davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1908-05-01
q EVERAL railroad men were gath
y cred In the round house of one of

q EVERAL railroad men were gath
~ cred in the round house of one Of
the big railroads In c. recent
ly, waiting for "time." As usual when
men get together they were telling
stories Of thrilling adventures and final
ly one old timer was asked for a story.
He thought a moment and then said
that he thought about the most thrill
Ing adventure he ever had was a race
with tornado, and told the following
story:
1t was In 1878 or 1879, I forget
which. Anyway 1t was some time In
July. The weather had been pretty
hot and 1t was just the sort of day
for breeding a tornado. was work.
ing on one-horse railroad in southern
Kansas The superintendent wired me
to fetch my engine a distance of about
seventy miles to place called Peters.
town. 1t was wanted to haul a lot OF
perishable freight, mostly market prod.
uce, which had got shunted off by some
accident to a side track and was In
danger Of spelling A suit against
the company might have followed and
the business had to be attended to In g
hurry. There were only seven locomo
tives on the road, barring two or three
that were disabled.
got fuel and water aboard as quick
ly as possible. and started for Peters
Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1908-05-01
STRIKING IT RICH.

Tales Of treasure finding always pos
sess a fascination for all classes of
readers. Even the mature mind sci.
dom loses its delight in such stories.
Mr.. Whltmarsh, in his '|The Worlds
Rough Hand" describes his own expe,
riences as a fortune-hunter. At the
time of which he writes he was u
young fellow, and with his older and
more experienced partner, Sam, was In
Australia seeking for gold.
We had just finished our midday
meal. Early in the morning l had
crossed an old track leading to some
deserted workings near by, and on 1t
had picked up a piece of honeycombed
mineral which l could not place.
thought of 1t now and tossed it over 10
Sam, saying, Here's q curious bit of
stuff l found 1t looks like volcanic"
Sam laughed.
Il don't wonder 1t puzzled you, son
NY" he said. tits bit OF coke, drop
ped from wagon, probably"
He threw 1t back at me and care
lessly began to pound it between two
bits Of rock. Suddenly one of the stones
split; the fracture was hollow, contain
Ing grape-like clusters Of dark green.
well, here's something new, any.
way" said.
Sans face changed as he looked at
the stone. He tried the green substance
with his knife. 1t cut like wax.
otI,,or n.tod
did you find itT
showed him the exact spot, and he
wildly scrambled round on his hands
and knees. No stone like 1t was to be
found.
ut doesn't belong here" asserted
Sam. Being round, it rolled down the
hill, and It may have rolled q long
way"
1T couldn't have come far" said /,
pointing to a thick scrub growth.
That's nothing. The scrub is per
haps fifty years old, while the stone
may have been working down for fifty
thousand years. Well look up the
hIIf"
|
summit Of the range. Near small
hill with black, uneven crest W.
found some more Of the peculiar rount
stones.
Wonders our pile, lad" said Sam.
The crest Of the small hill proved t
be the source Of the rich specimen.
few moments work with the pick laiC
bare a seam Of ore seven feet In width
AS long as l live l shall never forge
the excitement and crazy JOY that
felt.
We had not taken a miners RICH
and could not legally peg out claim
Sam left ME to guard our lind AM
started for town. That afternoon wa
a gloriously happy one. l stretched my
self out at full length, pulled my ha
over my eyes and built air castles. Il
less than four hours Sam returned. H
had walked ten miles, taken out
miners right and procured some tools
Our claim was safe,
Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1908-05-01
|SS0sS0Ng69S@s0S9@NasG0
GA WILD RIDE~@
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- SzSsszs5 s=zs5zszsoo.

| to the eye. 80 that nothing could be
made out clearly. It was a tornado
that was coming. and no mistake, for
the strange cloud, which had the shape
OF gigantic peg-top, was distinctly
outlined in Its blackness against the
general blur. began to feel pretty
badly frightened myself. Now and
then, when l could take my eye or the
cloud, looked at the boy but he only
sat silent In the cab, staring at the
great peg-top with starting eyeballs and
white lips. Finally l said:
do you think we are going to e.
cape itT'
1--WE are right in It's track" he said
without looking at me.
You see, we were running in an ali
line over the prairie, directly northeast
and pursuing the path In which the
tornado was coming. Any other course
with the steam had on, would have
carried us out of the way.
The boy shoveled on more coal But
1t was no use. TheNengine was doIna
its best, and she wasn't capable of more
than about thirty-eight miles an hour
Its gaining on U.S." l said. "How
fast does such thing as that travel p
about 100 miles an hour" replied
the boy, white as sheet.
1t that had been true l would moi
be here to tell the story. have since
Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1908-05-01

