The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1889-06-11

Stan9lY tnereeWaS q panic and a rush for
the mountain side. The children We're
carried and the women assisted by the
few who kept COO. 1t was race for life.
There was seen the black head Of the
food, now a monster OF destruction,
whose crest was high raised in air, and
with this In view even the weak found
wings for their feet. No words can a1e-
quatelY describe the terror that filed
every breast, OF. the awful power mani
tested by the. flood.
The round house had stalls for twenty
three locomotives. There were eighteen
or twenty of them standing in there at
this time. There was an ominous crash
and the round house and locomotives dis
appeared. 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 hotels,
stores and saloons on Front street and
residences adjacent. The locomotive of
one Of the trains was struck by a house
and demolished. The side of another
house stopped in front of another loco
motive and served as a shield. The rear
Car Of the mail train swung around in
rear Of the second section of the express
and turned over on its side.
Three men were observed standing upon
it as it foated. Will they trust to it or to.
the still upright Pullman cars? The coup-
llngs 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 drift-wood as their car was carried
near the bank. It is believe that there
were several women and children inside
the car: OF course they were drowned.
As the fugitiveS on the mountain 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 but their lives.
The rain continued to fall steadily, but
shelter was not thought OF. Very few
passengers saved anything from the train.
Many were without hats, and as their
baggage was left on the train, they were
without can of relieving their unhappy
condition.
The occupants of the houses still stand
ing on the high ground threw them open
to those who had lost all and to the pas
sengers. During the height of the flood
spectators were startled by the sound of
two locomotive whistles from the midst
OF the waters.
Two engineers, with characteristic
courage, had remained at their post, and
while there was destruction on every hand
and apparently no escape for them, they
sounded their whistles. This they repeat
ed at intervals, the last time with trium-
plant vigor, as the waters were receding
from the sides of their locomotives.
By half past five the force of the reser-
voir water had oeen spent on the village
of Conemaugh, and the Pullman cars and
the locomotive Of the second section re-
NAMED unmoved. This was because be-
ing 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 solitary locomotive was seen imbed-
ded in the mud where the. round house
had stood. AS the gratest danger had
passed the people of Conemaugh gave
their thoughts to their neighbors of
the city of Johnstown. Here were cen
tired the great steel and iron industries.
the pride of Western Pennsylvania, the
Cambria Iron Works being known every
where. Here were churches, daily news
papers, banks, dry goods houses, ware
houses. and the comfortable and well
built homes of $4,000 people. What was
their fate?
In contemplation of the irresistible
force of that awful food, gathering addi-
tional momentum as it swept on towards
the Cult, it became clear that the city
must be destroyed, and that unless the in
habitants had Geographic notice Of the
breaking of the reservoir they must perish.
A cry of horror went up from hundreds
on the mountain side, and a few in
stinctively turned their steps toward
Johnstown. The city wa destroyed. All
the mills, furnances, manufactures, the
many and varied industries, banks and
residences, all, all were swallowed up be-
fore the shadows of night had settled upon
| the earth.
What of the inhabitants? Who can tell
with any certainty Those who came
back by daybreak said that from five to
eight thousand had been drowned. Our
hope is that this is an exaggeration, and
when the roll is. called most will respond.
A representative of the Associated Press
was on the second section caught at
Conemaugh, and after witnessing the
worst there he procured a team and drove
over the mountain to Ebensburg, a dis
lance of sixteen. miles, in hope of getting
off a report by telegraph.
The best he could do was t. send a few
words to the Philadelphia Office, saying
that the passengers on the tram had
escaped. If these got beyond the break
at Tyrone there are less anxious hearts IN
distant cities. What lies west of Johns
town is enveloped in impenetrable OBJ
security. WIN. E SMITH.