Among the travelers who were in or near the Conemaugh Valley at the time
of the flood, and who thus narrowly escaped the doom that swallowed up
thousands of their fellow-mortals, was Mr. William Henry Smith, General
Manager of the Associated Press. He remained there for some time and did
valuable work in directing the operations of news-gatherers and in the
general labors of relief.
The wife and daughter of Mr. E. W. Halford, private secretary to
President Harrison, were also there. They made their way to Washington
on Thursday, to Mr. Halford's inexpressible relief, they having at first
been reported among the lost. On their arrival at the Capital they went
at once to the Executive Mansion, where the members of the Executive
household were awaiting them with great interest. The ladies lost all
their baggage, but were thankful for their almost miraculous delivery
from the jaws of death. Mrs. Harrison's eyes were suffused with tears
as she listened to the dreadful narrative. The President was also
deeply moved. From the first tidings of the dire calamity his thoughts
have been absorbed in sympathy and desire to alleviate the sufferings of
the devastated region. The manner of the escape of Mrs. Halford and her
daughter has already been told. When the alarm was given, she and her
daughter rushed with the other passengers out of the car and took refuge
on the mountain side by climbing up the rocky excavation near the track.
Mrs. Halford was in delicate health owing to bronchial troubles. She has
borne up well under the excitement, exposure, fatigue, and horror of her
experiences.
Mrs. George W. Childs was also reported among the lost, but incorrectly.
Mr. Childs received word on Thursday for the first time direct from his
wife, who was on her way West to visit Miss Kate Drexel when detained by
the flood. Indirectly he had heard she was all right. The telegram
notified him that Mrs. Childs was at Altoona, and could not move either
way, but was perfectly safe.
George B. Roberts, President of the Pennsylvania Railway Company, was
obliged to issue the following card: "In consequence of the terrible
calamity that has fallen upon a community which has such close relations
to the Pennsylvania Railway Company, Mr. and Mrs. George B. Roberts
feel compelled to withdraw their invitations for Thursday, June 6th."
Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Pugh also felt obliged to withdraw their
invitations for Wednesday, June 5th.
The Rev. J. A. Ranney, of Kalamazoo, Mich., and his wife were passengers
on one of the trains wrecked by the Conemaugh flood. Mr. Ranney said:
"Mrs. Ranney and I were on one of the trains at Conemaugh when the flood
came. There was but a moment's warning and the disaster was upon us. The
occupants of our car rushed for the door, where Mrs. Ranney and I became
separated. She was one of the first to jump, and I saw her run and
disappear behind the first house in sight. Before I could get out the
deluge was too high, and, with a number of others, I remained in the
car. Our car was lifted up and dashed against a car loaded with stone
and badly wrecked, but most of the occupants of this car were rescued.
As far as I know all who jumped from the car lost their lives. The
remainder of the train was swept away. I searched for days for Mrs.
Ranney, but could find no trace of her. I think she perished. The mind
cannot conceive the awful sight presented when we first saw the danger.
The approaching wall of water looked like Niagara, and huge engines were
caught up and whirled away as if they were mere wheel-barrows."
D. B. Cummins, of Philadelphia, the President of the Girard National
Bank, was one of the party of four which consisted of John Scott,
Solicitor-General of the Pennsylvania Railroad; Edmund Smith,
ex-Vice-President of the same company; and Colonel Welsh himself, who
had been stopping in the country a few miles back of Williamsport.
Mr. Cummins, in talking of the condition of things in that vicinity and
of his experience, said: "We were trout-fishing at Anderson's cabin,
about fourteen miles from Williamsport, at the time the flood started.
We went to Williamsport, intending to take a train for Philadelphia. Of
course, when we got there we found everything in a frightful condition,
and the people completely disheartened by the flood. Fortunately the
loss of life was very slight, especially when compared with the terrible
disaster in Johnstown. The loss, from a financial standpoint, will be
very great, for the city is completely inundated, and the lumber
industry seriously crippled. Besides, the stagnation of business for any
length of time produces results which are disastrous."
[Illustration: FOURTEENTH STREET, WASHINGTON, D. C., IN THE FLOOD.]
The first passengers that came from Altoona to New York by the
Pennsylvania Railroad since the floods included five members of the
"Night Off" Company, which played in Johnstown on Thursday night, about
whom considerable anxiety was felt for some time, till E. A. Eberle
received telegrams from his wife, the contents of which he at once gave
to the press. Mrs. Eberle was among the five who arrived.
"No words can tell the horrors of the scenes we witnessed," she said in
answer to a request for an account of her experiences, "and nothing that
has been published can convey any idea of the awful havoc wrought in
those few but apparently never-ending minutes in which the worst of the
flood passed us.
"Our company left Johnstown on Friday morning. We only got two miles
away, as far as Conemaugh, when we were stopped by a landslide a little
way ahead. About noon we went to dinner, and soon after we came back
some of our company noticed that the flood had extended and was washing
away the embankment on which our train stood. They called the engineer's
attention to the fact, and he took the train a few hundred feet further.
It was fortunate he did so, for a little while after the embankment
caved in.
"Then we could not move forward or backward, as ahead was the landslide
and behind there was no track. Even then we were not frightened, and it
was not till about three o'clock, when we saw a heavy iron bridge go
down as if it were made of paper, that we began to be seriously alarmed.
Just before the dam broke a gravel train came tearing down, with the
engine giving out the most awful shriek I ever heard. Every one
recognized that this was a note of warning. We fled as hard as we could
run down the embankment, across a ditch, and for a distance equal to
about two blocks up the hillside. Once I turned to look at the vast wall
of water, but was hurried on by my friends. When I had gone about the
distance of another block the head of the flood had passed far away, and
with it went houses, cars, locomotives, everything that a few minutes
before had made up a busy scene. The wall of water looked to be fifty
feet high. It was of a deep yellow color, but the crest was white with
foam.
"Three of us reached the house of Mrs. William Wright, who took us in
and treated us most kindly. I did not take any account of time, but I
imagine it was about an hour before the water ceased to rush past the
house. The conductor of our train, Charles A. Wartham, behaved with the
greatest bravery. He took a crippled passenger on his back in the rush
up the hill. A floating house struck the cripple, carried him away and
tore some of the clothes off Wartham's back, and he managed to struggle
on and save himself. Our ride to Ebensburg, sixteen miles, in a lumber
wagon without springs, was trying, but no one thought of complaining.
Later in the day we were sent to Cresson and thence to Altoona."