The people of the Farce Islands cling
to their old customs and1ee little e
in change, says the author OF fhe
Faroes and Iceland" but now and then
one Of them becomes a conservative re-
former. Such was an old man Of
Stromo who, in his youth, had learned
cabinetmaking In Copenhagen, then
had been a blacksmith In New South
Wales, and later a marine In the Dam
lsh navy during the Sehleswig- HolsteIn
war.
Having thus Travelled far beyond the
widest dreams Of his countrymen, be
returned while still a comparatively
young man to Stromo, and invested his
savings in a home.
Conservative though he appeared to
outlanders, to the islanders he was a
reckless innovator. He rooted his house
with slate instead of with the tradi.
tional turf, but could fnd none to fol.
low his example. They shook their
heads In doubt.
He argued vainly with them against
the habit of throwing fsh-cleanines lnto
the brook and getting drinking water
lower down. The only advice they
would accept from hinl-and that after
long hesltation- to boil their ash.
oil outdoors instead Of In the Iivins
room.
But when this terrible lnnoraf1i
heard from a Visitor that women rode
bicycles In England, he was g -.
lshed that he asserted coneS ~. .94.
the world could NOT '''.'
Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1908-05-01

estimate and the monster va snI4
about four miles behind. Three miles
more and 1t had lessened the distance
by a mile at least. But We were netF
the river A minute later We wuet funs
ming across the bridge. No timo than
to heed the warning that trains must
run slowly over this stream 81 ODE.
dience to the sign post.
We Jew around the curve ana dashed
southwark, just In time to see the
mighty air balloon pass BY us with
whirl and roar. as II all the demons
in the internal regions were let loose.
We could not make out anything dis
tinctly, the sky being darkened and the
air filled with dust, but we knew that
we were safe. A few minutes later
the clouds rolled away and everything
was as quiet and peaceful as before
the storm. We ran back to the bridge
but 1t wasn't there and such REMAND
of 1t as were left were scattered an
over the country. The road was 20
badly torn up, the track for Consider
able distances being twisted and tnakz
to pieces, that the expense a fenaI1
1t nearly bankrupted thu oo1A1
Eleven people lost their slF
tornado, which Afforded NE rs 46eS||
ence which would not repeat foE 6I|
the money in the world. Chlch1a DalII
News
Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1908-05-01
A PAIR oF Old SOCKS.

There are holes in the heels that gaping and wide
And the toes have departed long since 1t is true
While the knees are curious mixture of darns
OF every conceivable texture and hue.
As best they are only pair of old socks,
Bearing the tatters of days that are fed,
Just a pair of yarn stockings my grandmother knit
Striped gaily with ribbands Of white and of red
With her little white cap tied under her chin.
And the snowy apron smoothed over her lap
She would sit all day by the chimney fire
And gossip and knit, and knit and nap,
And always her knitting would prove to be
pair of stockings, white and red,
For no other color quite good
And that's what grandmother always said.
Years have passed and the wooden chair
Is vacant by the chimney place;
The shining needles dull with rust
Where times rude finger has left its trace.
And even 1 myself am changed,
All that remains from childhoods flight
Are these little tattered wooden socks
With candy stripes Of red and white
And no rich gift that the years may yield
Ever will prove dear to me,
Linking to-day with the youthful past
When life careless and gay and free
When life was mystery fair and new,
Ere darkness came and hope lay dead
As this pair of boyish worn-out socks
With candy-stripes of white and red.
go Interior
Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1908-05-01
other difficulties which suggest them.
METAL in PLACE OF COPPER.

