l ' ' ' II I - I ' . -I I - - - - . , t
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$i.oo a Year, in Advance. FOR GOP, FOR COUNTRY, AND FOR TRUTH." . Single Copy, 5 Cents.
VOL. X V. PLYMOUTH, N. C. FRIDAY. SEPTEMBER 30. 1904. NO. 28.
INNUENDO.
When woman talks of woman, then we see her at her worst
Not the second, who is talked of, but the most loquacious first.
When woman talks of woman, there is trouble in the air.
Uncertain in its details, but you may be sure it's there.
When man would talk of woman, or, indeed, of other men,
Why, something that is tangible will find expression then.
He may not like the person, but he lacks the art to say
A harmless thing that has a sting when said a certain way.
"Of rourse you've tried her cooking," with a quiet little sniff,
As if of something dreadful one had just obtained a whiff.
"You .saw her with young Barker at the dance the other night?"
The tone alone would indicate it v113 a shameful sight.
"She's aiways changing servants, and I wonder why they leave!"
A meaning shrug of shoulders that must make the' angels grieve.
"The manners of her children have you noticed what they are?"
The thought expressed unspoken would do credit to a star.
However, this is nothing to the exclamation heard
When of the neighbor's husband one may chance to say a word.
It gives the chance she's seeking: and accords well with her plan
The essence of unkindliness is the way she says, "Poor man!"
Chicago Post.
THE "PATIENT HEROINE"
OF THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD.
pit
V! V! IVIVVW';"
Jly ETHEL
jF all the brave and heroic
I 1 the Johnstown disaster, the
-I, . terrible, death-dealing, de
Pi Hi vastating flood of May 31.
i.-w, uujue could be more inspiring
than that of Sirs. Hetty Ogle the
"patient heroine" of that awful occur
rence, the quietly faithful woman tele
graph operator, who, doing her duty
with " heroic fortitude and calmness,
'.stayed at her post in the face of cer
tain death, sending the messages that
were to save the lives of others. It
is doubtful, indeed, if history records
a braver action.
The Johnstown flood was the great
est, most awful water calamity ever
known to humanity. It came after
many and .grave .warnings. Because
the dam of the South Fork Lake h;id
never yielded, the people of Johnstown
believed that it never would yield.
And yet when a thriving, prosperous
-oily of thirty thousand inhabitants had
been reduced to a horrible, tumbled
heap of evil, ill-smelUng refuse, with
over three thousand helpless human
creatures hurried into eternity in the
short space of five minutes, there was
scarcely a survivor who could not re
member serious and frequent indica
tions of danger that duly heeded might
have averted this catastrophe. For
several days previous to the breaking
of the dam the low-lying portions of
the city had been submerged beneath
a water-level fully four feet higher
than had ever before been known, so
largely had the steady pouring rain
of an entire week augmented the not
unusual floods.
The city of Johnstown (to refresh
memories burdened with the varied
accumulations of fifteen years) was
situated in the narrow, pointed valley
at the foot of the Alleghany Moun
tains, framed in by Stony Creek on
the one hand and the Connemaugh
River on the other. A steep hill and
gentle slope respectively edged the
framing streams. South Fork Lake,
originally a reservoir constructed by
the State of Pennsylvania as a feeder
for the old Pennsylvania Canal, but
later purchased' and enlarged by the
South Fork Hunting and Fishing Club,
was between three hundred and four
hundred feet above the highest part
of Johnstown, and several miles back
of the city. This lake was three
miles long, from three thousand to
four thousand feet wide, and seventy
"feet deep near the dam, that alone
held it back from the underlying val
ley. This dam, three hundred feet
wide at the bottom, twenty feet wide
at the top and eighty-live feet in
height, had been most solidly con
structed and pronounced absolutely
impregnable by competent engineers.
(Generous and seemingly adequate
weirs and sluices had always con
trolled and relieved the flow and over
flow of water previous to the unwont
ed and irresistible l'ain torrents of that
awful week.
Late in the afternoon of Friday, May
31, however, Mr. John O. Parke, a
young civil engineer of Fittsburg, who
happened to be visiting friends at
South Fork Lake, bestowed upon the
dam a casual inspection, and saw with
horror that it could not long withstand
the force of the great waves already
dashing over it at intervals, and mo
mentarily increased in number and
volume by the down-rushing, swollen,
tempestuous mountain streams tkat
;fed and filled -the basin. When the
M. COLSON.
arduous efforts of a large body of
hastily summoned workers proved in
adequate to relieve the overtaxed
sluices. Mr. Parke leaped to the saddle
and dashed away to the South Fork
Railway Station, there to telegraph
the terrible news to Johnstown help
less, unsuspecting, inevitably doomed.
Only by instant flight could its un
happy residents hope to escape with
their lives.
