Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1873-03-06

Lu6 u6to uSICOA Will oO oAAo"So AVA NN-A6 ~''
and proofs.
By order of His Excellency, the Governor
H. H. D. BYRON,
Private Secretary.
corrasnondence of the Yorkville Enquirer.
LETTER FROM MINNESOTA.
ST.. PAUL, February %. 1873.
Ihave gradually approached the north pole
until have got as near to it as reasonable
man might wish. I feel the cold wind from
the eternal icebergs of the north every time
venture ten feet from the fre-side. To-day
the thermometer marks twenty-eight degrees
below zero, which is an intensity Of cold that
you in the genial cline of South Carolina can
not realize. In going from my hotel this
morning, "a less distance than from the EN-
qu1RER Office to the depot had to stop and
warm at stores along the street four times
Nv nose and ears ached with the bitter cold
and my fingers were benumbed. tits the wind
that makes the cold so intense. Twenty-eight
degrees below zero, with a stfong wind, such
as has been blowing to-day, is worse than for
'ty.fve degrees below zero and the atmosphere
still.
In the great storm of last month, nearly
two hundred people were frozen to death, yet
the thermometer did not sink to thirty de-
grees below zero until after the storm was
over. 1t was the fearful, binding wind and
snow that did the work. Men perished with
in fifty feet of houses, not being able to see
ten feet from them. The most heart-rend.
ing stories reach my ears of the suffering by
the storm. Of over one hundred instances Of
terrible torture, perhaps that of Mr.. Evans,
of Fillmore county, is the saddest. He was
a minister, and had been away to preach, ta'
king his family with him. On his return in
his sleigh the storm overlook him when with
in less than a mile of home. He had with
him his wife, little boy and babe. His horse
became blinded by the storm, and finally STOP
ped in snow drift, unable to 60 any further.
Mr.. Evans took his little boy in his arms and
pushed through the terrible drifts and blind
ing snow for home He found it, and left his
little boy to return to the sleigh, taking some
blankets with him. These he wrapped around
his frail wife, and, taking the babe in his arms,
started for home. Poor man, he never found
it! The home he found is above, and was
reached through icy portals. In the binding
driving, pelting snow and fearful cold he lost
his way, and perished with his tender little
babe folded to his breast. Who can picture
the agony of this poor man as he Aoundered in
the bewildering drifts, completely lost, but
knowing that his wife was freezing in the
sleigh alone, that his child was at home dying
alone, and he unable to reach either of them
or save the babe in his arms? Could death
in any form, be more cruel' None but God
above knows how long he struggled in the
binding blast before he yielded to the fury o1
the storm. All we do know is, that father
mother, child and babe perished. When the
neighbors called at the house after the abate'
ment of the storm, it had but solitary little
frozen occupant. The poor child had died
alone-died in pain and grief for the icy
tears were upon its little cheek. The wife
and mother was found in the sleigh, stifen
ed corpse. The dead father, with the dead
babe upon his breast, was mile away, where
he had sunk down frozen, exhausted and lost
in the driving snow.
Another sad case was that of young man
who was just returning from Canada with his
BRIDE His father went out to meet them, and
the happy trio we're driving home in Sleigh
unconscious of danger. Suddenly the storm
burst upon them. The team could not keep
the road and finally it was lost. To find ii
again was the only hope, and father and son
left the sleigh to find the road. They never
returned. They became lost themselves
and wandered, nobody knows where, only
their dead bodies were found mile and q
half out upon the bleak prairie. The lady
became anxious for their safety and left the
sleigh to try and find them. She became lost
herself, and was found two days after under
the shelter of pile of logs, but frozen so bad
ly that both lower limbs have been amputa
ted below the knee. Poor girl! the crue
storm has left her upon the shore, wreck
crippled and desolate.
might I'll many columns of the ENoUI
RER with interesting details of the great
storm, some of which the reader might not be
inclined to believe. But you cannot realize
the terrible fury of the storms that rage IL
this extreme northern State. To-day, | dc
not believe man could live out upon the
prairie, exposed to the wind, more than two
hours. I know that my time would be up in
less than two hours. would not risk an
hour for fortune. You may laugh at this
reader, in the warm and genial State of South
Carolina, but it is the truth.
This has been fearful winter. Every rail
road in the State has spent more money keep
ing the tracks clear from snow Cor trying to.
than for any other item. 1t has cost some o
the roads seventy-6ve thousand dollars
month.
In the northern part of the State the coldes
weather marked fifty-two degrees below zero
A man cannot realize how cold that ia.