The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1904-02-04

| fortunate. About two years ago the
eldest son died in Kansas, his father
went to see him and he was taken sick
and died. The widow and four children
were living four miles from Hydro, right
in the track of the storm. 1t tore TIL.
house all to pieces AMI tore Mrs.
Browns scalp off until it hung down
over her face, and she lived "a hours in
that condition. Killed. two children,
covered one little girl two feet in the
mud and water; two smaller children
were found wrapped in blanket un-
harmed and quite distance from the
house or where itstool. The singular
part of this tragedy is this. One half
mile away neighhor's house was badly
shaken but not wrecked, but the doors
| were blown open and the lights put out.
The storm began at 8 p. m. and it hailed
II hours. These people finally got
light and among the things scattered on
the floor they saw some pictures
which the Widow Brown had had in her
house. They knew then her house was
gone and with some other neighbors
started to their rescue in time to save
the little children and get the poor old
woman to a place of shelter. they
found the little girl clinging to wire
fence and her brother beside her dead.
Her hands were torn and badly lacerat-
ed by the wire. 1t was still raining
terribly. Tho children will not sleep
a night above ground now, but sleep IN
cave. Steve and his wife went to the
cave when the window lights began to
break. He was wrapped in quilt sit
ting on box in the cave when all at
once deluge of water strnck him on
Al, of hr
off into water two feet deep, all tangled
up in his quilt. He said he thought the
cyclone had struck him sure and his
time had come,, but it was only water
lpouring down a gopher hole.
| Well, two big Indians Just came and
interrupted me. 1t is the fifth time |
have answered the door this afternoon.
| American Horse and his interpreter
wanted to see Mr.. Strong about trading
for some cedar posts. When You want
! to trade with a white man, feed him be-
/ fore trading, but feed an Indian and you
can never trade with him, so he did not
get anything to eat this time. l must
| tell you about the fine hen house Strong
built for me. Well, it is all lumber and
no hen house. j. Smith up in Tenn.
knows little about Strong's carpenter
work, especially the cart he made away
back in the seventies to haul the wheat,
| bran, and meat barrel out Of the sum
| mer kitchen. The sequel was too
/ laughable. guess | will he like Sam
antha Allen; if it wasn't for Josiah ]
would have nothing to write about, but
before closing / must tell you about
Johns big hunt q week or two ago. He
lhasn It been well this fall and & didn't
Tthink winter hunting would be good for
him, but as he took two doctors and two
druggists with supplies with him (sup-
plies | suppose they were, for heard
one ask if they thought there would be
any snakes this time of year, they fin
ally got started and got as far as the
caves where they camped, (the Dalton
gang made their rendezvous in these
/ caves several years ago) got their sup
per and went to bed so as to be up
in early pursuit of the game the next
morning. John, with a borrowed gun
which would shoot only when he didn't
want it to, made out to kill what squir-
rels they needed. The second day they
started at daybreak, travelled a short
distance and saw nine deer. The first
man who saw them thought they were
cattle and he came from Des Moines. !
think they all shot at them and knocked
one down but before they got to it it
was up and gone with all the rest.
They were all mad for they had no dogs
Except bird dogs with them, (the idea Of
him going hunting without a hound) SO
he starts back to the ranch for old Maize
and stag hound they have out there
but the boys and dogs were across the
Canadian river. He was just little
mad. One man, short heavy set fell
low, struck out on foot but he never
overlook them nor seen them any more.
They met him coming into camp, and
they thought they would have to carry
him the rest of the way. John said he
laughed until he could laugh no more at
his forlorn and comical appearance.
Holmes said he had been mosquito bit
ten through two shirts over on Deer
Creek last summer, and bitten so bad
that he could neither see nor eat, but
was never so near dead before. The
third morning John got up Twill call him
John in this hunt) and built fire in
front of the tent. AS the fire blaZed up
he happened TO glance over the sleeping
crowd and saw the light rejecting on
1.-The face of he thought the ugliest man
he ever saw, and he awoke another man
to look. He says, "My God, he is dead
DuUT Uuc uidH HSdiN Hill duCl. IdlSSu UP
and says, "Who is sick?' He was one of
the doctors. They told him they
thought he was dead but to get up for
there was regular blizzard coming.
He looked out and saw the snow coming
in regular whirls, as he thought, but it
was the wind blowing the white ashes
over the tent. These hunters had to go
and get some more supplies as they had
only brought crackers and such stuff to
eat and they did not last long. John
said if he just had Dan Bright, George
Wadsworth, Jim Dobson and Virge Pen
i niwell and we'll filled grub boxes, he
would have just been happy, and had
them off to one side to laugh in their
Jolly old way. The fourth morning they
struck lot of wild turkey tracks but
the wind was blowing heavy gale all
day. They finally got a greyhound and
started after the wounded deer but Il
guess it's wounds had healed for they
never ran across it, think instead Of
1 seeing imaginary snakes it was deer,
i .pvxuau " tbav hronuht tho ho-pd ho,no