West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1885-11-20
A CYCLONE VICTIM.
Colonel Kinks Story of His Thrill
ing Experience.

For several days following the awful
cyclone at Washington c. H.. Ohio. il
was the all-abSorbiDg topic of conversa-
ton in our town.
| Great crowds of cNcur,ionists went
down to view the wrecked CITY, and re-
turning told of the terrible effects of the
devastating storm.
! These accounts were listened TO with
| great attention, but as most OF them
We're inclined to spread IL on a / tile. IL
was pretty hard TO separate truth from
hction. So when Colonel Tom Kirk.
whom we knew was a citizen of Wash
| lngton {. H.. strolled into our office. we
| lei certain that we We're about To hear
"A lrue account of the great blow.
The boys all gathered around him.
| gave MN the seat OF honor on the rail-
Ing, presented him with cigar. and
settled themselves down TO listen.
well. boys said the Colonel, after
ie" preliminary puils, ''you want 10
hear about the cyclone, suppose. eh?"
We told him that, entertaining as we
did firm belief in his unimpeachable
vcracity, such was our unanimous de-
sire.
"Wcll, confined the Colonel. "let
me tel you first that | have come up
here to stay. I've got enough OF Wash
lngton G. H. You know when | went
down there TO live. people here all told
me 1t was situated in an open country
aud liable to heavy storms; but never
lslened To their talk. wish | had
now. never knew such town for
storms, and they were mighty dueer
ones, too. I've seen all sorts of storms.
from typhoons and tornados to, ahem!
domestic storms, but | never saw anv
act like those.
" Why, if we would happen to leave
our clothes out on the line after dark.
along would come a miniature cvclone
and sweep my best shirts of, leaving
some worn-out things | should have
been glad to get rid of. And strange To
say we wouldn't hear any noise, either.
IL would slide around and do its work
so qu city that when | would ask NV
neighbor about the storm next morn
ing he'd declare there hadn't been
cloud IN the sky the entire night
IhGn, again some morning ] would
wake up TO find that my melon patch
had been visited by cyclone. and the
rinds were strcwn all over my neigh
bor.s yard. / would call his attention
TO the fact and he would clasp his hands
and say Wonderful'Wo Wonderfulr that ne
wouldn't have believed IL if he hadn't
seen IL with his own ewes: but that
cyclones were queer storms, and that
he had heard of Just such occurrences.
Then my wood-pile commenced TO
disappear. As many as ten sticks
would blow away some nights. One
day ] tried the experiment Of weQhting
some down with about pound Of
gunpOwder inserted i'm knot-hole. but
that night they disappeared just the
same
The next morning / got up early.
1ust M time 60 see cyclone strike my
ne ghbor's kitchen. Honestly, cyclones
are the most curious storms in creatiOnl
It never harmed the roof of the
kitchen, but swooped down through
the door and boosted the heavy cook
stove right through the window in sec
tiOus
i never saw such wonderful
thing in my life! Then, after wreck
ing thc stove, the cyclone quietly
moved on and disappeared without in
iicting further damage. You may not
believe this but it is the truth never
theless
Well ! could have stood these
baby cyclones. and i'm time. perhaps
have got used 10 them. but when Inc !
OLD parent cyclone came monkeving
around the other night / concluded h /.
was about time 70 pull up stakes and
leave.
That night I was sitting upon the I
steps I'm front Of my house enjoying my
even ne s smoke. ] saw the storm
gathering The sOmber-hued clouds
bad massed themselves inawfulmaiesty
auOFe tho horizon. and come rolling
along ike horrible monsters hungry for
teir helpless prev while mingled with
ihe lightning binding glare came the
m Ebty roar OF JOve's artillery, causing
the stOutest heart among us TO tremblc
and TO cover
Right here. tho boys got up and
famed the Colonel Vigorously. BRING
n- him back from his soaring Hirht
~ eioJucnce TO cold, cruel Garth again.
In short time he recovered and con
Unuod
WeiL you fellows may think 70
wasn't q storm 5'it it wa. WHY the
SKY va rs black as the record of the
opposing candidate
.fl remained outside until coOk-efovcq
and such OBJ ugs began TO hv around
Nind oi lively Ike. and then concluded
nc was about time 10 90 in and take my
wife and children down cellar
"but before ] could get inside The
door, along came the heaviest part of
that cyclone lifted me upon .ts bosom
and ere I could say word in remon
STRANGE. ] was gliding along over Che
tousetops likc meteor Below mc