, 1886-06-27
30, 1889.
A Terrible Storm and Its Unfortunate
Victims.

Wyoming mail contracts of Wadswortt
Il Boomer, was formerly superintendent
of the Green river and Lander stage
line, and is the man who alone survived
out ola party OF four caught in the terri.
bic January storm of 1883. THE LEADER
scribe met Mr.. Stewart recently and OBJ.
tanned from him the particulars of his aw-
fll experience.
On the morning of the Both of january
1883 Stewart left South Pass in hi, own
private conveyance for Pacific Springs,
the next station south. He was accompa
MED by Mr.. VIM. Clark, a well known
ranch and stock man of the Lander re-
gion, who was transacting some private
business with the line. Just ahead of
the superintendent light sleigh was the
company's regular stage, going SOUTH
1t contained beside the driver a young
lady, Miss Maggie Smith, of South Pass,
who was ell route to St. Mary's academy,
Salt Lake City. The stage was mounted
on runners and the two conveyances gil
ded along over the snow within sight Of
each other until Pacific Springs was
reached. The weather, which had been
cloudy all morning now assumed a most
threatening appearance. A great storm
was evidently at hand.
Stewart transacted his business at the
Pacific station. and after dinner he
and Clark started back to
South Pass. About 3 O'Clock
in the afternoon. the storm burst, and
soon became so furious that it was lmpos-
sible to travel. Great drifts of snow APP
peared as if by magic, and Stewart and his
companion were brought t. a halt in the
midst of them. They remained all night
in the sleigh wrapped in their buffalo
robes, and when the morning broke, the
storm had increased in fury. The sleigh
stood in the center of the stage road, and
that road was marked with high stakes
driven in the ground every few hundred
yards. About an hour after daylight,
Stewart and Clark started out to find these
stakes, and see if they could not follow
them back to Pacific Springs station. The
whirling snow beat in their faces, binding
and confusing them, and they soon be-
came separated from each other. Stewart
wandered on all day, and when night
came with it appalling Accomplishments,
he crawled into the center of one of the
snow drifts through which he had been
laundering, and awaited the morning.
When that morning came his ears, nose
and some of his fingers were frozen. Des-
perately arousing himself from the stupor
taking possession of him, Stewart STUN
bled on in the gray depths OF the driven
storm.
All day he CROPPED blindly oil. bewild-
cred, exhausted, furnishing, freezing, but
still c~linging with the desperate t~enacity of
the border bred, to life.
Night cam again like the heavy pail OF
death, and once more the lost man sank
in the ever increasing snow drifts to pass
a terrible night. When he feebly left his
snowy bed on the morning of the End Of
February, the storm still ragged about him.
For sixty hours he had now been ex-
posed to the fury of the elements; for
sixty hours he had eaten nothing, and for
forty eight hours he had blindly wandered
through ever gathering snow piles.
Dragging his frozen limbs after him he
CROPPED his way a few hundred yards fur
Their. Nature gave way at last, and the
gallant fellow sank in the snow to due.
Inconsistencies soon came and he rested
at last. But the plucky heart and vigor-
GUS frame had carried him within the
scope Of safety. He had fallen within q
short distance of the Pacific station, and
rescue was at hand. Some of the EN-.
ployes of the station engaged in looking
after stock, happened to see the deeI
tracks left by Stewart as he ploughed
through the heavy drifts, ere the swift
falling snow had covered them from
sight. The tracks were at once followed
and the unconscious superintendent wal
found and borne into the station. Fol
weeks he lay between life and death, and
when he a. last recovered it was with the
loss of both hands, both ears and his
nose. Mr.. Stewart is now hale and
hearty, and is a living record of privations
and ssfferings before which a dozen ordi,
narily constituted men would have wen
down.
Just one month afterward the body Of
VIM. Clark, Stewards companion, was
found. 1t lay only a short distance from
where the two men had left the sleigh,
The supposition was that he had grown
bewildercd in the storm. wandered back
and forth and finally laid down to perish
We will now trace the fate OF the drivel
and Miss Maggie Smith. Soon aftel
Stewart and Clark had started back t.
South Pass from Pacific Springs, tn,
driver in spite Of the rapidly approachin.
storm, pulled out for Big Sandy, the mex
station south. The storm burst abou
and overwhelmed them. Turning back
they succeeded in regainining the station
they had Just left.
After remaining here for a short tim
the driver insisted on again going on
The station people e~ndeavored in vain Il
dissuade him from his foolhardy inten
ton, and he and the girl once moro en-
tered the whirling wrath sweeping owe
the face of nature. The next %eveninj
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