To Mrs. Ogle, as manager of the
Western Union Telegraph Office at
Johnstown, came the dread message.
She must choose and on the instant
between heroism and desertion, be
tween cowardice and death.
To leave her station at once, to flee
to the hills for safety this would
mean her own personal salvation, the
salvation of the beloved daughter,
who, always frail and delicate, would
never be able to attain safety unat
tended, even did she consent to at
tempt flight without her mother. It
would mean the warning of the equal
ly beloved sons unsuspectingly at work
in the city quite near. But it "would
mean, no less, the desertion of her
post at the time of most paramount
need and duty; the death of many
others, who unwarned could have not
slightest chance of escape or prolonged
existence, and who might through her
own efforts be saved.
That the struggle was as severe' as
it was brief can scarcely be doubted.
Life is sweet to all, and it must have
seemed especially sweet just then to
Mrs. Ogle. By no easy path had she
won her way to the serene tableland
of comfortable, well-provided middle
age that she then confronted. Keen
poverty, early widowhood, the grow
ing cares and responsibilities of the
young family that must be supported,
delicate health but recently conquered
all these steps had been necessary
in order to reach her present peace of
mind and financial comfort. And now
to leave it all, and in manner so dread
fulwhat wonder she shivered and
shrank!
But the insidious temptation to pur
chase this life at the cost of others was
speedily vanquished. Almost before
she turned from the key ticking out
the awful tidings Mrs. Ogle was on her
way to deliver the message into the
keeping of the no less heroic assistant,
Daniel Peyton, the Paul Revere of the
Johnstown disaster, the man who,
riding madly through street after
street to call frantic, desperate, un
heeded warnings to others, lost in the
end his own life. Mrs. Ogle without
the loss of a moment hastened back
to her office and instrument.
Message after message, each one like
the sharp stroke of a sword for terse,
tense brevity and clearness, did she
send out with ceaseless, untiring ef
forts. The various telegraphic cen
ters of Johnstown were first notified
of the terrible, oncoming danger, then
the work began anew with regard
to the towns, villages and factories
lying in the inevitable course of the
torrent. Always the "patient heroine"
worked with the nervous yet sternly
controlled energy that "well earned for
her honor and glory this title, later
lovingly bestowed. Always she
ticked and tapped with the speed and
surety, the unerring rapidity and pre
cision born of long practice. Always
she stated the case clearly, and pointed j
out the danger plainly, yet with Hever
an unnecessary word. j
The rain poured down In torreats, j
hissing, merciless, Btinging. The
floors grew damp, the thick, murky,
oppressive atmosphere yet more keav
ily humid, and at last the rising wa
ters crept in upon and over the rooms
of the first story, flooding the tele
graph office several feet deep, and ever
mounting higher. Then, with scarce
a momentary cessation of her eager
efforts, Mrs. Ogle, who had always
maintained a telegraphic instrument
in her sleeping-room, removed to the
second floor of the building, From
the instrument there hastily arranged
she continued to send out the warning
messages that were to save from her
own tragic end the lives of many oth
ers until it was too late to send more.
Only a glance from her elevated sta
tion was needed to evidence the truth
of Mr. Parke's horrified prediction.
It was plainly evident that the dam
must burst skortlj. But still, with the
shadow of death upon her, no hint of
terror, distress or personal sugges
tion of any kind marked the quiet
words of repeated warning. The first
message was no more self-contained,
impersonal and unassuming than the
last.
"Johnstown, Pa., May Cist, 3 p. m.
"To Cambria Iron Company, Philadel
phia :
"We cannot reach your office. Wa
ter immense. Washing out Lincoln
Bridge. The house full. We are on
the second floor. Water still coming
up and threatening ruin. This is my
last message.
"MRS. II. M. OGLE, Manager."
This was the simple reply, called
forth by an imperative question, but
quite bare of dramatic eloquence, as
of any unnecessary description or de
tail, that marked the conclusion of
Mrs. Hetty Ogle's earthly endeavors.
A . moment more the wire sounded, al
though with a strange, throbbing vi
bration never before heard. A mo
ment later, and then with a low,
strange murmur, speedily deepening
to a mighty roar, the tossing water
foaming about the edge of the dam
high.above the doomed city seemed to
climb suddenly skyward; a towerin
wall forty feet- high, stupendous, aw
ful, led by a thick volume of curtain
like mist, instantaneously interposed
itself between the dam and the breath
less spectator, and then to all mere
human intelligence and knowledge the
life of the "patient heroine" went out.
The maddened water, as later in
vestigation decided, first loosened and
tore away the heavy stones "rip
rapping" the top of the dam, then
forced a clear opening thirty-five feet
in width through the supporting and
supposedly impregnable earthworks.
