Mexico weekly ledger. (Mexico, Mo.) 1855-1956, 1894-08-16
THE RaINMAKER At WORK.
Declines to Entertain Visitors
Will Bring Rain.


viii Bring Rain.
The rainmaker was seen last Satur.
day in his private room in the Hinel
Hall and interviewed by a LEDGER
representative and found to be very
pleasant gentleman. He had very
little to say about his business, but
was very social otherwise.
"Tell the people" said Mr.. Mat
thews, "that I will not say where il
will rain, when it will rain or how
much it will rain. The only thing
that they can rest assured of is that
it will rain.''
Mr.. Matthews showed the repor.
ter some newspaper extracts, which
proved that in Sedgewick County,
Kansas, where he remained about
twenty days last month, that there
were fourteen inches of rain fell DUR
ing that time. He worked six days
in Scott County, the same state, in
May and got one. half inch of rain.
He remained seven days at Kiowa,
Kansas, and got four good rains.
"You might say also,'' said Mr..
Matthews, "that there will be no rain
for at least three days YETI
Some slight distractions have pre-
vented him starting his apparatus
as soon as expected.
We examined the room and the
''machine" and all that we could
discover were four large jars with
funnel'shaped tin pipes leading to
a central pipe, which protruded into
the alley at the cornice of the build
ing. This is all that appeared to
the eye, but we have learned a part
of his process and the results, and
full description will appear in
the LEDGER.
AS we started to go MIR. Mat
thews said, "Tell the people that
my doors are locked to all inspectors
and question askers and l do not
wish to be bothered by anyone"
He bolted the door and the only
thing that the people can do is to
wait for the rain.
THE SNAKE THEORY.
In the good old days of the early
history of this country it was just as
hot and dry at times as now. People
did not then pray for rain, neither did
they have any rainmakers. They just
went out and killed snakes and turn
ed them upside down and it rained.
Ifany man had come among them and
even intimated that he could make
it rain he would have been vigor-
ously booted.
Thirty-five Or forty years ago in a
drouth like the present one the peo-
pie had their own peculiar way of pro-
ducing rain and it rarely ever failed,
so we are now told by old forty-niners.
Snakes were then more plentiful than
now and the people of a neighborhood
would go out en- masse and kill lot of
these reptiles and turn them on their
backs and rain would fall copiously in
short time. They did not have to
wait six days nor even six hours and
it cost nothing except the sacrifice Of
the snakes. Amy kind of snakes would
do, but the blue racer and black spe-
cies were the best and were more ca
gerly sought for. George Whitley says
in his younger days he has seen the
snake experiment tried often and it
always rained directly afterward. G.
B. Willingham, another old resident,
verifies Mr.. Wilfley's statement, and
any number of others have given in
their testimony supporting the snake
theory. 1t was an ancient custom and
some people think that maybe the
flood was caused by old Noah and his
henchmen OVERRIDING the snake busi-
ness.
If the rainmaker fails to produce the
desired article we are in favor of trying
the snake plan. These are dog days.
Snakes are blind and are very easily
killed. Everybody can contribute
snake and not half try.
RAINMAKING IN THE WEST.
Rainmakers got their first promi-
nence in this country through their
operations In Kansas. Frank Mel
bourne, who had had some experience
as an experimenter at his home in
Ohio, went to the drouth-strickens Sec
tions of the "Sunflower" state and
contracted to deliver rain within a
specified time. He received little or
no encouragement, but he pushed his
work and either with Providence Oh
his side or with mighty good scheme
he secured rain at every point of trial.
The efforts of al 1.-The newspapers in the
state-and they were all hustlers out
there-did not avail in trying TO learn
anything of Melbourne's scheme. He
merely asked to be let alone, and
when the people became overly cur
ious and made an effort to find out
his methods anyhow he objected,
shut up shop and went away until he
was promised freedom from molesta-
ton. Meanwhile, every experiment
that was conducted under his man
aeement in Kansas seemed to be fol-
lowed by success. Still, it might have
been Providence. The Lord, as a great
soldier once said, was on the side of
the heavy artillery. In the case Of
Melbourne, he might have picked
happy times for his work. Rain might
have come anyhow.
From Kansas, after the crops we're
all saved, Melbourne went to Wyom.
ing. The newspapers of Chicago had
been attracted to him in the mean
time and they sent their representa-