People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1892-04-08

out of the mud and dirt. An old SOL
dier by the name of William Pointer,
from northern Indiana was stopping
at Mr.. Hartsells at the time. He is an
old and feeble man and when the storm
came he was in the room with Mr..
Hartsell. He was thrown against the
heating stove, which he clutched and
was carried with it from there almost
to the barn, about twenty-five yards
away, holding all the time to the stove.
He was badly mangled, bruised and
cut up, hardly a sound piece of flesh
being left on his body. He is still liv-
ing and able to move around a little.
He had in his pocket leather pocket
book containing all his pension papers,
including his discharges, which were
carried away with everything else he
had. The soldiers at Oxford sent him
a suit of clothes and he is being cared
for by them. A fine young orchard of
Mr.. Hattsell'S is a total loss.
After leaving this place of terrible
destruction and deSolatiOn, the next
place visited was the once comfortable
home of Henry Massey, a bachelor.
We found Henry looking surprisingly
cheerful when there was hardly any
thing left on his farm but his cellar.
He had just come in from a field half
mile from the house and was carrying
his shaving brush, which he found safe
and sound. All of his buildings and
machinery, wagons, buggieS and all is
a total loss. His fine orchard was ut
terly demolished and some of the lar
geSt trees uprOoted and carried half
mile away.
The WinSOr school house, which
stood on a corner of Henry MaSSey's
farm, was all gone even a part of the
foundation and was scattered for miles
across the fields. Beulah Chapel, a
Friends church which stood just across
the road from the school house, was
demolished so that it would hardly
make kindling wood.
One half mile south we came to the
farm of Samuel ButterwOrth. Here
house, barn, farm machinery and fur
niture was a mass of wreckage. Trees
and dead animals were piled in every
direction. Mr.. ButterwOrth has a
leg broken and other members of the
family sustained injuries but no one
killed.
A little farther south is the home of
G. H. WinsOr. His barn was destroyed
but the house was not mOleSted. On
the floor of the summer kitchen at
this place, the writer witnessed the
Saddest scene of all. Lying side by
side were father and four sons cold in
death, carried there from the next
farm west, where Wm. Little lived
and was killed, with four of his boys
From all indications the boys
all lost their lives by being crush
ed by a binder machine that crashed
into the room and mangled them in a
manner horrible to contemplate. The
children'S names and ages are as fol-
lows: Arthur, 16 years; Samuel, IA
years; Bennie, l2 years and Ray, three
months.
William Little, aged 3S years and
father of this afflicted family, was not
killed instantly but lived two hours
after the storm. His death was di-
rectly caused by a sharp piece of tim
Der which entered his back and passed
almost through his body. When the
worst of the storm had passed over
and this family of seven left on the
bleak prairie where only a few mo-
ments before they were chatting to-
gether in their home, a happy family,
now scattered, some living and some
dead, in the awful darkness and beat
ing rain, makes a scene too real and
awful to be pictured with pen in all its
dreadfulnesS. Mrs. Little was holding
the baby and it was torn from her
arms and dashed to death. She was
the first to speak and after calling the
name of her husband and then the
names of each of the children and re-
ceivlng no answer, she again called to
her husband and he answered. He
told her he could not move and asked
her if she could not get to him. She
said that she would try and also told
him that she had two of the children
with her alive She managed to crawl
to him and take the children with her.
When she got to him she found two of
the boys lying beside their father, dead.
Finding that she was able to get up
she got on her feet and found that she
could walk. Now came the trying
scene of the parting of husband and
wife. They could see the light at Mr.,
POrter's, quarter of a mile west and
Mr.. Little, being unable to rise and
knowing that he had only a little while
to live, began to urge his wife to try to
make her way to the light. She at first
refused to leave him, but he insisted
/ that she make an attemnt tn save hel