The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1894-06-07
CHASED BY ATORNAD0
A LOCOMOTIVES TERRIBLE RACE
WITH a SLACK TERROR.

! Jersey Central railroad, told n reporter his
! experience with % tornado in Kansas and
said that If fear always turned mans
! hnir white his locks ought to be like snow
1t happened this way: 1t was some time
| I'm July The weather had been pretty hot,
and it was iu-, the sort Of a day for brctd-
ing a tornado, ! was working on one
horse railroad iu southern Kansas. The
| superintendent wired me to fetch my en-.
| CINE a distance Of about 20 miles to n place
/ called peterstOwn.
Well, ! got fuel and water aboard as
] quickly as possible and started for Peters
/ town, taking it rather easily, because the !
| truck wasn't in condition to stand fast run /
! ming well. i was an hour out from my .
starting place and had gone 10 miles per- /
| haps, when noticed some queer looking .
clouds on the western horizon
The day was extremely sultry, and there Z
/ was "A curious sort of glare over the land /
scape which made it look sort of feverish.
| ! can't think Of better word for describ- /
ing IT, There was something unnatural |
about the appearance of everything My
, fireman was a boy 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 because
the whole of his family, together with all
their property and live stock, had been
wiped out by such "twister"
BY the time we had gone maybe eight or
nine miles farther "a dense bank of clouds
had spread around toward the southwest.
It was black rs ink, but beneath it was
blank streak Of white ! had never seen
anything that looked quite like it before.
1t seemed as if something awful was CO.
ing to happen 1t was the boy who called
my attention to the pointed cloud and he
1 said H. Nvas "a tornado bppiupinu
"Then we'll run away from it, / guess"
said l. pulling he 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 it near
ly touching the ground. 1t grew rapidly
larger and larger and seemed to be APP
preaching at n great rate of speed while
the rest of the view toward the west and
southwest became blurred to the eye, so
that nothing could be made out very clear
ly. l saw that it was a tornado that was
coming, and no mistake, for the strange
cloud. which had the shape of gigantic
peg top, was distinctly outlined in its inky
blackness against the general blur | be
gan to feel pretty badly frightened myself
Now and then, when | could take my eye
off me cloud, | looked at the boy but he
only sat silent in the cab, staring at the
great peg top with starting eyebals and
white lips. Finally said:
"Do you think we are going to escape itf"
1--WE are right in its track" he said,
without looking at me.
You see, we We're running in an air line
over the prairie, directly northeast, and
pursuing the very path in which the lorna
dowas 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 %
miles an hour.
ITS gaining on us" | said "How fast
does such thing AZ that travely"
about a hundred miles an hour" re-
piled the boy, white as a 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 best
: a tornado can do. My belief is that this
= one was going at about GO miles. Anyway
= it wasn't more than six or seven miles dis
tart by this time, and gaining on us rapid
! ly. If my eckoning was correct, it would
: catch us in little more than 20 minutes
: twas the most frightful spectacle to look
at that can possibly be imagined. To me it
= seemed to be monstrous giant, pursuing
= us with an evil intention to destroy Now
and then its black ness would be transform
/, ed into dark green, and it was constantly
lighted up by flashes as if it were an i'm
mense balloon illuminated from within 1t
appeared to whrl around with inconceiva-
BILE rapidity and from it came sound across
the prairie as Of believing, with voice 50
y awful that the rumbling of the locomotive
a was lost in it. OF the destruction it was ac-
r compishing could get no notion from my
B. point of view. Fortunately there were few
e settlements in that part of the country, but
h as we passed two or three hamlets at full
} speed | could see the people running about
e trying to find some place of safety.
o The boy staggered at my sde-the rock
d ing of the engine made it difficult to keep
d ones feet-and clutched myarm. l stopped
It my head and he yelled into my ear tn
words, Make the bendr'
II knew what he meant on the instant
y Less than 10 miles ahead of us was bridge
le over a river, after crossing which the road
it turned abruptly southwark. 1t was freak
1t railway anyhow, and its zigzags were in
20 tended TO pass through as many supposed
% centers of future population as possible
ID The only long stretch of it in straight
k line was just where we got caught by the
p tornado. If we could get to the bend ahead
m of the monster we might he saved
.. Aevou NAV well ima0ine I had no IN
!. i.,,y!t, lie -, tt to "
~ poiouiius w Coi9i"ei 'ne pau calmly anu
IN III detail, but IL struck me IKE 1ash. II
ID was race for life sure enough. If that en-
7 tbint Che ,nuet have done that and ,,oro
too, then. With the great funnel clout