The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1893-09-15


81 olas ~ as you
Tor. will venture 70 say that, no man
ever went through more fear-inspiring
experience than did once. Tell you
the story? Why, certainly. But 1 am
not very good at a yarn. and can only
give you the bare facts without descrip-
tive ornameutatiou.
st happened this way: The year was
ISIS or 1879. forget which Anyway
1t was some time in July. The weather
had been pretty hot, and it was just the
sort of day for breeding tornado.
But l am getting ahead of nv story
already, not being very expert in the
way of anecdote. l was working on a
one-horse railroad in southern Kansas.
The superintendent wired me to fetch
my engine a distance of about seventy
miles to a place called Peterstowu. 1t
was wanted to haul lot of perIshable
freight, mostly market produce. which
had got shunted of by some accident
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
disabled
well, not to be too long-winded, l
got fuel and water aboard as quickly as
possible and started for Peterstown,
taking it rather easily, because the
track wasn't in condition to stand fast
running well l was about an hour
out from my starting place, and had
gone sixteen miles perhaps, when I no
ticed some queer-looking clouds on the
western horizon.
The day was exceedingly sultry,
and there was a curious sort of glare
over the landscape which made 1t look
sort of feverish can't think of bet
ter word for describing il. There was
something unnatural about the appear
ance of everything. Ny fireman was a
boy who had been brought up in that
region, and he said that it looked like .
tornado coming. He ought to have
been a good Judge of the symptoms,
because the whole of his family, to-
gether with all their property and live
stock. had been wiped out by such a
'twister.' as they call EN- when he
was hardly old enough to toddle-
by the time we'd gone. maybe eight
or ten miles further, a dense bank of
clouds had spread around toward the
southwest 1t was black as ink, but be-
meath It was a blank streak of white
I had never seen anything that looked
quite like it before. As looked at it
the bank rose higher, and presently
saw something like a sharp point of
cloud project itself downward from the
black mass. All this time there was no
thunder nor lightning, but only look
about the sky that was dreadful to see,
because it was so unnatural-ike- It
seemed as if something awful was GO
ing to happen. 1t was the boy who
called my attention to the pointed
cloud, and he said it was q tornado be
ginning.
Il pretended not to be afraid, and
said that if II was a 'twister' it would
not be likely to Hit US But he was as
pale as ghost Says he:
Don't you see that it is directly
southwest Of Us?
why, certainly replied. What
of thatg
They always travel, northeast. he
said, and we are right in the track of
it,
Then well run away from it,
guess says I. 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 -ery much bigger, the lower end of
Ii nearly touching the ground II grew
rapidly larger and larger and seemed to
be approaching at a great rate of
speed. while the rest of the view to-
ward the west and southwest became
blurred TO the eye. so that nothing
could be made out clearly. 1 saw that
Il was q tornado that was coming. and
no mistake, for the strange cloud,
which had the shape of gigantic peg
TOP, was distinctly outlined in it. inky
blackness against the general blur. I
began te feel pretty badly frightened
myself Now and then, when I could
take my eye OF 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 said
"Do you think we are going to es-
cape it?''
I've are right in its track he said
without looking a. me
You See, we were running IN an air
line over the prairie, directly north
east and, pursuing the very path in
which the tornado was coming. Any
other course, with the steam had on,
would have carried rs out Of the way.