A Waterspout

Feilding Star, Volume VII, Issue 70, 21 November 1885, Page 3

A Waterspout

1 A despatch from San Antonio, Texas, 1 July 6, says : — " Yesterday morning, near - Walden, 150 miles west of here, an eastbound freight train was struck by a waterspout. The engineer saw the spout approaching, bounding along like a rubber ball, tearing up the earth and uprooting all in its way. He reversed the train to avoid the waterspout, whose course was 1 tortuoue. Just as the waterspout reached the line of the road it changed its course, and bounded along parallel with the road . with frightful velocity. When -opposite the train it burst, deluging the engineer, fireman and brakeman, who abandoned the train and climbed some trees to avoid a wave of water fully eight feet high, and about 100 feet wide. The locomotive and fourteen cars were raised bodily and , carried nearly 200 feet from the track, while the roadbed was completely obliterated. No one was hurt. The extent of the damage is unknown. Through trains west of here on the Sunsetroad have been abandoned. Roadbeds and a number of bridges have been washed away by the recent heavy rains." Once when visiting a small town m one of the smallest German States the sovereign Prince was received at the gate by 20 young damsels in white. As a piece of cunning strategy the ten prettiest maidens were placed in the front rank and the ten less pretty ones in the second. Charmed with the attractive appearance of the vanguard, His Serene Highness did what* Osnported well with hissxxtyyears and his princely dignity — he kissed every one of them on their beautiful foreheads. At the ond of the front rank he made a sudden pause — only for a couple of -c ;onds, however, then he beckoned to his adjutant : " Sparrenholz, hore — go on with the rest."