The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1893-09-16
CHASED BY TORNADO

II QOG l. De!!cfo LIot iAISUo WV
turned a parsons hair white of
hand" said Henry Wethereli, an en-
gineer OF the jersey Central Ra lroad.
1T such thing could happen these
locks would not be as black as you
zee them now, for I will venture tc
say that no man ever went through a
more fear-tnspiring experience than l
did once. Tell you the story? Why,
certainly. But I am not very good
at q yarn, and ! can oulygive you the
bare facts without descriptive orna-
nentation
ut happened this way: The year
was 1878 or 1879, I forget which.
Anyhow IL was sometime IN July.
The weather had been pretty bot,
and il Wss just the sort Of day for
breeding tornado
"Bus I am getting ahead Of my
story already, not being very expert
in the way Of anecdote. was work
Ing on one-horse road in Southern
Kansas The Superintendent W rel
me TO fet b my engine distance Of
aboat seventy miles to place called
Peterstown It was wanted to haul
o lot OF perishsble freight, mostly
market produce, which had shunted
OF by some q cIdent onto 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 a hurry. There were
only seven locomotives on the road,
barrIng TWO or three that were dis
abied.
"Well, not to be too long-winded, ]
got fuel and water aboard as quickly
az possible and started for Peters
town taxing it rather easily, be-
cause The track wasn't in condition
to stand fast running well. l was
about an hour out from my starting
place, aud had gone sixteen miles
,perhaps whenl aQttsseedN ee'''Heer; Hei
Lon
The day was exceedingly su:try,
and there was curious sort Of glare
over the landscape which made it
look sort Of feTerish- I can't tn nix
Of a better word for describing it.
There was something unnatural about
the appearance Of everything. My
fireman wal a boy who had been
brought up in that region, and he
said that it looked like a tornado
coming. He ought to have been a
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
'twister,' as they call 'em, when be
was hardly old enough to toddle.
by the time we'd gone, maybe
eight OF ten miles further, oenSe
bank Of clouds had spread around TO-
ward the southwest 1t was black as
ink, but teneath it was g blank
streak Of white. I had never seen
anything that looked quite like it be-
fore AS looked at it the bank rose
higher, and presently l saw some
tt ng like sharp point OF cloud pro.
tecs itself downward from the black
masA All this time there was ne
thunder nor lightning, hut only G
look about the sky that was dreadful
to see, because 1t was so unnatural.
like. 1t seemed as if something aw-
'ul was going to happen. 1t was the
boy who called my attention to the
pointed cloud, and he said it was a
tornado beginning.
Il pretended not to be afraid, and
said that If it was 'twister' it would
not be likely to hit US But ne was
as pale as ghost, Says he;
"'Don't you see that it is directly
southwest OF us?'
"'Why, certainly l replied.
What Of that?'
"'Tney always travel northeast,
he said, and we are right in the
track of it
" Then we'll run away from it, !
guess, says /, pulling the throttle
wide open. But the boy, he said
nothing-only watched the clouds in
the distance.
by this time the pointed cloud
had got very much bigger. the lower
END OF it nearly touching the ground.
1t grew rapidly larger ana larger and
seemed to be approaching at great
rate Of speed, while the rest OF the
view toward the west and southwest
became blurred to the eye, SO that
nothing could be made out clearly I
saw that it was a tornado that was
coming, and no mistake, for the
strange cloud, which had the shape
OF gigantic peg-ton was distinctly
outlined in its inky blackness against
the general blur. I began to feel
pretty badly frightened myself. Now
ard then, when l could take my eye
of the cloud, l looked at the by;
but he only sat silent in the cab,
staring at the great peg-top with
starting eyeballs and white lips.
Finally / said:
I'D you think we are going to
escape it?'
1--WE arc right in its track, he
said. without looking at the
You See, we were running in an
air line over the prairie. directly
northeast and pursuing the very
path in which the tornado was COIN
ing. ANY other course, with the
steam had on, would have carried
US out Of the way
''The boy shoveled more coal on.
He had already done 50 three Or fQul