St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1890-10-09
THE FLOOD In AUSTRIA.


Disaster.
Below are extracts from private
letter from Henry l.. Clapp, formerly
of New York, concerning the floods
in Austria, which will be read with
interest by all our readers:
After leaving Villa Block we had
two weeks of quiet in Dresden and
then we started for Prague This
city | knew nothing about except
from books and such tantalizing
glimpses as one gets from car win
dows. | remember that when at
Lisbon, one of the natives in praising
his house overlooking the Tagus, said
to me, Humboldt says Lisbon is the
third most picturesque city in
Europe, inferior only to CONSTANT
nOple and Naples, Prague being the
fourth city" Since my visit to Portu-
gal | had sailed on the Bosphorous
and the Golden Horn and had stood
upon Mars Hill, and you can mag
inc that our trio was very glad to be
settled pleasantly in that quaint his
toric city which Humboldt rated as
inferior to only three other European
cities. Our first walk was to the
"Carls Bruke," the pride of the Bohe-
milan capital, whose semi millenial
was passed nearly half a century ago.
When its corner stone was laid there
was over a century of history to be
made before those little ships sailed
from Palos and through all these cen
turtles that bridge had stood until
Il Il Df ~,
famous landmarks of this continent
We knew it we'll from photos, but
the camera gives only shadows after
all, and until we stood on the bridge
itself and looked up and down the
MOldan and over on the bold heights
of the Hradschin (Pragues capitoD
with its crown of palaces and its
ancient cathedral overlooking the
river, and the city opposite, we did
not realize what fascinating city
was the one in which for few DAYS
our tents were to bepitched. Statues
and groups of saints adorned the
bridge, and enormous towers adorn-
ed with armorial bearings and stat
ueS of EmpcrOrS stood at either end
like huge sentinels. Three times we
visited the bridge and each time adj
mired it more. 1t seemed as solid as
the hills out of which its stones were
quarried, and when we thought how
it had successfully withstood the
fiercest assaults of invading armies,
we should have thought him insane
who would have told us last Tuesday
when we stood upon the bridge and
watched the swift current of the Mol
dan that in less than As hours the
river itself would lay in ruins what
time has spared.
Tuesday night we went to the Bo-
hemian opera. 1t had rained hard
during the afternoon and when we
returned to our hotel it was a wild
storm, with rain in sheets and wind
a gale. During the night we were
disturbed by the firing of cannon,
and were told i'll the morning that
the guns which had broken up our
sleep were the heralds of danger, for
the Moldan was rising more rapidly
then ever known. The storm con
tinued without the least cessation,
and at noon our landlord said he
would accompany us to the lower
part of the city and see the flood
While looking at the river an enor-
nous swimming establishment broke
loose and was carried down the
stream. 1t covered a half acre and
had four tall towers fifty feet high at
least. Down it went into the rapids
and was dashed against the Franz
Joseph bridge" Quicker than can
tell you, down went the towers and
the whole structure and nothing but
driftwood remained. A woman who
had ventured into the bath houses to
secure some clothing was swept
away with the wreck We saw her
Just before the final ruin came. A few
hours before this, within a short dis
tance from where we stood 20 sol
diers were drowned in an attempt to
save some government property.
Wednesday night the cannon kept
up constant firing, and we knew
there was trouble. The nature of
which was explained by the early APP
pearance of the chamber maid at our
rooms, who tearfully exclaimed, 20
Holy Virgin, what is coming? the
Carls Bruke is destroyed" We hur-
ried up our coffee, took a close car
rage and started out in the storm to
see a food which will be historic.
Where we had stood the day previ-
Gus the water was higher than our
heads. All the quarter of Prague
called the Jewish quarter" was in
undated, boats were sailing about
like gondolas in Venice, the lower
stories were covered, people had fed
to the upper stories, and still the
water kept rising. 1t was a terrible
sight and the destruction of this old
bridge seemed to us a kind of person
al loss, for we made its acquaintance
the moment of our arrival and our
last sightseeing trip had been to the
"Carls Bruke"
Friday the rain ceased, and asked
our landlord to go to the chief police
and ask permission to pass the line
of soldiers which surrounded the in
undated district, and to go about in
a boat We got permit, arranged
for boat to meet us, and for an
hour we cruised around through the
streets, where we had walked four
days before. We saw very sad sights
on this excursion. | recall one, a
hearse on its way to the Jewish GEM
etery, the water up to the TANKS of
the horses.
Now let us look at Prague from a
drier standpoint. Ii is, as YOU know,
the capital of Bohemia, and Bohemia
iS the work shOO the Ne1u EuoJand