Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1895-06-14
SOME STRANGE Show
Visible Only 20 the Alcoholized
Vision of Tipplers
Tough Yarns spun by Seasoned Cali
fornians About lizards and other
small Deer Descending from
the Clouds

IlnncN came over from the BSrStOW
diggings one evening recently with
a big story about a storm few
evenings before on the Laramie plains
in which it rained lizards They had
been over the divide 20 the Waterman
ranch. and on returning were over
taken by gale, which presently
brought rain. For an hour or 50 it
poured in torrents, and then, just at
dusk, they felt something solid strik-
ing them occasionally. At length the
colonel, who was sitting on the back
seat, says a writer in the New York
Sun, reached down into the wagon box
and pulled out a water dog about
six inches long. This convinced tho
tourists that an extraordinary storm
was in progress, and 20 some extent
prepared them for what followed
Little by little said the Judge,
"t he bombardment increased, until liz
ards and toads were thicker'n flies We
turned up our coat collars and pulled
down our hats, but il did no good.
They'd strike as in the face, in the lap,
on the back and ali over, and tho
horses became wild with terror We
lost our way, and the majo got out To
look at the ground, bat jumped back
into the wagon again with "A yell. say
ing ii was knee deep with lizards BY
! this time il had stopped raining and wa
came 20 the conclusion, after mature
reflection, that the area of the storm
/ could not be large, and that if wa
moved straight ahead in almost any di-
! rection we would soon be out Of it,
Acting on this determination we start
ed up again, and in the course of half
an hour we struck hard ground. We
camped near there and when daylight
came we went back ways and exam
ined the lizards There were millions
OF them, the great majority Of them
being dead as the result Of their falll
but there were plenty OF live ones and
the way they were crawling was a eau
ton.
Some one having asked what theory
they had 10 advance in explanation Of
this visitation, the major said that
there was lake on the summit of the
mountain off toward banning that was
full of lizards, and he had no doubt
that the wind, which was very high,
had scooped out that body of water
with all its contents and dumped them
on the Laramie plains. He knew of
similar case in Kansas. A tornado had
followed the line of a river and scooped
it out SO clean for a distance of nine
teen miles that farmers living thirty
miles from the stream found fish, tur-
ties and frogs in their front doOryards,
and believed they had rained down.
The colonel said he had brought few
Of the lizards in 20 show the folks, and
he would get them, but, after search
ing the wagon box in vain, he was
forced 20 apologize by saying that they
had prob ably come TO life and crawled
away.
Capt. Nelson, the saloonkeeper, who
had been a patient listener, shook his
head and said;
"Old Hank Moore was the only man
| ever knew who could get EN- and DO
kind Of pleasant and sociable with
'cn. He never made no fuss, never Gos
excited, and never got scared. He'd
be walking along on the sidewalk, and
all OF a sudden he would see little
baby elephant ahead of him, and would
run along and try 20 climb on his back.
Then, when he'd fall he'd swear that
somebody tripped him up, and he'd get
all over il. An hour later he would
get you off in the corner and tell you
confidentially that he wanted drink,
but that he couldn't swallow il unlesa
you took that alligator off the bar.
I've seen Hank 90 out in the street lots
Of times 10 avoid stepping on a toad
that he thought he saw. But he was
always happy and good natured about
il. He could see more elephants in .
minute than any man you ever knew,
and sometimes when they were partic-
ularly thick he would get up dance
with them. lie was pleasant man to
have around When he got the tre-
mems, he would always get them right,
and nobody was the worse for il.
lone day he came in from the Dodge
City plains with long story about see
ing drove Of elephants out there.
didn't know him so well then as did
afterward, and he was so quiet about
il that believed him, and just for the
fun Of the thing drove out there with
him. After we had gone a few miles
he made me stop and then start up
slow because he didn't want to hurt
them.
"'Hurt what? says l.
1.-THE little elephants, said he.
"Then looked at him, and he Jumped
out of the buggy and began TO chase
one OF them. Pretty soon got
tired, and l began TO chase
him. lie and had 1t there for
about two hours, bat l ran linn down
and got him into the wagon. Then he
wanted me 20 take one of them homo
with me, and just TO please him l pre-
tended 90 put one into the wagon. He
patted the imaginary elephant, and
was very contented with it until we got
most 10 Laramie, and then il vanished"
After all hands had partalScn of the
landlords cheer, he added:
Now, then. Judge. ma jor and colonel,
don't mind telling you th.t Hank
Moores drove of elephants was seen in
the same place that the lizards wero,
but there was something rather enter
tanning about the way he led EN- I'm