Aluminium and Sodium, However,
Are Not Wholly Satisfactory.
THE high price Of copner has for
years Inspired search for something
which would serve equally well as a
conductor of electricity but would be
cheaper. To limited extent Alumni
UNI has been utilized for this purpose,
but it Is not an altogether satisfactory
substitute. 1t now appears that the
feasibility of employing sodium has
been under consideration. Bulk for
bulk, sodium weighs only one-nlnth as
much as copper. Its conductivity Is
lower, but 1t is asserted that a pound
of sodium would render three times
the service now performer by a pound
Of the red metal.
Just now sodium is a rather ex-
pensive article, because there Is little
demand for it. 1t is alleged, however,
that If manufactured on a large scale
it could be produced for ~ cents a
pound or less than half the price now
paid for copper. Apparently, then, the
work of carrying an electric current
could be done with sodium at one
sixth the cost Of doing it with copper.
When the readers expectations have
thus been raised to a high pitcn his
eyes are opened to the embarrassments
that would beset the use of this partic-
ular substitute. In the first place. So
dium is SO soft metal that it can
aodilyr hn xr-ifI
it is hardly suited to the raking Of
telegraph, telephone or trolley wires.
Again, 1t Is extremely combustlble A
piece Of it thrown into a dish Of water
will take fire. Here is an additional
reason for not stringlng it near build
ings in public streets. Already there
are too many fires from defective cleo
tric equipment to please the underwrit-
ers and it would be folly to Increase
the number.
Nevertheless, both this and the other
difficulty might be overcome by inclos-
ing the sodium in an iron tube and
putting 1t underground. Used in that
manner it might furnish a convenient
and safe means of transmitting cur.
rent from the main power houses to
the substations Of an electric road. II
has also been suggested that If alleged
with some harder metal it would prove
less dangerous than If employed in Q
practically pure state. After all, there
fore, there Is a microscopic chance
that future experiment may pave thu
way to the substitution of sodium fol
copper, but at the present moment tn,
prospect Of a change is hardly wha
would be called dazzlingly brilliant.
Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1908-05-01

windows. So the method was adopted
of building four corner towers, each
u feet square, in the four corners of
the building, while the elevator shaft
serves as a fifth tower. This leaves
space 36 feet wide between the cor
ner towers, which are treated as bay
windows, and filed in with glass. The
columns are anchored to the caIssons
In. the foundation of the building.
II this building is a financial sue
cess 1t is certain that others as high,
and even higher, will be built in spite
of the danger to the occupants of such
an artificial mountain in case Of fire,
and the danger to neighboring lower
structures In case one Of these "sky
pIercers" should collapse, and several
Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1908-05-01

town, taking 1t rather easily, because
the track wasn't In condition to stand
fast running well. was about an hour
out from my starting place. and had
gone sixteen miles perhaps, when |
noticed some queer-looklng clouds on
the western horizon.
The day was sultry, and there was
curious sort of glare over the land
scape. There was something unnat-
ural about the appearance of every
thing. My fireman was a boy who had
been brought up In that region, and he
said that 1t looked like a tornado com
ing. He ought to have been q good
Judge Of the symptoms, because the
whole of his family, together with all
their property and live stock, had been
wiped out by such a "twister," as they
call 'em, when he was hardly old
enough TO toddle
BY the time we had gone maybe
eight or nine miles farther, dense
bank of clouds had spread around to-
ward the southwest. 1t WAS black as
ink, but beneath 1t was a blank streak
of white. l had never seen anything
that looked quite like 1t before. As |
looked at 1t the bank rose higher, and
presently saw something like a SHARP
point Of cloud project itself downward
from the black mass. All this time there
was no thunder or lightning, but only
a look about the sky that was dreadful
to see, it was so unnatural. 1t was the
boy who called my attention to the
pointed cloud, and he said it was tor
nado beginning.
pretended not to be afraid, and SAID
that If 1t was "twister" it would moi
be likely to hit us. But he was as pax
as ghost Says he:
Don't you see that 1t is directly
southwest Of us?"
why, certainly" l replied. "Wha
Of thatf"
They always travel northeast" hi
said, "and we are right in the track Of
It'll"
''Then wen run away from It,
guess" says l, pulling the throttle wild,
open. The boy said nothing-onl,
watched the clouds In the distance.
By this time the pointed cloud hat
got much bigger, the lower end Of 1
nearly touching the ground. 1t grew
rapidly larger and larger and seemeC
to be approaching at a great rate O
speed. while the rest of the view towarS
The west and southwest became bIurres
Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1908-05-01
HANGED 50 At oNcl


