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

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second or two aheadof the flood, wliich was at his heels After the watf-r had ^one down a search
of the car was made, and it was found that both the waterproofs were inissini;. Miss Paulsons
overshoes were also gone, but Miss Hryans were found
Strange destiiu'
'.
the festivities of ;i inarria'j:c-feast to the cold embrace
of death and an unknown grave. Then to he exhiiiiu-d nionth,s afterwards,
recognized and consigned to a tondi budewed with tear: and bedecked
with flowers.
Mr. \\"iniam Schrcder. of Newark, N. J., furnished graphic details:
The parlor car was tilled when I sot aboard the train, and a seat was assigned me in the
sleeper at the rear. Amoni; the passengers were several ladies It was rainin.g hard, and we
whiled awav the time reading or watching the river. Very few had any apprehension of
danger, even after we had been detained at Conemaugh five hours The tracks where our
train stopped were fully fourteen feet above the level of the river. .\ large number of freight
and passenger cars and locomotives stood near us and strung up the road a considerable distance.
Such a possibility as the carrying a>vay of a train on the great Pennsylvania railroad
was not seriously entertained by anybody. .About four o'clock, two colored porters went
through the sleeper within a short time of each other, looking and acting rather e.vcited. I
asked the first one what was the matter, and he replied that he did not know When the second
one came along. I asked him if the reservoir had given way, and he answered that he
thought it had. I put down my book, stepped out to the hind platform, and was horrified at the
sight which met my gaze up the valley It seemed as though a forest was coming down upon
us. A great wall of water was roaring and grinding, so thickly studded with trees from
the mountain side that it resembled a gigantic avalanche. I lingered but a moment, for the
mortal danger electrified me That instant I saw an engine lifted uodily otf the tracks and
thrown backward into the whirlpool, houses crushed in the flash of an eye. and the noise resembling
incessant thunder. I shouted to the ladies in the car, three of them alone, to tly for
their lives, and helped them out Two others jumped the ditch, through which the water was
running swiftly, but the third, a heavy lady, a iriissionary on her way to a foreign post, hesitated.
That delay cost her life. While I w.is holding out my hand and urging her to jump, the
waters swept her into the torrent This same instant an engine was pitched from the track
into the ditch at my feet. The water was about my knees as I clambered up the hill. Ten
seconds later, when I looked back, it was surging and boiling ten feet deep over the track I had
just left. The rush of waters lasted three-quarters of an hour. We stood spell-buund in
the rain, beholding the ruin no human agency could avert, and then secured shelter until
Saturday morning in a house high on the hill-side "
John Ross, an elderly gentleman and helpless cripple, finding he blocked
the way of a lady, threw himselt from the car steps to let her pass. jVs
she descended to the ground he ga\'e her a plaintive, yearning look, which
time nor distance is likely to erase, and exclaimed. •• God help you:" The
water v.-as at hand. A trainman carried Ross a little way. bat had to drop him
and run to avoid sharing his fate. The poor cripple had in him the stutf of
which heroes are made. His bod_\' was recovered. The lady declined to give
her name when describing' this n-'Liancholy episodic.
Mrs. Elijah Halford. wife ot I'rcsidtnt Harrison's private secretary, and
her daugfiter were returning to Washington from a visit to friends in Indianapolis.
The colored porter assisted the ladies in their tligdit from the car.