Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1894-10-16

south Bri.iston.
CHASED BY A TORNADO.
Washington star.
81 don't believe that fright ever turn
ed q persons hair white oti.hand," sal
Henry wethercll, an engineer OF th
Jersey Central railroad, To = writer OF th
Star.
"if such q thing could happen thes
locks OF mine would not be- a. black .
you see them now, for will venture q
say that no man ever went through
more fear-lnsplriug experience than
did once.
at happened this way. The year wa
ls.s or 1879, I forget which. Anywa!
Il was some time In July. The weather
had been pretty hot, aud IL WAS just tn
sort Of day for brccding tornado.
"liut I am getting ahead OF my stor,
already, not being very expert In tn
way of snecdote. ! WAS working on ,
one-horse railroad In southern Kansas
The superintendent wired me 90 fetch
my engine q distance of about seventy
miles To place called icterstown. u
Was wanted To haul lot Of perishabl'
freight, mostly market produce, which
had got shunted OF by some accident ot
to sidc track and MAS In danger ol
spelling. A suit against the company
might have followed, and the business
had to lie attended To In hurry. There
were only seven locomotives on the road,
barring two or three that were disabled.
"well, not To be too long-winded,
got fuel and water aboard ~ quickly ~
possible and started for reterstown,
taking Il rather easily, because the track
wasn't In condition to stand fast runnin.
well. Was about an hour out from my
starting place, and had gone sixteen
miles perhaps, when noticed some
quecr-looklng clouds on the western hori.
ron.
"rhe day WAS extremely sultry, and
there Was q curious sort Of glare over
the landscape which made u look sort oi
feveri.h. | can't think Of better word
for describing Il. There WAS something
unnatural about the appearance OF
everything. Ny fireman was boy who
had been brought up In that region, and
he sald that Il looked Ike q tornado
coming. lie ought to have been q good
Judge 81 the symptoms, because the
whole Of his family, together With sll
their property and live stock. had been
wiped out, by such q t~ister', as they
cali 'em, when he Was hardly old enough
to toddle.
"By the time We had gone eight OF
nine miles farther . dense bank OF
clouds had spread around toward the
southwest. II WAS black ne Ink, but be
meath u Was a blank streak of white.
had never seen anything that looked
luite like IL before. As ] looked at 10
the hank rose higher, and presently ]
saw something like = sharp point pro-
Iect it.elf downward from the black
mass. All this time there MAS no thun-
der nor lightning, but only look about
the sky that MAS dreadful To see, because
IL va. so unnatural Ike. II seemed a.
u something awful Was going 10 hap
pen. II Was the boy Who called my At.
iention TO the pointed cloud, and hc said
IL Was tornado beginning.
II pretended not 10 be afraid, and sald
that IN II Was q 'twister' u would not be
likely to hit ia. Tut he was as pale as
a ghost. says he;
",pOat you see that it i. directly
southwest of usr
"'why, certainly replied. what
of thatr
"sThey always travel northeast he
said and We are right In the track oi
Il"
"Then we'll run away from Il,
guess, says !, pulling the throttle Wide
open. Hut the boy, he said nothing
only watched the clouds In the distance.
"By this time the pointed cloud had
got very much bigger, the lover end OF
II nearly touching the ground. IL grew
rapidly larger and larger and seemed 10
be approaching at . great rate of speed,
while the rest OF the View toward the
west and southwest became blurred "a
the eye. 50 that nothing could be made
out very clearly. saw IL Was q tornado
coming, and no mistake, for the strange
cloud, which had the shape Of q gigantic
peg-top, was distinctly outlined ln its
lnky blackness against the general blur.
I began To feel pretty badly frightened.
Now aud then, when ! could take my
eve OF the cloud looked at the boy; he
only sat silent In the cab, staring at the
great peg-top with starting eyeballs and
white lips. Finally I said:
"'Do you think We are going to
escape IT,
".we are right In it, track he said,
without looking at me.
"lou see, we were running Ia an air
line over the prairie. directly northeast,
and pursuing the very path 10 which the
tornado was coming. Any other course,
with the steam had on, would have car
ried u. out Of the way.
1.-The boy shoveled more coal on. liz
had already done go three or four times
since the strange cloud Was sighted. but
Il Was no use. The engine Was doing
it, best, and she wasn't capable OF more
than about thirty-elght miles an hour.
"'lt's gaining on u.s. ] said. 'llow
fast does such q thing as that travelr
".About 100 miles an hour replie,
the boy, white "a sheet.
.lf that had been true ! would not b
here to tell the story. have since
learned that ~ miles an hour is suppos
ed To be- the beat = tornado can do. My
belief l. that this one WAS going ri
about ca miles. Any way II wasn't more
than six or seven miles distant by thi.
time, and gaining on US rapidly. IL my
reckoning was correct Il wonld catch u'
In a little more than twenty minutes
The way I calculated Il was that the
great peg-top was moving at the rate OF
three miles TO our two.
at was the most frightful spectacl,
TO look at that can posslbly be imagined
To me Il seemed to be monstr0ui
giant, pursuing us with an evil Intention
TO destroy. Now and then lts blacknesi
would be transformed Into q dark green
and Il Was constantly lighted up BY
flashes, as II Il were an immense balloon
Illuminated from within. IL appeared q
whlri around with lnconceivable rspldlty
aud from II came q sound across th'
prairie as Of believing. with q voice ss
awful that the rumbllng Of the locomo
tive MAS lost In it. OF the destruction
Il was accomplishing I could get M
notion from my point OF view. Forum
ately, there were few settlements In tha
part Of the country, tut 40 We passet
two or three small han.lets It full speed
I could see the people running ab0u
trying To hnd some place Of safety.
"The boy staggered to my side-th'
rocking OF the engine made Il Difficult
to keep ones feet-and clutched IN!
arm. I stopped my head, and he yellet
Into my ear the words, make tn
Iend.'
"I knew what he meant ON the instant
Less than ten miles ahead OF us WAS