The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1894-06-20
L0custs Doard q Trail.

NEW ORk, June Il.-lncOmlng
passengers report that swarm Of
seventeen-ycar locusts took possession
of Long Branch train this morning,
and for a time there was every pros
pect of the passengers having to aban-
don the train and leave it to the To-
Gusts.
The train which experienced this
unusual trouble was No. 987, Of the
Pennsylvania railroad. 1t left Jersey
City at 10 clock. The warm weather
tempted hundreds to the coast towns
and the train was heavily laden.
Everything went we'll until near here.
The station is in wood. The
vicinity has been a favorite stamping
ground for the pests since they began
to make their appearance above ground
this year. The ground is honey
combed where they have forced their
way through, and driving over the
roads is dangerous as the earth is apt
to sink beneath the weight Of a horse.
The locusts have attacked the trees
and for acres there is hardly green
leaf except on certain trees which the
locusts do not seem to favor.
They have at times been seen four
deep on the bark. On the grounds
are thousands of the winged pests,
and old residents aver some of them
know enough to get out of the way
when train approaches, so as to avoid
being crushed.
The locusts up to yesterday stuck
pretty close to the trees and to the
ground beneath them. Either because
the available green stuff had been used
up or that it was time for them to do
so, the locusts On Saturday began to
migrate.
They followed no general direction,
but the railroad track seemed to be-
come the general meeting place for
them. The little station was soon
covered with them. The trains crush
ed hundreds and every engineer open
ed his sand box when he struck the
locust zone. To have made the driv-
ing wheels catch without sand would
have been impossible.
When the train in question drew up
at .Avenel station this morning there
were few locusts aboard. They had
been coming into the train for five
minutes, but not in such numbers as
to cause any inconvenience, except to
the more timid. Those who had no
fear of them enjoyed catching them
and examing their wings and wonder
ing at the glaring, red eyes.
The heat had caused almost every
window in the train to be opened.
When the train came to stop the
passengers leaned out to look at the
hundreds of thousands of the locusts
on the ground.
They would have been satisfied with
this, but the locusts were not. Be-
fore the passengers were aware what
was happening the pests had swarmed
up the sides of the cars, over the
platforms and through the windows
and doors into the cars. They flew
about in the cars, rested on the seats,
which were res. ,lcd to them, and
crawled along the floor. An invasion
of mice into female seminary would
be nothing to the scene which follow
cd.
Women screamed and stood on the
seats with their skirts drawn up so as
to avoid immediate contact with the
crawling objects. They soon had to
let 60 their skirts and pay attention to
keeping the locusts from their hats
and faces. The more timid passcn-
gers started for the doors, but at this
moment the car started. The rush OF
wind seemed to disconccrt the pests.
Those on the autside of the cars drop
ped off, and those inside clung closely
to the seats or floors, and were soon
thrown out of the windows by the
train hands. who started through the
cars.
All the way to Point Pleasant the
locusts were being dropped along the
track as the cars sped on. An ole
railroadcr on the train said he had
been in half dozen wrecks, had been
held up twice in the west and thought
he had had about every other expert
encc a railroadcr was exposed to, but
this event was new one to him.