Masato posted a song above that he found on a Website with no origins information. This version starts out almost the same, but then it changes radically.

THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD

On a balmy day in May, when nature held full sway,
And the birds sang sweetly in the sky above;
A city lay serene, in a valley deep and green,
Where thousands dwelt in happiness and love.

Ah! but soon the scene was changed;
For just like a thing deranged,
A storm came crashing through the quiet town;
Now the wind it raved and shrieked,
Thunder rolled and lighting streaked;
But the rain it poured in awful torrents down.

CHORUS
Now the cry of distress rings from East to West,
And our whole dear country now is plunged in woe;
For the thousands burned and drowned,
In the city of Johnstown,
All were lost in that great overflow.

Like the Paul Revere of old came a rider, brave and bold;
On a big bay horse he was flying like a deer;
And he shouted warning shrill, "Quickly fly off to the hills."
But the people smiled and showed no signs of fear.
CHORUS

Ah! but ere he turned away - this brave rider and the bay
And the many thousand souls he tried to save;
But they had no time to spare nor to offer up a prayer,
Now they were hurried off into a watery grave.
CHORUS

Fathers, mothers, children all - both the young, old, great, and small -
They were thrown about like chaff before the wind;
When the tearful raging flood rushing where the city stood,
Leaving thousands dead and dying there behind.
CHORUS

Now the cry of fire arose like the screams of battling foes,
For that dreadful sickening pile was now on fire;
As they poured out prayers to heaven, they were burned as in an oven,
And that dreadful pile formed their funeral pyre.
CHORUS


From Korson, Pennsylvania Songs and Legends, 1949.
Text supplied by Edwin Hartz. Sung by Mrs. Clara Bell Delaney, 71, 1947. Notated by Miss Mary Means.

I'll post the tune later, if I remember.
-Joe-