TORNADOES AND TALL BUILDINGS 349 



if it had, the destruction would have been epical. As for such 

 tornadoes as those that wiped out Grinnell, Iowa, Marshfield, 

 Missouri, and Wellington, Kansas (1893 tne latter), they were 

 all of the classic sort, coming late in the afternoon and giving 

 plenty of warning because of the atmospheric conditions — the 

 alternate streaks of chilly and sultry winds, and the peculiarly 

 appalling appearance of the sky. For the experienced a rush to 

 the tornado cellars or caves is the custom. In the public schools 

 of certain cities a tornado drill is one of the rules. 



The most vivid description of an approaching tornado was 

 given by Mr. John R. Musick, in a lengthy article which 

 appeared some years ago in the Century Magazine. A few lines 

 may be quoted from the story of this eye-witness, a fair example 

 of all such storms. "About 6.30 p.m. April 27, 1899," writes 

 Mr. Musick, " I left my house in Kirksville, Missouri, to post 

 some letters. The day had been rather remarkable, alternating 

 between a suffocating heat and the chilliness of early spring. 

 Dense black clouds occasionally rolled across the saffron sky, 

 and showers of rain alternated with bursts of sunshine followed 

 by a dead calm. As I stepped from the door a continuous 

 roaring off to the south-west burst on my ears. In the sky hung 

 a lowering thundercloud, from which peals of thunder issued. 

 Just below the cloud, seeming to rest upon the earth, was a 

 whirling monster of vapour, dust, and smoke, coming apparently 

 towards me, with an incessant and steadily increasing roar. 

 The first appearance was that of a huge locomotive emitting 

 black smoke and steam, and coming at a tremendous speed. 

 The tornado suddenly tore itself loose from the black storm- 

 cloud and advanced at increased speed, rotating from right to 

 left . . . the great funnel-shaped cloud expanding and extending 

 up into the vault of heaven, spread over the entire eastern 

 horizon. It was a dark, steamy cloud, from which were emitted 

 evanescent flashes of electric light." Luckily the cloud turned 

 into another street before it reached the house of the narrator. 

 He tells of the devastation it caused and the freaks it played, 

 among others carrying high in the air a young woman who, 

 finding herself a neighbour to a flying white horse, was in much 

 concern lest its kicking would hurt her. She was dropped, but 

 the horse was carried for two miles and not the worse for its 

 aerial experience. These experiences are commonplaces of 

 tornadic storms like the stripping of fowls of their feathers, the 



