The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1872-03-02

Correspondence Cincinnati Commercial
CHEYEsNB, WYoMING TERRITORY,
2 February 20, 1872.

CHEYEsNE, WYOMING TEHRrfoRY,1
February 20, 1872. ST
CHEYENNE
Is point in Wyoming Territory five hum
dred and sixteen miles west Of Omaha. s !
PASSENGERS
who have been out from twenty-eight to
thirty-five days are strung along the road
from Omaha here, making their way east as
fast as the trains can carry them. just before
leaving Omaha yesterday fell In with seYe-
raj who had stopped there to eat" fill up"
as they called it, and from the way they.
waded into all that was set before them and
then called for moro, think "fill up" the
proper term.
FOUR WEEKS IN TIE SNOW.
"How long were you out?" asked of
one, as he sat at the hotel picking bis teeth
after what he termed his "frst square meal.o
"Over month" ~i
chad hard time, didn't you?"
81 should say we did. You fellows out
here east can't tell anything about it. You
can't imagine what a-well, what devil Of
a time we had. The papers may try to give
accounts of it, but it's matter of impossi-
bility to put it on paper.
THIRTY DEGREES BELOW ZERO.
"Why, sir, several nights out there on
Green river, where we were showed up, the
mercury was thirty degrees below zero, and
the wind cut like knife. It swept over the
hills and plains Us if it was bent on destroy
ing every living thing. The air was full of
snow, which stung like nettles. You couldn't
see your hand before your face. 1t wasn't
so all the time, but it was bad enough. We
couldn't keep the car warm, although we
were in tirst-class sleeper. The wind crept
through every crevice, and there was no
keeping 1t out. 1t was impossible with the
wind up to keep the car warm.
IN THE sEcoND-CLAss CARS
"therc was fearful suffering, and he who
says there was not is fool, if not a liar. The
poor devils were packed together in cars not
half as warm rs OUTS, and had to eat, sleep,
and live in them. They did not have much
fuel, either, and what they did have they had
to get themselves, and keep up their fires.
Sometimes they would be almost entirely out
of wood or coal, and that, too, when many
of them were sick. Some of the officers did
what they could for them, but their hands
were full in trying to get the road open.
CHEESE AND CRACKERS.
"The second-class passengers didn't have
much to eat but cheese and crackers. When
they could get hold of little meat they had
no way to cook it but upon the coal-stoves,
and no dishes. At night they had no way to
sleep but upon the seats, and if you have
ever tried to sleep sitting up in seat you can
Judge of the misery of the situation. When
one was sick it was absolutely necessary to
give him or her whole seat, and this crowd
ed up the others still more.
THE LIGHTS GIVE OUT.
"Then, to add to the general misery and
discomfort, the candles and oil were eX-
hausted in all the ears, and we had to grope
about in darkness. Think Of the bowling,
Internal wind, the pitch darkness, the intense
cold, and us poor devils penned up without
even lights. But as much as we suffered,
those going west suffered more. There were
more of them, they were closely packed, and
blockaded even in colder places than we.
DEATH.
Gone little girl died upon western-bound
train. The poor little thing could not stand
the cold, the hunger, the exposure. She was
a second-class passenger. and when / think
how much they suffered, l don't feel bit
like complaining myself. To see them sick
in the condition they were was enough to
make ones heart ache. Only one died upon
the road that I know of, but several will die,
and others never can get over the exposure
endured. 1t was enough to break down a
constitution of iron. Some of lis who do not
think we are hurt any will find out In after
years that we will have to pay penalty. A
| man can't live as we did for month and es-
cape unframed. a..
GOVERNOR Bolts PASS.
con a train ahead of us was Governor
Bolts. of Montana. When be saw how much
suffering there was, he teleSraphed to SAN
francisco papers advising no more passengers
! to come until the road was open, as they
would certainly suffer. This made the rail-
road officers mad, and when they got a copy
| of the paper containing the dispatch, they
| telegraphed Bolts if he had sent such a dis
patch. He replied that he had. They then
wanted to know how he could do such a
| thing when he had the companys free pass
| in his pocket. He said he did it to prevent
suffering, which must overtake all who at
| tempted to come, and, as for the pass, they
were welcome to il. He bought ticket and
returned his pass, and now If you want to
hear straight talk about the management OF
the road, 20 to Bolts. Having got rid of his
pass, he is under no obligation to keep his
mouth shut, and don't keep if shut eithert''
SWEARING, PRAYING, AND sH0vELNG SNOW.
CHOW did the passengers spend their
time? 2" asked. 49,
"Swearing, praying, and shoveling snow
though if they had sh0veled snow more and
prayed and swore less, we might have got
out sooner. They swore more toward the
last than at first, for after they had read
everything and eat everything in the car,
they had nothing else to do. Some used to
play cards good deal, especially at night,
but when the lights give out that had to end.
Their tobacco gave out, and that put them in
worse humor than ever. They couldn't
smoke, and would talk about the different
kinds of good tobacco that they couldn't get,
until a fellows mouth would water. Then
they would talk about all kinds of good eat.
ing, and the big dinners they would get
when they got out. 1t was sorter funny and
sorter serious, BOTH" ..-.
TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS DAY.
The blockade has not cost the company
cent less than twenty-five thousand dollars a
day during last month and this-that is to
say, they are out that amount on account
thereof. These figures have from one high
in authority among the oficials-one who
knows what he is talking about. In addition
to extraordinary expense, the tide Of through
travel that swept over the road has all been
diverted to other channels, and will not
come back until the road is open and out OF
danger.
Leaving Omaha yesterday We only had one
sleeper, and it was not half-full. I asked the
conductor how that compared with former
trips, and was told that before the blockade
every train took out from three to five sleep
ins-crs, and all full of through passengers.