Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 June 1889 — THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD. [ARTICLE]

THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD.

80XK INTERESTING INCIDENTS. A pretty, pale little woman told part tis her sad story as she nervously clasped and unclasped her hands and cried in a quiet, heartbreaking way. Yea* ago in the Virginia Valley, soniewhere near Winchester, she met and loved a hard working, intelligent engineer named Fenn. They were married some eight years ago and cime to Johnstown, where they had a neat, comfortable home. Fenn made good wages; . their several children were always welf clad, and the mother lived with her life concentrated upon them. On the afternoon of the flood Fenn went to the butcher’s and passed out of this Short history into the waters. When the flood cadre into the Fenn house the mother gathered her children in the parlor and told them not to be afraid, as God was there and would guard them. Up came the torrent and they went to the second floor, and again the little mother talked of hope and bade them be of good cheer, for j apa would come soon in a boat and take them away. Up and up rose the water, and now the family were forced to the top story. The rooms were very low, and the heads of the mother and children were beating against the ceiling. “Mamma,” said the eldest child,a girl, “would it not be better to go outside and die in the open air?” “Yes, dear,” said the mother, “we’ll make a raft and all go down together.” She fought her own and her children’s way to the -window and opened it. She canght a piece of plank and on it put the eldest child, with a hearty kiss and a “God bleSs you.” Then she let it float away in the darkness and the roar of the waves. Six times were these frail barks freighted with precious cargoes and argosies of pious trust. The children were frightened, but obedience was part of their creed, and they made but littie protest. Now came the turn of the last child, Bessie, the four-year-old. One can fancy what it meant. The last and dearest. There was scarcely breathing space in the robin now, and if haste was not used death would come there at once. To a broad plank Bessie was fastened securely, and was blessed as had been the others. “I loved them all, oh, I loved them all,” said the mother, “but I had two kisses from Bessie, for she was Tom’s favorite and was such a good child. She put her drms about my neck and said, ‘You know you said God would take care of me always, mamma. Will He take care of me now?’ I told her He would and she need not fear, and then she was carried away. ‘I am not afraid, mamma, she called «ut,’ and I heard her. although I could not see her, and that’s all, except that the roof was torn off and I floated off on it, and some Italian saved me at Keruvilie, sixteen miles from here.” “And the children, did they all escape?” “We Rave found two of them, dead, Bessie and George, and there is not a mark on Bessie’s face, and, oh, I am so tired. They’re all gone, every one, and eight of them, and I am going home to Virginia aftet all these years to rest and try to think.” This is only one mother of the hundreds, only one of the multitude.

“No one ever will Know the] real horrors of this accident unless he saw the burning people and debris beside the stone bridge,” remarked Kev. Father Trautmein. “The horrible nature of the affair cannot be realized by any per- ' son who did not witness the scene. As soon as possible after the first great crash occurred, 1 hastened to the bridge. A thousand persons were struggling in the ruins and imploring for God’s sake to release them. Frantic husbands and fathers stood at the edge of the furnace that was slowly heating to a cherry heat and incinerating human victims. Every one was anxious to save his own relatives, and raved, cursed and blasphemed until the air appeared to tremble. No system, no organized effort to release the pent-up persons was made by those related to Shrieking, they would demand: “Go to that place; go, get her out; for God’s sake, get her out,” referring to some loved one they wanted saved. Under the circumstances, it was necessary to secure organisation, and thinking I was trying t<f thwart their efforts when I ordered another point to be attacked by the rescuers, they advanced upon me, threatened to Bhoot me or dash me into the raging river. One man who was trying to tteer a float, upon which his wife sat on a mattress, lost his hold, and in a moment the cratt swept into a sea of flame and never again appeared. The agony of that man was simply heartrending. He raised his arms to heaven and screamed in his mental anguish, and only ceased to tear his hair and moan like one distracted. Every effort was made to save every person accessible, and we have the satisfaction of knowing that fully two hundred were spared from crema- . turn. A young woman was found nnder the dead body of a relative. A force of men attempted to extricate her, and succeeded in releasing every limb but one leg. For three hours they labored, and every moment the flames crept nearer and nearer. I was on the point several times of ordering the men to chop her leg off. It would have been

{much better !to save her life, even at that lose, than to have her burn to death. Fortunately it was not necessary, but the yonng lady’s narrow escape from mutilation or. death she will never realise. Jacob Schmidt is a hero, if there' was ever one. The prodigies of valor that he performed were sufficient to ‘entitle him to fame. He braved death a thousand times, and always with the purpose of saving a fellow creature. In one way it was fortnnate that the report got abroad that Father Gavin escaped from his house to; the hilll or his friends would have been anxious about him. He was hemmed in by the waters and forced to go to the second story, where he remained for hours, not being able to get down and ont. The miracle that the people insist happened in the church in my charge was ctertainly a remarkable thing. Skeptical people insist that while the water was at the highest point the sisters climbed into the windows anddecorated the statne of the Bleesed Virgin as it was found. But the impossibility of this is so apparent that it requires no contradiction. Personally. I try to explain everything peculiar through natural causes, but this thing is unexplainable. The circumstance has resolved itself into an affair of the greatest magnitude among the people hereabouts, and hundreds of them besiege the church to satisfy their curiosity, skepticism or love for the supernatural. Rev. J. A. Ranney, who passed through the Johnstown horror and came west after a search of four days and nights for the remains of his aged wife, who was lost, gave the following graphic account of his experience: “At Conemaugh, two miles east of Johnstown, and thirty-five miles west of Altoona, three trains of passenger cars, some day, parlor and Pullman coaches, and a number of freight cars loaded with coal and lime, were drawn up in solid phalanx, with huge engines in the van. The mighty torrent from the mountains had to make a short curve just before it reached this solid body of human enginery and strength. This made proach of the torrent invisible till it was so near that little warning was possible. The blow was awful for power and suddenness. Some of the engines and cars were swept-from the tracks down to destruction, while the others were crowded closer together, breaking in the sides of many of the cars. Thirteen of us, strangers to each other, drew dose together, and all thought death was at hand. Frail ladies showed wonderful presence of mind and suppressed their shrieks. In the midst of the terror the sweet voice of a woman was lifted up and ‘Nearer, my God, to Thee’ was sung right there in the presence of death. We all joined in the song. A young man in the party Baid he felt his last hour bad come,and asked me to pray for him. I said to the little company: ‘This young man wants me to pray for him; let ub all pray.’ After prayer various passages of Scripture were repeated, one lady asaing, ‘ What is that passage of Scripure about God holding the water in the hollow of his hand?’ I then repeated the first verses of the forty-sixth Psalm. “It seemed as though the earth were being moved and the mountains carried down into the sea before our eyes. We were hemmed in for more than an hour. All who remained in this car escaped. We felt that it was a miraculous deliverance. To human appearance eur being saved was due to a pile of floodwood being formed in our front,thua dividing the waters and protecting us. In our number, Miss Minnie Hamilton, of Minneapolis, displayed a beautiful Christian spirit and courage. “On Saturday morning, from the mountain side, I looked over the field of carnage. The wildest wreck and ruin was visible everywhere. It reminded me of the view of the battle field of Resaca, just after the awful slaughter. On Sunday and Monday I repeatedly viewed Johnstown. I must say that it retained beauty in its awful desolation, for far up the mountain side, away from the valley, were many beautiful homes facing the valley of death.” Rev.Ranney is seventy-six years of age. Pure food and good health are topics daily discussed in our homes, and yet, how often the proper care in selecting our table articles is neglected. No mistakes are made in purchasing Dr. Price’s Cream Baking Powder and Delicious Flavoring Extracts.