The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-08-09

i OOn I DelleNe Iudt ITlEnl ever luIueu
a persons hair white off-hand," said
Henry Wetherell. an engineer Of the
Jersey Central railroad.
IF such a thing could happen these
locks Of mine would not be as black as
you see them now. for 1 will venture
TO say that no man ever went through
a more fear-lnspiring experience than 1
did once. Tell you the story? Why.
certainly. But am not good at yarn,
and l can only give you the bare facts
without descriptive ornamentation.
1T happened this way The year was
1873 or 1879. l forget which. Anyway it
was some time in July. The weather
had been pretty hot, and it was just the
sort of day for breeding a tornado.
But 1 am getting ahead of my story
already. not being very expert in the
way of anecdOte. l was working on
one-horse railroad in Southern Kansas.
The superintendent wired me to fetch
my engine a distance of about seventy
miles To a place called Peterstown. 1t
was wanted 10 haul a lot Of perishable
freight. mostly market produce, which
had got shunted off by some accident
on 10 a side track ana was in danger of
spelling 4 suit against the company
might have followed, and the business
had To be attended TO in hurry. There
We're only sewn locomotives on the road,
barring two or three that were disabled.
well. not to be too long-winded,
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. | was about an hour out
my starting Mace and had
about sixteen miles perhaps. when l no
ticed some queer-lOOking clouds on the
western horizon.
The day was extremely sultry, and
there was d curious sort of glare over
the landscape which made ii look sort
Of feverish. 1 can't think of a better
word for describing 1t. There was some
thing unnatural about the appearance
of everything. My fireman was boy
who had been brought up in that region,
and ne said that il looked like a tornado
coming. lie ought to have been a good
judge Of the symptoms, because the
whole of his family, together with their
property and live stock, had been wiped
out by such a 'twister,' as they call EN-,
when he was hardly old enough to tod
die
BY the time we had gone may be
eight or nine miles further 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 il before. As / looked at IL
the bank rose higher and presently 1
saw something like a sharp point of
cloud project itself downward from the
black mass. All time there was no
thunder nor lightning, but only a look
about the sky that was dreadful to see,
because il was so unnatural-like. It
seemed as if something awful was going
to happen 1t was the boy who called
my attention 10 the pointed cloud, and
he said it was a tornado beginning.
II pretended not TO be afraid. and said
If it was a 'twister' it would not
be likely to hit Us. But he was as pale
as a ghost. Says he:
Don't you see that it is directly
southwest Of us?'
why. certainly I replied. What of
that?'
They always travel northeast he
said, and we are right in the track Of
it,
Then Wen 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 very much bigger. the lower end of
II nearly touching the ground. It grew
rapidly larger and seemed TO be APP
preaching at great rate Of speed,
while the rest Of the view toward the
the eye. so that nothing could be made
out very clearly. / saw that ii was a
tornado that was coming. and no mis-
take, for the strange cloud, which had
the shape Of a gigantic peg-top. was
distinctly outlined in its inky blackness
against the general blur 1 began to
feel pretty badly frightened myself
Now and then, when I could take my
eye off the cloud. I looked at the boy
but he only sat silent in the cab. star
-FaN.
eyeballs and white lips. Finally l said
80 DO you think we are going to escape
itg
We are right in its track, he said,
without looking at me.
you see. we were running in an air
line over the prairie, directly northeast,
and pursuing the very path in which the
tornado was coming. Any other course,
with the steam I 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 do
ing its best. and she wasn't capable Of
more than thirty-eight miles hour.
It's gaining on us I said How fast
does such a thing as that travel?
About one hundred miles an hour
replied the boy, white a sheet.
If that had been true / would not be
here to tell the story. l have since
learned that eighty miles an hour is
supposed 10 be the best a tornado can
do. My belief is that this one was go
ing at about sixty miles. Anyway, il
wasn't more than six or seven miles dis
tant by this time, and gaining on us
rapidly. IF my reckoning was correct
it would catch us in a little more than
twenty minutes. The way I calculated
IT was that the great peg-top was NOV
ing at the rate Of three miles to our
two.
1T was the most frightful spectacle
TO look at that can possibly be imagined.
To me il seemed to be a monstrous
giant pursuing US with an evil inten-
ton to destroy. Now and then it's black
ness would be transformed into dark
green, and it was constantly lighted up
by flashes, as If it We're an immense bal
loon illuminated from within. 1t ap-
peared to whirl round with inconcefv-
able rapidity, and from IL came a sound
across the prairie as of believing, with
a voice so awful that the rumbling of
the locomotive was lost in It. OF the de-
struction It was accomplishing ] 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 small hamlets at
full speed I could 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 nv
arm. / stopped my head. and he yelled
into my ears the words: Make the
bend I knew what he meant on the
instant. Less than ten miles ahead of
us was a bridge over river, after cross