Remarl<abIe sseas Of Gruesknae NnA
sure - the NorsAwsrs.
One Of the few survivors II this
country Of the Indian scrlmmagea car
ried ON in Minnesota during the clvlI
War u Carlton WHY'S Roberts. Of CHI
cago, who claims tss.saa=s=s:.atl nction % hAVs
ing taken part Il the biggest lndl1m
massacre recorded "a this country, when
thirty-nine Indians were hanged ct ona
time, and the medical colleges Of is
Northwest got the largest number
bodies that they ever received.
When the Civil War broke out Roi.
erts was living In Minneapolis, and was
one OF the nrst to volunteer ID that
State for service. ngt it was not until
August, 1858, that be was ordered onk
not to nght eouthernera. but the II
dlans. who hess S=okea loose Ii ~.
northern part OF Minnesota.
When he. with the regiment 81 which
he was a member, arrived on the ucsnn
Of the trouble. 400 red men had hsn.
captured and were at Fort Rldet|
MINI. The authorities were prenatIn0
to hang them all, wnen word came laIn
President Lincoln, according u
Roberts, that he would not countcna
any such wholesale massacre
some parley, the President consenie
that some forty OF the most desperate
Of the gang should be hanged
In describing this event which wus
gala one in the town. Mr.. Roberts ~
called nearly every incident 81 tna day.
THE Indians were to Be executed
about noon" he said, "and when THO
time drew near we were ordered to take
our places near the gallows. which was
made Of timbers in the form Of q
square, suspended by ropes from tho
four corners to large pole Ii the cen.
ter Over the suspended platform
which was raised from the ground eight
or ten feet, was another framework %
tie the ends Of the ropes to.
Everything being ID readiness. the
Indians were marched In single die
from the prison. They walked with q
firm, unfalterlng step up 70 the plat.
Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1908-05-01

problem that the architect and his as
sistants had to solve was, to adopt a
method of construction which would
be able to resist the heaviest storm
sweeping over Manhattan Island. The
pressure is 80 pounds to the square
foot or a total of $4,000 foot tons
The total weight of the tower alone is
about $4,000 tons. The method adopt
ed is the tower or bridge style of
building in the steel skeleton, with
transverse braces from the bottom to
the topmost story.
The ordinary transverse bracing
could not be used on account of the
Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1908-05-01

learned that eighty miles an hour is
supposed to be the best a tornado can
do. My belief is that this one was
going at about sixty miles. Anyway. It
wasn't more than six or seven miles
distant by this time and gaining on ia
rapidly, If my reckoning was correct
1t would catch US In q little more than
twenty minutes. The way | calculated
1t was that the great peg-top was NOV.
Ing at the rate of three miles to our
two.
1t was the most frlghtful spectacle
to look at that can possibly be mag.
ined. To me 1t seemed to be a mon.
strous giant, pursuing us with an Inten-
ton TO destroy. Now and then its
blackness would be transformed into n
dark green, and 1t was constantly light
ed up by flashes, as If 1t were an I'm
mense balloon Illuminated from within.
1t appeared to whIrl round with Incon.
ceivable rapidly, and from 1t came a
sound across the prairie as of below
ing, with a voice 80 awful that the
rumbling of the locomotive was lost
in it OF the destruction 1t was accom-
plishing could get no notion from my
point Of view. Fortunately, there were
few settlements in that part Of the
country, but as we passed two or three
small hamlets at full speed, could see
the people running about trying to find
some place of safety.
Less than ten miles ahead Of us was
a bridge over a river, after crossing
which the road turned abruptly south.
ward. 1t was a freak railway, any.
how, and Its zig-zags were intended tc
pass through as many supposed centeTl
Of future population as possible. The
only long stretch of 1t in a straight line
was just where we got caught by the
tornado. If we could get to the bend
ahead Of the monster we might run out
of its track.
It was a wild race for life. With the
great funnel cloud rushing on behind
us and steadily approaching, we tore
over the raIIs at frantic rate OF
speed. We on the engine were almost
crazed by the excitement, so that II
almost overcame my sense of fear.
remember distinctly that pulled the
whistle cord and let the locomotive
scream with all her might. though Il
could hardly be heard in the roaring
Of the pursuing tornado.
] Six miles passed as well a. eoult
Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1908-05-01
THIS CALLED A skY-PlERcER.

