From my book "Memoirs of a 'Common Tater'" Our cousins, the Carpenters (Kate Levy married a Josiah Carpenter), whose home was in Johnstown, all survived the flood, but by narrow escapes. We heard afterward many thrilling and harrowing tales; some of them almost miraculous, and one even amusing. The men of the family were not at home when the flood broke. Their house was torn off its foundations by the rush of water and came to rest against a nearby house, which being made of bricks, stood firm. The women of the household, including an aged grandmother and a small child, had to make their way over a plank, precariously placed between the top floor windows of the two houses. Others had escaped there, too, and they all spent a night of terror, anxiously watching the rising waters and the not far distant fires; not knowing if they might at any moment have to face a horrible death. There was one young couple there, supposedly happily married, but the wife was overheard to say to her husband, “Oh! Darling! If we ever get out of this alive, we'll never fight again will we?” Emma Riale Klopp, who was only three years old at the time, distinctly remembers stepping over and around dead bodies after the water subsided and they could leave their refuge. For several days they had nothing to eat but a few crackers. Years later I used to call Emma the “Anti Deluvian Maiden”. At that time and for many years afterward, Cousin Peter Carpenter (or “P.L.” as they call him) owned the Capital Hotel. He and his two brothers galloped on horse-back ahead of the flood up into the hills to safety. P.L. told me that the waters rushing into the town sounded like huge wagons running over cobble stones and looked like a high wall of water. It swept everything, living and inanimate ahead of it. He had left a wallet containing $1800 under his pillow. Several days later, when he was able to return to the hotel, he was astonished to find the mattress of his bed floating on top of the water, and the wallet intact, and high and dry, just where he had left it. He climbed into the second story window which was on the ground by that time and recovered his wallet. I got to see a photograph of the hotel in that condition. In 1937 on a visit to Johnstown I was entertained at the Capital Hotel which had been restored, and P.L. showed me water marks high on the mirrors in the lobby. He did not replace the mirrors, purposely, because of the interest attached to them. He also showed me an old cloth sack in which he had stored $55 in silver. He recovered it from the wreckage, with not a dollar missing. A woman, who had been my nurse when I was an infant, lived in Johnstown at the time of the flood with her husband and a small child. She was pregnant at the time, and for hours she clung to the rafters of her home, holding the child above the water. Finally her father-in-law came and chopped a hole through the roof to rescue them.
2 comments:
Such a shame that we dont have any of these amazing buildings anymore..just crackheads and parking lots
From my book "Memoirs of a 'Common Tater'"
Our cousins, the Carpenters (Kate Levy married a Josiah Carpenter), whose home was in Johnstown, all survived the flood, but by narrow escapes. We heard afterward many thrilling and harrowing tales; some of them almost miraculous, and one even amusing. The men of the family were not at home when the flood broke. Their house was torn off its foundations by the rush of water and came to rest against a nearby house, which being made of bricks, stood firm. The women of the household, including an aged grandmother and a small child, had to make their way over a plank, precariously placed between the top floor windows of the two houses. Others had escaped there, too, and they all spent a night of terror, anxiously watching the rising waters and the not far distant fires; not knowing if they might at any moment have to face a horrible death.
There was one young couple there, supposedly happily married, but the wife was overheard to say to her husband, “Oh! Darling! If we ever get out of this alive, we'll never fight again will we?”
Emma Riale Klopp, who was only three years old at the time, distinctly remembers stepping over and around dead bodies after the water subsided and they could leave their refuge. For several days they had nothing to eat but a few crackers. Years later I used to call Emma the “Anti Deluvian Maiden”.
At that time and for many years afterward, Cousin Peter Carpenter (or “P.L.” as they call him) owned the Capital Hotel. He and his two brothers galloped on horse-back ahead of the flood up into the hills to safety. P.L. told me that the waters rushing into the town sounded like huge wagons running over cobble stones and looked like a high wall of water. It swept everything, living and inanimate ahead of it. He had left a wallet containing $1800 under his pillow. Several days later, when he was able to return to the hotel, he was astonished to find the mattress of his bed floating on top of the water, and the wallet intact, and high and dry, just where he had left it. He climbed into the second story window which was on the ground by that time and recovered his wallet. I got to see a photograph of the hotel in that condition. In 1937 on a visit to Johnstown I was entertained at the Capital Hotel which had been restored, and P.L. showed me water marks high on the mirrors in the lobby. He did not replace the mirrors, purposely, because of the interest attached to them. He also showed me an old cloth sack in which he had stored $55 in silver. He recovered it from the wreckage, with not a dollar missing.
A woman, who had been my nurse when I was an infant, lived in Johnstown at the time of the flood with her husband and a small child. She was pregnant at the time, and for hours she clung to the rafters of her home, holding the child above the water. Finally her father-in-law came and chopped a hole through the roof to rescue them.
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