New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-08-06
KANSAS'S TITLE TO FAME.
MADE BY THE IMAGINATIVE AND HfPEff-
BOLIC CORRESPONDENT.

Washington correspondence of The Chicago
Record
Mr. Coburn. the Agricultural Commissioner OF
Kansas. charges all the notoriety that kansa'
has suffered from during the last quarter OF
century to Eastern newspaper correspondents
VINO. he says. have visited that State, ana haEo
tried to interest tn ir readers by nventng freak
and fabulous stories.
cit has been left to the correspondents vi
Eastern papers to portray Kansas to the world
IN all the various shades and tints.' SAID MT
Cohurn from those of glOomest midnight ana
deepest woe to brightest MONDAY and heaven
gliding. His finest work, that which has always
stamped him IS possessing the true artistic tenn
permanent. has been his treatment of weather
conc itions, especially our impulsive zephyrS ana
periods Of prOcraStinatcd rainfall The lines OF
thought always discernible in his work are that
we are in a chronic condition of cyclone, drouth
BLIZZARD Varicgated by lnNaSlOHS ana neNds
tations e chinchbuGs and glasshOppeTs. In q al
ing with the former he deScril Is the wind when
he says blew a cow up against the size OF Il
barn and held her there fOt twelve days or until
she starved to death. The same wind, says this
vrracious chrOniCler. blew the cracks out OF the
fences. sucked cistcrn from the ground. moved
he township line and changed the day OF the
wcok while it ylnked the bungnole out Of a barre
and buried it in "A sandhill eighty miles away
ON another occasion. as he AYERS when stuppiH
at a farmhouse a cyclone came up ana ne WIZ
the family. went into the cellar. The house was
soon blown away: presently the cellar went ton
rolling over and over like a silk hat lie was
early spilled out. but with infinite labor dragE "a
to take refuge in the hole the cellar came out Of
but 10 his great CONSERVATION he found that the
hole had been blown away also. shortly after
this a farmer riding along the road with
Jug Of sorghum tied with strap to his saddle
horn. \ cyclone came up. and after it had
passed the jug handle was found inside the jug
ana tn" strap was sticking out OF the jug
mouth. the jug having been blown inside out
without spillng drop Of the molasses. During
IN" Same blow a goat happened to get in its
path. ard his hair was blown off until he looked
III. Il ~ 4, b..
goat look SO much like a Mexican dog with
horns that it was placed on exhibition at the
Worlds Fair. attra, ting attention as one OF the
great curiosities of the century.
The Eastern correspondent ~ equally At ease
in dealing with the intervals occurring between
showers. which the fertility of his imagination
aud the cXtrcW' elasticity Of iiS conscience
permit him to describe ~ drouths Whatever
portion II his vocabulary has not already been
exhausted in describing the cyclone is at once
available for writing VI tho drouth Through
him wondering word learns Of the alleged
Kansas ferry man who has to haul water ten
months I'm tn" year in order To- keep his boat
ruur ing. Of Ia" families VINO each morning are
compelled 10 run their wells through clothes
WrirGcrs that they may obtain water fer cook
ing purposes. II n-ighborhoods whore II is 50
hrs that ~ ttcr is wet only on one side. ana
vhci" fish to alay thirst and rinse the dust
from th'ir thrnats. swarm out on the prdiric4
and hap Ia" boiling dew from the buffalo grass
he u is who says this distressing scarcity of
~ ieturr Is forced upon Us 10y TIA" corporations
that haN. c'rrer'd IN" water supply To- put into
their stocks IN To such an extent that farmers
has" to soak their hogs over night i'm order to
make them hold swirl.
"Nuothcr remarkable story is told ~ man
VIII" was driving over Tho divide north Of Dodge
CITY when shower cam up He was riding
huckhoard which has bottom made by fasten-
iuE Dl"ats between Oh" aXics with spaces II hair
AN inch between the cl.ats The water fen So
fast that 10 could NOT run through tho bottom ~
mo hu'khnarl 49, fast az il fell Rushing down
m" s'i" ~ ~" divide the water struck barh"d