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Tearing down houses in Johnstown

Tearing down houses in Johnstown.jpg Original Seal of the Plymouth ColonyThumbnailsThe flood strikes the Cambria iron worksOriginal Seal of the Plymouth ColonyThumbnailsThe flood strikes the Cambria iron worksOriginal Seal of the Plymouth ColonyThumbnailsThe flood strikes the Cambria iron worksOriginal Seal of the Plymouth ColonyThumbnailsThe flood strikes the Cambria iron worksOriginal Seal of the Plymouth ColonyThumbnailsThe flood strikes the Cambria iron worksOriginal Seal of the Plymouth ColonyThumbnailsThe flood strikes the Cambria iron works

Adjutant General Hastings, who believes in heroic measures, has been quietly trying to persuade the "Dictator"—that is, the would-be "Dictator"—to allow him to burn up the wrecked houses wholesale without the tedious bother of pulling them down and handling the débris. The timorous committees would not countenance such an idea. Nothing but piecemeal tearing down of the wrecked houses tossed together by the mighty force of the water and destruction by never-dying bonfires would satisfy them. Yet all of them must come down. Most of the buildings reached by the flood have been examined, found unsafe, and condemned. Can the job be done safely and successfully wholesale or not? That is the real question for the powers that be to answer, and no sentiment should enter into it.