Gertrude Quinn Slattery

Gertrude Quinn at five years old.

Quick Facts

Place of Birth:

Johnstown, Cambria County, Pennsylvania

Date of Birth:

December 5, 1882

Place of Death:

Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania

Date of Death:

April 28, 1974

Place of Burial:

Hanover Township, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania

Cemetery Name:

Saint Mary's Cemetery

"Father had been worrying about the heavy rains we were having and kept saying if they did not stop soon, he feared the reservoir at South Fork would burst." -Gertrude Quinn Slattery

Gertrude's father James Quinn was in the business of Geis, Foster and Quinn; Dry Goods and Notions. Her grandfather was a Geis and her uncle was a Foster. She enjoyed spending time at the family store. The Quinn family lived at 624 Main Street in Johnstown in a new, three story brick house. Her grandparents, the Geis' lived next door. The Quinn's had fruit trees, a garden and a cow named Daisy. Her brother Vincent had ducks and pigeons. 

In her book published in 1936, Johnstown and Its Flood, Gertrude recalls a happy childhood. 

On the day of the flood, Abbie Ludes Geis, her mother's sister in law and her young son Richard were visiting the Quinn family from Kansas. James Quinn believed that not a home in Johnstown would be standing if the dam were to break and worried about it constantly. 

Gertrude described the morning of May 31:
"The morning of May thirty-first was dark. There was a mist like the smoke of brushwood fires that changed into a fine drizzle and later into a heavy rain., which came down steadily. Only the ducklings were allowed out in the yard, for the rivers were now over their banks and backing up in the streets so that people living in the lower end were moving all household effects to the upper floors. We lived two or three hundred feet from the hill. Before noon the water had come up to the curb-stone surrounding our house, which was enclosed with an iron fence with a gate on Main Street and one on Jackson Street. There were three or four steps up the terrace and several steps to the porch and one step into the house, so we were quite high."

James Quinn went to his store to move items out of the reach of the rising water. He returned home around lunch time and gave the order to have the children ready in case they needed to quickly head for the hill. Gertrude recalls that her sister Marie had the measles. Gertrude felt her father would have gotten them to higher ground earlier in the day, if Marie had not been ill but didn't want to risk her being out in the rain. 

Aunt Abbie laughed at James thinking that the house could go if the dam broke. She thought their new house was sturdy enough and that they could simply go to the third floor. 

Gertrude managed to get back outside and now only the heads of the ducks were visible. Her father appeared and was not happy to see her outside with her shoes and stockings wet again. They were going to go up the hill, but Gertrude needed changed again. She recalled:

"He looked out the window and saw a blur- an advance guard, as it were of mist, like dust that precedes a cavalry charge; and heard at the same time an ominous sound that froze the marrow in his bones- as I often heard him say. He rushed back and in his most commanding tones called out: 'Run for your lives. Follow me straight to the hill!' James grabbed Marie. Aunt Abbie hesitated as she didn't want to put her feet into the dirty water and get sick. Gertrude was being held by the nurse Libby and was kicking and screaming to get away and run to her father. Aunt Abbie decided they should go to the third floor, again stating that the house would not destroyed. 

"I can never forget what I saw! It was like the Day of Judgement I have since seen pictured in books. Pandemonium had broken loose, screams, cries and people were running; their white faces like death masks; parents dragging children, whose heads bobbed up and down in the water; a boat filled to capacity with eager, anxious passengers; household pets of all descriptions dangling from living arms; a wagon loaded to the breaking point lost a wheel and the despairing mortals riding therein were dumped down in a heap in the filthy water. They scrambled to their feet in less time than it takes to tell it, as the on-rushing mob moved rapidly forward, bent on self-preservation at any cost. 
Animals and humans with eyes bulging out of their heads struggled to keep their feet against the horde and weight of the water. They were all compressed into a solid mass that fairly wedged its way up the street, all straining every nerve and muscle to reach the hill, as the grim reaper stalked in the rear; and in the dim distance the mist and unmistakable rumblings tell in a new language that the worst had happened. Bells were ringing, the whistles in the mills were sounding a last warning, and intermingled with these were the shrill sounds from steam engines as the throttles were opened for the last time; and now a moving mass, black with houses, trees, boulders, logs and rafters was coming down like an avalanche."

Aunt Abbie, Richard, Libby and Gertrude got in a cupboard. Plaster fell from the ceiling and dirty flood water came up through the floor. Gertrude climbed out through an opening in the roof and found herself floating on a mattress. She was flung from the mattress when it collided with a horse. As it started to get dark, Gertrude was still floating. 

Maxwell McAchren struggled through the waters to reach Gertrude and took her in this arms. He threw her an undetermined, but heroic distance to Henry Koch in a window.