Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-05-12
A GRIM EXPERIENCE
Messenger Boy Caught in a
Kansas Thunderstorm.
STUNNED BY THE LIGHTNING
While Delivering Telegram to a
Country Address.
DRENCHED AND FRIGHTENED
Bearer Of Sad News Arrived at tho
Cabin Of the Old Hermit, Only to
Find Him Dead in His Chair.
DRENCHED AND FRIGHTENED

cabin OF the Old Hermit, Only to
Find Him Dead in His Chair.
| When. last Saturday afternoon. along to-
ward department closing time, the forked
lightning began to flame in the western sky.
a man Of forty or so. with Office In one
Of the high downtown office buildings.
stood gazing out OF his window at the cleo
| trical rumpus over Georgetown.
| I've got myself trained now" the big
man said to his office mate, $50 that can
not only look at these aerial rough-houses
| without ouaking in my low cuts, but 30
that can actually enjoy the splendor Of
them. But 1t took me a long time to con-
Quer my dread Of thunder storms A thun-
| der storm that came my way when was at
| the vealy and formative stage Of my life
set me back about twenty years In my APP
preciation Of what the weather charters
call meteorological disturbances.
II was ten-year-old Kansas boy when
1t happened. I'd been hustling for liveii-
hood for quite a bit before rounding out
that first Of my decades. but the job thon
held down was telegraph messengers bill
let, at $3.50 week. Pretty soft for me. that
job. They didn't work me more than six
| teen or seventeen hours day. And then
| had q peaked uniform cap. with nickel
| plated device above the peak which caused
all OF my kid pals so to swell up with envy
that they took turns in throwing rocks at
me whenever passed EN-. Understanding
| the cause Of their pique. / enjoyed the
| rocks.
There were two other youngsters acting
al messengers In that Leavenworth Office.
and 1t was a case of Shanks his mare for
all messages within a radius Of five miles Of
the Shawnee street Office. When q telegram
spun along for somebody living more than
4 10 ff7nn fhar
yuse for the use Of US kids. We liked those
| cayuse runs and used to fight and claw
each other for them. For months at
| stretch l used to go about with a black
| eye. put on me in the progress Of scraps
with the other two kids for those cayuse
| trips.
but at length the manager grew tired
/ OF seeing three facially mutiiated boys
hanging around the Office and he estab-
lished the rule that We should take turns at
the cayuse. My mother failed to recognize
| me when these continuous performance
black eyes healed. she was SO used to seeing
me with 'em.
Caught a Cayuse Trick.
| "One afternoon caught the cayuse trick
for an eight-mile message The telegram
was for an old hermit who lived in cabin
back of the De Soto road. north of Leaven-
| worth. The hermit. whom they called old
| Man Barlow was a fearsome-looking old
chap. who had been erected into a bugaboo
| by Leavenworth mothers for soaring msbe-
] having children. The mothers always
threatened to turn the indecorous kids over
| to old Man Barlow if they didn't smoke
UP and act nicer.
I'D previously caught several glimpses of
| the hermit in hiking by his cabin on the
| c1yuse. He had tangled mass of yellow
| ish white hair and a long, matted white
| beard. He wore an old army overcoat win
| ter and summer. and not much else. No
| body knew how he contrived to live, but the
| h1 n T ,,ay,r tlzot
| he lived ON the flesh of dogs. Whenever
| boy lost his dog old Man Barlow for some
reason that was never able to make out
| was supposed to have corraled the beast
| and devoured him.
| The telegram that I was scheduled to
| deliver to the old man was signed Ella,
| dated Oswego. N. Y. and announced the
| sudden death of the hermit's sister, Some
| how or other. l wasn't much enthused
| over the job of delivering this message
! even on the cherished back of that cayuse
| had it sort of figured out that If old Man
| Barlow was so fond of the flesh of dogs
| as I'd growed up believing from hearsay
that he was. then there wasn't any reason
In life why he shouldn't be equally fond OF
| boy meat. But 1t was my turn for the
| cayuse trick there was no way out Of it.
| and so off started.
| Il made the start at 3 O'Clock In the after
noon. 1t was a red-hot August day. and
| when started on the trip there wasn't a
| cloud in the brassy sky. When l had trot-
| ted the cayuse to the northern environs of
Leavenworth. though. and had entered
| upon the winding De Soto road I had a
good view of long stretch of the yellow
| Missouri river. And l hadn't covered a
| mile of the road before I noticed sort of
| bloated-looking green cloud putting up a
| bend OF the river. Right behind that cloud
| was heavy black one.
1.-The sandbars in the middle of the river
| began to look messy. The wind from the
| green cloud swooped upon the sandbars
and picked up acres OF their top surface,
| SO that down in that direction the air was
presently filled with yellow murk of sand
| through which, only a few minutes later
A Sudden Kansas Storm.
| you'll hear lot about these sudden
South sea storms that develop while you
| walt from the cloud no bigger than a
mans hand I've done my bit in deep
| water, and not as a lolling passenger, either,
and I want to tell you that 1 never saw at
sea anything to match for suddenness those
wind and thunder storms of Kansas
Il was In the murk of flying sand before
L knew where was at, and then the black
pail that had blotted out the sun almost be-
fore Ia had a chance to size it up seemed
to be SO close over my head that L felt as
If could almost reach up from the saddle
and grab an edge of it. But 1 didn't want
to do that l hadn't lost any black cloud.
THE devilish booming began right over
my head in less than three minutes after l
had first beheld that puffy, green cloud
away down the lower bend of the Big
Muddy. There Is nothing like it back east
here. The worst thunder storm 1 ever heard
on the Atlantic seaboard was like the
cracking of toy torpedoes compared to Just
a middling Kansas thunder storm
THE zenith-teartng lightning alternated in
its hues First there'd be a binding apple
green glare, instantly followed by a crash
that would remind me now of the blowing
OF OF the head OF a volcano. and then a
sustained. dazzling, purplish flare. accom-
panying two or three tremendous booms all
in a row, as IL the devil had been amusing
himself by firing off 20-inch six-shooter
Gentlemen. but / was a-skeart! My
cayuse began to buck under me with the
first flares OF lightning and booming of
thunder. but when the performance abort
reached Its worst the poor little four-iegged
chap was 30 scared himself that he actually
quieted down and tried to bury his eyes
In some hazel bushes that lined the road.
Il jumped off of him and rested my eyes
against the saddle blanket to shut out, as
best could, the sight of the lightning nd