CONTENTS.
PREFACE
CHAPTER I.
The Conemaugh valley in Springtime--Johnstown and its Suburbs--Founded
a Hundred Years ago--The Cambria Iron works--History if a famous Industry--American manufacturing
Enterprise Exemplified--Making Bessemer Steel--Social and Educational Features--The
Busiest City of its Size in the State.
CHAPTER II.
Conemaugh Lake--Remains of and Old-time Canal System--Used for
the Pleasure of Sportsmen--The hunting and Fishing club--Popular Distrust
Growing into Indifference--The Old Cry of "Wolf!"--Building a Dam of Straw
and Mud--Neglect Ripening into Fitness for a Catastrophe.
CHAPTER III.
Dawning of the Fatal Day--Darkness and Rain--Rumors of Evil--The
Waning Voice Unheeded--A Whirlwind of Watery Death--Fate of a Faithful
Telegrapher--What an Eye-Witness Saw--A Solid Wall of Water Rushing Down
the Valley.
CHAPTER IV.
The Pathway of the Torrent--Human Beings Swept away like Chaff--The
Twilight of Terror--The Wreck of East Conemaugh--Annihilation of Woodvale--Locomotives
Tossed about like Cockle-shells by the mighty Maelstrom.
CHAPTER V.
"Johnstown is Annihilated"--Appearance of the Wreck--An Awful Sabbath
Spectacle--A Sea of Mud and Corpses--The City in a Gigantic Whirlpool--Strange
Tokens of the Fury of the Flood--Scene from the Bridge--Sixty Acres of
Debris--A Carnival of Slaughter.
CHAPTER VI.
Pictures of the Flood Drawn by Eye-witnesses--A Score of Locomotives Swallowed up--
Railroad Cars Swept away--Engineers who would not Abandon their Posts--Awful Scenes from a
Car Window--A Race for Life--Victims of the Flood.
CHAPTER VII.
Some Heros of the Floos--The Ride of Collins Graves at Williamsburg Recalled--
John G. Parke's Heroic Warning--Gallant Self sacrifice of Daniel Peyton--Mrs. Ogle,
the Intrepid Telegraph Operator--Wholesale Life Saving by Miss Nina Speck.
CHAPTER VIII.
Stories of Suffering--A Family Swept away at a Stroke--Beside a Sister;s Corpse--
A Bride Driven Mad--The Unidentified Dead--Courage in the Face of Death--Thanking God
his Child had not suffered--One Saved out of a Household of Thirteen--Five Saved out of Fifty-Five.
CHAPTER IX.
Stories of Railroad Men andTravelers who were in the Midst of the Catastrophe--
A Train's Race with the Wave--Houses Crushed like Eggshells--Relice of the Dead in the Tree tops--
A Night of Horrors--Fire and Flood Commingled--Lives Lost for the Sake of a Pair of Shoes.
CHAPTER X.
Scenes in a House of Refuge--Stealing from the Dead--A Thousand Bodies seen Passingover the Bridge--
"Kill us, or Rescue us!"--Thrilling Escapes and Agonizing Losses--Children Born amid the Flood--
A Night in Alma hall--Saved through Fear.
CHAPTER XI.
The Flight to the Mountains--Savin a Mother and her Babe--The Hillsides Black with
Refugees--An Engineer's Story--How the Dam gave away--Great Trees Snapped off like Pipe-stems
by the Torrent.
CHAPTER XII.
A Desperate Voyage--Scenes like those after a Great Battle--Mother and babe Dead together--
Praying as they Drifted to Destruction--Children Telling the Story of Death--
Significant Greetings between Friends--Prepared for any News.
CHAPTER XIII.
Salutations in the Ciry of the Dead-Crowds at the Morgues--Endless Trains of Wagons with Ghastly Freight--
Registering the Survivors--Minds Unsettled by the Tragedy--
Horrible Fragments of Humanity Scattered throught Piles of Rubbish
CHAPTER XIV.
Recognizing the Dead--Food and Clothing for Destitute Survivors--
Looking for the Lost--The Bereaved Burying their Dead--Drowned Close by a Place of Safety--
A Heroic Editor--One who would not be Comforted.
CHAPTER XV.
A Bird'seye View of the Ruined City--Conspicuous Features of the Disaster--
The Railroad Lines--Stones and Iron Tossed about like Driftwood--An Army Officer's
Valuable Services in Restoring and Maintaining Order.
CHAPTER XVI.
Clearing a Road up the Creek--Fantastic Forms of Ruin--An Abandoned Locomotive with
no Rail to Run on--Iron Beams Bent like Willow Twigs--Night in the Valley--Scenes and Sounds
of an Inferno.
CHAPTER XVII.
Sights that Greeted Visitors--Wreckage Along the Valley--Ruins of the Cambria Iron Works--
A Carnival of Drink--Violence and Robbery--Camping on the Hillsides--Rich and Poor alike Benefit.
CHAPTER XIII.
The First Train Load of Anxious Seekers--Hoping against Hpe--Many Instances of Heroism--
Victims Seen Drifting down beyond the Reach of Help--Unavailing Efforts to Rescue the Prey of the Flood.
