St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1890-05-24
A MARVELLOUS ESCAPE.
Fifteen Minutes with a Cyclone-A
True Story.

Wilson TO the company about the library
fire. one cold November evening. 81
think l can equal any story you have
told with my own experience in a gen.
uine 'twister.'"
prising stories, a general exclamation
from young and old demanded the story,
and. after little urging, Mr.. Wilson
began:
I'VE were living then, my wife and
the eight children (of whom the young
est was but four months old, in NAL
com, pretty little village about five
miles from the city of Grinnell, la.
'The farm was as attractive as it could
we'll be-acre after acre of rolling prai-
rie land, fine garden, and a young and
thriving orchard. My cousin had lived
on the place for several years, but when
his business made it necessary for him
to 60 farther West, he had persuaded
me to come out and take the farm. /
had hoped to 60 West for several years
and ] thought this an excellent Opportu-
nifty, SO we moved out. and had been
living there about four years when this
big blow came.
1T was in 1881, on the 2.th of June:
you will see why 1 have no trouble in
remembering the date.
1T had been an exceedingly hot day,
not a cloud to be seen, with the sun
beating fiercely down, and not a breath
OF air stirring. We sat out on the porch
after supper, trying to find cool place.
The clouds were beginning to gather,
and it looked as il there might be .
shower. The three little ones went
carly to bed, and in spite of the op-
pressive heat were soon fast asleep.
1t couldn't have been far from eight
o'clock when heard sound which l at
first thought was thunder. The others
noticed 1t. too. and. as it grew louder,
terrible rushing sound came with it, and
we looked at one another in silence for
minute, and then ran to where we
could look out westward
saw coming toward us with terrific speed
black, funnel-shaped cloud, the rush
and roar accompanying it growing louder
every minute.
"'Run for the CELLAR l cried. Nv
wife ran and seized the baby, and I
caught up the two other children from
the bed. There was no time to lose.
''The one who first reached the cellar
door-it was one of the older children
had just time to seize the knob, nothing
more, when-crash. such a terrific
noise! l felt myself lifted in the air, ana
thought my time had come. The next
thing knew, felt the splash Of cold
water in my face. l must have lost
consciousness, but the water revived
me, and in moment I knew where l
was.
II had come dorm head first into the
reAt
The water was some ten feet deep.
was thoroughly at home in the water,
though wasn't used to diving in that
fashion, and l managed to right myself
and come up head first.
'The well was not more than three
feet across. and the pump had been
broken short off and carried away, leav-
ing a two-inch iron pipe standing
straight up in the middle.
Il was very nearly out of breath when
1 came to the top of the water NV
hands touched something floating on
the surface. l thought it was the cat;
imagine my surprise when l found it
was Charlie, our five-year-old boy!
He was terribly frightened, and as
amazed as l was. to find himself alone
in the well. The wonder was that We
were not both of us impaled on that
iron pipe; how we escaped it 1 can not
understand.
The cyclone had passed on, and Q
terrific. steady wind was blowing. L
could hear it roar above our heads: and
by the flashes Of lightning could see
that rain fell in torrents. We were
both SO wet we didn't mind the little
extra water that FLASHED down on us.
and as soon as possible l raised Charlie
to my shoulders. and by aid of the pipe
managed TO work my way to the top of
the we'll This took some little time,
and the wind and rain had nearly ceased
when ! set my feet on sclid earth again,
and found we were unhurt.
But such a scene as looked unon I
hope never to see again, And dreaded
10 look about me for fear of worse
things. Evidently the house had been
lifted bodily from its foundations and
dashed down, and every thing that had
not been carried away by the wind Law
about the yard: many Of the great tim
bers were found rods away driven into
tho earth, as if they had been but tent
pegs
soon heard my wifs's voice calling,