The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1895-06-15
SOME STRANGE SHOWERS
Visible Only TO tho Alconolizod
vioion or Tipplcrs.
Tough Yarns spun By Seasoned Call
forninnr About Lizards and othsr
Small Deer Descending from
the Clouds.

Col. Bixhy. Judge Dukes and Maj.
FinnGy came over from the Barstow
diggings one evening recently with
a big story about a storm few
evenings before on the Laramie plains
Ia which 1t raincd lizards. They had
been over the divide 10 the Waterman
ranch, and on returning were over
taken by gale. which presently
brought rain. For an hour or so II
poured in torrents, and then, just at
dusk. they felt something solid strils-
ing them occasionally. At length the
colonel, who was sitting on the back
seat, says writer In the New York
Sun, reached down into the wagon box
and pulled out water dog" about
six inches long. This convinced the
tourists that an extraordinary storm
was in progress, and 20 some extent
prepared them for what followed.
Little by little" said the judge.
81 he bombnrdmcnt increased, until liz
ards and toads were thiclxcr'n flies. We
turned up our coat collars and pulled
down our hats, but 1t did no good
They'd strike us in the face, in the lap,
on the back and all over, and the
horses became wild with terror We
lost our way, and the major got out to
look at the ground, but jumped back
into the wagon again with yell, say
ing IL was knee deep with lizards. BY
this time it had stopped raining and we
came TO the conclusion, after mature
reflection, that the area of the storm
could not be large, and that II we
moved straight ahead in almost any di-
rection we. would soon be out of it,
Acting on this determination we start
cd up again, aud 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 fall;
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 to advance In explanation of
this visitation, the major said that
there was n 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 n
similar case in Kansas. A tornado had
followed the line of river and scooped
1t out SO clean for 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 TO show the folks, and
he would get them, but, after search
ing the wagon box in vain, he was
forced to apologize by saying that they
had prob ably come to life and crawled
away.
Capt. Nelson, the saloonleeper, 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 be
kind Of pleasant and sociable with
en-. He never made no fuss, never got
excited, and never got scared. He'd
be wailSinR along ON the sidewalk. and
all of sudden he would see a little
baby elephant ahead of him, and would
run along and try TO 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
coniidcntially that he wanted drink,
but that he couldn't swallow IL unless
you took that alligator off the bar.
I've seen flank go out in the street lots
of times 10 avoid stepping on n 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. He was a pleasant man 20
have around. When he got the trc-
mems, he would always get them right,
and nobody was the worse for IL.
Zone 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 |
aftcrwnrd, 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 few miles
he made me stop and then start up
slow because he didn't want 20 hurt |
them.
Hurt what2' says I.
"'The little Elephants said he.
Then Hooked at him. and he jumped |
out OF the buggy and began TO chase
one of them. Pretty soon / got
tired, and began to chase
him. He and ] had II there for
about two hours, but l ran him down
and got him into the wagon. Then ne
wanted me 10 take one of them home
with me, aud just 20 please him l pre-.
tended 70 put one into the wagon. Tie
pattcd the imaginary elephant, and
was very contented with 10 until we got /
most TO Laramie, and then II vanished"
After all hands had partalScn OF the
landlords cheer, he added:
Now, then, Judge, major and colonel,
IL