The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1873-01-24

into the storm. Thea theawork Of death
began. For more than fifty hours, till late
on Thursday, tile freezing wind and falling
snow continued. II was neta steady fall OF
snow, but ff
ROWLING HURRICANE,
the wind sometimes attaining speed OF
twenty-eight, thirty, or thirty-two miles.
The snow came in fitful furries, with wild
screech and singing whiz. The thermome.
ter fell steadily till, at Champaign, it registered
fjftY-four degrees below zero. AT other
places the mercury OF spirit marked from
eight to forty-two degrees below. Some Of
the farmers who set out soon found tllat II
they valued life they must turn back Ihey
were enveloped in sheets OF SHOW that Dino.
ed them. The wind came so fiercely thai
they were fain to stop and turn round I'LL q
mcnlentary lulI came. The road-why, THE
level prairie was uIl road now, without one
track of wheel or runner to indicate the path
of safety. Wherever there was slight knoll
or 4 tree the driving snow-sleet curled round
it and broke over it like yeasty pillows over
q wreck, and far to iceward grew up drifts OF
eccentric form. Then the snortInS horses
that toiled along, pressing with their beav-
ing thinks closer to each other for warmth
and dumb protection and sympathy, refused
to GO forward; the driver felt himself be-
comin.. IistlcsS, his cold limbs were growing
warm, and, warned OF the
SWIFT COMING OF DEATH,
he turned aud retraced bis steps. Happy
thev who did SO betimes. There were many
who held on stubbornly till it was too late.
There were many more who, golded on by
g IL ..,Tt fat If
little ones. left alone in their frnil citadeIs,
forced on through The drifts that grew deeper
at every step, and cold that became more m
tense every moment. And there were others
who grew weary Of the contest. ana, Tying
down in their robes, were luiIed by the ele-
mental Iuge into siumbcr which knew no
awakening. Sometimes the horses gave out,
and the unhappy driver, benum5ed ana
chilled. his movements iDpcded by bis heavy
clothing, had to abandon his team and take
t. the drifts. The nloans and Shrleks OF fhe
horses that found themselves thus deserted
by their masters arc said by some few who
survived such scenes to have been agonlzlDg
to hear. And at their homes things were no
better. There was perhaps scanty supply
Of fuel in the corner and but Il days food in
the harder. Night trod closely on the heels
OF noon. Perhaps the mother was alone
with her sucklng child, her husband ten
miles away in one direction: her children Two
miles away in another. These hapleSs pa
rents suffered countless deaths. The wooden
buildings crcaked and
ROCKED IN TIE SWING OF THE STORM
like ships at sea. The timberS cracked with
the frost like rifles. Beads Of frost stood on
every piece of wondwork--the small panes
of glass were 50 thick with ice that there
was no chance that the lamp set in the case
ment could send its feeble light to the be-
lated strugglers without. 1t was impossible
to open tee doors, so high had the drifts
become. The fire grew low though it was
replenishcd with the scantr furniture. Day
succeeded to darkness, but the day was as
the night. Only the chimney of the house
appeared above the drifts. Thep poor woman
knew that her children lay dead, hand-in-
hand, on the prairie, and that her husbands
corpse was somewhere entomled in giant
drift. The little bahy's blue lips were laid
against her empty breast, the soul had
sped from between them In q little cloud OF
frozen vapor. She Iay down and died, and
the rclcn:ng winds waited through the
apcrtures Of the room decent drift OF da-
noud snow for her wDding-Shect. These
pictures, terrible rs they may appear TO the
readers OF the UnrGM who III by warm Tires
and end the music ci the snow as it tin&lcs
as,ain.t the gas, IL mlsicaI and cheerful
sGurd. are less than the reality. The ad-
vance OF death was like that OF II torturer,
who comes with all his horrid engines to the
victim bound at the stake. Only they were
to ha cnried who met ii sWiiter fate III the
raging storm without, and were spared the
sight Of their children dying before their
eyes Of hunger rs we'll is OF cold.
oS THE RAILROADS
there was not absolute suffering. OF course
trains were showed in for days in drifts that
lowered TO the telegraph wires. and passcn-
rars had to SILVER aud lie scautiy fed. But
this was only trlt!e. ..,I
When Friday the 10th came, the sun rose
upon land Of snow and silence. Drifts
many fec! deep and many square miles IN
extent were there. Here and there the
chimney OF Il house stood up like 4 tomb
stone in vast cemetery. The land lay like
a corpse under winding sheet that bad
moulded itself into occasional wrinkles over
the dead limbs or set features. Now came
the giant labor O! clearing away the giant
drifts and setting free the imprisoned trains,
and.thn sadd"r task Of tracing through the
prairics the steps of the dead. Everywhere
they were found lying still and statue-like in
THE ICY EMBRACE OF DEATH.
Sometimes the scarchers would find man
and horses together, the 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
bv his partners fall till he shared his part
ncr's fate. Sometimes the sleigh was found
overturned, with the traces cut. Then TO
right or lctt would tie discovered the driver,
who had wandered around in despairing
circle 10 die. Occasionally the beasts show
cG. in their diiatcd nnstrils, widely-Spread
lips, ard staring eyes the signs of mortal ter
ror. And The men, too, were sometimes
Laocoons of icc-statues OF writing despair
But, as rule, death. camc quietly, as il gen
erall; does in these cases, brst robbing the
victim q the consciousness of approaching
death, which bcgct> IN agonized struggle
tor life, and sitting him With Il stupcr said
to he as delicious us it is deadly.
THE DEATn-RoLL
cannot YET he made up with any reasonable
degree of certainty. We are only now get
ting detailed reports from the nearer settle
mcnts, and it will lie fully week ere these
are so complete as to be trustworthy. Many
OF the missing will not be found till spring
but it is safe 20 set down I'LL the missing as
dead. After carefully colating the various
reports 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 $50 to 800. 1t is
just possible, though not probable, that the
higher figure may De reached. Almost all Of
these are nleu, aud the very large proportion
of them fathers Of families in strained cir
culnstances. The surviving widows ant
children will thus be let without means o
Il l.