Towering ONCE Building in New
York O12 Feet High.
The towering office buildings of our
large cities have for a generation been
known as SKY scrapers." But when
a height of 612 feet Is attained in a
human hive of this kind, we respect
fully suggest a slight revision Of the
well-known name, making 1t "sky
piercer" instead. 1t Is not so many
years ago when all kinds Of disasters
we're predicted for the tall buildings
in Chicago and New York which stood
ten, sixteen or even twenty stories
above the sidewalks, with a height of
mp to 300 feet. But the troubles pre-
dicted did not arrive, at least not on
time, and, on the contrary, the earth
shown that the steelframed building,
In spite of its tallness, offered far bet
ter resistance to earthquake shocks
than buildings Of ordinary dimensions
put up in the old way. The only rea-
sons that these sky-scrapers did not
defy both earthquake and fire, archl-
tects say, were, that the bracing of the
frame work was In some cases not
heavy and strong enough; and their
catching fire Is explained by the use
of wood, for instance In window
frames, and by the absence of iron
window shutters or Of means to quick
~ close them. But these defects have
been noted In San Francisco and else
where and will doubtless be RENE.
died.
The objections then against high
buildings not having been substantial.
ed and high ground rent and exorbi
tant prices of real estate always
Standing rs a specter at the side OF
the metropolitan builder and investor
it is no wonder that buildings are go
ing several stories into the ground anC
higher and higher into the air. The
latest and tallest structure of this
kind Is the Singer building, corner Of
Liberty street and Broadway, New
York. The original building and the
addition will be fourteen stories high
and the tower will extend twenty sew
en- stories above this.
The elevator will be oblong in form
and placed in the center of the build
ing. For the service of the lower por
ton of the building there will be six
teen elevators, and, as the upper floor
are reached. they will decrease In mum
Der, until there will remain four ele
vators for the service Of the topmos
floors
Though the tower measures only g.
feet square. yet Its height Is so grea
that. its floor space together with tina
of the main building will have a tota
area Of Oh acres. With single ex
ception this Is the largest floor space o
any building in the city. When full!
occupied the building will accommo
date about 6.OOO people.
The Singer building will be 100 fee
higher than the spires Of the famou
Koeln Cathedral, 81 feet higher thai
the Washington monument at the Ma
tionaI Capital, and with the exception
of the Eiffel Tower (1,OO0 feet, locates
I'M Paris), the highest structure in tn
world.
Everybody will readily see that tn
Iwlnd must >exert a tremendous press
ure upon the sides OF such high an
comparatively narrow building and tn
Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1908-05-01
THE PAY OF CONGRESSMAN.

- ECAUSE the House of Representatives de-
ZOE feated the bill to raise Congressmen's pay
from 5000 to 1880 year the action is
attributed to the frightening thought Of
EsiE-EiQ what happened to the SALARY grab" Con-
gress Of 1873 But the scandal of thirty
three years ago did not consist IN the mere
passage Of salary increase BILL but in the making of
the retroactive that Congressman could col
lect the additional allowance for two years back.
During the two years which constitute a term in the
House Of Representatives member draws $4,000 in
salary, $240o for clerk hire 1850 for stationery and
whatever amount his mileage may to. He spends
about nine months in Washington, but there few
Representatives whose devotion to public life seriously
interrupts their pursuit of private business Prestige
with seat In Congress- and service there affords
education useful In many occupations The man in
Congress usually likes to stay there long he can.
Custom In this respect that he would rather be In
Congress the present salary than take his chances
at anything else
OF course, the cost of living in Washington is high
But for Congressman 1t is not necessarily higher
there than anywhere else There nothing in his official
position which compes him to cut wide social swath
Is his public service increased by his doing If
the Congressman his position to advance the social
aspirations of his wife and daughters that is his own
private aaira part of the perqusite which goes with
the Office something for the public to him extra
for.-Kansas City World
Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1908-05-01
~O@~

farmer has work for the unemployed Of the cities and
money to buy the products the factories the cities
share In the good things of life. When crops fail and
the farmer is hard up the factories close and the
workmen out of job look in vain to the farm for
chance to share in the harvest The farmer has enough
laid by to stand year two of bad luck but every
body wishes him another year like the last-Chicago
Tribune.