The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1881-02-25
4 KANSAS ZEPHYR
What Alfred 5. knight Thinks of Our
Italian Climate

. I ~ NAT Alfred y. knight IhlEEa OF OuI
Italian Climate
We clip the following from recent
number OF the Chicago Tribune.
Yesterday morning about II O'Clock, a
Tribune reporter ran upon Alfred ].
knight, the well known Shakspearean
impersoaator and elocutionist, looking
grimy and tired. working his way up
west on Randolph street, near Michigan
avenue
You look kind of broken up" said
the reporter, after exchanging the usual
cOnrtesies.
Broken up, | should Temsrk. Who
| wouldn't be broken upg Look at me.
Lived on bacon and onions and raw po-
| tatoes tor over four days. | haven't had
my clothes of since last Thursday
Broken upi should say So"
| whats the matter" asked the re-
| porter again
"Don't Jest with me-" responded Mr.
Knight Il have been the victim of a
Kansas zephyr. have had snow-storm
experience. Been sixty-fye hours in
the snow"
"What, burieds''
might as we'll have been. You see I
left Emporia, Kansas, Friday morning,
Intending to fulfill my Missouri engage
ments." Here he pulled out hsndker-
| chief and wiped a tear away. missouri
always appreciates reader,-outside of
ST. Louis, which is on the other side OF
the bridge as you know. When LEFT
Emporia il began to snow and blow. 1t
actually blew so hard that the cars
would have been blown from the track
but for the banks of snow which formed |
on either side. Well, the train got along
about twenty miles in three hours, when |
we found ourselves at mining-camD
known as Scranton. They mine coal at |
that place, and there is q tin-shop, "a |
wagOn-shop, blacksmith-shop, and | !
guess, a drsmshop in the town |
Our train had four cars, aud there were !
three newly Unmarried couples and |
about thirteen children aboard, out |
of total of fifty-four passen- |
gers. When we got TO Scranton We |
had orders TO go on to LIvermore, where |
We were to pass the train from Topeka |
We found ourselves showed in, and tele- |
graphed TO -Topeka 10 that effect, and re- |
ceiVed orders to back to q siding. The /
engineer tried TO comply with the order, |
but the engine wouldn't, so we conclud- |
ed to stay where We were for little /
while. II showed and showed. and |
bowed and blOwed, until the drifts at |
places were over nine feet in depth |
The Topeka train came within half |
II.
there We were. The train for the west |
had two sleepers but we had none, which |
was not at all pleasing to the passengers. |
In the Topeka train there were 154 pas |
senger, and all the ladies were made |
comfortable in the sleepers, but on our |
train we had TO stand up and sleep, or |
sit straight up in the Seats
How did you fare for food g.
well, l was going to tell you that.
We didn't have great deal of variety |
They boiled all our meals at miners |
onions, potatoes, and ham. We got our
meals cooked in tlnshop, and we dub
bed one Hotel de Nine and the other
Hotel de Tinshop.' Now we had a
man sent by the Atchison, Topeka &
Santa Fe folks TO take charge. He had
orders to get us out as quickly as posi-
Bile, and at any cost This man felt the
dignity of his position and hired about
100 men at So a day. He was so en-
Unused by his success that by IL O'Clock
he was drunk, and there was no further
attempt made by him or his men that
day to extricate us. Thus we remained
idle until Sunday noon, when Mr.. Visit
comb, our conductOr,-a good man-was
placed in charge of the work, and we
saw construction train, pulled by four
locomotives and having on board $50
men. coming to our relief
You were happy, them"
Comparatively. We were, in our
misfortune, even fortunate in that train
laden with coal was near us on a siding.
Not so with the other train. We could
keep up our fuel supply, but the other
people found greater difficulty in doing
SO. They offered $50 to get half ton
of coal to the coaches, and could not get
any one to undertake the job, because
the snow was so deep. It was so cold
that men had their fingers, their hands,
their feet, ears and noses frozen. They
paid men So a day all of Friday
and Saturday to keep the trains supplied
with coal. And that is the way we got
our food carried. Delicate ladies would
sit with ham bone in one hand and q
half boiled potato in the other, with
tin cup of coffee Standing for them in
the aisle, thus enjoying the beauty of q
Kansas prairie and Kansas zephyr to
gether. The children suffered fright
fully. Many of the poor little
ones were afflicted with the Group
Two of the newly married couples
sat on one seat, and so kept warm, and
were happy to some extent. The other
walked the aisle, and the bride wept
most of the time, wanting to go back to
her mother. The wind during all that
time blew a hurricane. The snow sift-
ed in the windows so that we had to
shovel it out twice day. Lots of sto-
ries were told in regard to fishing and
hunting, but no man dared to allude 10
the snow. never had such an expert
ence, and never want another. There
was only one supremely happy person
on our train. We called her the Kansas
belle. She sat on seat between two
drovers, and they had one quilt to help
NhnEa oh ID
to sleep she dropped her head on the
shoulder Of one of her companions, and
she snored the snore of a Kansas belle.
When she got tired of leaning on one
she leaned on the other. There was
every effort made to keep the
engines from getting cold, and
sixty men were engaged shovel
ing snow into the tenders to keep up ,
the water supply, the snow being melted
by steam. But the fires had TO finally
die out because no coal could be got.
The Topeka train engineer used up his
cab to keep up his fires, but at o'clock
Sunday they went out, and both engines
became lightweight on the track, with
no possible chance of getting them out.
The snow tor three miles east, in cut
1880 feet long, was from eight to ten
feet in depth, and the men had to clear
the track with shovels, We got 10 To-
peka al l o'clock Monday morning,
where the railroad company had hot
meal for as. We left there at O'Clock
Monday afternoon, and again missed
our connection east at Kansas City We
had another four hours delay before
reaching Quincy, and, altogether, | am
a used-up man. left Quincy Tuesday
night, and here 1 am as you see me,
dirty, tired, and $500 out because Of en-
gagements have lost"
Own rER COI1NrX