The Penn's Grove record., 1893-09-01
NUMBER 6.

miles. Anyway, 1t wasn't any more
than six or seven miles distant by This
time, and gaining on as rapidly. II
my reckoning was correct, it would
catch us. in a little more than twenty
minutes The way l calculated il
was that the great peg-top was NOV.
ing at the rate of three miles to ouI
two.
ut IVES the most frightfull specta.
Gle to look at that can possibly be
imagined. To me 1t seemed to be a
monstrous giant, pursuing US with
an evil intention to destroy. Now
and then the blackness would be
transformed into a dark green
and it vas constantly lighted up by
flashes, as If 1t were an immense
balloon illuminated from within. 1t
appeared to whirl around with in.
conceivable rapiditY, and from II
came a sound across the prairie as OF
believing, with q voice so awful that
the rumbling Of the locomotive was
lost in it. OF the destruction 1t was
accomplishing l could get no notion
from my point of view. Fortunately
there we're few settlements in that
part of the country, but as we passed
two or three small hamlets at full
speed 1 ouid see the people running
about trying to find some place OF
safety.
1.-THE boy staggered to my side
the rocking Of the engine made 1t
difficult to keep ones feet-and
clutched my arm. l stopped my head,
and he yelled into my ears, Make
the bend
II knew what he meant on the in.
slant. Less than ten miles ahead OF
us was a bridge over a river, after
crossing which the road turned
abruptly southwark. 1t was a freak
railway anyhow, and its zlg-Zags
were intended to pass through az
many supposed centers Of future pop
ulation as possible. The only long
stretch of it In a straight line was
just where we got caught by the
tornado. If we could get to the bend
ahead Of the monster we might run
out Of its track. =
"As you may well imagine, I had
no opportunity to consider the plan
calmly and In detail. but 1t struck me
like a fash. IL was a ace for life sure
enough. II that engine never did
her forty miles an hour before I think
she must have done that and more
too, then. With the great funnel
cloud rushing on behind US and
steadily approaching, we tore over
the rails at a frantic rate of speed, l
was fairly crazed by the excitement,
30 that 1t almost overcome my q
of fear. l remember distinctly that
I pulled the whistle cord and let the
locomotive scream with all her might.
though it could hardly be heard in
the roaring Of the pursuing tornado.
'tSix miles passed, as well as l could
estimate, and the monster was only
about four miles behind. Three
miles more and 1t had lessened the
distance by a mile at least. But we
were neal the river. A minute later
and we were running across the
bridge. No time then to heed the
warning that trains must run slowly
I've this stream, in obedience to the
sign post
"Over the bridge, we few around
the curve and dashed away south
ward, Just in time to see the mighty
balloon pass by with a whirl and a
roar, as if all the demons In the in
fernal regions were let loose. We
could not make out anything very
distinctly, the sky being darkened
and the air filled with dust, but We
knew that we were safe. Al few min
utes later the clouds rolled away and
everything was as quiet and peaceful
as before the storm. We ran back
to the bridge, but it wasn't there. 1t
was clean gone, and such remains of
1t as were left were scattered all over
the country. The road "a so badly
torn up, the track for considerable
distances being twisted and broken
to pieces, that the expense Of repair
ing it bankrupted the company.
Eleven people lost their lives by that
tornado, which afforded mo an ex-
perience which I would not repeat for
all the money in the world. Wash
ington STAR