The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1873-02-07
The minnesota A~alanche.

The ST. Paul Dispatch of the 21st has the
following:
E. E. Payne gives to the Kasson Repub-
lican a graphic account of his attempted
trip from Kasson to Rochester. 1Icre arc
some extracts l put up for the night by
turning my ponies loose ard my cutter up
and sat me down to rest within twenty rods
Of Andrew Johnson's house. There | was
all night singing, praying and working. to
keep alive. At one time | struck my hanCs
800 times, and at another kicked rly.feot
500 times.
At length day dawned, but no abatement
of the storm. | could not see two rods ar
ter digging out of where l WAS drifted un-
der, and could hardly stand the wind
blew SO l was afraid to loave, and returned
to my snowy nest and laid me down to die,
if it was Gods will. subsequently he
made another attempt, found a slod track
and reached a barn.
About nine miles from GlenwOod a man
who went out to chop wood stuck his axe
in drift and buried himself il the snow.
He was found alive five days afterward, but
cannot recover.
Ole Peterson had a narrow escape, ac-
cording TO the Albert Lea Standard. He
started from Albert Lea, where he had been
to buy neccssarics for his sick family, for
his home at Manchester. He lost his way,
but abandoned his team, and about mid
night found = house. The next day he
went IL search OF his team. Durlng mir.
Peterson's wanderings on this day, anow
accumulated in his uhiskers and eyebrows,
which, warmed by his breath, soon formed
a coating of ice all over his face, when, all
at once, he was startled to find his breath
cut off by the encasement. In this mo-
ment of painful anxiety, he thought of his
pocket knife, with which he perforated
hole through the icy mass around his
mouth. He says nothing but his knife
saved his lifo on this occasion.
Gilbert HalTerson, of Hartland, Free
born county, went to his stable to feed his
stock, and could not get back to his house,
few rods distant, for two days and nights.
John Jones, Jr., of ,Butternut Valley,
started from Lake Crystal with an OK team.
lie drove until the oxen would drive no
longer and then concluded to take care of
himself He tried to mako the house of
Mr.. Phillips, but failed. Feeling along e
fence until he reached a straw stack he
went for the interior of that stack with
the carnestnsss OF one working for dear
life. lie opened passage into the CEN
tire of the stack, and then dug out All aper-
ture so that he could stand in it and e1-
erclse his body to keep from freezing. -
Occasionally he would lie down and rest
and then up again and continue his e1er-
else, and SO he passed the night, freezing
slightly his hand and one foot. His oxen
were found both stone dead.
William z. Williams, living six miles
from Lake Crystal. started home because
his family were without wood. After go
ings.four, miles his horses absolutely re-
fused TO move and he abandoned them,
reaching home after a perilous tramp
Another man who had left his family with
out wood, remained at Lake Crystal for
two days, and then summoned his neigh
bors to go with him to his house to find, as
he supposed, the frozen bodies of his family.
To the i,stonishment Of the visitors and
the husband, the family were all enjoying
the blessings of life and comfortable fire,
hut the chairs, the lounge, the bureau,
bedsteSd and the cAmhrIstible household
goods generally had vanished.