Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1873-01-30

Happy they who did so betimes !!
There were many who held on
stubbornly till it was too late.
there were many more who, goaded on
by a dreadful fear of the fate of their
wives and little ones, left alone in then.
trail citadels, forced on through the
drifts that grew deeper at every step,
andsscold that became more intense eve
ny moment. And there were others
VINO grew weary Of the contest, and
lying down in their robes, were lulled
by the elemental rage into slumber
which knew no awakening. Sometimes
the horses gave out, and the unhappy
driver, benumbed and chilled, his move
mants impeded by his heavy clothing,
HAD to. abandon his team and take to
the drifts. The means and shrieks of
the horses that found themselves TINS
deserted by their masters are said to
some few who survived such scenes by
have been agonizing to hear. And at
their homes things were no better.
! here was perhaps scanty supply of
fuel IN the corner and but days foo d
in the lader. Night trod closely on the
heels OF noon. Perhaps the mother was
alone with her sucking child, her hus
band ten miles away in one direction,
her children two miles away in another.
These hapless parents suffered countless
deaths. The wooden buildings creaked
androckedrin the. swing of the storm
like ships at sea. The Timbers cracken
with the frost like rifles Beads of frost
stood on every piece of woodwork
the small pans of glass We're so thick
with ice that there was no change that
the lamp set in the easement could send
/ It's feeble light to the belated strugglers
without. 1t was impossible to open the
doors, so high had the drifts become.
The fire grew low though it was replen-
lshed with the scanty furniture. Day
succeeded to darkness, but the day was
as the night. Only the chimney Of the
house appeared above the drifts. The
poor woman kpew..t that her children lay
dead, hand-in hand; on the prairie, and
that her husbands corpse was some
where entombed ina giant drift. The
little baby's bluelips were laid against
her empty breast, the soul had sped
from between them in little cloud of
frozen vapor. She lay down and died,
and the relenting winds waited through
the apertures Of the room decent drift
of diamond snow for her 'winding-sheet.
| These pictures, terrible as they may ap
pear to the readers Of the Herald who
it by warm fires and find the music Of
the snow as it tinkles against the glass
musical and cheerful sound, are less
that the reality. The advance of death
was like that Of torturer, who comes
with all his horrid engines to the vic
tim bound at the stake Only they
were to be envied who met a swifter
! fate in the raging storm without, and
were spared the sight of their children
dying before their eyes of hunger as
well as of cold.
On the Railroads there was not abso-
lutte suffering. Of course trains were
showed in for days in drifts that tower
ed to the Telegraph wires, and passen-
gers had to shiver and be scantily fed.
But this was only triHe.
When Friday the 10th came, the sun
rose upon land Of snow and silence
Drifts many feet deep and many square
miles in extent were there. Here and
here the chimney OF house stood up
like tombstone in vast cemetery.
The land lay like corpse under wind
ing sheet that had moulded itself into
occasional wrinkles over the dead limbs
or set features.
Now came the giant labor of clearing
away the giant drifts and setting free
the imprisononed t.ains and the saddle
task of tracing through the prairies the
steps of the dead. Everywhere they
were found lying still and statae-like
TiIF ICY EMBRACE or DEATH
Sometimes the searehels would find
man and horse the former lying dead
wrapped in his fobes with the whip in
his hand, in the sleigh, one horse down
the other standing in the spot where
he was fastened by his partners fall till
he shared his partners fate. Sometimes
the sleigh was found overturned, with the
traces cut. Then to right OF left would
be discovered the driver, who had wan
defed around in a despairing circle to
die. Occasionally the beasts show ed
in their dilated nostrels, widely spread
lips, and staring eyes the signs of NOR
tai terror. And the men, too, were
sometimes Laocoons of ice-statues of
writhing despair. But as rule, death
came quietly, as it generally does in
these cases. first robbing the victim OF
the consciousness Of approaching death,
which begets an agonized struggle for
life, and sitting him with stupor said
to be as delicious as it is deadly.
The death-roll cannot yet be made
up with any reasonable degree of GER
tainty. We are only now getting de-
tailed reports from the nearer settle
ments, and is will be fully week ere
these are so complete as to- be trust
worthy. Many Of the missing will not
be found till spring; but it is safe to
put down all the missing as dead. AT 1
ter carefully collating the various re-
ports received thus far, and making all
allowance for the remaining parts of
the State, I am led to conclude shat
the loss of life in Minnesota will range
from $50 to 800. 1t is just possible,
though not probable, that the higher
figure may be reached. Almost all Of
these are men, and the very large pro-
portion Of them fathers of families in
strained circumstances. The surviving
widows and children will thus be left
without means of support of any de
scription. The charitable of the East
will here find an object for their SYM
matthias