The whole occurrence took place with
incredible rapidity and suddenness,
and the fertile valley intervening be
tween the dam and the city of Johns
town was swept bare of every vestige
of civilization within five minutes.
Then, heavy with tons of wreckage,
laden with houses, dead bodies, all
manner of horrible debris and plunder,
the seething, murderous, unrestrained
torrent of water rushed upon Johns
town proper. The valley narrowly
sharpened at this point, so that the
wall of water, scarcely to be seen,
according to the few eyewitnesses who
survived its merciless onslaught, for
its varied burden of horror, rose higher
than ever. It literally fell upon the
helpless city, burying thousands be
neath its overwhelming weight in an
instant, swelling, advancing, receding,
foaming, twisting and turning, until
the whole of Johnstown was but one
tremendous whirlpool, with awful,
quivering objects, big and little, borne
aimlessly, unresistingly about. Not
until the stone viaduct below the city
successfully opposed its course for a
brief instant did the mighty and cruel
devastator know .let or hindrance.
And even this brief opposition but re
sulted in a calamity yet more terrible
than all that had gone before.
The presumptuous viaduct was rent
and torn but an instant later, the an
gry torrent with much of its awful
burden rushing over and through it,
passing finally to the distant sea, scat
tering and strewing death, wreckage.
ruin and disaster for miles as it raced
and hurried, depositing thousands of
the unknown dead at New Florence
and Ninevah, towns between Johns
town and the conjunction of the Cone
maugh and Kiskiminetas Rivers. But
the low, diagonal arches of the bridge
had in that infinitesimal period of re
sistance acted as huge and mischievous
strainers, and a dread mountain of
mingled earth, rocks, houses, rubbish,
furniture, dead and dying, animals, and
human: unfortunates, dead and dying
also, was piled high above them. This
was the huge heap that later took firo
from the numerous lighted cook-stoves
which were being used in preparing
the evening meal when the unexpected
disaster came. And somewhere in the
stupendous funeral pyre thus ignited
were hidden the dead bodies of Mrs.
Ogle, her daughter, and the several
other persons known to have been in
the telegraph-station building, which
served as a dwelling-house for Mrs.
Ogle and her family, as well as for
office uses.. No trace of these bodies
has ever been found.
That the death of Mrs. Ogle was
mercifully sudden seems certain. The
frail building could not long have with
stood the crushing force of that, pitiless
mountain of water, and the telegraph
official who. received her final message
bore witness later to the speedy man
ner in which the wire was disabled.
"One moment," so ran his published
statement, "the woman operator at
Johnstown was cheerfully ticking
away that she had to abandon the
office on the first floor because the wa
ter was three feet deep there. She
said she was wiring from the second
story, and the water was rapidly ris
ing. This was evidently before the
dam broke, for our man here said
something encouraging to her, and
she was talking back as only a cheer
ful woman operator can, and had just
said 'This is my last message' the last
word being scarcely completed when
the receiver's skilled ears caught a
sound from the wire made by no hu
man hands. The wire had grounded
or the house had been swept away by
the flood, no one knew which at that
time. One moment she was there and
talking, the next we niiglit as well
have asked the grave to answer as
addressed remark or question to the
cheery worker of an instant before."
And so the end came to the woman
hero, who chose death rather than
fail to heed the higher voice that also
called in no uncertain accents. It is
safe to say that to Mrs. Hetty Ogle,
the "patient heroine" whose beautiful,
love-hallowed life had constituted a
fitting preparation for the noble death
that ..closed it, was given in that su
preme moment the faith that makes
faithful, the love that whole-heartedly
serving must unbrokenly endure.
And although the much-discussed mon
ument to her brave life and memory
may never be erected, the only fame
worth having will yet flourish unend
ingly for her honor and gloiy. Wom
an's Home Companion.
Willing Self-Consciousness.
First Ave must be willing to accept
the effects of self-consciousness. The
more we resist these effects the more
they force themselves upon us, and
the more we suffer from them. We
must be willing to blush, be willing
to realize that we have talked too
much, and perhaps made ourselves !
ridiculous. We must be willing to feel
the discomforts Oi! self-consciousness
in whatever form they may appear.
Central point of all we must know
and understand, and not dodge in the
very least the truth that the root of
self-consciousness is selfishly caring
what other people think of us and
wanting to appear well before them.
We should be willing that any one
should think anything of us, so long
as we have the strength of a good
conscience. We should be willing to
appear in any light if that appearance
will enhance our use, or is a necessity
of growth. Annie Payson Call, in Les
lie's Monthly.
Demoiselle de Telephone.
The French have some good ideas
a Vio ut laws. According to the Westeru
Electrician it has recently been de
cided in Paris that the telephone girl
is a public official, and as such she
commands the respect of incident to
public functionaries. The question
came up in a case where a popular ac
tress was prosecuted in the Criminal
Court for having insulted the central
girl. While defendant was acquitted,
the rights of the "demoiselles de tele--phone"
were clearly established, viz.,
as citizens in the public service they
must be treated with due circiunspec--tion.
