Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1916-08-02
An Effect Of
A Cyclone
By WILLARD BLAKEMAN

|
when man 10 the doorway looked at
me with a growing expression OF as
tDu1shment ON his face I could not
understand why he regarded me thus,
for I'D not remember to have ever
seen htm before. I passed into the no
tel Persons were moving about. none
o1 whom interested me OF them, till
nan up against another man, who
looked at me with the same expression
es the man had met In the doorway. i
As be passed me TUNED and booked
back at him and saw him looking back |
at me-
Not ten minutes after tbs a hand |
vas capped ON my shoulder and
voice said:
SJ1m Donegan, want you
This third surprise was ciew 20 the |
others Quite likely rasembaed
man who was wanted our crime or per-
haps supposed crime. certainly never
broke q law In my hfe
True enough, both the men who had
looked at me In surprise swoGe that I
was Jim Donegan, who few days be-
fore was caught red handed b q rob
oey, but got away. The only thing
about my case that seemed to puzzle
my accusers was that should openly
show myself In Topeka Bnt when I
denied that was Donegan they con-
Guided that was blufing-
While was being taken TO Jail one
Of those Kansas cyclones came up and
cut a swath right through the town,
AL ~ hot
became Of him I don't know TO this
day. AS for me, was blown against
a tree box and chung to 1t till the storm
had passed, which involved only few
minutes, What especially interested
me was 10 make good my escape from
those who had mistaken me for some
one else I was fearful lest my captor
would get his hands ON me again.
Perhaps, considering the damage that
had been done by the storm. 1 magni-
fed my own importance. Nevertheless
Thought of nothing but re-arrest-
Holding to the path of the cyclone, I
ran like a deer till I came to a house
with a hole in it's side 50 big that
could walk right through it There
was a bed inside that looked very in
viting for q tired man I was not tired,
but it occurred to me that it would be
a good place to- hide. So I Jumped into
bed and covered up, all except my
eyes, resolving that would pretend to
have been killed by the cyclone.
had not been in bed Long before a
pretty girl came in and, seeing me, ran
out crying:
"Who in the world was in bed in the
spare room when the storm came?"
A woman, a young fellow about sew
enteen years old and little girl came
into the room. I lay staring at the
ceiling, pretending to be dead II
seemed to me that this was the only
way to avoid answering questions as
to how I came to be in bed in a strange
house.
Hes not dead" said the girl who
had discovered me. Don't you see the
color in his cheek" I concluded that
it would be better to play injured. !
groaned and lowered my eyes to the
group bending over ne.
''Where am I?' asked.
'How in the world did you come tc
be here?' exclaimed the woman in q
tone of Amusement.
"DOn't you remember anythfng?' ask
ed the girl
81 remember being taken up by Z
wind and landed somewhere, but whe1
I stopped lost consciousness" Ther
looking in assumed wonder at the opeI
side Of the house, Can it be that 1 was
blown through thereY
I asked them if they couldn't cover
up the opening and let ne stay there
till [ felt able to go somewhere else
They got blankets and tackled them u
between me and the outside Thel
they asked me what else they coul:
do for me. I told them that I woul(
prefer to be let alone for time till
could collect my faculties, declarin:
that 1 felt bruised all over. They sug
gested that some bones might be brok
en-, but as this would involve an imme
date examination I said my bone
were all right. The girl said tina
though she could understand how
might have been blown in at the ape1
ture she couldn't understand how
could have been blown into bed an
covered up. 1 said that just befor
they had come In I had felt a sense
ton Of cold and had doubtless pulle
the covers over me.
"Do you remember tuck1ng yourse]
in?' asked the young lady.
paid no attention to what was plai1
" a sarcasm. I was well tucked il
for I had got under the covers withor
throwing them down.
Well, I played "safe" long enoug
to send for my brother, dreading a
the while that the house would /
searched for me. Had 1 seen the dan
age that had been done I would NJ
have feared so much for myself.
strip Of the town several hundre
feet wide had been wrecked an
many persons injured. The house