Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-06-07
STORIES OF SUFFERERS.
THEY GIVE GRAPHIC NARRATIVES OF
NARROWING SCENES.

| NARROWING SCENES.
Men Who Were Saved y hie Their Families
Perished-Narrow Escapes of Adven-
turous Spirits Who W ould Not succumb
to the Overawing Circumstances.
TITUsvILLE, June 6.-[Specia. Posi-
bly, the greatest tragedy of this calamity
was that enacted at the home of John
O'Mara on Mechanic street.
There was himself and wife and Mr..
Pease in the house.
The waters crept noiselessly, and they
slept. In dreams the husband heard voices
calling, "Awake!" and woke to find it was
a reality.
Hastily jumping from bed he landed in
| the water, which already covered the floor.
Laughing, he remarked to his wife that he
was not afraid of water, and the two went
upstairs, where Mr.. Pease slept As they got
there they first caught sight of the flood of
| fire that was rolling and leaping. 1t was
| fast coming upon them. The wife swooned
| for a moment, the husband lost his head and
rushed for the root for better safety. He
| thought his wife was following him. Mad
| dened by the sight of the rolling flames, he
dived beneath burning mass of oil. He
rose in clear water; saw woman floating
and rescued her. Then the flames broke
forth again and by its light he saw the
woman he had saved was not his wife.
Turning he saw her standing in the door
way, crying for help. A sea of boiling oil
ragged between them and while he looked
the flames licked round her feet
She became frantic to escape, but the
flames reached out again and the helpless
husband saw the blackened corpse of his wife
sink into the flood. There was ripple for
moment and then another mass of oil
floated over the place, and like a funeral
pyre burned above her grave O'Mara
made his escape. The body of the wife has
gone down with the flood or was buried by
the power that destroyed her in the drift
ing sand At daylight the remains of Pease
were found near the ruins.
Saved Himself on a Raft.
James Whalen, his wife two sons and
daughter lived on Mechanic street. The
father and mother, the youngest son and
daughter were all lost. John says that
when the fire surrounded the house he
jumped out of the rear window and man.
aged to construct a raft. He then called to
Frank, aged 10, to follow. The boy jumped
down all right and the two tried to float
their rart into the current away from the
fierce heat. Finding that they would be
burned to death if they stayed on the raft,
the two boys jumped. John man.
aged to land safely but Frank
boy jumped into the water, and after a
most desperate fight against the fire was
finally rescued, although he is terribly
burned. Whether the father, mother and
daughter perished in the flood or remained
in the house and there burned to death is
not known. Their bodies have not been re-
covered.
Clarence Osmer is another survivor of
the food and fire who had an experience
such as mortal man never had. His father
is a driller at the Mcdonald oil field, near
other children and two cousins from
Warren were at their home on
Mechanic street and they did not
know of the danger until l o'clock, when
they were awakened by some people out
side. They at once tried to save goods by
carrying them upstairs. They had hardly
commenced this work when stream of oil
came pouring in and soon caught fire. The
flames ragged all around them. The mother,
kneeling in prayer, gave up all hope.
She Prayed Them to Die Together.
She counseled them to all die together
Bert, one of the cousins. believed there
was a chance. He stepped from the win
dow, but that step was into eternity. He
was never seen after that, nor have the
waters yet given up his corpse. Clar-
ence Osmer = determined to find a
means OF escape. He made his way to Wash
ington street and then walked on a fence to
the iron works. The flames had again closed
in. To return was impossible. To escape
he grabbed floating log and foated to
boxcar, where a number of Others had
found safety. He was the only one who
escaped.
Joseph Bratt went out in a small boat,
and, after a most perilous ride, rescued a |
child from boxcar. After getting the
child in the boat the leaky craft broke in |
the middle of the flood. Bratt jumped out
and managed to push the boat to shore. |
The car from which the child was rescued |
was burned few minutes later. This was |
a most thrilling sight for the Thousand |
people that lined the shore and covered the |
buildings in that portion of the city.
Returned to Find None Left.
Myron Houghtalin and wife resided in a
one-storv house at the corner of Mechanic |
and Washington streets. When the flood |
came up Mr.. Houghtalin took his wife into
the second story OF the next house occupied
by man named Reilly. His daughter and
her two children, Mr.. Reilly and Mr..
Houghtalin went to the lower portion of |
the city where the flood appeared to be
doing the most damage. A little later they
heard that Mechanic street was on fire.
They hurried back and found the house in
which they had left their people almost
consumed. NHoughtalin was told that his
wife had been seen floating down the street
on plank. No one had seen Mr.. Reilly's
daughter or her children. Mrs Houghtalin
was saved. but the remainder of the other
three are still in the debris.
Late this afternoon two boys were out in
a boat and they saw the body of a man float
by them. The water was shallow and run