DIY History | Transcribe | Campus Culture | Reuben Gaines' memoir, undated

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Page 7

PAGE 7. Buxton.
Working for the Coal Company. It was a meeting place for teenagers but only seven or eight could get in at one time; however he did a land slide business for several years. Sampson Johnson had a small acreage at Miami consisting of 15 acres but Bluff Creek meandered through it until there were only 7 small tracts of land left in 1902. His sons, Walter and Roscoe Johnson were gone and he lived alone and I had heard him say if things were not working right for him and getting too rough that he would end it all, so he climbed up in the wagon which was under a tree and he through the log chain over a limb and fastened the other end around his neck and stepped out of the wagon into thin air to end his destiney. In 1902 around 5 or 6 o'cock in the Automn season the sky turned black as if it were night and this was the fore runner of an unusual approaching storm; then came rain; wind and lightning and a stronger wind with more velocity that sounded like a freight train trying to pull a steep grade. We found out later that it was a Tornado that had turned over several Railroad cars filled with lumber and removed the first house completely on the highway and moving up hill in the direction of Lovilia; It then destroyed the second house belonging to Leadus Rhodes. It missed the third house for some reason but on its way it tore off the corner of George Walkers house. The Blakeys in the first house were just getting ready for supper so it floated every member of the family around in the air like debris and then setting John Blakey considerable distance from where his home was; down in a cornfield and down on his knees praying when they found him. A young baby was killed from this family and a boy of eleven years from the Rhodes family had a terrible gash above his eye down across his nose. Another casual resulted indirectly from the Tornado by the clean up process after the storm. George Walker stepped on a nail that caused his death. 
Observers said they saw fire falling out of the cook stove while in the air but the stove never was found. The founder of the Stull McGregor Stores was at our home that evening to witness the storm. Bull Richardson and Bill Newton were passing before our gate in the highway with a group following; I wanted to know what is about to take place and some one said there was a difference of opinion between Bull Richardson and Bill Newton and they are going to this patch of woods away from town to settle it. They were not gone very long and on their return they said "No Contest". Youth against age is too much of a handicap; The middle age man should have conceded the battle without going to so much trouble and pain. Not long after this event it was Aug. 4th a day of celebration throughout the town. Bull Richardson came to town that day with his horse and buggy but when the horse passed a a short distance from our home, something frighten him and he bolted and ran kicking down a dead end road; before the driver could bring the horse under control he had extricated himself from the buggy but he could no longer stand because he had severed both ligaments in his

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PAGE 7. Buxton. Working for the Coal Company. It was a meeting place for teenagers but only seven or eight could get in at one time; however he did a land slide business for several years. Sampson Johnson had a small acreage at Miami consisting of 15 acres but Bluff Creek meandered through it until there were only 7 small tracts of land left in 1902. His sons, Walter and Roscoe Johnson were gone and he lived alone and I had heard him say if things were not working right for him and getting too rough that he would end it all, so he climbed up in the wagon which was under a tree and he through the log chain over a limb and fastened the other end around his neck and stepped out of the wagon into thin air to end his destiney. In 1902 around 5 or 6 o'cock in the Automn season the sky turned black as if it were night and this was the fore runner of an unusual approaching storm; then came rain; wind and lightning and a stronger wind with more velocity that sounded like a freight train trying to pull a steep grade. We found out later that it was a Tornado that had turned over several Railroad cars filled with lumber and removed the first house completely on the highway and moving up hill in the direction of Lovilia; It then destroyed the second house belonging to Leadus Rhodes. It missed the third house for some reason but on its way it tore off the corner of George Walkers house. The Blakeys in the first house were just getting ready for supper so it floated every member of the family around in the air like debris and then setting John Blakey considerable distance from where his home was; down in a cornfield and down on his knees praying when they found him. A young baby was killed from this family and a boy of eleven years from the Rhodes family had a terrible gash above his eye down across his nose. Another casual resulted indirectly from the Tornado by the clean up process after the storm. George Walker stepped on a nail that caused his death. Observers said they saw fire falling out of the cook stove while in the air but the stove never was found. The founder of the Stull McGregor Stores was at our home that evening to witness the storm. Bull Richardson and Bill Newton were passing before our gate in the highway with a group following; I wanted to know what is about to take place and some one said there was a difference of opinion between Bull Richardson and Bill Newton and they are going to this patch of woods away from town to settle it. They were not gone very long and on their return they said "No Contest". Youth against age is too much of a handicap; The middle age man should have conceded the battle without going to so much trouble and pain. Not long after this event it was Aug. 4th a day of celebration throughout the town. Bull Richardson came to town that day with his horse and buggy but when the horse passed a a short distance from our home, something frighten him and he bolted and ran kicking down a dead end road; before the driver could bring the horse under control he had extricated himself from the buggy but he could no longer stand because he had severed both ligaments in his