CHAPTER XIX.
Newspaper Correspondents Making their way in--The Railroads Helpless--Hiring a Special Train--
Making Desperate Speed--First faces of a Flood--Through to Johnstown at Last
CHAPTER XX.
The Work of the Reporters--Strange Chronicles of Heroism and of Woe--Deadly Work of the Telegraph Wires--
A Baby's Strange Voyage--Prayer wonderfully Answered--Steam Against Torrent
CHAPTER XXI.
Human Ghouls and Vampires on the Scene--A Short Shrift for Marauders--
Vigilance Committees enforcing Order--Plunderers of the Dead Relentlessly Dispached--
Outbursts of Righteous Indignation
CHAPTER XXII.
The Cry for Help and the Nation's Answer--President Harrison's Eloquent and Effictive Appeal--Governor Beaver's Message--
A Proclamation by the Governor of New York--Action of the COmmisioner of Pensions--Help from over Sea
CHAPTER XXIII.
The American Heart and Purse Opened Wide--A Flood of Gold against the Flood of Water--
Contributions from every Part of the Country, in Sums Large and Small
CHAPTER XXIV.
Benefactions of Philadelphia--Organization fo Charity--Train loads of Food and Clothing--
Generous spirit of Convicts in the Penitentiary--Contributions from over the Sea--
Queen Victoria's sympathy--Letter from Florence Nightingale
CHAPTER XXV.
Raising a Great Relief Fund in New York--Where the Money came from--Churches, Theatres and Prisons join in the good work--
More than One Hundred Thousand Dollars a Day--A few Names from the Great Roll of Honor
CHAPTER XXVI.
Breaking up the Ruins and Burying the Dead--Innumerable Funerals--The Use of Dynamite--
The Holocaust at the Bridge--The Cambria Iron Works--Pulling Out Trees with Locomotives
CHAPTER XXVII.
Caring for the Sufferers--Noble Work of Miss Clara Barton and the Red Cross Society--
A Peep into a Hospital--Finding Homes for the Orphans--Johnstown Generous in its Woe--A Benevolent Eating House
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Recovering from the Blow--The Voice of the Locomotive Heard again--Scenes Day by Day amid the Ruins and at the Morgue--
Strange Salvage from the Flood--A Family of Little Children
CHAPTER XXIX.
The City Filled with Life Again-Work and Bustle on Every Hand--
Railroad Trains Coming In--Pathetic Meetings of Friends--
Persistent Use of Dynamite to Break Up the Masses of Wreckage--
The Daily Record of Work Amid the Dead
CHAPTER XXX.
Scenes at the Relief Station--The Grand Army of the Republic in
Command--Imposing Scenes at the Railroad Station--Cars Loaded
with Goods for the Relief of the Destitute
CHAPTER XXXI.
General Hastings' Headquarters--Duties of the Military Staff--A
Flood of Telegrams of Inquiry Pouring In--Getting the Post-office
to Work Again--Wholesale Embalming--The Morgue in the Presbyterian
Church--The Record of the Unknown Dead--A Commemorative
Newspaper Club
CHAPTER XXXII.
A Cross between a Military and a Mining Camp--Work of the Army
Engineers--Equipping Constables--Pressure on the Telegraph Lines
--Photographers not Encouraged--Sight-seers Turned Away--
Strange Uses for Coffins
CHAPTER XXXIII.
Sunday Amid the Ruins--Service in One Church and in the Open
Air--The Miracle at the Church of the Immaculate Conception--
Few Women and Children Seen--Disastrous Work of Dynamite--
A Happy Family in he Wreck
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Plans for the Future of Johnstown--The City to be Rebuilt on a Finer
Scale than Ever Before--A Real Estate Boom Looked For--Enlarging
the Conemaugh--Views of Capitalists
CHAPTER XXXV.
Well-known People who Narrowly Escaped the Flood--Mrs.
Hatford's Experience--Mrs. Childs Stormbound--Tales Related by
Travelers--A Theatrical Company's Plight
CHAPTER XXXVI.
The Ubiquitous Reporter Getting There--Desperate Traveling through
a Storm-swept Country--Special Trains and Special Teams--
Climbing Across the Mountains--Rest for the Weary in a Hay Mow
CHAPTER XXXVII.
The Reporter's Life at Johnstown--Nothing to Eat, but Much to Do--
Kindly Remembrances of a Kindly Friend--Driven from Bed by
Rats--Three hours of Sleep in Seventy-two--A Picturesque Group
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
Williamsport's Great Losses--Flooded with Thirty-four Feet of Water
--Hundreds of millions of Feet of Lumber Swept Away--Loss of
Life--Incidents of Rescue and of Death--The Story of Garret
Crook and his Gray Horse
CHAPTER XXXIX.
The Juniata Valley Ravaged by the Storm--Losses at Tyrone, Huntingdon
and Lewistown--Destruction at Lock Haven--A Baby's
Voyage Down Stream--Romantic Story of a Wedding
CHAPTER XL.
The Floods along the Potomac--The National Capital Submerged--
A Terrible Record in Maryland--Gettysburg a Sufferer--Tidings
of Devastation from Many Points in Several States
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