The Penn's Grove record., 1893-09-01
CHASED ~BYATORNADO

CHASED BYATORNADO
~ don't believe that fright eveI
turned a PERSONS hair white off.
hand" said Henry Wetherell, an en-
gin er OF the Jersey Central Ra lroad.
III such a thing could happen these
locks w0uld not DO as black as you
see them now, for | will venture to
say that no mar ever went through a
more fear-inspiring experience than /
did once. Tell you the story? Why,
certainly. But l am not very good
at a yarn, and can only give you the
bare ia IS without descriptive orna-
mentatiOn.
at happened this way: The year
was 1878 or 1879, l forget which.
Anyhow 1t was sometime in July.
The weather had beon pretty hot,
and 1t was just the sort of day for
breeding a tornado
"But l am getting ahead Of my
story already, not being very expert
In the way Of anecdote. l was work
Ing on a one-horso road in Southern
Kansas, The Superintendent wired
me to fet b my engine a distance Of
about seventy miles to a place called
Peterstown 1t was wanted to haul
4 lot OF perlshahle freight, mostly
market produce, which had shunted
of by some accident onto a side track
and vas 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
pnly 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
Us possible and started for Peters
town, taxing it rather easily, be-
cause the track wasn't In condition
to stand fast running we'll. l was
about an hour out from my starting
place, and had gone sixteen miles
bsfhaps when l noticed some queer
looking clouds on the western hor-
lion
s'The day was exceedingly sultry,
+, aud there was a curious sort Of glare
over the landscape which made 1t
look sort of feverish. 1 can't think
2fia better word for describing it.
There was something unnatural about
the appearance Of everything. My
fireman was a boy who had been
brosght 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 a
.twister,' as they call 'em. when he
was hardly old enough TO toddle.
by the time we'd gone, maybe
eight or ton miles further, a dense
bank Of clouds had spread around TO-
ward the southwest 1t was black as
Fink, but beneath it was a blank
streak Of white. l had never seen
anything that looked quite like it be-
fore. As l looked at 1t the bank rose
higher, and presently l saw some
! th ng like q sharp point OF cloud pro
Iject itself downward from the black
mass All this time There was no
! thunder nor lightning, hut only q
louk about the sky that was dreadful
| t) see, because 1t was so unnatural
like. II seemed as II something aw-
III was going to happen. 1t was the
hoy who called my attention to the
| pointed cloud, and he said 1t was a
tornado beginning.
IL pretended not to be afraid. and
said that If 1t wasa twister' 1t would
not be likely to nit us. But he was
as pale as a ghost Says he:
n.Dcn't you see that 1t is directly
| southwest OF us?'
"sWhy, certainly I 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 l, pulling the throttle
wide open. But the boy, he sale
| nothing-only watched the clouds II
the distance,
sBy this time the pointed CLOUD
had got very much bigger, the love-
end OF 1t nearly touching the ground.
| 1t grew rapidly larger ana larger ant
seemed to he approaching at a greaI
rate of speed, while the rest OF the
view toward the west and southwes'
became blurred to the eye, SO tina
nothing could be made out clearly. =.
save that 1t was a tornado that wa.
coming, and no mistake, for thu
strange cloud, which had the shap'
of a gigantic peg-top was distinctly
outlined in its inky blackness agains'
| the general llur. l began to fee
pretty badly frightened myself. Nov
ard then, whe2 l could take my ey'
of the cloud, l looked at the by
hut he only sat silent in the cab
staring at the great peg-top viii
starting eyeballs and white lips
Finally l said:
"Do you think we are going t
escape it?'
1--WE are right in its track b
said, without looking at me.
t1Ou See, We NSio luuhihB Ia a.
air line over the prairie, directl.
northeast and pursuing the yer.
nath in which the tornado was com
ing, Any other course, with tn
steam 1 had on, would have carried
US out Of the way.
"Thc boy shoyeled more coal on
He had already done so three or fou
time; since the strange cloud wa
| sighted. But it was no use Tn
engine was doing its best, and sh
wasn't capable Of more than abou
th~irty-elght miles an hour.
"It's gaining on u.s. l said. Ho'
! fast does such athing as that travel:
=" About a hundred miles an hour
replied the hoy, white as a sheet.
III that had been true 1 would no
, be here to tell the story. hav
since learned that eighty miles a
hour is supposed to be the best
tornado can do. My belief Is tina