Thibodaux minerva. [volume] (Thibodaux, La.) 18??-1858, 1856-05-17
A Fearful Adventure.

The St. Louis Republican has letter, dated
Whitehead, Kansas, April p, in which the wri-
ter says:
At 81. Joseph l saw Mr.. A. T. German, of
New York, who had just come in from the noun
tains, in such state of prostration and Attic
ton as could only have been occasioned bv such
exposure, hardship and suffering as, perhaps,
no other man ever survived. In company with
a Canadian Frenchman and two kentuckians, he
left the country of the Blackfeet Indians, last
fall, to join Culverson and party at Fort Pierre,
and accompany them to the States. They ar
rived at Fort Pierre two days after Culverson's
departure, and FASTENED on after, in the hope
those snow storms, known only in those bleak
and elevated regions, opened upon them. 1t
came down in solid masses to the depth of four
feet, and was blown about by drifting winds,
leveling uneven places, penetrating and filling
their wagon and clothes, and obstructing their
progress. Evening was approaching, and they
resolved to make one effort to reach more pro-
tected place before the night set in. They urg-
ed their horses forward, but had not proceeded
more than few hundred yards-Gorman being
mounted on one of the teams, and his COM
panion in the wagon-when suddenly he felt
himself precipitated-he knew not how far
into an abyss of snow. He was completely COW
cred over, and could not tell which way to turn.
He struggled on, however, making slow and
tedious way, until he came to the surface, some
distance-he supposed hundred yards-from
where he sunk. He looked around for his COM
panions, but neither they nor the wagon could
be seen. The place where they had fallen into
the chasm was smoothed over and presented q
plane of snow. He cried aloud for them, but
rs,Lo
A feeling of dread and desolation and des-
pair came over him, and he was about to yield
himself to that death which seemed inevitable.
Already had the cold penetrated his frame !;
darkness was covering the skies; the increas-
ing winds whirled the still falling snow more
furiously he was alone in q vast inhospitable,
unknown country, without provisions, without
shelter, without arms or ammunition, and he
was fearful to take step in any direction, lest
he should again be buried in some deep abyss
His manhood was subdued, he wept like child
the memoirs of his happy home, and of his
mother, came fresh upon him; he knew the ma
ny anxious hours, the miserable years, that his
unknown fate would cause her; if he could on
ly send her one word of affectionate adieu, he
could die in peace but that could not be, and
he must rouse himself. He offered his first
prayer for heavenly aid; he arose and moved
forward through the darkness and the drifts.
He sometimes fell from exhaustion and felt in
clined to repose; but he knew that one mo-
ment's pause was fatal, and struggled on. The
next day he saw some bushes, which gave him
hope of rest and warmth, but when he reached
them he found to his dismay that the matches
in his pocket were wet and spoiled, and could
not be ignited. His feet had become so sore and
swollen from constant walking, as to burst the
soles from his shoes, and he was compelled to
crawl and tumble himself along.
Thus he worked his way slowly, but unceas-
ingly through the next night and the next day,
becoming more faint each hour, and suffering
thousand deaths from hunger, thirst, frosted
Ibis, sore feet, WEAKNESS and drowsiness, when
he deserted hut q short way off. SUDDENLY re-
vived, like a candle flicke ing in the socket, he
sprang and ran forward a few steps and scream
ed for help, and fell senselessin the snow. Some
Indians, at the hut, saw and heard him, and
went and brought him in, and used all their
restoratives upon him; but it was several days
before he returned to consciousness, and six long
weeks before he left his bed He lost several of
his toes, and is otherwise permanently Injured,
but through the assistance Of some generous
gentlemen of st. Joseph, he will be enabled to
reach his home.
His companions have never been heard of.
The place where they persisted, Mr. German
ascertained to be about thirty miles from where
the steamer White Cloud lies; but the snow
was still deep in the gulches when he left there.
He gave me their names, but regret that they
have escaped my memory. Ny thoughts were
so filled with the relation of his sufferings, that
1 forgot his companions.
FIRST EFFECTS OF THE CHURCH PROPERTY
LAw.-The Roman Catholic Bishopof Hartford,