The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-07-19
STOPPED BY MOSQUITOES.
Train Runs Into an Army of the Insects
and Is Halted.


and Is Halted.
Under Sheriff David Morgan arrived
home last evening from Great Falls,
having in charge William Tobin,
charged with a larceny committed in
Anaconda. The under sheriff's trip
was an eventful one
I'm the first place" said he, Just
after we left Butte last night we saw
in the distance what appeared to be the
lights of a great city. They were
spread out before us in plainly marked
blocks and squares, and we could al
most see the CLEAN of moving trolley
cars among them. The sight puzzled
the passengers greatly. for no large
town is located in that vicinity. Pres
city and found the lights were burning
greasewood shrubs. These were blaz-
ing in all directions. BY some freak of
nature the bushes occur in lines cross
ing each other at right angles and as
straight as if laid out by surveyor.
when We had reached a point about
20 miles from Great Falls the train
suddenly stopped. We were told the
engine had broken down. I went on
ahead to investigate and found the,
cause of the stoppage was an immense
cloud of mosquitoes that swarmed over
the track. They had clogged the run
ming gear of the engine so that it was
liIlpOSSlDle turn the Wn6SlS.
''One especially vigorous mosquito
which had been caught under the en-
CINE, had struggled valiantly to escape,
and in doing so had driven it's bill
through the shell of the engine boiler,
making a small puncture through
which the steam escaped in such guam,
titles as to kill thousands of the insects.
These dead mosquitoes were perhaps
foot deep on the track
I'VE dug them out as best we could.
In doing so several Of us examined the
mosquitoes and found them to be of
great size and their bills to be of a ma
terial resembling metal. Some passen-
gers of the type that is prone to avoid
semitic research, preferring to leap to
absurd conclusions, put forward the
theory that the mosquitoes had a
blacksmith shop in the mountains and
had armored their natural bills. Such
theory, of course, is nonsensical. A
careful examination of the bills showed
clearly that they were simply petrified.
There doubtless exists somewhere in
the neighborhood one of those petrify-
ing streams not uncommon in the
mountains of Montana. The mosqui-
toes have become aware of its peculiar
properties and by soaking their bills
in the water harden them so that they
may safely attack large game.
Il have no doubt that in years gone
killed bear, deer, elk and buffalo, and
thereby secured food for the large
tribes of mosquitoes that infest the
valley of the Missouri in that vicinity.
l do not believe that all the mosquitoes
wear petrified bills. but that certain of
them are selected for this duty, form
ing a sort of a standin" army. Our
train doubtless ran into this standing
army on its annual midsummer ma
neuvers.
las you know, the war spirit has
been in the air all over this country
during the past Is months. Men who
have studied advanced science will tell
you this phrase in the air is no set of
meaningless words. The very atmos-
phere has been charged with the mar
tial spirit. What more likely than that
the mosquito tribes became imbued
with, 1t and greatly, increased their
standing army, armed with the petr-
fled BILL weapon which, properly
used, is equally as deadly as the Maui
ser or Krag- Jorgensen. Perhaps never
before was their army so large, and
hence it has never before been encoun-
tered by human beings.
Sent out, perhaps, by an Alger on a
badly planned series of maneuvers, and
led undoubtedly by Shafter, the army
in its march Numbered into our train
and suffered shocking loss of life. I
shudder to think what will happen to
the mosquito Shafter and Alger when
the news gets home.
when we had cleared the track, a
new engine we had autographed for ar
rived and took us on to our destina-
ton"