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

ACCL'MULATJiD HORRORS.
U^
house was swept from its foundations and bfLCaii a voyagu down the snrging
torrent. When tlie railroad bridge was reaehet! the house was wrenched in
halves, and the Williams i.miih' were dri\en from their frirnds. The part of the
wreck to which t]ie\- hung was forced by the pressure of back-water \\\> Stony
Creek. There in the d.irkness and storm the baby was liorn. He was
wrajiped upi in a jiiece of old shawl his mother wore. It was drenched with
rain, but there wasn't a ilry thread in the attic. They liad no food. The
children shixered and cried. The motlur was almost dead. Ijetweeii six and
seven o'clock on Satunhn evening help Ciime. Mother and babe were lifted
on a shutter and carried over the roofs of houses to a shelter on the hillside.
The father was a sturdv eniplo\e at the Cambria iron works, settling at Johnstown
three \ ears ago. The mother was a quiet little women of motlest demeanor,
whose \oimg face presented unmistakable traces of the fearfid ordeal
of tliat night on the lioi^ded Con em an gh. The older c hi Klren — John, seven years
old, Da\"v. ti\e \'ears. and I iowell. two years— were bright little fellow s, but
Moses w as the star of the group :
In making up the list of applicants fi>r aitl at Johnstown, the secretary of
a committee came across the name of a baby who had W^n christened --May
Flood." The cliild wa-< iKirntwo liours before the water swept down the
\'alle\'. When the flood reached the second story of the frame building
the moth(;r and her cliild were placed on a mattress, whicli was carried to the
top of the floating house. During the passage from the room to the Imnsetop
the babe fell into the wat(_-r. but was rescued b\" its tatlur. The bal)\' is
healthv and heartx'. A woman from Kast Conemaugh ga\e Inrth to a child
fi\"e minutes after the house floated away with herself and her family. Mother
and babe perished. The infant child of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Hdwards,
born ten da\s after the flood, was named May Deluge Kin/.er. Mr. E^lwards
lost all liis propertv.
The bod\" of a girl of about nineteen was found in a peculiar position just
outside the blast furnace. She was pinned down untler a rail. It lay ri;;ht
across her bosom and had iiressed half throui;h her chest.
Stmit men wept as
thev raised the mangled form, which was consigned to an unknown gra\e on
Prospect Hill.
Representatives of \arious newspapers, who flocked to the spot on Saturday
and Sunday, in th.eir eagerness for news sent out e.xaggerated reports and
pure inventions, as thouuh the dread realities were not enough to freeze the
'
blood and chill the marrow The world outsidiL-, longing tor information, stood
amazed at stories of lynchings. mutilations and robberies of the dead, and deeds
of violence that would shame the King of Dahomey. Tl;e ca^es that originated
these statements can be summed up in a few sentences. Hun-;arians
and Italians did pillage somebodies, cutting orf fingers and ears for the sakeof
rings and je\>.elr\'. Their infamous work was soon stoppe(_l b\' the outraged