re than realized. Scores of burned and mangled bodies
were removed.
Freaks of the Torrent.
The great waste where the city stood looked a little different to-day.
Some attempt was made to clear up the rubbish, and fires were burning in
a dozen places to get rid of it. Tents for the soldiers and some of the
sufferers were put up in the smooth stretch of sand where a great, five
story hardware store used to stand. The dead animals that were here and
there in the debris were removed, to the benefit of the towns-people's
health.
Curious things come to light where the rubbish was cleared away. The
solid cobblestone pavement had been scooped up by the force of the water
and in some places swept so far away that there was not a sign of it.
Behind a house that was resting on one corner was found a wickerwork
baby carriage full of mud, but not injured or scratched in the least nor
yet buried in the mud, but looking as if it had been rolled there and
left. Very close to it was a piece of railroad iron that must have been
carried half a mile, bent as it it were but common wire. Exactly on the
site of a large grocery store was a box of soap and a bundle of
clothespins, while of all the brick and stone, of which the store was
built, and all the heavy furniture it contained there was not the
slightest trace.
Many articles of wearing apparel were found here, but no bodies could be
discovered in the whole stretch of the plain, from which it is inferred
that most of the deaths occurred at the gorge or else the flood swept
them far away.
Reminders of a Broken Home.
One of the few buildings that are left in this part of town is the fine
house of Mr. Geranheiser, of the Cambria Iron Company. It presents a
queer spectacle--that is common here but has not often been seen before.
The flood reached almost to the second floor and was strong enough to
cut away about half the house, leaving the rest standing. The whole
interior of the place can be seen just as the frightened inmates left
it. The carpets are torn up from the first floor, but the pictures are
still hanging on the walls and an open piano stands against the wall
full of mud; a Brussels carpet being halfway out of the second story on
the side where the wreck was and showing exactly how high the water
came. There was a centre table in the room and an open book on it.
Chairs stood about the room and the pictures were on the walls, and half
of the room was gone miles awa
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