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
When we were rescued ourselves we took the money over to Prospect Hill,
and sent to the justice of the peace, who swore us all in to keep guard
over our own money and that taken by Paymaster Barry from the Cambria
Iron Company's general offices, amounting to $4000, under precisely the
same circumstances that marked our escape. We remained on guard until
Monday night, when the soldiers came over and escorted us back to the
office of the Cambria Iron Company, where we placed the money in the
company's vault.
So far as known at this hour only eighteen bodies have been this
morning recovered in the Conemaugh Valley. One of these was a poor
remnant of humanity that was suddenly discovered by a teamster in the
centre of the road over which his wagons had been passing for the past
forty-eight hours. The heavy vehicles had sunk deeply in the sand and
broken nearly every bone in the putrefying body. It was quite impossible
to identify the corpse, and it was taken to the morgue and orders issued
for its burial after a few hours' exposure to the gaze of those who
still eagerly search for missing friends.
Only the hardiest can bear to enter the Morgue this morning, so
overwhelming is the dreadful stench. The undertakers even, after
hurriedly performing their task of washing a dead body and preparing it
for burial, retreat to the yard to await the arrival of the next ghastly
find. A strict order is now in force that all bodies should be interred
only when it becomes impossible to longer preserve them from absolute
putrefaction. There is no iron-clad rule. In some instances it is
necessary to inter some putrid body within a few hours, while others can
safely be preserved for several days. Every possible opportunity is
afforded for identification.
Four bodies were taken from the ruins at the Cambria Club House and the
company's store this morning. The first body was that of a girl about
seventeen years of age. She was found in the pantry and it is supposed
that she was one of the servants in the house. She was terribly bruised
and her face was crushed into a jelly. A boy about seven years of age
was taken from the same place. Two men and a woman were taken from in
front of a store on Main street. The remains were all bruised and in a
terrible condition. They had to be embalmed and buried immediately, and
it was impossible to have any one identify them.
Only Fifty Saved at Woodville.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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