Show A WONDERFUL waterspout cornea comez within yards of a loaded ship tile italian immigrant ramsen zero earn were or of them faint I ing bilow the spout formed new york aug 17 As the steamer froni from naples with will italian immigrants on oil board was nearing this port on friday evening a gigantic spout swept by the ship while deafen ing thunderclaps smote the cars of tile the terrified immigrants and flashes of lightning made chesky the sky appear like a liquid sheet of flame A terrific thunder storm raged for an ail hour and then at 7 there arose on the oceans surface two miles west of the steamer a big cone of water with a mass of foam at its base the cone had formed directly beneath a black overhanging cloud that seemed to reach down toward it like a huge finger not a drop of rain had fallen and not a breath rippled the oceans surface the passengers were stricken dumb with terror as they watched the cone reach upward and join the overhanging finger of black nilst forming a column of swirling seething water fully thirty yards in diameter at the base and four feet thick in the center of the column at the top tap it spread out like an immense umbrella thus it came careening toward the Neu and the fear stricken passengers passenger sat 01 last found vent in one great wall wail of despair many fell on oil their knees and prayed others tainted fainted still the waterspout rushed toward them with a noise like that of a million buzz saws but as it neared the ship its course was changed slightly and the waterspout seething and buzzing as it went swept by not more than yards off the starboard side |