chatterton and eddings ran toward him..if they had lived , they might have told their fellow officers that they thought the man had been in a car crash , or had been burned by an explosive backlash of gas or kerosene , or that he might have fallen face-first into one of those cruel pieces of farm machinery which decide , every now and then , to reach out and tomahawk their owners with their blades , choppers , or cruel , whirling spokes .