Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1873-02-04
$50 west,' Young REau, and Freeze

THE CALM BEFORE THE SIOaM
Tuesday, the 7th, was lovely and mild day.
The sun was bright and the cir balmy. Every
pulse Of the country was astlr under the genlai
Influence. and the wild swans that Changed over
head once or twice frcm their meres must have
seen the prairie roads alive with teams. Inc
fsrr1ers we're all out at the nearest settlement.
They were getting short of fuel; there was but
. handful Of -four at the bottom Of the barrel,
not a seraD of meat was left. But the SHOWS had
ceased, their shaggy little horses were well a.
gain, SO every farmer bitched bis team for the
tovn. In the little cottages OF wood were wo-
men and children; the schoolhouses were full
of little ones. Such was the country, thus It's
dWellers, when the blow fell.
At Winnebago City there were sixty teams
assembled scores we're at New Ulnl. All along
from Albert Lea and Blue Earth, by Window,
Mankato. clear up to Breckenridge, Belle PFal-
RE and Duluth, the people were scattered, de-
liyered into the hands Of the storm.
THE FIRST GRowL OF THE SNOW FIEND!
Between twelve and two o'clock On Tuesday
the sky turned livid, the sun became merely q
dull brszeu ring, the south wind chopped round
ranidy and became cold, and in very few
minutes was laden with fee frozen snowdrltts
that stung like a shower of needless Knowing
what this hurricane BODIED, men leaped into
their sleiehs, and with voice a1d lash urged
their covering horses out into the storm. Then
the work Of death began: For more than htty
hours, till late on Thursday, the freezing wind
and falling snow continued. It vas not steady
fall Of snow, but
HoWLING HURRICANE,
the wind sometimes attaining speed ct twenty
eight. thirty or thirty-two miles. The snow
cane in flful furries, with wild screech and
q singing Whiz The thermometer fell steady,
mi Al Champlain itregistered ffty-four degrees
below zero, At other places the mercury or
enirit marked from eight to forty-two degrees
helow. Some Of the farmers who set out soon
found that if they valued life they must turn
hack, Thev we're enveoped in sheets of snow
that blinded them The wind came SO Eercely
that they were fam to stop and turn round til!
q rnnrnentsry- lull cone. The ro2d-why, the
level nrairia vas all road now. without one
track Of Ehes! or runner 70 Indicate the path OF
safety.
THE HORRORS OF LIFE IN TIE WEsT-LATEsT
DISPATCHES.
The came Correspondent writes from
WINoNA, MIMI, Jan. 20, 1873.
Tie small weekly papers have come in, and
every mail brings US letters from the interior
With further particulars OF the recent great
storm. The anticipations Of the Herald's cor
respondeDs havo been sadly realized, and there
ia no doubt that the lives lost will number fully
three hundred. Fer instance, New Ulm order
ed pipsteen oofins on one day, and at least fifty
deaths arc reported from that place and For;
Ridgeey. Twenty deaths at Morris, nine al
Madelia, tventy-four at Sleepy Eye Lake, eighi
et WorthiDgton, ten at Mankato-so rGDs the
fatal record. In this letter | propose giving
some disconnected incidents and O. isodes ol
nh hc oc inta
Eastern readers Some idea Of the depth OF
the snow drifts may be formed when We consi-
der that on the Wednesday the snow was piled
60 high about freight train, blockaded Oh the
Dayenport and st. Paul Railroad, near Del
aware Center, that teams drove right over the
cara. Upoo the same line there are drifts g..
00O fee. lorg and fifteen feet deep. Near Blue
Earth men could pass on foot over the telegraph
wires. and ct New Ulm in one drift was found
man frozen to death while sitting on the sea
of his slsigh, his head being fully five feet IN
der the surface.
SEVEN SCHOOL CHILDREN FROZEN.
One Of the saddest incidents is reported from
Fort Ridgeley. The schoolmistress discharged
her scholars telling them to run home. Some
escaped with but slight Injuries, but seven Of
the little onea lost their way in the binding
drifts and were found dead, one with his books
under bis arm and bis little foot fixed fora step
step which had proved a step beyond the con
fines Of life. Two others were found frozen to
death 10 each others arms; tears, which the
bitter cold Or the near approach OF death had
wruug from them, standing in little beads OF
ice on their innocent cheeks. Hugh Jones, a
teacher, near New Ulm, kept the forty scholars
Of bis school IN the schoolhouse from Tuesday
till Friday, riski 1g his life, like practical IN
selfish hero, every day In a two mile tramp
through drifts four Or five feet deep to get food
for them.
TIE STAGE OF DEATH.
4 stage left Madelia for St. James having
eight passengers and driver. On Wednesday
m0rnug. not having arrived, search was made
for it. 1t was found on the road, the horses
frozen to death, the driver grinuing corpse on
the seat, with the reins still in his hands, and
eight bundles Of robes and clothes in the bot
tom of the stage, each OF which contained @
souliess lump OF icy flesh.
DIR. A. (. Jenkins, Of the Cleveland, Ohio,
Bridge Company, who was experimenting the
blildng Of en- iron bridge ct Rock Rapids,
Iowa, was travelling by stage thence TO SibIey.
digembarkeQ. He cid not stir. They called
him, they touched him, and 10 Death had
ridden with them for some time, and the body
was already rigid.
SLAIN so NEAR SAFETY.
At Oshawa, about q hundred yards from the
railroad station, were found two horses harness.
ed to cutter, in which, sitting both upright,
were tRo mea dressed in warm buffalo coats
They were frozen stiff and dead. John Haga-
meyer, OF Elizabeth, started to go from his
house TO Lis blacksmith shop, l50ysrds away.
Hewes found two miles distant, frozen to death.
At Herman, On the st. Paul and Pacific rail
read, q man vas frozen to death going from the
station TO the tankhousc.
At Nlcoilet. within twenty yards Of the rail
read station, Gaa was found frozen to death
in his sleigh.
LIZ the sane village another man lost his life
while frying to close his barn deer, blocked by
q Snow crit.
Wr. Charles Dsming, mail carrier between
Vernil!ion and Swan Lake, hung a buffalo robe
over the wheel Of his buggy and spent twenty
hours Ia the ice Of this poor shelter, freezing
one foot aud enc hand. When the storm ceas-
al ba f,und bimseIf within FORTY VOID, &c .