The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1893-11-15
CHASED BY A TORNADO
A LOCOMOTIVES TERRIBLE RACE
WITH A BLACK TERROR.

Henry Wetherell, an engineer on the .
Jersey Central railroad, told a reporter his .
experience with tornado in Kansas and /
Eaid that If fear always turned n mans |
hair white his locks ought to be like snow.
1t happened this way: 1t was some time
in July. The weather had been pretty hot, /
and it was Just the sort of day for breed
ing a tornado. I was working on one
horse railroad in southern Kansas. The |
superintendent wired me to fetch my en-.
gine distance of about 20 miles to place |
called Peterstown.
Well, | got fuel and water aboard as
quickly as possible and started for Peters
town, taking it rather easily, because the
truck wasn't in condition to stand fast run
ming well. 1t was an hour out from my
starting place, and | had gone 10 miles per-
haps, when / noticed some queer looking
clouds on the western horizon.
The day was extremely sultry, and there
was curious sort of glare over the land
scape which made it look sort of feverlsh.
l can't think of better word for describ-
ing it, There was something unnatural
about the appearance of everything. My
fireman was "A boy who had been brought
up i'm that region, and he said that it looked
like tornado coming. He ought to have
been 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."
BY the time we had gone maybe eight or
nine miles farther dense bank of clouds
had spread around toward the southwest.
1t was black as ink, but beneath it was
blank streak of white. | had never seen
anything that looked quite like it before.
1t seemed as if something awful was 60
ing to happen 1t was the boy who called
my attention 10 the pointed cloud, and he
said it was tornado beginning.
"Then we'll run away from it, | guess,
said l. 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 near
ly touching the ground. 1t grew rapidly
larger and larger and seemed to be APP
preaching at u 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 very clear
ly. | saw that it was "a tornado that was
coming, and no mistake, for the strange
cloud. which had the shape of a gigantic
peg top, was distinctly outlined in its inky
blackness against the general blur. be
gan to feel pretty badly frightened myself
off the cloud, looked at the boy, but he
only sat silent in the cab, staring at the
great peg top with starting eyeballs and
white lips. Finally l said:
do you think we are going to escape its"
1--WE are right in it's track" he said,
without looking at me.
You see, we We're running in an air line
over the prairie, directly northeast, and
pursuing the very path in which the lorna
do was coming 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 so three or four times since
the strange cloud was sighted. But it was
no use. The engine was doing its best, and
she wasn't capable of more than about 3s
miles an hour.
It's gaining on u.s. / said. How fast
does such thing as that travelY"
About a hundred miles an hour" re-
piled the boy, white as a sheet
II that had been true, would not he here
to tell the story. have since learned that
so miles an hour is supposed to be the best
tornado can do. My belief is that this
one was going at about GO miles. Anyway,
it wasn't more than six or seven miles dis
tant by this time, and gaining on us rapid.
ly. If my reckoning was correct, ii would
catch us in IA little more than 90 minutes.
twas the most frightful spectacle to look
at that can possibly be imagined. To me il
seemed to be IA monstrous giant, pursuing
us with an evil intention to destroy. Now
and then its blackness would be transform
ed into dark green and it was constantly
lighted up by flashes, as if it were an i'm
mense balloon illuminated from within 1t
appeared to whirl around with nconceiva
hla t.nrility and from ii "A Gpunn "a
the prairie as of believing, with voice sc
awful that the rumbling of the locomotive
was lost in it. OF the destruction it was ac
complishing | could get no notion from my
point of view. Fortunately there were few
settlements in that part of the country, but
as we passed two or three hamlets at full
speed | could see the people running about
trying to find some place of safety.
The boy staggered at my side-the rock
ing of the engine made it difficult to keeI
ones feet-and clutched my arm. | stopped
my head, and he yelled into my ear the
words, MAKE the bend"
knew what he meant on the instant
Less than 10 miles ahead of us was a bridge
over river after crossing which the road
turned abruptly southwark 1t was a freak
railway anyhow, and its zigzags were in
tended to pass through as many supposed
The only long stretch of it in "A straight
line was just where we got caught by thu
tornado. If we could get to the bend aheaC
of the monster, we might be saved.
As you may well imagine, had no OPP
portunity to consider the plan calmly ant
in detail but it struck me like flash. !
was a race for life sure enough. If that en-
CINE never did her 40 miles an hour before
think she must have done that and more
too, then With the great funnel clout
racing on behina us, steadily approaching
we tore over the rails.
Six miles passed as well as could esti
mate, and the monster was only four mile
behind. Three miles more and it lessene'
the distance by a mile at least But W
were near the river A minute later an
we We're crossing the bridge No time the
to heed the warning that trains must ru
slowly over this stream"
We few around the curve and dashe
southwark, just in time to see the might
balloon pass by with "A fhirl and roar, a
if all the demons in the internal region
were let loose. We could not make on
anything very distinctly, the sky bein
darkened and the air filed with dust, bu
we knew that we were safe. A few mil
utes later the clouds rolled away, an
everything was as quiet and peaceful as b'
fore the storm. We ran back to the bridg'
but il wasn't there. 1t was clean gon'
The road was so badly torn up, the trac
for considerable distances being twiste
and broken to pieces, that the expense {
repairing it nearly bankrupted the compi
ny. Eleven people lost their lives by tina
tornado which afforded me an eXperienC