Why Fruit Trees Fail.
Country Life in America points out
that the dropping off of young fruit
is no't due to insect pests, as it is
popularly supposed, but more often it
is on account of the newly discovered
principle that many varieties of fruits
are not self-sterile. The blossoms re
quire the contact of other varieties
before they will mature fruit. This
is the reason so many fruit trees do not
bear well, and new methods of graft
ing and planting will make trees bear
large-fruit and plenty of it.-
AUTOMOBILE TORPEDOES.
Some New Ones in Use by the United
States Navy Range and Accuracy.
One may well be impressed with the
tremendously destructive power of the
modern torpedo; few persons, however,
are aware of the great accuracy of
which this weapon is capable in the
hands of those skilled in its ,use. The
automobile torpedoes in the United
States service are, almost without ex
ception, of the Whitehead type, and
are of two lengths, C.55 meters (about
11 feet) and 5 meters (about 1(1 feet).
The newest and most efficient type of
torpedo is fitted with the gyroscope, a
steering apparatus whereby the pro
jectile steers itself directly at the
point aimed at regardless of any twist
incurred in firing, and due to the speed
of the vessel or the roughness of the
sea. Moreover, the improved gyro
scope may be set so that the torpedo,
after launching, will turn through any
desired angle, up to 120 degrees, be
fore beginning its straight run. By
this device it is possible to fire a tor
pedo at right angles to the length of
the boat and have it hit a mark dead
ahead.
The best torpedoes already in the
service are sufficiently accurate, at a
range of 1500 yards, to keep within
15 inches of the set depth, to come
within 20 yards of the centre of the
target, and to maintain a sped of 24
knots. The Bureau of Ordnance has
ree?utly contracted for some new tor
pedoes which are to have higher speed
and longer range. Those most familiar
with the handling of modern torpedoes
believe that at ranges of about 1000
yards fully 75 per cent, of the tor
pedoes fired will strike a hostile vessel,
and any torpedo will sink a warship
or put her out of fighting condition?
Actual experiments, both with and
without searchlights, have shown that
a torpedo boat on an ordinary night
can get within range that is, within
S00 to 1000 yards of an opposing ves
sel before being detected. The only
logical defense appears to be the
torpedo-boat destroyer. Cellier's.
A Chinese Girl's Education.
A good story is told of Miss Ah Mat
Wong, who was visiting in Indianapo
lis. Several years ago when Miss
Wong was studying with Dr. Marie
Haslep in China, she was asked t
play the prgan for services in the Epis
copal mission church in Shanghai. She
naturally thought to play something
that would please her Americas
friends. It was the celebration of the
communion and the congregation was
startled to hear the organ pealing
forth "The Star-Spangled. Banner."
Miss Wong selected that as an air that
could not fail to please, never doubting
its appropriateness.
Those who have met Miss Wong are
astonished at her knowledge of Amer
ican history, noted. American men and
American literature. Looking through
a book of views of Washington, D. C.
she was most interested in pictures of
the statues of Washington, Daniel
Webster, John A. Logan and Garfield,
evincing knowledge of the life of each.
Indianapolis News. . -o
Archbishop Ryan's Wit. '
Archbishop Ryan's telegram of con
gratulation to Archbishop Glennon, of
Syracuse, was read at an ecclesiasti
cal dinner recently, says the New York
Tribune. When the see of St. Louis
became vacant the names of two auxil
iary bishops were sent to Rome on the
slate of the clergy and prelates. The
two were Bishop Dunn, of Dallas,
Texas, and Bishop Nessmer, of Green
Bay, both of whom (contrary to the
general custom of Roman Catholic
prelates) wear beards. Neither of the
candidates pleased Rome, and Arch
bishop Ryan was consulted. The Phil
adelphian's choice was Auxiliary Bish
op Glennon. of St. Louis, who has been
called the Apollo of the American hier
archy. Archbishop Ryan's telegram of
congratulation read: "You won it by a
close shave."
America's Mineral Wealth.
Census Bureau figures indicate that
in 1002 this country produced more
than a quarter of a billion tons of bi
tuminous coal, valued at nearly $300,
000,000; anthracite coal worth more
than $70,000,000; copper with a valua
tion above $71,000,000;' gold of a coin
age value exceeding $07,000,000; iron
ore reached a total of nearly $G7,500,
000; silver at coining figures surpassed
$70,000,000, and the petroleum total
was more than $71,000,000. Mines and
quarries ajid oil wells, together with
smelters, reducing and refining works,
turned out the almist fabulous total
of $884,040, SGO. k