Rocky Ford enterprise., 1894-03-15
fnE puo AwrlL. ,
AnA Was Hoisted O.t Of II In . Bad
~ battered Condition.

~ battered Condition.
A tall man who a face OF most Pc
culiaS appearance sat In a big chaii
In the lobby OF nm uptown hotel and
contemplatively smoked a cigar. His
nose appeared to be scraped of, and
there was a big dent in his forehead
as II somebody had, in playful mo-
ment, carved out q chunk to retain
memento,
The tall man sat and smoked alone
for half an hour or 50, and then d man
sat down near him; and then another
and another; until finally there was
q little knot of men around him and
they were all listening to the story he
was telling. This was it:
II suppose there are fifty people Il
day who ask me how it is have so lit
tie nose and such depression in my
forehead. l rarely tell any person,
but, us 1t is nothing to be ashamed of
and you have all expressed desire to
know, / believe 1 will reveal few
Of the secrets of my past life. When
was n good deal younger than am
now i got broke in n town In Southern
Illinois, and while there made the ac-
quaintance of II man who kept big
boarding house. There was no very
good water in tho town. and Id con-
cluded that he would dig well. ! had
never dug well, but 1 made out to
him that well digging was second ma
ture to me, and ! struck him for 4
job. He was little dubious, but he
finally concluded TO let me try 1t. We
got one of those fellows who walks
around with d forked twig and tells
where water is, and he made tour
80 l,n pnH 1npthaI thn
most available spot. Then l got a
rope and two pegs Of wood and marked
out a circle, borrowed a pickaN and
spade and began to dig.
"The soil was sandy on top and the
thing was easy for awhile. j reasoned
with myself that could get enough to
get me out Of town by the job, and
was happy. Things took n very diff
ferent turn soon, however, and struck
rock. I firmly believe that there is
no rock In the world that Is rs hard
as that fock was. Pharaoh's heart was
padding beside 1t. 1 got drill and
some blasting powder and went at it.
1 went down thirty feet and there
was no sign of water. The man who
manipulated the forked twlg was cock
sure that there was water In the earth
beneath that spot, and kept on blast
ing. One day 1 drilled very deep
hole, put in sending big charge Of
powder, and spent m hour Jumping III
brick dust Then l went up and saw
that everything was all clear, and told
the man who was working the wind
lass to wntch out, hnd then l gave the
signal to pull up as fast MS he was
able. went down and lighted the
fuse,
"Just us touched the match TO the
fuse I yelled to my man TO pull me
up. He began working the windlass
and l assembled quite rapidly. had
almost reached the top when the dOd!
gasted blast went off AS i have re-
marked. 1t was n corkcr A big chunk
of rock hit the bucket on the bottom
and drove me up into the mir t,s II |
had been fired out of a cannon. As |
was coming up my nose and forehead
struck on the edge of q 2-inch oak
plank that lny across the well. and
were Immediately reduced to their pres
ent proportions. The fellow Mt the
top stuck to his post and kept turning.
As my head came mp he saw the blood
and yelled: My God. he's kilt! Then,
with great foresight, he let go the han
dies of the windlnss, and ] didn't do
thing but drop thirty feet down on
that mass of jagged stone. That part
of the business broke n leg, an arm and
two ribs for me.
After awhile they fished me out.
and was in bed for weeks. When l
got ont I was worse off financially
than had been when I began the well,
and was short nose, n big chunk
of forehead and a lot of manly beauty
into the bargain. have dug 10 wells
sine that time."-Buffalo Express.