Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1873-02-01

AWAY III QUO ulreCJlOu, ner Culureu tWO
miles away in another. These hapless pa
rents suffered countless deaths. The wood
en- buildings creaked, and rocked in the
swing of the storm like ships at sea. The
timbcrs cracked with the frost like rifles.
Beadsof frost stood on every piece of wood
work, the small panes of glass were so thick
with ice that there WAS no chance that the
| lamp set in the easement could send its
| feeble light to the belated strugglers with
out. 1t was impossible to open the doors,
80 high had the drift become. The fire
grew low, though il was replenshed with
the scanty furniture. Day succeeded to
! darkness, but the day was MS the night.
! Only the chimney of the house appeared
above the drifts.
! The poor woman knew tha, her children
lay dead, hand in hand, on the prairie, and
| that her husbands corpse was somewhere
! entombed in giant drift. The little ba-
| by's blue lips were laid against her empty
breast the soul had sped from between
| them in a little cloud Of frozen vapor. She
! lay down and died, and the rclenting winds
! waited through the apertures OF the room
| decent drift Of diamoud snow for her wind
! ing sheet. These pictures, terrible as they
may appear TO the readers of the Herald,
who sit by warm fires and find the music
! of the snow, as it tinkles against the glass,
| a musical and cheerful sound, arc less
! than the reality.
! The advance Of death was like that of
"a torturcr, who comes with nll his hOrrid
! eng nee to the victim bounG at the stake.
Only they were to be euvied who met. a
| swilter fate in the raging storm without,
and were spared the sight of their children
| dying before their eyes of hunger as OF cold.
! On the railroad there was not absolute
] GIL 4 trni showed
for days, and drifts that lowered to the tel
egraph wires, and passengers had to shiver
and he scantily fed. But this was only a
1 trille.
! When Friday, the 10th, camo, The sun
rose upon n land of snow and silence.
Drifts many feet deep, and many square
miles in extent were there. Here and there
/ the chimney of house stood up like a
! tombstone III Il vast cemetery. The land
| lay like corpse under a windingsheet
! that had moulded itself into occasional
wrinkles over the dead limbs or features.
! Now came the giant labor Of clearing away
The giant drifts, and setting free the impri-
soned trains, aud the saddrr task of trsc-
| ing through the prairies the steps ot the
dead. Everywhere they were found lying
/ still and statue-like in the icy embrace OF
| death. Sometimes the sesrchers would
former lying dead, wrapped in his robes,
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
TALL till he shared his partners fate. Some
times the sleigh was found overturned, with
the traces cut. Then to right or left would
be discovered the driver, who had wander
ed round in Il despairng circle To die. De-
ci,siuually the beasts showed in their dilat-
ed nostrils, widely spread lips, and staring
eyes, the signs OF mortal terror. And the
nen, too, were sometimes Laocoous of ice
STATUES Of wriIhlng despair
E1t, as a rule, death came quietly, as il
generally does in these cases, first robbng
the victim of the consciousness ofapproach-
ing death, which begets an agunized slrug-
gle for life, and slillng him with a stupOr
said To be rs delicious as it is deadly.
The death roll cannot yet b. made up
with any reasonable degree of certainty.
We are only now getting detailed reports
from the nearer settlements, aud it will be
fully a week ere these are so complete as tn
be trustworthy. Many of the missing will
not be found till spring, but it is safe to set
down all the missing as dead.
After carefully collating the various re.
ports received thus far, and making all al
lowance for the remaining parts Of the
State, ] am led TO conclude that the loss OF
life in Minnesota will range from two hun
dred and fifty to three hundred. 1t is pos
sible, though not probable, that the higher
figure may be reached. Almost all OF these
are men, and the very large proportion oi
them fathers of families in stratened cir
cumstances. The surviving widows and
children will thus be left without means OF
support of any description. The charita.
bic of the East will here lind an object for
! their symDathies