The Van Buren press., 1904-12-10
A Torpedoed
! Tornado q q
by FRANZ L. POL L o. c X

~ himself within few miles OF his
home, at Fayette, in southeastern
Ohio, and he decided to drive over and
spend Sunday there. But Paul Mat
thews and his wagon were not a well
come sight in that region. The town
would not allow him to drive within
It's limits, and he had to leave his
wagon mile outside.
This was due to no personal preju-
| dice. 1t was because he was by pro-
fesSion well-shooter," and that red
painted spring wagon, with the red
flag, carried 80 or 40 pints of nitro
| glycerin, in small tins packed snugly
in padded frames.
The business of the well-sho0ter is
well understood in the oil regions, and
his wagon becomes a familiar, though
always an alarming, sight When an
| oil well ceases to flow, a charge OF
high explosive fired at the bottom OF
the tube will often stimulate it into
activity again 1t is the business OF
the well-shoOter to supply this slim
ulus, and he drives about from place
to place with a CARLOAD of nitro
glycerin, and everybody allows him to
take the whole road when he passes.
Matthews had taken up the business
from the natural propensity of youth
to run big risks for the chance of large
profits. He was growing accustomed
to the risks, but the profits were not
what he had expected, and it had be-
| come distinctly unpleasant to be a ter
ritying object wherever he appeared.
Moreover, he found that the continual
presence and odor of the nitroglycerin
tended to produce violent headaches
and nausea.
He had left his wagon in little
patch of woods to the west of the vii
lage The horses were staked out by
long ropes, and every day he walked
out to feed and water them. There
was no danger of anyone's meddling
with that outfit Its red flag was pro-
lection enough
A little after noon on Saturday he
went out to attend to his team,
through oppressive heat and dust. 1t
had been very hos for a week. A
little before noon a breeze had sprung
up, bat with no cooiness in 1t, and the
sky had clouded slightly with a cop
perry tint The wind drove vast clouds
of dust in Matthews face as he walked
up the road, and before he reached his
outfit he was convinced that heavy
thunderstorm was coming up.
This made him hasten to get
through his duties, for he had no de-
sire to remain near his wagon during
such a disturbance. A thunderstorm
is one of the terrors of the oil dyna-
miter for, apart from the danger of
his wagon being struck, there is al
ways the possibility that heavy
shock of thunder may explode the
cargo by mere concussion.
When Matthews came out from
among the trees to take another look
at the weather, however, he was
startled by the appearance OF the
western sky. A dense bank of dark
blue cloud w@s rolling up rapidly,
blowing out in ragged streamers, as
If torn by a powerful gale. Already
It was reaching halfway to the zen
it'll and the sun shone dimly through
a reddish haze In a few minutes
more this was blotted out, and a
strange and chilly dusk fell upon the
earth. The horses were snorting and
stamping with fright The storm de-
yeloped so rapidly that Matthews at
first had hardly recognized its nature.
But now the indications were only
too clear, Twice in his life he had
seen tornadoes. They are not so COM
mon in the middle west as upon the
| the plains, but yeritabe "twisters" do
occasionally sweep across that region
and It appeared afterward, in fact,
| that this was sort OF offshoot OF the
| cyclone that almost wiped out the
| town Of Pike Springs on the same day.
1t was coming apparently straight to-
ward Fayette, and paul's first and
| natural inclination was to run for
some shelter.
! He was not much alarmed for his
own safety until the thought Of his
wagonlOad Of explosives occurred to
him The shock OF the cyclone would
certainly explode It, Should It go of
where It stood, the resulting damage
would be comparatively slight but It
would almost certainly be lifted from
| the ground by the suction and the
tins Of nitroglycerin dropped and ex-
| ploded all over the neighborhood.
They would certainly be carried to-
ward Fayette, and the tornado itself
| would be a comparatively minor peril,
Matthews stopped and tried TO think
| OF something to do A hole In the
ground, u cellar, would be the only
safe depository for the dangerous out
| At. but II struck him that the ravno
| OF Jackson's Creek might furnish a
! substitute
The creek was small one, but Il
! flowed at the bottom OF n deep mar.
row ravine which It had cut through
hard clay II the wagon could be
placed In tina, gorge he thought, It
would be pretty certain to stay there,
and do nothing worse than blow up
the creok-bed, But the creek was n
mile away, In the direction Of the on
coming tornado,
Matthews did not stop however, to
think OF his fate II he we're caught
halfway or Of the impossiblIty OF
getting the wagon safely down the
proclpItous sides Of the rOyIno should
he roach It. lie was used to taking
! big chances and this seemed the only