.
AS the greatest danger had passed, the
people of Conemaugh gave their thoughts
to their neighbors of the city of Johns
town. Here was conferred the great steel
and iron industries, the pride of Western
PENNSYLVANIA, the Cambria Iron works
being known everywhere. Here were
churches, daily newspapers, banks, dry
goods houses, warehouses and the CON-
Portable and we'll built homes of $4,000
people What was their fate? In the
contemplation of the irresistible force of
that awful food, gathering additional
momentum as it swept on towards the
gulf, it became clear that the city must
be destroyed. and that unless the inhab-
itants had Geographic notice of the
breaking of the reservoir they must per-
ish. A cry of horror went up from the
hundreds on the mountain side and a few
instinctively turned their steps toward
Johnstown. The city was destroyed.
All the mills, furnaces, manufactures.
the many and varied industries, the
banks, the residences, all were swallowed
up before the shadows of night had set
tied down upon the earth. What of the
| inhabitants? Who can tell with any
certainty? Those who came back by day
break said that from 5000 to 5000 had
been drowned. In the light OF this
| calamity the destruction at COnemaugh
sinks into insignifcance
In this latter place they were already
| bringing in the dead on stretchers. How
many had been lost here at Mineral Point
and at South Fork could not be told and
may never be known. There were some
passengers and possibly forty or fifty in
habitants. The loss of property is enor-
nous. The track of the railroad COM
pany is certainly destroyed for at least
ten miles below South Fork and all were
property Of the company of the line.
| The destruction of Johnstown' s industries
will alone reach TO many millions. Then
too as great sum add the value of the
public buildings in that city and of vii
can be formed of the wealth obliterated
by the food created by the breaking of
| the reservoir.
| NO COMPENSATION FOR LIFE.
| This reservoir was maintained for the
| pleasure of a Pittsburg club. Upon the
mountain was suspended a body of water
| three miles long, one mile wide and
seventy feet deep for the recreation of a
few pleasure seekers. What would hap
pen if there should be break must have
been imperfectly apprehended since it is
said that a bond of over 100000 had
been exacted from the club. What are
S3,000,000 to the gross sum for the des-
truction of property? Can they restore
the dead to life, or assuage the grief of
! the bereaved? The question of moral
responsibility swallows up the financial
| as completely as the angry waters did