The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1904-12-09
a !! .Tl'',o'''r1p.e'''.d'|oed
Tornado 8 q
~ FRANZ L. POLLOCK


Ohio. and he decided to drive over and
spend Sunday there. But Paul Mat
thews and his wagon were not wei
come sight in that region. The town
would not allow him to drive within
its limits, and he had to leave his
wagon o mile outside.
This was due to no personal preJu-
dice. 1t was because he was by pro-
fession a ''well-shooter," and that red
painted spring wagon, with the RED
flag, carried 80 or 40 pints of nitro
elycerin, in small tins packed snugly
in padded frames.
The business of the well-shoOter Is
we'll understood in the oil regions, ana
his wagon becomes a familiar, though
always an alarming, sight. When an
oil we'll ceases to flow, charge OF
high explosive fired at the bottom OF
the tube will often stimulate 1t into
activity again. 1t is the business OF
the well-shooter to supply this stlm-
illus, and he drives about from place
to place with a CARLOAD of nitro
glycerin. and everybody allows him to
take tho 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 ter
rifying object wherever he appeared.
Moreover, he found that the continual
presence and odor of the nitroglycerln
tended .to-produce violent headaches
and nausea.
He had left his wagon in a little
patch of woods to the west Of the vii
l<Ge 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-
iectioa enough.
A little after noca on Saturday b.
went out to attend to his team,
through oppressive heat and dust. II
had been very hot for a week. A
little before noon breeze had sprung
sky had clouded slightly with 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 q 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-
inter, for apart from the danger of
- hts u.oson -botr15 -srruCn,~ e1tcTe '1s-ua~
ways the possibility that heavy
shock of thunder may explode the
cargo by mere concussion.
When. Matthews came out from
among the trees 10 take another look
at the weather, however, he was
startled by the appearance of the
western sky. A dense bank of dark
blue cloud was rolling up rapidly,
blowing out in ragged streamers, as
if torn by 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
strange and chilly dusk fell upon the
earth. The horses were snorting and
stamping with fright. The storm de-
veloped so rapidly that Matthews at
drst had hardly recognized its nature.
Eut 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 veritable ''twisters'' do
occasionally sweep across that region;
and 1t 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
tiEs of nitroglycerin dropped and ex-
ploded all over the neighborhood.
They would certainly be carried to-
ward Fayette, and the tornado itself
would be comparatively minor peril.
Matthews stopped and tried to think
of something to do. A hole in the
ground, a cellar, would be the only
safe depository for the dangerous out
at; but it struck him that the ravine
of, Jackson's Creek might furnish q
substitute.
The creek was q small one, but It
flowed at the bottom Of a deep, mar
row rayine which it had cut through
hard clay. If the wagon could be
placed in that gorge, he thought, it
would be pretty certain to stay there,
and do nothing worse than blow up