Morning journal and courier., 1888-02-03
THE DAKOTA RL1zzARDs.

THE DAAOTA BLlZZARDS. | The Terrible Suffering and Loss of
 Life Described by a Former New |
 Haven Gentleman Now of That
 Kegton-SchOol Children, Women
 and Strong Men Per1sh-SuGerlngs
 of People Lost out i'm Rlizzards.
 The following graphic story of terriblesuf- ferink and loss of life in Dakota is from Q | former well known and highly esteemed New l Haven merchant, for about ten years past g | farmer and stock grower in Dakota:
 DoLAND, Dakota. Jan. 20.-Dear friend: l We have been having terrible time Since wrote you we have seen a blizzard that will cause us to remember it to our dying day. send you sketch of it. We will first tell you how a family of eight persons lived through blizzard in Dakota.
 From December 18th the weather was 50 bad that it was almost impossible to get oat From December 1Sth. te January 1st storms followed each other in rapid succession; the first and second days of January were par italy clear, but from the End to the 9th very bad, with strong winds; on the 10th and 11th a blizzard came from the southeast; on the 18th came a sudden change to the northwest, with 8 rapid fall of temperature.
  see six feet facing south. The family in
 question, like many others, depends on wheat straw for cooking and heating pur- poses. Owing to the bad weather the stock of straw in the shed was very low,
 nearly all chaff, and the snow chaff two feet deep. The morning after the blizzard the stable was buried ten feet deep under the snow. They commenced to dig out to get team to haul straw to burn. The snow was blowing very bad and the cattle were not fed nor the COWS milked for two days. After feeding the animals the wind blew so hard that they gave up getting straw, being afraid to venture to the straw pile three- ! quarters of a mile away. The thermometer was 25' below, everything eaten up, no fires. Finally they took what kerosene was on hand, emptied 1t on the chaff and made an attempt to cook something. They had six quart kettle on the stove from 9 till with I out boiling. The oil then was gone and they 1 gave up. The next day the wind was too strong to get straw, but they managed to find enough boxes and pieces of wood to make fire, and with it get meal of food. The next day they managed to get straw and make ! fire. Three of the family were badly frosted. The thermometer was at a. m. 36 below, at 9 a. m. 20, at p. m. 10. Many families { were in much the same position as the above. The price of wheat is so low that they can not get money to buy coal.
 u. \ My was in Doland with Mir. Sanders. They went past the house without seeing it and it was only six feet away. Mir. Ford, my next neighbor, tried to go home from his brothers, half mile east. He got lost and finally got back to the starting point with frozen face. MT. Swenhart, living east, came ! home with his team, struck snow drift within sight of his stable, unhitched and \ started for the stable, got lost and after sev- \ eral hours run into house six miles north and six miles west owned by MT. Wolverton. \ He had badly frozen his feet, hands and face ! and they had all turned black. Mr. Ander- | son, half mile west of mo, tried to go from ! his stable to his house, but twenty five feet | away, got lost and finally reached the house | after getting back to the stable and getting a | scoop shovel, holding it over his face for protection. MT. Losey, who lives in sight, ! south, was in the stable when the storm broke. His house is not over twenty feet | away. He got lost and found himself on the \ creek. He followed it to the fence and back ! to the stable, and in Hull managed to reach \ the house. There is great amount of suf- | fering here.
 \ THE TERRIBLE RESULTS OF THE LATE BLIz- | DoLAND, Jan. 24.-I send you a brief ac- count of the terrible results of the blizzard. | could write pages and not tell half of what | people are suffering here this winter We ! have had hardly three real pleasant days \ since the 18th of ecember-either snow or wind all the time. All of my stock of veg \ etables are frozen solid and spoiled and the | cellar is eight feet deep and covered with ! hay.
 STINK, Co.,, Dakota-Results of the late | blizzard:
 On the morning of the 18th inst about Il ! o'clock the wind changed suddenly from southeast to northwest, blowing the snow in ! immense clouds, with the thermometer thir- \ ty-6ve below zere, and continued until the | next morning, when it decreased to Q gentle
 gale. We are now hearing daily of the loss schools, one at Turton, twelve miles north of Doland, the other at Warner, near Athol, were in session. The teacher and eleven children were found frozen to death, all close together. Of the Turton school all except the teacher and two scholars were frozen to death, they escaping by almost miracle. A man passed them with an OK team. He had plenty of blankets and two overcoats, the outside one a buffalo coat. He gave the outer one to the teacher and the 1it-
 tle ones got under the skirts and covered
 themselves with the blankets. They were not badly frozen. The man drove all night in the storm. He was not frozen very
 badly.
 man with his boy and dog were driving along. The storm struck them. The man buried the boy in drift and staid out him
 self. He was frozen to death. In the morn
 ing some parties came along. The dog would
 not let them touch the body. The boy un-
 der the snow heard them talking and called
 the dog to him. The man heard,
 but saw nothing. He called to
 them: ''Here I is, dig me out" His hands were frozen. Two men named Merri- man formerly living within two miles and half ot New Britain, ,Ct., were frozen to death. A man named Garthwaite, just north of me, was frozen to death. MT. Clapp was found I,s I>s. with both legs badly frozen; we fear they will have to De amputated. Two boys, aged IS and IA years, were found near Doland, one leaning against shanty, the other sitting both dead. MT. Blythe was found in the morning walking about hay stack, his mind so badly affected that he did not know where his home was.
 A man was going from Doland to Ray mond had shovel in his sled when the storm struck him. He turned his horses loose, dug into drift and buried himself. He came out all right. One of his horses was frozen to death.
 man was in his stable and started for the house; he brought up against the stable and tried again with the same result. A third time he struck out and went all night. When the storm abated he was twenty miles from home One man started to bring his chil dren home from school. To ensure his re- turn he fastened the end of Q ball of binding twine to the house, taking two extra balls with him. He wandered until midnight be fore he reached the school house.
 Most everyone now takes the precaution to fasten a guide rope between the house and stable as means of return if storm should come up. I know of parties getting lost in going only twenty feet with the wind. I hear of thirty five deaths in Spink county and fear the list will be much larger. The persons named I was personally acquainted with. Imagine what the people here have had to suffer who have only straw to burn and have to get it from the stack during and after such a storm with the thermometer anywhere from 20 to 40 below zero. ..-- s-s .-~---ss. -- .--s--L -...--4 J. H. c.