Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-01-30
The Storm In Minnesota.
As intimated in the Press Immediate

| to life and property resulting therelIoni
ia thoroughly sickening to contemplate.
While every section of the State contrlp-
ntes a portion of the narrowing details,
! the entire western frontier Of Minnesota
sends up return of dead, missing anu
manned, which seems more IKE the car
| mage of battle than the result OF any er-
ratio and wonderful commotlon OF the
| elements. The accounts agree IN repre-
sentinp the storm as travelling with re-
mark able velocity, and enveloping those
caueht in it's deadly meshes almost before
thew could turn their steps homeward
To illustrate the power of the wind IN
exnosed localities, the statement is made
that sleighs were overturned and men
Frustrated as though they were nothing
more than straws in the path OF the gale.
The destruction of life is greatly attribu-
table to the suddenness of its appearance
| and its tremendous motion-the degree
of cold not being as great as in many
preceding it, but which have not made
1.-THE of the awful havoc. There is little
room to doubt that the major portion or
the list Of casualties and deaths was com
| pleted, in all its saddening chapters, be-
! tween four o'clock on that fatal tuesday
afternoon and Wednesday morning, and
| as but few could have been so fool -hardy
| as to venture on journeys while II was
| raging. it is reasonable to suppose that
| death and suffering are confined to those
| surprised by it while at distance from
home.
A few well authenticated cases OF freez-
ing occurred near st. Peter, and mention
has already been made OF them. Gentle
| men who returned here yesterday state
| that it is vet impossible to make anything
| like a correct estimate of those who have
perished or become disabled. Narrow
ESCAPES from death and permanent injury
are too numerous for more than general
reference, and it is feared that hundreds
| of cattle and horses have been destroyed
throughout the line of frontier settle
ments extending from the Red River OF
the North to the Missouri.
Mr. Drake, in charge of the telegraph
office at Mankato, stated, On Sunday, that
the astounding total OF thlrty-fOur per-
sons had been returned as frozen to death
in the settlements along the line of the
st. Paul and Sioux City alone, during
the prevalence of the storm, while
number Of additional, are reported miss
| ing whose fates are unknown,
New Ulm reports present a scene which
cannot be adequately pictured. A man
who left Nicollet for New Ulm at two
W
frozen dead in his sleigh.
Another man was found frozen, stand
| ing by his barn door, near Ulm.
Two more are reported to have been
| found dead. Another is supposed to be
| lost. His team came home without him.
| 1t is feared that many more fatal cases
| will be reported, as there were over hun
dred teams in New Ulm that started out
in various directions for home, as the
storm came on.
A schoolboy at New Ulm left school
about three o'clock Tuesday, and on Fri
day afternoon the body of the poor lad
was found on the wind beaten prairies,
eight miles from his sorrowing home.
Another man was found dead on the rail-
road track between st. Peter and New
Ulm.
A number of cases of freezing have
been reported on the main line Of the ST.
Paul and Pacific Road-some of them in
vate individuals. Many of these are I'M
doubtedly exaggerated but bare facts are
enough TO horrify and appal. The storm
in the vicinity of Litchfeld Is thus de-
scribed in the last issue of the Ledqer.
"About noon the rain changed to snow,
but the air was still warm and damp, with
the wind in the south. About three
O'Clock the wind changed to the north
In less than twenty minutes it changed
from warm spring weather to the worst
wintry storm we ever witnessed.
"The wind blew a perfect hurricane,
and the snow filled the air so that a per
son could not see more than twenty feet,
"The morning being so pleasant, many
farmers were in town, and many of them
started for home before the storm came
up, and doubtless suffered, many per
haps being frozen, for it seemed as
though it were impossible for a man to
be out in the storm for half an hour with.
out freezing to death. Those who were
in town when the storm had set in, re.
NAMED, there being a dozen or fifteen
Scandinavians, who slept in Heard's
store, besides many who stopped at the
hotels and other places in the village"
Enough is known to establish the char
acter of the late hurricane of snow, as the
most terrible and disastrous which has
ever swept over the Northwest since its
first settlement.
Among the cases reported last evening
by gentlemen arriving from the interior
Of the State, are the following Between
Alexandria and Fergus Falls, eight per
sons are reported frozen Cattle have
been found dead or buried in drifts
whose owners are still missing. One
woman living near Alexandria remained
two nights and one day in a sleigh, anc
was found alive, but so terribly frozen
that death is certain. Her husband anC
father, who started with her on Tuesday
were found dead near the spot where
she'was discovered.
A school teacher at JudsOn, Blue Earth
County, Hugh Jones-and he deserves
the record-refused to permit his scholars
to leave the school house, and kept them
there forty eight hours. in safety anG
comfort-procuring food and bed cloth
ing from a neighbor named John J
Griffiths. This is cheering example O.
good judgment, interest in the safety Of
the little ones under his charge, and cour
age to provide for their wants even at the
risk of suffering and danger There were
from thirty to forty children in the
school-and the number affords an indi
cation of how much Mr.. Jones had to do
to clothe, feed and warm them.
One man living near Judson left hi
horses in piece of woods, and saved
himself by remaining in a straw stacl
twenty-four hours. One horse wa
frozen.
A man driving yoke of oxen from
Lake Crystal to Butternut Valley, found
partial safety in stack, buv the cattl
were frozen
Deputy United States Marshal Cleve
land was out on the line of the Sioux Cit,
ROAD during the storm, and says that NJ
ATTEMPTED descrintiOn can do Il iustico n