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

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346 THE STORY OF /0//XSTiU\:X.
home to the Hiilhert House for safety, and all perished when the hotel went
down. The Ilepuisophs lost but two nienibcrs— Drs. L. T. and W. C. I'.e.iin.
Williaai, son of Contractor Hnrn. Coueuiau^h fJorouL;!!. \\as the onh' member
of the City Guard who perisheil.
An orphan box , eears old. the last of a famih' of six. was one of the
passeni;ers on the train that ran to Si^nie-rset on Monda\' ni^'ht. carrx'ing awa\'
a multitude of sufferers. Tin- box's aunt was taking him to her house at
Bethel. The poor child tried to tell i_if liis escape, by clinging to a piece of
timber. l)ut hot tears WMuld stop his sentences as he thought of how his
mother and sisters went down.
The weird collection of relics in Alma Hall was the means of informing a
young girl of her lover's doom. She xvas visiting friends near Johnstown, who
brought lier to see the destruction. The part}- visited the room stored with
somenirs of tiie dead. In one of them the fair maiden recognized the culf
buttons of her affianced husband, whom she l>elieved tc) be in Blair Count)'.
He was a guest of the Hulbert House. ha\ing been sent to Johnstown une.\-
pectedl}-. The girl fell in a faint and did nc^t regain consciousness for liours.
The recognition of little articles that had belonged to loved ones was
often distressing beyond description. Sometimes it was a picture, a t)it .if
jewelrv. a piece of writing, a fragment of clothnig. More than once X. C.
Shepherd's touching lines might haxe been used:
" There i.s the hat
With the blue veil thrown round it. itist as they fuund it,
Si>otted .wiUoiled, sta}ned and ail spoiled—
Do you recognize that *
" The gloves, too. he there.
And in them still linj^ers the shape of her lingers.
That some one ha-, pressed, perhaps, and caressed,
So slender and fair.
" There are the shoes.
With their long silken laces, still bearing traces,
To the toe's dainty tip. of the mud of the slip,
The slimeand the o.>zc.
" There is the dress.
Like the blue veil, all dabbled, discolored and drabbled—
This you should know without doubt, and, if so.
All else you may gue^s.
' There is the shawl.
With the striped border, hung ne\t in order.
Soiled hardly less than the white muslin dress,
And—that is all.
We were forgetting, with a pearl setting.
There was only this one— name or date'— none
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A frail, pretty thing