The Johnstown Horror!!!: or, Valley of Death, being A Complete and Thrilling Account; of the Awful Floods and Their Appalling RuinWalker, James Herbert
History
The Johnstown Horror!!!: or, Valley of Death, being A Complete and Thrilling Account; of the Awful Floods and Their Appalling Ruin
Superintendent Pitcairn, of the Pennsylvania Railroad, who has spent the
entire day in assisting not only those who were afflicted by the flood,
but also in an attempt to reopen his road, went home this morning.
Before he left he issued an order to all Pennsylvania Railroad employees
to keep a sharp lookout for bodies, both in the river and in the bushes,
and to return them to their friends.
Assistant Superintendent Trump is still on the ground near Lone Hollow
directing the movements of gravel and construction trains, which are
arriving as fast as they can be fitted up and started out. The roadbeds
of both the Pennsylvania and the West Pennsylvania railroads are badly
damaged, and it will cost the latter, especially from the Bolivar
Junction to Saltsburg, many thousands of dollars to repair injuries to
embankments alone.
In Pittsburg there was but one topic of conversation, and that was the
Johnstown deluge. Crowds of eager watchers all day long besieged the
newspaper bulletin boards and rendered streets impassable in their
vicinity. Many of them had friends or relatives in the stricken
district, and "Names!" "Names!" was their cry. But there were no names.
The storm which had perhaps swept away their loved ones had also carried
away all means of communication and their vigil was unrewarded. It is
not yet known whether the telegraph operator at Johnstown is dead or
alive. The nearest point to that city which can be reached to-night is
New Florence, and the one wire there is used almost constantly by orders
for coffins, embalming fluid and preparing special cars to carry the
recovered dead to their homes.
Along the banks of the now turbulent Allegheny were placed watchers for
dead bodies, and all wreckage was carefully scanned for the dead. The
result of this vigilance was the recovery of one body, that of a woman
floating down on a pile of debris. Seven other bodies were seen, but
could not be reached owing to the swift moving wreckage by which they
were surrounded.
A Heartrending Sight.
A railroad conductor who arrived in the city this morning said:--"There
is no telling how many lives are lost. We got as far as Bolivar, and I
tell you it is a terrible sight. The body of a boy was picked up by some
of us there, and there were eleven bodies recovered altogether. I do
not think that anyone got into Johnstown, and it is my opinion that they
will not get in very soon. No one who is not on the grounds has any idea
of the damage done. It will be at least a week before the extent of this
flood is known, and then I think many bodies will never be recovered."
Assistant Superintendent Wilson, of the West Pennsylvania Railroad,
received the following despatch from Nineveh to-day:--
"There appears to be a large number of people lodged in the trees and
rubbish along the line. Many are alive. Rescuing parties should be
advised at every station."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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