The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1890-04-19
AN ARIZONA SAND STORM.
EXPERIENCE OF PASSENGERS ON \ TRAIN
OyERTAKEN BY ONE.

lot of passengers that arrived at Dearborn
street depot Sorry spectacle as they
presented, the cars upon which they came
were still sorrier. They looked as
though the train had been through a
gigantic sand blast, and such proved to
be really the fact. You see" said an
elderly man, who had had on this journey
his tir5t-and he hopes his last-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
sT1m1ingIy, most of us bound for Ghica-
g. sd all happy in the prospect of meet
lIsg 7'esd shaking hands with our friends
y tsgsssfss. SheH y q uteF5a that vile sand
sTa91' Fl3tEAy &sd Dem s8iou6l 5ss, With
not SO ugly spot in view. In our
train n are three Pullman cars, five pas
! Senger coaches and three other cars. We
had formed acquaintances, one car with
! another, and decided that never had so
large company been SO happy in having
come up with Sc many cOngenial spirits.
! 1--WE had passed in the morning through
long and broad field of sage brush.
Although the wind was high, and howIed
as though it were celebrating the discov
cry OF America and all the important
events that have since happened, We cared
nothing for il, because we we're forging
ahead, and the winds frolic made no i'm
preston On cur progress.
A SENu-TROPICAL CLIMATE
I'VE were in Arizona: at an altitude of
about 5000 feet the thermometer regis
tered about 12' below zero, aud The
urbane porter was comforting US with the
reflection that in very few hours we
should 60 on down grade and be in q
semi tropical climate, when, as We W, re
crossing the Canon Diablo, that Internal
storm burst upon us. Have You ever
seen that red sand of the great American
desert2 1t is as fine as extra superfne
flour 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 ioyously down
upon the earth.
Then-and then means less than one
half a 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 tFiCe the ventiators are
closed tight, and the porter and conductor
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.
ut is the hour of in the Afternoon In
a trice we pass from light to darkness.
The engineer afterwsrd declared that
was unable to see the bell on his engine o
his smokestack, and c0nstqueDtIy he pull
up at a full stop within q quarter of a r.'
of Winslow station. He can pusl ri
engine. through snow, even thou ''
pied upa 1phT or more on. tina. track, OuG
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 train is likely
to butt into his and that western bound
train is likely to telescope him in front
But be 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
es say pleasantly, but the individual who
attempts it grows pale and retlres 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 its being
that that section was visited about once
month by a simeon, but that it was eXcep-
tiOnal for such storm to endure for more
than an hour Yet we struck that storm
at I 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 vissges concealed by sheets,
blankets towels or a triple supply of
hanGkerchiefs It was awfully discOurag
ing. | can assure you. If fellow was
minded to talk he could not be heard, be-
cause all the rest had their ears so muttled
up that they could not have heard thunder
when at its best, or an enJire bTOadside
from full rugged ship.
II died q dozen times in that six hours
of waiting. can never possibly suffer as
then endured agony.
ut is a 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
Sand? 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 inc aes OF
red sand on a level inside our coach.
|. ! Af,rl
vestibule on the outside. All the psssen-
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
so that our last estate was worse tlan the
first.
Every suit of clothes and every Iady'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 nv 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 Oar thrOats are
sore, our lips are raw, our eyes are blood
shot. We literally passed through the
valley of the shadow of death, and cannot
forget that six hours stay in the day
darkness and gloom, though we lived a
dozen centuries. 1t is impossible to ez-
aggerate. He would be blessed or cursed
with a superlative exalted Imagination
who could conceive a tithe 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