, and tells a horrible tale of his experience on that
occasion. The engineer, the fireman and himself, when they saw the flood
coming, got upon the top of the car, and when the coach was carried away
they caught the driftwood, and fortunately it was carried near the shore
and they escaped to the hills. Mr. Palmer walked a distance of twenty
miles around the flooded district to a nearby railroad station on this
side.

Freaks of the Disaster.

A novel scene was witnessed yesterday near Johnstown borough. Some women
who managed to escape from the town proper had to wear men's clothes, as
their own had been torn off by the flood.

The force of the flood can be estimated by the fact that it carried
three cars a mile and a half and the tender of an engine weighing twelve
tons was carried fourteen miles down the river. A team of horses which
was standing on Main street just before the flood was found a mile and a
quarter below the town yesterday.

The damage to the Cambria Iron Works was not so great as at first
reported. The ends of the blooming mill and open hearth furnace
buildings were crushed in by the force of the flood. The water rushed
through the mill and tore a great pile of machinery from its fastenings
and caused other damage. The Bessemer steel mill is almost a ruin. The
rolling and wire mills and the six blast furnaces were not much damaged.
This morning the company put a large force of men at work and are making
strenuous efforts to have at least a portion of the plant in operation
within a few weeks. This has given encouragement to the stricken people
of Johnstown, and they now seem to have some hope, although so many of
their loved ones have met their death. The mill yard, with its numerous
railroad tracks, is nothing but a waste. Large piles of pig metal were
scattered in every direction. All the loose debris is being gathered
into heaps and burned.

Hurled to a Place of Safety.

A pitiful sight was that of an old, gray haired man named Norn. He was
walking around among the mass of debris, looking for his family. He had
just sat down to eat his supper when the crash came, and the whole
family, consisting of wife and eight children, were buried beneath the
collapsed house. He was carried down the river to the railroad bridge on
a plank. Just at the bridge a cross-tie struck him with such force that
he was shot clear upon the pier and was safe. But he is a mass of
bruises and cuts from head to foot.