The story of Johnstown : its early settlement, rise ... - JohnstownCafe

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THE STORY OF JOl/XSTOWX.
ders. The ffisjlitfiil events of Friday afternoon aiul ni-ht excited Mr. Dick's
profound compassion, as the depredations of jihinderiiiL; rascals aroused his
ire on Saturday.
Uinnlndfnl of his o\\n losses of frieiuls and pro]iert\'. he strove
to assist the snflerers and to intimidate the looters \\ho rolilied indiscriminatelv.
His featless determination, backed by his favorite ritli- and a tone and look ^\ hich
boded e\il to wron^-doers, was worth a brii;ade of troops in maintaining
order. This is what he told abont the flood and the fire :
Mv house was on Somerset street. Kernvdie On
"Yes. I f.av, it tiom start to ani^h
Tfiursday night it rained very hard My wife woke me and called my attention to the wav the
water was com in J do
I said nothing, but I Rot up about five o'clock and to'ik a look around.
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In a little while Stony Creek had ri-^en three feet I
then knew that we were going to have a flood, but I did
not apprehend any danger. The water soon Hooded
the streets, and boards and lo3s began coming down.
.\ lot of us turned in to have some sport. I t:ave mv
watch and what money I had to a neighbor and be_;an
riding logs do«n the stream. I had lots of companv.
Old men acted like boys, and shouted and splashed
about in the water like mad. Finally the water began
to rise so rapidly that I became alar.med, I went
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home and told my wife that it was full time to get out.
She was somewhat incredulous, but I made her get
ready, and we took the children and went to the h'luse
of Mr Bergman, on Napoleon street, ju^t on the rise
of Kernville I got wet from heajJ to foot foolinu: m
the water, and when I got to Bergman's I took a chill
^> I undressed and went Tt to bed and fell asleep. The
first thing I knew I was pulled out of bed to the
'^_ \ \ .;; floor bv Mr Bercman. who yelled, 'The dam has