Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1866-03-15
Terrible Case of Suffering.

A shocking case OF tree2lng occurred at
Chain Lake Center, in Martin county, Mimi,
in which six young persons were dreadfully
frozen and three Of them-young ladies'
frozen to death while returning from sing
ing school-having lost their way on the
prairie, and beens exposed to the pitiless
storm for two nights and one day. We
condense from our Blue Earth exchanges
the following particulars of the heart-rend-
ing affair:
On Tuesday evening, the 18th inst, a
mild snow storm was progressing, but was
not deemed sufficiently severe to prevent
any one from going out. These seven chill
dren, whose parents lived but a few rods
apart, hitched up the OK team and sled, and
went to the school house one and q half
miles distant to singing school Their names
were Mary and Louisa Landaker, Is and
IS years old VIM. Landaker, II years old
of the Presler family, Francis was 16 years
old, Deville II, Amanda II, and Charles 10
years old res pectively. Without the slight
est difficulty they reached the school house,
and participated in the duties of the even
ing until recess, when it was discovered
that the storm had increased to some vio-
lence and fearing that to remain later they
would be prevented from returning that
night, long before school closed they set out
for home. There were no fences, as the
country is new, to serve as o guide for the
team or driver. The storm was becoming
quite violent and the team would not follow
the course, and the children soon realized
that they were lost. They drove into
slough and the team refused to move anOth-
err inch. A terrible northwest wind had
filled the air with snow, which was being
driven with merciless fury over the plain.
1t was useless to move without the sled, the
team no longer answered to the lash, and
the children gave themselves up to die, fully
realizing their situation. Mary Landaker
died the first night. AS the storm was even
fercer on Wednesday, the survivors re-
manned there during the day Francis was
so badly frozen he lay still, while his broth
er Devillo in attempting to get out and start
the team, fell into the snow and remained
there all night, and though the mercury ran
as low as 80 degrees below zero, he was
still alive on Thursday morning. Meantime
the other two girls had died, but Devllo was
not aware of it. At the call of his brother
Francis, who was in the sled frozen to his
knees and elbows, Devilo, only fourteen
years old, with commendable energy, though
badlyfrozen, hobbled to the sled, and find
ing Francis limbs frozen to one of the dead
bodies, pried them apart with sled stake,
got his brother on his knees, and begged
him to keep awake and he would try to get !
home. His brother replied: I" No, let us
die here together" "No," said Devilo, 81
am going home" The cattle refused
to move, He soon found the trouble |
to be that their eyelids were frozen together
and picking them open with his fingers, and |
kicking and whipping some time he succeed
ed in starting thera and by tightly holding
on to the rope and horns he dragged his
frozen feet and got home with his load of
frozen schoolmates.
The parents, thinking their children had
CHARTERED themselves with some neighbor
during the storm, were overwhelmed with
grief, when they beheld the three girls
frozen to each other in solid mass sill
keeping in sitting posture, in the sled, in
which the storm overlook them. The bod
les could only be identified by the clothing,
so completely were they encased in ice and
snow During all this time they were only
a mile and quarter from home, yet such
was the severity of the storm that no object
could be seen at twenty rods distant, and
search for the children, bad the parents
they were exposed, would have
been fruitless.
The Winnebago City Homestead says:
At our latest accounts from these poor
the boys were all alive, but
the two oldest had each been so badly frozen
that to save lite, amputation Of both hands
and feet had become necessary, and the
surgical operation had been performed.
The other boy was but slightly frozen, or at
least slightly in comparison to the rest of
The party. 1t is not thought he viii lose
any member Of his body. 4 Z
The other members Of the singing school,
seeing with what fury the storm was raging,
wisely decided to remain where they were
in the school house. They remained there
from Tuesday evening till about noon Of
Thursday, when they made break and all
cached their homes safely.