Show ffoyd adventurers CLUB T HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES OF PEOPLE LIKE 10 U R S E L F I 1 death trap at el chevo chivo ELLO EVERYBODY ODY H HELLO you asked for a real life adventure says morris E lowder of chicago so here goes the way I 1 like to hear you boys and girls talk I 1 ask for it and you dish it up and just between you and me the boys and girls in chicago and its neighboring towns and for that matter all over northern illinois are dishing them up faster than any bunch of folks ive struck uck yet the adventurers club has installed chapters in a number of cities ive been swamped with mail in every doggone one of them but never have I 1 been swamped the way chicago has swamped me im mighty grateful to you for your hearty response ive had a flock of good yarns from you but its going to take a little time and speaking of being swamped well lv morrie lorrie lowder knows something about that too As if we dont have enough floods right here in this country what with floods of letters and flooding rivers morrie had to go to cuba and get himself into a first farst class flood down there morrie was assistant manager tor for an american drug concern and in the latter part of may 1924 he started out from havana on a business trip into the oriente province trains filled with inauguration throngs it was the day after the inauguration of gerardo machado as president and the trains were filled to overflowing with people who had come to view the proceedings the train morrie was on was one of 18 cars every one of them packed with people it had been raining for three days before his inauguration and it was still raining 1 the streets were full of water when morrie left havana Hava but he was to see a lot more water before his journey was over by the time they reached the town of colon in matanzas province the water in the streets was a foot deep beds and chairs were floating C V the passengers were helpless on a bridge that might be washed away at any minute about and people were making tor for the upper floors of the few tall buildings in town morrie thought the train would stop there and make no attempt to go on until the water had gone down but to his surprise it moved on toward macagua macagba Mac agua morrie knew that the country up ahead was low and flat what was more e they had to cross a river called el chivo chevo a stream that became a howling torrent when it was swollen by the rains the train puffed along part of the time through water that came to the hubs of its wheels at last it came to the trestle spanning the el chivo chevo it was about seven and pitch dark when they started across that viaduct sharp flashes of lightning says morrie were the only things we could see by the two engines up ahead were puffing and roaring an and we could feel the trestle shiver under the weight of the train and the pressure of some 12 feet of water that went tearing under it carry carrying I 1 ng trees and animals to destruction all of a sudden the train came to a stop with a terrible jolt morrie offers help to injured As a medical man morrie stepped forward and offered to help if any one was injured several of them morrie among them went forward to the express to see what had happened they found out all right the viaduct weakened by the flood was breaking up even while they stood in the express car a whole section of the road bed was swept from beneath it leaving the car hanging in mid air with only its couplings holding it up the train move now the two engines were on the other side of the break the cars the passengers helpless on a bridge that might be washed away at any moment they were sure that by this time there must be other breaks in that bridge breaks behind them that would leave them marooned in the middle of the swollen river we uncoupled the pin of the baggage car says morrie and with a rush such as I 1 never want to hear bear again it was swept away we began sending up flares bares in the hope of bringing aid but they were answered by only a few poor guajiros themselves marooned on the lie thatched batched roots roofs of their homes the conductor in charge mustered about ID 10 of us for any duty and to be truthful about it we all thought that this would be the last duty any of us would perform passenger cars thought to be sinking morrie had a small medical kit and the doctors aboard made good use of his supplies suddenly came the news that the first of the passenger cars was sinking into ther the river lver the men uncoupled that car herding its passengers into others that were already ove overcrowded we had some thirty prostrated people on our hands morrie says and while we were working avei over them we could feel the cars jerk and sway as slowly they settled toward the water gee but you f feel eel helpless in a spot like that no one could help these people most of them were praying and ull till my dying day ill never forget the looks on their faces but already help was on the way one telegraph line was st still ill up and when the train come through macagua macagba wired colon to send an engine A swit switching ebing engine came down from colon and found that contrary to morries orries BI belief there were no breaks in the western end of the trestle the crew loaded all the passengers into six cars and morrie says they put them in three deep in the aisles we went back the next morning says morrie just to see what had happened to the engineer and the fireman we had left behind the engines were sunk in the river until only the roofs showed but there were the engineers and firemen bremen waving to us from the tops of the cabs I 1 released by western newspaper union |