Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-12-01
A Torpedoed Tornado 4 4
By FRANK L. POLLOCK

NJ
 home, at Fayette, in southeastern Ohio, and he decided to drive over and spend Sunday there. But Paul Mat thews and his wagon were not a well come sight in that region. The town would not allow him to drive within its limits, and he had to leave his wagon mile outside.
 This was due to no personal preju- dice. It was because he was by pro- fession 8 "well-shooter," and that red painted spring wagon, with the red lag. carried 30 or 40 pints of nitro glycerin, in small tins packed snugly in padded frames.
 The business of the well-shooter is we'll understood in the oil regions, and his wagon becomes familiar. though always an alarming, sight. When an oil we'll ceases to flow, charge of high explosive fired at the bottom of the tube will often stimulate it into activity again. It is the business of the well-shooter to supply this stin- ulus, and he drives about from place to place with a cartload of nitro g1ycerin, and everybody allows him to
 
 Matthews had taken up the business from the natural propensity of youth to run big risks for the chance of large profits. He was growing accustomed to the risks, but the profits were not what he had expected, and 1t had be- come distinctly unpleasant to be a ter rifying object wherever he appeared. Moreover, he found that the continual presence and odor of the nitroglycerin tended to produce violent headaches and nausea.
 He had left his wagon in a little patch of woods to the west of the vil- lage. The horses were staked out by long ropes, and every day he walked out to feed and water them. There was no danger of anyone's meddling with that outfit. It's red flag was pro- lection enough.
 | A little after noon on Saturday he went out to attend to his team, through oppressive heat and dust.x@ It had been very hot for week. A little before noon 8 breeze had sprung up, but with no coolness in it, and the sky had clouded slightly with cop- pery tint. The wind drove vast clouds of dust In Matthews face as he walked up the road, and before he reached his outfit he was convinced that 3 heavy thunderstorm was coming up. sss' ( This made him hasten to get through his duties, for he had no de- sire to remain near his wagon during such disturbance. A thunderstorm is one of the terrors of tho oil dyna- miter, for, apart from the danger of his wagon being struck, there is al ways the possibility that a hrlyy shock of thunder may explode the cargo by mere concussion.
 g When Matthews <. came :, out < from among the trees to take anotheFs look at the weather, however, he was startled by the appearance of the western sky. A dense bank of dark blue cloud was rolling Up rapidly, blowing out in ragged streamers, as if torn by a powerful gale. Already 1t was reaching halfway to the gen. ith, and the sun shone dimly through a reddish haze. In a few minutes more this was plotted out, and ga Strange and chilly dusk fell upon the earth. The horses were snorting and stamping with fright The storm de- veloped so rapidly that Matthews at first had hardly recognized its nature,
 But now the indications were only too clear. Twice in his fife he had seen tornadoes. They are not so com mon fri the middle west as upon the the plains, but veritable ..twisters" do occasionally sweep across that region; and 1t appeared afterward, in fact. that this was sort of ofrshoot of the cyclone that almost wiped out the town of Pike Springs on the same day. It was coming apparently straight to- ward Fayette, and Paul's first and natural inclination was to run for some shelter.
 He was not much alarmed for his own safety until the thought of his wagonload of explosives occurred to him. The shock of the cyclone would certainly explode it. Should 1t go off where it stood, the resulting damage would be comparatively slight; but it would almost certainly be lifted from the ground by the suction, and the tins of nitroglycerin dropped and ex- ploded all over the neighborhood. They would certainly be carried to- ward Fayette, and the tornado itself would be 8 comparatively minor peril.
 Matthews stopped and tried to think of something to do. A hole in the ground, a cellar, would be the only. safe depository for the dangerous out it; but it struck him that the ravint of Jackson's Creek might furnish a substitute.
 The creek was small one, but it flowed at the bottom of deep, mar row rayine which 1t had cut through hard clay. If the wagon could be placed in that gorge. he thought, it would be pretty certain to stay there. and do nothing worse than blow up the creek-bed. But the creek was a mile away, in the direction of the on- coming tornado.
 Matthews did not stop, however, to think of his fate if he were caught halfway or of the iunpossihilitv of