St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1890-04-19
AN ARIZONA SAND STORM.
EXPERIENCE OF PASSENGERS ON TRAIN

were q still sorrier. They looked as
| though the train had been through
gigantic sand blast, and such proved to
be really the fact. ''You see," said an
elderly man, who had had on this journey
| his frst-and he hopes his 1ast-experi-
ence with an Arizona sand storm, "you
see the outside of our coaches, how dusty,
dirty, scratched, rent and torn they are.
You have been inside and observed how
greasy, splotched, worn and torn the
upholstery is. We had been going along
swimmingly, most of us bound for Chica-
go, and all happy in the prospect of meet
| ing and shaking hands with our friends
here, when we encountered that vile sand
storm. The day had been cloudless, with
not single ugly spot in view. In our
train were three Pullman cars, five pas
senger coaches and three other cars. We
| had formed acquaintance, one Car with
another, and decided that never had SO
large company been so happy in having
come up with SO many congenial spirits.
"We had passed in the morning through
long and broad field of sage brush.
as though it were celebrating the discov
cry of America and all the important
events that have since happened, we cared
nothing for it. because we were forging
ahead, and the winds frolic made no i'm
preston on our progress.
A sEMI-TRoPICAL CLIMATE.
"We were in Arizona; at an altitude of
| about 5000 feet the thermometer regis
| tered about 12' below zero, and the
urbane porter was comforting US with the
reflection that in very few hours we
should 60 on down grade and be in
semi tropical climate, when, as we were
crossing the Canon Diablo, that internal
storm burst upon US. Have you ever
seen that red sand of the great American
desert 1t is as fine as extra superfne.
-four and more penetrating than the best
directed shot from ten-inch gun of mod
ern pattern. Now we are in clear,
blue sky, the sun shining joyously down
upon the earth.
half second afterward-we are in the
midst of cloud of sand, which with inf
mite impudence and without knocking,
forces entrance everywhere Pullman
cars have double windows, and all these
are fast. In t-ice the ven.ilators are
closed tight, and the porter and conductor
stand with cooked revolvers to shoot the
first man, friend or foe, who seeks to
enter. A surgeon is on the car, and he
at once calls out in stentorian tones that
every passenger shall envelop his or
her head with sheet or towel.
"It is the hour of l in the afternoon. In
trica we pass from light to darkness.
The engineer afterward declared that he
was unable to see the bell on his engine or
his smokestack, and consequently he pulls
up at full stop within quarter of mile
of Winslow station. He can push his
engine through snow, even though it be
piled up fost or more on the track, but
his experience has taught him that if sand
be piled up, though but an inch or two
above the rail, his entire train will be
ditched. He is aware that a train is likely
to butt into his and that western bound
train is likely to telescope him in front.
But he realizes also that the switch ahead
may be displaced Hence his halt. Ding,
dong, dong, ding goes his bell, and thus
it keeps up unremittingly.
''There is not much talking. The most
optimistic or our party once in while
essay pleasantly, but the individual who
attempts it grows pale and rstires within
himself. cannot describe the situation,
nor could you do SO had you been there.
Later on, after the storm had passed, we
were told at Winslow by those who had
been there since the town had had it's being
that that section was visited about once
month by simeon, but that it was excep-
tional for such storm to endure for more
than an hour. Yet we struck that storm
at o'clock in the afternoon. and it did
not subside until one-half hour after 6
During that time the blast struck on the
corner of our rear coaches and kept them
continually rocking, each of them being
lifted up to the utmost limit of the car
springs, and dropped back again heavily
upon the axles. Not one of us dared ex-
pose eyes, nose or mouth one second but
we kept our visages concealed by sheets,
blankets, towels or triple supply of
handkerchiefs. It was awfully discourag-
ing, can assure you. If a'fellow was
minded to talk he could not be heard, be-
cause all the rest had their ears so muff1ed |
up that they could not have heard thunder |
when at its best, or an entire broadside |
from full rugged ship.
81 died dozen times In that six hours |
of waiting. l can never possibly suffer as |
l then endured agony.
"It is physiological fact that such a |
wall of sand makes short the supply of |
oxygen, even out of doors. But we were |
shut up tight and close within car We |
breathed over and over again the same |
supply of air. 1t got closer and closer, and |
our lungs got weaker and weaker.
ssSand? You don't know what that !
brief query means. Why, my dear fellow,
it crowded in everywhere, give you my
word of honor that when the wind fell, as |
it did at sunset, there were six inches of |
red sand on level inside our coach. |
There were eight inches on q level in the
vestibule on the outside. ALI the passen-
gers constituted themselves deputy porters
and assisted in clearing away the sand.
Later on the porter let down the hunks,
and bless my soul we were worse off
than ever. Down rained the sand from
the inside of the upper bunk arrangement, I
so that our last estate WAS worse than the
first.
Every suit of clothes and every lady's
dress was ruined. Every bit of plush up
holstery was ruined. Every car, passenger
and sleeper, must go to the factory for re-.
pairs. Every suit of clothes must be
turned over to the scourer for cleansing.
/ am on my way to the Turkish bath for
twenty-four hours stay. We have slept
in sand, walked over sand, wallowed in
sand since that noon. We have eaten
sand at way stations. Our threats are
sore, our lips are raw, our eyes are blood
shot. We literally passed through the
valley of the shadow Of death, and csnnot
forget that six hours stay in the days
darkness and gloom, though we lived a
dozen centuries. It is impossible to ex-
aggerate. He would be blessed or cursed
with a superlative exalted imagination
who could conceive 1.-THE of our suffer-
ings. just think of us Our faces hidden
in sheets and blankets hour by hour, not
knowing what moment would be our last.
We were more than half asphyxiated.
Not one Of US has been, able to eat one