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

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STORY OF JO//.\STOi\:\-.
haviour was scandalous, anil some of the olTicers were hanlcr to approach tlian
tile Czar of Russia. The pl'-a that the presence of se\eral thousaml hil'iaer^
reiulcr.'il troops necessary \'. as untenaMe. Win not. fer tlie same reason.
ha\e the militia on duty \\hene\et ami wiiere\er larue forces of laborers are
emplo\ed While certainl\' c.'.xceinional. were the conditicuis at Johustuwii such
as to be imiu'oxed by hundrei.ls ot youiu; tellows, whose chief business was to
lloiuish a L;un at every indi\'Klual w ho came in sii;ht Would not a huntlret!
f;allant firemen, ready to take off their ccKits and search in the ruins for the
diad, luue l>een (jf greater \alue than five times that number of x'ouths in miifi_irms
Is it likely thai an (.aitbreak would have occurrc'd tluit tlu- citizens
could not suppress, had no wearer of a blue coat set fool wuhin twent\ leagues
of Johnstown Were not the three or four days immediateh " feillow in;,' the
flood the most critical period in the historx of the counnunitw and no armed
troops nearer than Pittsburgh ^ If the State must furnish soldiers to camp in
the street and y.iiaril a pri\ate bank nii,dit and da\. because from thiee hundred
to three thousand men are clearing up heaps Oi rubbish in a town, win not
have them constantly on i;'uard in cities where Iari;e bodies of laborers are similarly
engaged These were the \iews expressed and the ipiestions asked by
many intelligent citizens, liners