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
"A clergyman came to me and begged for anything in the shape of foot
covering. I had nothing to give him. Men stand about ready to work, but
barefooted. The clothing since the first day or two, when we got only
worn stuff, fit only for bandages, has been good, and is now of
excellent quality. Most of the children's garments are outgrown clothes,
good for much service. Pittsburgh has sent from thirty to forty car
loads of supplies, all of good quality and available, and in charge of
local commissary men who had sense enough to go home when they turned
over their supplies and did not stay and eat up the provisions they
brought.
Ohio's Timely Work.
"But above all, I want to praise the supplies sent by the Ohio people in
Cleveland and Columbus. These cities forwarded eight cars each. These
were stocked with beautiful stuff, wisely chosen, and were in charge of
Adjutant General Axline, sent by Governor Foraker, who worked like a
wise man."
Grave Mental Conditions.
The mental condition of almost every former resident of Johnstown is one
of the gravest character, and the reaction which will set in when the
reality of the whole affair is fully comprehended can scarcely fail to
produce many cases of permanent or temporary insanity. Most of the faces
that one meets, both male and female, are those of the most profound
melancholia, associated with an almost absolute disregard of the future.
The nervous system shows the strain it has borne by a tremulousness of
the hand and of the lip in man as well as in woman. This nervous state
is further evidenced by a peculiar intonation of words, the persons
speaking mechanically, while the voices of many rough looking men are
changed into such tremulous notes of so high a pitch as to make one
imagine that a child on the verge of tears is speaking. Crying is so
rare that I saw not a tear on any face in Johnstown, but the women that
are left are haggard, with pinched features and heavy, dark lines under
their eyes. Indeed the evidence of systemic disturbance is so marked in
almost every individual who was present at the time of the catastrophe
that it is possible with the eye alone to separate the residents from
those outside.
Everything required in the way of surgical appliances seem to be on
hand, but medicines are scarce, and will probably be needed more in the
next few days than heretofore.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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