Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1897-08-23

| A Kansan abroad recently found
| crowd that did not seem to appreciate
his conversation concerning the conspir
acy OF the foreign capital list to compe
| the P0pultst farmers of Kansas to pa,
their honest debts, so he pulled out hi,
stock OF tornado stories. hoping to at
tract attention, says the Kansas Cit,
| Times.
II saw a cyclone once" said he, "tha
picked up straw stack and moved 1t 4
mile ana put 1t lack, straw on straw, a,
| it was"
Two or three OF the auditors yawned
and the Kansas man tried It again.
twister suck sixty gallons Of molasses GU,
| OF barrel In front OF a grocery store
and distribute It to every family In t0wr
who had bucket out on the back steT
for the milkman."
He cleared his throat and began again
Back In the seventies we had terrible
cyclone In western Kansas. 1t blew the
cracks out OF the fences, pulled a eistern
out OF the ground. moved township line
and changed the day Of the week."
This last fusilade induced one of the
listeners to speak up. He said: II do
not know much about cyclones, but once
when l was at sea l saw a waterspout
pick up tons Of water and carry It mile
Hold on" cried the Kansan: III you
are going to degrade the conversation to
the level OF common lying contest
VIII retire. And he got up and walked
away pompously.
told this story and expected people to be-
lieve IT. :
Il was out in Kansas last summer, and
the first cyclone. of course, I went down
was soon blown away. The next thing /
knew the cellar went too, rolling over
and over like silk hat. / was soon
spilled out. With infinite labor ! crawled
back in the teeth of the wind. intending
to take refuge in the hole the cellar came
out OF. To my CONSERVATION found
that that had blown away Also"
prominent kansan is accredited with
telling this
Tell you what's fact. / have known
1t to blow twelve days and nights on q
stretch and hold sheep up against the
side Of barn until he starved to DEATH"
Probably the story which better Illus
trates the position Of the Populist farm
er In Kansas than any told in recent
years, Is this
Kansas man Visiting in the East: YES
sir. Kansas is the country for the farm
ers. Look at her vast prairies covered
whole counties sink down in the middle.
Look at her corn crop, SO vast that II
crowded township lines into the river"
Same Kansas man Eat the Popuiist
meeting in has own nelghborhood)-"Fe
low sufferers. dry weather, Hessian flies
and goldbugs prey like vampires on our
state. Our once fair state is plastered
over with mortgages SO heavy that we
have to bore a hole through them with
an augur in order to plant corn. Rouse.
We siaves.
A country editor not far from Summer
field just after receiving cord of wood
and big supply of vegetables on sub
scription. dipped his pen in the ink and
there being a better state than Kansas
every potato winks it's eye. every beet
gets red in the face. every onion gets
stronger. every oat field Is shocked. the
rye strokes its beard. the corn pricks up
its ears and every foot of ground kicks"
There has been a premium offered for
the capture of the man who started this
clever lie: "A Kansas farmer planted
his farm in popcorn and gathered it into
his barn. The barn took fire, the corn
popped and filled a ten-acre field. his
old mare. thinking it snow storm, lay
down and froze to DEATH"