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Show CANNON EOR CYCLONE I HOW A KANSAS TOWN EOCAPETJ DESTRUCTION. The lleadlj Toraadn Swerved from Its Couno hy an Artillery Allark .In (lid lira I'aplaln'a Novel Idea tlaRleit I Itm.nH. Hennessey, Ok., correspondence ot the Philadelphia Times The cyclone, which earlier In tho week swept through Wisconsin nnd Nebraska, wrecking towns and killing hundreds, reached Hennessey Thursdsy morning Just before 10 o'clock, and that the town Is still stnndlng and comparatively compara-tively uninjured Is due solsly to the Inventive genius of one ot the citizens of this plsee, Capt. John K Hoades, a retired sea raptaln, who.though hitherto hith-erto generally regarded as n visionary crank, Is now hailed as the savior of tho hundreds of lives that but for his unique scheme would unquestionably hate been lost. Mr Hoades' scheme consisted In posting a largo 15-Inch smooth-bore Parrot cannon, purchased by popular subscription from the condemned dock at the New Orlesns arsenal, on the four sides ot the town, each gun under un-der tho care ot a wntcmul attendant during the cyclone season. The cannon can-non were dealgned to be fired Into tho face of an approaching hurricane. In the hope of breaking Its force. When tho news reached here that a tornado was sweeping southward over the prairies east of the Itocktes, It wss feared that when It reached (he Cinnamon Cinna-mon river It would swervo from Its track and follow tho course of the stream, as was done by the hurricane that killed seven people here In the autumn of 1817, n shnrp bend In the stream than throwing the storm over ihe peninsula upon which Hennessey Is situated The cannon to the west, where the town la partly protected by the Wichita Wichi-ta mountains, was accordingly withdrawn with-drawn and placed on the northern border as an additional protection. Unfortunately, Un-fortunately, however, on the approach of the funnel shaped cloud tho weatern gun was fired a couple of seconds too soon, swinging the storm toward the east, so that the shot from the other gun did not take full effect The combined com-bined effort so changed the tornado's course, however, that only the extreme ex-treme eastern edgo of the town was touched, but here the one house fully In Its pstb was completely demolished and the cannon which guarded that end ot the peninsula was blown from Its carriage, carried fully 500 feet and hurled In a sand bank, The attendant attend-ant at the gun, tho Inhabitants ot the solitary dwelling demolished were warned In tlmo to escaDo with their lives. In speaking ot the marvelous success of his plan tor fighting tornsdoes.Capt -rfo-atfeY-(oy-Tar(wwofwi-o-r loo-aefceiwei. said: "I can hardly claim to have Invented the plan, for I bave twice seen waterspouts water-spouts broken by tho same method whllo following my former avocation on the sea. Indeed, It waa this that first suggested Ue scheme to me." "After the cydono of 1897 1 suggested suggest-ed that Henneaaey, which Is directly In the path of the south bound tornadoes, torna-does, adopt this apparently strange plan of protection. It Is only fair to state that at first I was the laughing stock of the town, and It was only by persistent argument that I finally In-crested In-crested Mr. Thomss, of the Chlcaaan coal company, In my plan, Hacked by so Influential a cltlzeu, we finally gathered together enough money by popular subscription to purchase four out ot date guns thst saw service around New Orleans during the civil war, and mounted them in the places selected, Tbe most singular feature of the whole matter la that the one dwell ing dcatroyed by today's storm was occupied by the most persistent doubter doubt-er In tbe town, "An effort will now be shortly made," Capt Hoades concluded, "to similarly equip all cities In the tornado belt, the late experience of Wisconsin and Nebraska Ne-braska towns having clearing proved that the hurricane cellars hitherto relied re-lied on are nothing but death traps In which their occupants aro crushed beneath be-neath fallen walls or burned In the fires which so frequently follow the storms." A town meeting will be held tonight to do honor to the aged prese-rer of the town, and the tyor of Henneaaey has declared his Immillon of resigning his post in favor of Capt. Hoades, a suggestion that finds much favor among thoie who ono their lives to the captain's foresight |
