The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1893-11-17
RACING A TORNADO.


h Nd been pretty hot, and it was just the
sort of a day for breeding a tornado. was
working on a one horse railroad in south
ern Kansas. The superintendent Wired me
to fetch my engine distance OF about ~
miles to a place called Peterstown.
Well, got fuel and water aboard as
o,,ickly as possible and started fol- Peters
town. taking it rather easily, because the
track wasn't in condition to stand fast run
ming we'll | was an hour out from my
starting place and had gone 10 miles per
hans when noticed some queer looking
clouds on the western horizon
The day was extremely sultry, and there
was n curious sort of a glare over the land
scape, which made it look sort OF teverish.
I can't think of better word for describ-
ing it. There was something unnatural
about the appearance of everything. MY
fireman was bCt 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 be-
cause the whole of his family, together
with all their property and live stock, had |
been wiped out by such "twister," as |
they called 'em, when he was hardly old i
enough to toddle.
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.
| AS looked at it, the bank rose higher, and
presently | saw something like sharp
noint of Ncloud 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 unnaturallke. III
seemed MS if something awful was going to
happen. 1t was the boy who called my at
tention to the pointed cloud and he said 1t
was tornado beginning
"Then we'll run away from it, guess,
said |, pulling the throttle wide open. But
the boy said nothing-only watched the
clouds in the distance.
Now and then when could take my eye
off the cloud looked at the boy, but he
only sat silent in the cab, staring at the
great pegtop with starting eyeballs and
white lips. Finally said:
"Doyou think we are going SO escape I'll"
1--WE are right in its track, he said, with
out looking at me.
You see, we were running in an air line
over the prairie directly northeast and pur-
suing the very path in which the tornado
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 81
miles an hour.
Its gaining on u.s." said. "How fass
> 4 IN, email a tbinog nc that traVelp'
ABOUT a hundred miles an hour" re
= piled the boy, white rs sheet.
If that had been true, would not be here
- to tell the story. have since learned that
so miles an hour is supposed to be the bes
q a tornado can do. My belief is that this
? one was going at about GO miles. Anyway
IL wasn't more than six or seven miles dis
tant by this time and gaining on us rapidly
of If my reckoning was correct it would catcl
let us in a little more than 20 minutes. Ih
nE way calculated it was that the great peg
top was moving at the rate of three mile
to our two.
1t was the most frightful spectacle t
- look at that can possibly be imagined. L
me it seemed TO be a monstrous giant, pun
suing us with an evil intention to destroy
Now and then it's blackness would be tram
formed into a dark green, and 1t was col
stantly lighted up by flashes, as If it wei
an immense balloon illuminated froI
within. 1t appeared to whirl round wit
inconcevable rapidity, and from it came
sound across the prairie as OF believing
"a with voice so awful that the rumbllng
- the locomotive was lost in it, OF the d
structon it was accomplishing could g
. no notion from my point of view. Fort
RI nately there were few settlements in tn
part of the country, but as we passed w
or three small hanlets at full speed cou
see the people running about trying to fiji
some place of safety.
The boy staggered at my side-the roc
\ ing of the engine made it difficult to Ike
ones feet-and clutched my arm. stoop
))n my head, and he yelled into my ear t
words, make the bend"
| knew what he meant on the instal
Less than 10 miles ahead of us was brid
over "a river, after crossing which the 70
turned abruptly southwark. 1t was afre
railway, anyhow, and it's zigzags were
tended to pass through as many suppos
centers of future population as possih
a The only long strength of it in straia
line was Just where we got caught by
tornado. If we could get to the bend abe
of the monster, we might run out OF
track.
AS you may we'll imagine, had no
portunity to consider the plan calmly
u. in detail, but it struck me like a FASH
, are was a race for life sure enough. If that
was CINE never did her 40 miles an hour befC
lesth think she must have done that and me
It de too, then. With the great funnel clt
L.. racing on behind us, steadily approach
"O"' we tore over the rails
rvice, Six miles passed as we'll az could
iAkes mate, and the monster was only about
laws miles behind. Three miles more, and
lessened the distance by a mile at lie
igher But we were near the river A min
'hers later, and we were crossing the bridge.
o en-. time then to heed the warning that "trt
must run slowly over this stream" in
ia IN dience to the signpost.
ed or We flew around the curve and das
southwark, just in time to see the mig
balloon pass by with a whirl and roal
nave II all the demons in the internal reg
Is. we're let loose. We could not make
anything very distinctly, the sky b.
, darkened and the air filled with dust,
we knew that we were safe. few
utes later the clouds rolled away, and ey
thing was as quiet and peaceful as be
the storm. We ran back TO the bridge,
It wasn't there. 1t was clean gone.
road was so badly torn up, the track