The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1873-02-04
snow sToRm m MaNNEsoTA.
Constant Snow for Fifty Hours.
j over 300 Lives Lust -Men,ysO-
meEa. Chiiaren and Teams
ErOZea tO Death.

men. Chiiaren and Teams
Frozen To Deaih.
Some particulars of the suffering and
loss OF life incidentto the terrible snow
storm that swept over the N ,rth west, BE-
ginning SO sudielly on the 7th OF Jmu-
airy, and Ia ting lifty-ronr hours shave
from lime to time been published: AS
yet the full destructive effects Of the
storm have not been asceriainctl bnt
iudaine from thenumher Of persons who
are known to be missing, it is supposed
that from 250 to 500 persons were frozen
TO DEATH in Minnesota between Tuesday,
the It'll Of 1January, and Friday. the 10th
a correspondent of the New York Her.
is visite, the scene of the disasters,
lani{ fter alluding to the contrast of COM
lfs IS in the eastern cities of temporary
in Ivenience of travel by the recent
81 ls to the terrible realit es on the f-o-'
eids Of Minnesota, gives graphic
fe{a 4 of the general facts connected
he storm in the latter region He
esday, the 7th, WAS a lovely and mild
dRe< The sun was bright and the air
baH!. Every pulse of the country was
as'ir un'ler the genial inf tllence, and the
wild swans that GLANCED ov, read once or
twice from their meres. must have seen
roads alive with teams. The
Farmers were all out ut the nearest settle
ment. They were getting shortsof luei;
there was but a handful Of, louHat the
bottom of the barrel, not a scrap of meat
Was left. But the SHOWS had ceased their
shaggy little horses were well again, SO
every farmer hitehe,l his team for the
town III the little cottages OF wood
were women and children; the school
houses were full of little ones. Such
was the country, thus its dwellings,, when
the blow felt Z: JAS 4 ~
Al Winnehago City there were sixty
teams assembled; scores were At New
Ulm All aong from Albert Lea and
Blue Earth, by. Windom, Mankato, clear
to Breckenridge, Belle Prairie, aud Dp-
luth, the pc pie were scattered, delivered
into the hands OF the storm "
Between twelve and two o clock on
Tuesday the sky turned livid, the sun he
came merely at,ull brazen ring, the south
wind ch apped around RAPIDLY, became
cold and in a very lew minutes was laden
with frozen snowtlrifs that stung like a
shtiwer of needles Knowing what this
hurricane BODIED, men leaped into their
sleighs, and with voice and lash urged
their covering horses out into the storm.
.rheii the work of death began For
more than fifty hours, till late on Friday,
the freezing wind and falling snow con-.
tinued. Itwas net steady fall of snow,
bit
- gA ROWLING HURRICANE,
the Wind sometimes attaining speed of
%, 80 or 80 miles The snow came in
isful flurries, with a wild screech and a
singing whlz. The thermometer fell
steadily, till at Champlain it registered
81 degrees below zero At other places
the mercury or spirit marked from S to AZ
degrees below. Some of the farmers
who set.out soon found that if they val
ued life they must turn back They were
enyeloped in sheets Of snow that blinded
them. The wind came SO iercely that
they were fain to stop and turn round till
araomenlary lli.I camna The ad--whv,
the level prairie was all road now, with
out one track of wheel or runner 10 ip1i-
cate the path of safety
Here follows absorption ofthe man
ner in which those away from home were
blinded and driven in circles around the
prairie, until the suffering horses refused
to do their work, and men and teams per-
ished in the rapidly drifting starm The
families at home waiting in the cpIl, with
out fuel, and the snow covering their
small houses, until women and children
we're frozen, is also a yeritable and sad
pictureof the correspondent. He closes
witlia statement of the mum Der supposed
to be lost A ~
II THE DEATH ROLL
cannot yet be made upwilh any reasona-
ble degree of certainty. We are only
now getting detailed reports flomlhe
nearest settlements, andit will be fully a
week ere these are so complete as to be
trustworthy Many Of the missing will
not be found I'LL spring. but it is safe to
set down all the missing as dead After
carefully colIating all thereports received
thus far. aud making allallowapce for the
-emaining part Of the State Iamled to
conclude that the loss of slifein Mime
sofa will rangetfom go to 800 1t s'just
possible, though not probable that the
higher figure. may be reached Almost
all of these are men, and the very Urge
proportion of them fathers of families in
straitened circum stances. The surviving
widows and children will thus be lett
without means of support Of any de-
scription. The charitable of the East
will here find an object for their sympa-