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
This morning opened dark and dreary. Great drops of rain fell
occasionally and another storm seems imminent. Every one feels thankful
though that the weather still remains cold, and that the gradual
putrefaction of the hundreds of bodies that still line the streams and
lie hidden under the miles of driftwood and debris is not unduly
hastened.
The peculiar stench of decaying human flesh is plainly perceptible to
the senses as one ascends the bank of Stony Creek for a half mile along
the smouldering ruins of the wreck, and the most skeptical now conceive
the worst and realize that hundreds--aye, perhaps thousands--of bodies
lie charred and blackened beneath this great funeral pyre. Searchers
wander wearily over this smoking mass, and as occasionally a sudden
shout comes over the waters, the patient watchers on the hill realize
that another ghastly discovery has been added to that long list of
revelations that chill every heart and draw tears to the eyes of
pessimists.
From the banks many charred remains of victims of flames and flood are
plainly visible to the naked eye, as the retreating waters reluctantly
give up their dead. Beneath almost every log or blackened beam a
glistening skull or the blanched remnants of ribs or limbs mark all that
remains of life's hopes and dreams.
Since ten o'clock last night the fire engines have been busy. Water has
been constantly playing on the burning ruins. At times the fire seems
almost extinguished, but fitful flames suddenly break out afresh in some
new quarter, and again the water and flames wage fierce combat.
The Count is Still Lacking.
As yet there is no telling how many lives have been lost. Adjutant
General Hastings, who has charge of everything, stated this morning that
he supposed there were at least two thousand people under the burning
debris, but the only way to find out how many lives were lost was to
take a census of the people now living and subtract that from the census
before the flood. Said he, "In my opinion there are any way from twelve
thousand to fifteen thousand lost."
Up to this morning people living here who lost whole families or parts
of families hardly seemed to realize what a dreadful calamity had
befallen them. To-day, however, they are beginning to understand the
situation. Agony is stamped on the faces of every one, and it is truly a
city of mourning.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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