Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1885-10-03
SATURDAY.
A KANSAS TORNADO.
How II Licked UP Farms, Changed
County Lines. ana Played
the Mischief.

"Tornadoes, did you say?" remarked a
tall man, whose bronzed and freckled
hands gave evidence OF an intimate ac-
quaintance with the pillow handle. "Well,
if l havn't seen tornado, you can sell
me for yearling. Why, stranger, L was
raised where tornadoes grow. / used to
play back oil their pasture ground. I've
done everything with tornado but milk
it, and, as to cyclones, why l take to them
the way boy does to circuses. l live in
Kansas when am at home. What place :?
Well, that is rather hard to say. moved
out there from johnson county, Indiana,
in 1865. We settled in Cedar county, up
in the northern part OF the State.
bought horse, built shack, and squat
ted on one hundred and sixty acres of the
prettiest land the rain ever beat on. That
was in June. had just got out of the
army, and had my pay to start in with.
Well, we had hard time OF it, stranger,
the first year. We lived mostly ON hog
and hominy. But when l began cutting
the first crop of wheat the next summer,
began to feel like q millionaire.
Zone July night" continued the tall
man, 81 had my wheat all stacked ready
for thrashing, and went to bed feeling as
rich as il l owned the whole country.
About midnight, as near as can recol-
lect, heard clap of thunder, and then
the house began to rock like a willow tree.
Then everything was quiet for little
while, and went to sleep. Early the
next morning my wife got up and looked
out of the window.
john said she, where on earth is
your wheat?'
"'What,' said 1, jumping out OF bed,
what's that you sayP
"Where's the wheat?'
81 looked out Of the window, too, and,
stranger, saw the most remarkable sight
ever saw. There wasn't grain of
wheat within mile of me. There wasn't
q remnant of my barn. My barnyard
was gone. The house, the COWS and even
the pigs were gone. l got dressed and
changed, stranger-changed in single
night. My house was sitting in garden
by the side of creek. There was new
barn in the yard, some red cows-mine
were Wholesome black pigs-mine were
spotted-instead of wheat there was the
alfiredest stack of cornstalks you ever
looked at. thought at first was dream
ing, and asked my wife to kick me, but
wasn't. About breakfast time some neigh
bors came in and asked where Mr.. Jones
was. / never heard Of him.
"tHe used to live here, they said. He
lived here last night
"Then told them OF the crash and
the rocking, and they said i must haye
been struck by a tornado. 1 asked them
where l was they said l was in lizard
county, which was fifty miles south o.
where / went to bed. Sure enough, they
were right. The strangest part of it was,
the house wasn't hurt bit. The roof
even, didn't leak. The neighbors said il
was visitation Of providence, and the
place belonged to me. But that wasn't
all, stranger. About year afterward
heard from some of my old neighbors
that Jones' house had been moved righ
up to where my old house stood, by the
same blast of wind. We both concluded
to stay where we were and avoid an!
trouble on that account. I've been away
three months, and can't exactly say
where do live now, but l expect l an
| still Mt the old stand"