Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1890-04-11


Root and Double windows.
1t was a sad and dilapidated looking lot Of
passengers that arrived at the Dearborn
Street depot, Sorry spectacle as they pre-
sented the cars upon which they came were
a still sorrier. They looked as if the train !
had been through gigantic sand blast, and
such proved TO be really the fact. You
see,n said an elderly man who had had on
this journey his first, and he hopes his last,
experience with an Arizona sand storm
9'You see the outside of our coaches how
Shiny they are; how dusty, dirty, scratched,
rent and torn they are. You have been in
side and observed how greasy. splotched,
worn and torn the upholstery is. We had
been going along swimmingly, most of us
bound TO Chicago, and all happy in the pros
pect of meeting and shaking hands with our
friends here, when we encountered that viii
famous sand storm. The day had been cloud
less, with not a 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 com
lany been SO happy In having come up with
so many congenial spirits,
"We had passed on the morning through a
long and broad field of sage brush. Although
the wind was high, and howled as though it
were celebrating the discovery 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 impression whatsoever on our prog
ress.
A sEMI-TRoPICAL CLIMATE.
awe were in Arizona; at an altitude of
about 6,0O0 feet the Thermometer registered
about IL dogs. below zero, and the urbane
porter was comforting us with the reflection
that in very few hours we should go down
grade and be in a semi-tropical climate, when
suddenly. as we were crossing Canon Diablo,
that Internal storm of sand burst upon us.
Have you ever seen that red sand of the great
American desert? 1t is as fine as extra super
fine -four and more penetrating than the best
directed shot from n ten inch riied gun OF
modern pattern. Now we are in a clear blue
sky, the sun smiling joyously down upon
earth
''Then-and then means less than one-half
a second afterward-we are in the midst of
cloud of sand, which with infinite impudence
and without knocking, forces entrance every
where Pullman cars have double windows,
and all Of these are fast. In a trice the venti-
lators are closed tight, and the porter and
conductor stand with cooked revolyers 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 voice that every
passenger shall envelp his or her head with
sheet or towel
at is the hour of / in the afternoon. In
trice we pass from light to darkness. The
engineer afterward declares that he was un
able to see the bell on his engine or his smoke
stack, and consequently he pulls up at a full
stop within q quarter Of a mile Of Wnslow
station. He can push his engine through
snow, even, though it be piled up a foot
or more on the track, but his experience
has taught him THAT if sand be piled up,
though but IN inch or two above the rail, his
entire train will be dtched He is aware
that n train is likely to butt into his and that
a western bound train is likely to telescope
him in front. But he realizes also that the
switch ahead may be misplaced. Hence his
halt. Ding, dong, dong, ding goes his bell,
and thus it keeps up unremittngly.
"There is not much talking. The most OPP
timistic of our party once in while essay a
pleasantly, but the individual who attemps 1t
grows pale and retires within himself | can
not 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 a month by "A simeon, but that it
was exceptional 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 subsde until one-half hour after 6
During that time the blast struck ON the cor
ner of our rear coaches and kept them con
stantly 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 expose eyes, nose or
mouth one second, but we kept our visages
concealed by sheets, blankets, towels, or
triple supply OF handkerchiets. Twas aw-
fully discouraging, l can assure YOU II a
fellow was minded to talk he could not be
heard, because all the rest had their ears so
mufiled up that they could not have heard
thunder when at its best or an entire broad
side from full rugged ship,
81 died dozen times in that six hours of
waiting | can never, possibly, suffer rs |
then endured agony.
1T is physiological fact that such wall
of sand makes short the supply of oxygen,
even out of doors. But we were shut up
tight and close within car. We hreathed
over and over again the same supply of air,
1t got closer and closer, aud our lungs got
weaker and weaker.
''Sandt You don't know what that brief
query means Why, my dear fellow, it
crowded in every where | give you my
word of honor that when the wind fell as it
did at sunset, there were six inches of red
sand on IA level inside our coach. There were
eight inches on "A level in the vestibule on the
outside. All the passengers constituted them
selves 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 raued the sand from
the inside Of the upper bunk arrangement, So
that our last estate was worse than the first
Every suit of clothes and every ladys
dress was ruined, Every bit OF plush up
holstery was ruined. Every car, passenger
and sleeper, must 20 to the factory for re-
pairs Every suit of clothes must he turned
over to the scourcr for cleansing. am on
my way to the Turkish bath FOR IA twenty-four
hours stay We have slept in sand, walked
over sand, wailowed in sand since that after
moon We have eaten sand at way stations
Dur Threats are sore, our lips are raw, our
ewes are hloodsuot We literally passed
through the valley of the shadow of death,
aud cannot forget that six hours stay in the
days darkness and gloom, though we lived
dozen centuries II is impossible to exagger-
ate He would he blessed or cursed with
su,prlatircly exalted imagination who could
conceive "A 1.-THE of our sulIerings just think
OF u~, Our fuces hidden in sheets and blank
cts hour 10y hour, not knowing what moment
would he our last We were more than half
nsphyxiatcd Not one of us has been able to
eat one. half "a square meal since. That in
al