The Opelousas courier., 1899-12-09
CANNON FOR CYCLONE
A KANSAS TOWN ESCAPED
DESTRUCTION.
Che Deadly Tornado Swerved from It's
Course by an Artillery Attack-An
Old Sea Captains Novel Idea-Bafled
Elements.

LlFsly ualnJured IS due solely to the
inventive genius of one of the citizens
Of this place, Capt. John r. Hoades.
I retired sea captain, who, though hith-
srto generally regarded as a visionary
crank, is now hailed as the savior of
the hundreds OF lives that but for his
unique scheme would unquestionably
have been lost.
Mr.. Hoades' scheme consisted in
posting a large 15-inch s~mooth-bore
Parrot cannon. purchased by popular
subscription from the condemned stock
1t the New Orleans arsenal, on the
four sides Of the town, each gun I'M
Ter the care Of a watcn1ul attendant
during the cyclone season. The can
aon were designed to be fired into the
lace Of an approaching hurricane, in
he hope Of breaking its force.
When the new reached here that a
tornado was sweeping southwark over
The prairies east Of the Rockies, 1t was
feared that when it reached the CHINA
o river 1t would swerve from Its
track and follow the course Of the
'tream, as was done by the hurricane
that killed seven people here in the
autumn of 1897, q sharp bend in the
stream then throwing the storm oyer|
the peninsula upon which Hennessey
S situated.
The cannon to the west. where the
Town Is partly protected by the W!chi-
"a mountains, was accordingly with
drawn and placed on the northern
border as an additional protection. In
fortunately, however, on the approach
IF the funnel shaped cloud the western
gun was fred a couple Of seconds too
soon. swinging the storm toward the
east, SO that the shot from the other
gun did not take full effect. The com-
bined effort SO changed the tornado's
course, however, that only the ex-
IRENE eastern edge Of the town was
touched, but here the one house fully
u Its path was completely demolished
And the cannon which guarded that
and Of the peninsula was blown from
It's carriage, carried fully 500 feet and
hurled in a sand bank. The attend
ant at the gun, the Inhabitants OF the
solitary dwelling demolished were
warned in time to escape with their
lives.
In speaking Of the marvellous success.
pf his plan for fighting tornadoes,C Capt.
Hoades, the originator OF the scheme,
said:
II can hardly claim to have invented
the plan, for I have twice seen water
speuts broken by the same method
while following my former ayocation
On the sea. Indeed, it was this that
srst suggested the scheme to me-"
After the cyclone Of 1897 l suggest
ID that Hennessey, which is directly in
the path OF the south bound lorna
does, adopt this apparently strange
plan Of protection. 1t Is only fair to
state that at first I was the laughing
stock OF the town, and 1t was only by
persistent argument that I finally in
crested Mr.. Thomas, Of the Chicasan
coal company, in my plan. Backed
by SO influential a citizen, we finally
gathered together enough money by
popular subscription to purchase four
out Of date guns that saw service
around New Orleans during the civil
war, and mounted them In the places
selected. The most singular feature of
the whole matter Is that the one dwell
ing destroyed by today's storm was
occupied by the most persistent doubt
er in the town.
"An effort will now be shortly made"
Capt. Hoades concluded, ito similarly
equip all cities in the tornado belt, the
late experience Of Wisconsin and Ne
braska towns having clearing proved
that the hurricane cellars hitherto re-
lied on are nothing but death traps in
which their occupants are crushed be-
meath fallen walls or burned in the
fires which SO frequently follow the
storms"
A town meeting will be held tonight
to do honor to the aged preserver OF
the town, and the mayor Of Hennessey
has declared his intention of resigning
bis post in favor OF Capt. Hoades, a
suggestion that finds much favor
among those who owe their lives to
the captains foresight