The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1866-03-07


tie Boy.
We have already printed brief ac-
count Of the melancholy event nara
ted in the following communication,
but we are sure our readers will be in
terested in the following thrilling par
ticulars, furnished by gentleman who
visited the scene Of suffering.
CHAM LAKE CESrRE, MINI, Feb II.
Editors t. Paul Press
Let me bring TO your notice a dis
tressing casualty that occurred in this
place last week:
On Tuesday evening, the 18th inst,
seven children-four boys and three
girls-between the ages OF ten and sew
enteen years, belonging TO the families
of Messrs Landaker aad Prestler, at,
tended singing school, two miles dis
tant from their parents residence The
scope of country around is rolling
prairie, thinly settled. Before the
school closed, the wind commenced to
blow hard, and filed the atmosphere
with snow as fine as flour, that had fall
len, five inches deep, few days before.
Hearing the wind blow, the children
soon started for home with their OK
team. After proceeding half mile,
they were bewildered and lost their
way. The wind now became violent
and the cold intense. After wander
ing 8 portion OF the night, the oxen
stopped in large snow drift The
children now protected themselves as
well as they could in the open wagon
hr.v Iua glZI nf h.. IL,
yielded 10 the intense cold and froze to
death Morning came but it brought
no relief 10 them, for the wind blew as
hard a. ever, and the air was so full of
snow that an object could not be seen
the distance of a rod. They passed the
day in and around the sled box. Just be-
fore night the wind partially subsided,
so that q building, | believe, could be
seen from their position, while another
house was not more than one hundred
rods distant But the boys were proba-
bly, asleep and did not take an obser-
walton. The second night-the coldest
night OF the season, thirty degrees be-
low zerO-oveTtook them. Two girls
.froze 10 death that night Early Thurs.
day morning the boys awoke almost
helpless. The one next to the oldest
ana the youngest, ten years of age, un-
dertOok 10 start the team. The oldest
boy begged of them not TO halloo, as it
would be of no use, for they must all
perish there. No says one OF the
boys, I'VE shall yet be rescued, and he
crawled 10 the 'front.' of the oxen, and
with MS hands frozen stiff, wiped Oft the
D. from tlaIp fhof uharr a,talfl
see, and kicked their legs till they bled,
and then by desperate hallooiHg, the
oxen put forth their strength and
moved the sled from the drift Going
half a mile, they came upon a swell on
the prairie. The father saw them malt
ing "A mile off At once he flew to their
relief The sled was brought to the
door of the parents house, containing
the frozen bodies of the girls, and one
of the little boys insenslble, and the
others badly frozen. The limbs of the
two older boys were frozen apparently
solid nearly TO the knees, while the
hands and arms of one were more badly
frozen. The limbs of one of the little
boys were frozen even above the knees
The other little boy is not frozen much,
though he was more thinly clothed than
the others He had no mittens for his
hands, though he wore blouse, the
sleeves of which came over his hands.
| have visited these suffering fami-
lies. Ii was a sad sight to see those
three girls laid on one bed, in the
same condition they were when taken
from the shed. | saw the limbs of the
surviving nearly as black as a stove |
pipe ! he sutierings OF the older boys |
are terrible when the doctor dresses |
their limbs. The youngest is quite cheer |
ful and even heroic, assisting his moth |
er to prick the blisters on his limbs. !
lie persists in the belief that he could |
have driven the steers home the first |
night, if the older boys had let him
have his own way.
The doctor Is sanguine he can save |
all the limbs except hand of one of |
the older boys. 1t is my opinion that |
after a few days the flesh OF the frozen |
parts will slough off, and amputation |
will need to be resorted to TO save |
life The doctor, however, says all the |
limbs are doing as well as can be ex-
pected.
You may think the rehearsal of this |
casualty is an exaggeration, and say,
lit is impossible for human being to |
be out il such extreme cold weather SO |
long and not perish. must confess |
if / should read such an account in |
your paper | could hardly believe it. |
/ can now scarcely credit the reality of |
It, though my thermometer on Thurs
day morning measured twenty-six de-
grees below zero, while by another il
was thirty degrees, and l have seen
myself the surviving and their frozen
limbs
That any Of them survived such
tornado OF wind and snow for so long
time, in the coldest weather there has
been this winter, is marvellous, not
only to me, but also to the crowd Of
people that throng the abode of the
sufferers. j. G. STRONG,
Minister congregational Church, Chain
Lake Center.