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

MARC// o/' Till-: /u:siroy/-:r. a-.
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" 1 am eii,'lueen years old and live with my father at Scuith Fork On the day of the llood
the creek rose very high and people got scared about tlie dam After dinner I saddled Leo
and rode up, for I wanted to know how things looked Just as I '^ot there I saw the middle
drop out, and I knew the whole dam must i;o. I didn't stop a second, but turned my horse, and
started back as fast as he could run I pulled out a r':d pocket-handkerchief and waved it in
front of Leo, wiiich frightened him and he ran like lurv 1 shouted to Geor^^e Fisher's family,
and they ran up the liiU. L-iokin^; liack, I s.iw the ilood tiariiiL: ilown like a bij; wave and
Fisher's house carried otf I kept on to town, shoutini:; at tlie upper end to the people to tiy for
their h'ves. I stopped near our place and yelled at the Lutts to come out of their house. Mv
parents and sisters went up the hill back of the hotel, the water rising to the ceiling of the first
story. I don't think I was two minutes ahead of the flood. It was a hard ride and I did my
'
best to warn folks of the dan,;er
Two hundred yards abo\'u the nunith ot the creek a railroad trestle led to
SheriH Stineman's coal-niirn-. At its east end was a shantv. occupied h\
Michael Mann, an Eiiijlish miner, who dwelt alone. .\ column of smoke indicated
that he was cookmif his trui:al nical when Baker's screams pierced the
air. The water touched the door-siU and Maun looked out. Imitating; sinners
in Noah's day. who declared it would not be much of a shower and refused to
enter the ark. the Englishman paid no heed to the summons to flee. Closinj,'
the door, his fate was quickly sealed. Within three minutes the tidal
wa\e crushed the shanty and the long trestle. Ten da\s later a neighbor,
walking on the track of the Pennsylvania Railr(.iad. noticed a strange object
half-buried in the mud and bushes a few rods west of the old \'iaduct. Going
closer, he recognized the dead boil\'of Michael Mann, denuded of clothing and
so badh' decomposed it could not be lifted. The remains were dropped into
a hole, dug beside theju. to repose until Gabriel's trump annoimces the final
reckoning. Mann was generalK" st\"led • Reverend." from his haliit of e.vhortiiig
occasionallv. His wife and f.vo sons survive him. Thus perished antl thus
sleeps in a solitarv. unmarked grave, far from his home and kindred, the
Firm X'ictlm of the Johnstown Flood.
Four men were clearing out the rubbish projielled against the west end of
Stineman's trestle b\' tlie turbulent creek. The revengeful column swooped
upon them, engulfing Hov.ard Shafer in the act of climbing the steep bank his
companions ascendeci. The body was found ne.\t dav and taken to the desolate
honie \vhere the sorrowing \\ idow lamented tier missing husband. The
entire village manifested its s\'m|)ath\ by attending the funeral on Sunda\".
Shafer was the second victim.
The seething, fuming UK^nster gathered strength and volume at each stage
of its inipetur>us stride. Stoiv s from the dam and bouldt r^^ from the bed of tlie
Fork rolled down the ravine, a trough one-quarter of a mile wide, to the Conemaugh.
Trees snapped off as one might fell a mullein-stalk b\" a swish ot a
cane. Ponderotis rocks were tossed like straws and the ground was scourei.l
clear to the un\'lelding strata.
Tb.e middle of the dam—a section three hundred
feet in length— scriope