Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-01-17
GREAT SUFFERING.
TIE GREAT STORM THAr SWEPT OVER
THE N0RrHWasT.
A Pitiful List-sudden and Horrible-He-
role Mep and Women-scenes
and Incidents.
nv ,eleeraph 10 Tho Dispatch.I

ST. PAUL., January 16.-The terrible
storm which has swept over the North
west blockading railroads in five States
is now over, and the victims OF its fury
are being counted. The pitiful list IS
growing almost every hour. 1t IS not
improbable when the record is complete
il will show hundreds of lives sacrificed |
TO the awful fury of the blizzard. Next |
TO this tile worst blizzard that the North
west ever experienced occurred January |
Z. 8. and Q, 1873. In that storm |
seventy people were frozen to death and |
thousands Of dollars worth Of pro- |
perry destroyed. The present storm |
promises TO be even more terrible IN Its |
results. 1t came without warning. At /
sunrise last "Wednesday Dakota never |
had more lovely winter weather. The |
air was clear as crystal and every object
above the horizon was distinctly visible:
The wind was from the south, dry and
balmv. and before the sun was high IN
the sky a decided thaw had set IN:
Farmers took advantage Of the beautiful
weather to get 10 town 20 draw WOOD,
hav. etc. About noon cloud was seen
along the northerthwestern horizon lying
close to the ground, but stretching from
west TO north in dark semi-circle.
Little attention was paid to it, but IN an
hour the cloud had swepo over the coun-
try. The sun was obscured, the snow
was falling fast and gale was sweeping
! from the northwest with terrible fury.
The blizzard had begun. The mercury
/ fell rapidly. and by ) o'clock il was ID
degrees below zero, and the next morn
ing il registered 80 degrees below. All
the while the wind increased in fury,
the snow fell thicker, and the large
amount of snow that WIS already on the
ground was blowninto powder and hurled
along 10y the wind
On the prairie an object forty feet
distant could not be seen. A mans
voice could not be heard six feet distant.
| The air was full of snow as fine as flour.
The roaring of the wind and the dark
ness. caused by so much snow in the air,
made the scene most dismal, drear, and
forsaken that man ever looked upon.
Every railroad in Dakota and Minnesota
and many in Iowa, Nebraska. and WIS
consin were blocked.
The telegraph wires everywhere were
down, and it was not until Saturday that
the full extent and awful results of the
storm became apparent The telegraph
hourly brings the most pitiful stories Of
suffering terrible struggles for life, and
heroic deeds OF brave men and women
of the storm-stricken sections that have
never been cqualled. Mary Connell,
little school-teacher near Cayour, start
ed home with two OF her puplls-a
boy and a girl. The boy left them
and persisted Miss Council put her
dress folds about the little girl
and made her walk all night, sheltering
her charge with her body. They were
found next morning alive but horribly
frozen. Another teacher, Miss jackson,
near Stolof, started home with a little
girl, and both persisted. When found
Miss jacobson was crouched in n little
hollow in the ground with her arms about
the little girl and her dress skirt wrapped
about her. Her own bonnet was oil her
head. and her hand clutched her dress at
her throat but there was a smile
ON her face. Two chi lren, a boy
and girl, Of Joseph Hutcheson, near
Gary. were lost going home from
school. Twenty-Five men of once start
ed on a search for them, and their
mother could not be kept from going
along. The poor woman was with the
party who found them. They were
wing close together, and the boy bad
his sisters hands between his own.
Thursday forenoon Just before the biz
zlrd struck this point a party Of seven
farmers about twenty-five miles north
east of here started for their homes,
having been here with wheat.
The report comes that the bodies
of four of them have been found dead.
Searching parties are ont looking Tor
others. Mrs Knutson, Of Rushmere,
WAS found frozen to death within forty
feet Of her door. Her husband was alb
sent. and becoming uneasy she started
III search Of him, losing her life IN the
act. These are but a few Of many
terrible stories which have come in, the
majority of which have been briefly
mentioned before in these dispatches.
A number of the dead had the ap
pearance of having died from suiloca
ton. Some had torn their clothinga away
from their Threats and others had thrown
away their head covering and were
clutching at their throats rs though
/ STRUGGLING for breath. During a genu
inc blizzard the air IS filled with fine ice
dust driven with terrific force, which
, chokes the unfortunate victim in shor
time if he attempts to stand against 1t.
STRIKING CHICAGO.
CHICAGO. January l6.-Sixteen de
prees Was recorded by the Government
thermometer here at midnight last night
| Four below was the highest poin
, reached during to-day. The absence Of
5 wind mitlgates the cold materially, an'
no severe suffering Is reported. There
! is much hardship in the poorer district
1 Of the city, however, and the police sta
tions and other public shelters ar
crowded to their utmost capacity b.
homeless waits.
SCOTLAND, OAK, January 1G.-Tgely
, persons are known to have been irozel
0 TO death in this neighborhood and 81
{ or seven more are missing and have no
: one chance in thousand to return HON
alive. In this county the bodies OF 81
! have been found.
FATALITIES OF THE GREAT BLIZZARD.
MINNEAPoLIs, MINI, January To-
The Journals revised list Of blizzar
y fatalities shows 81 dead in Dakota, II i
s Minnesota, in Iowa, II iii Nebraska
!. and 3 in Montana-total, 49,; beside
s 80 being reported missing. Addition
are constantly being made to the lists.
SCHOOL TEACHERS AND CHILDREN FROZEN
MIxxEAPoLIs, MINI, January To-.
|. Journal special from Aberdeen, Dakotf
# saws: Bessie Stamfeld pretty nine
! teen-vear-old teacher three miles froI
4 here. left school during the storm TO z
/. 10 farmers house thirty yards distant
IS Her dead body was found nearly mil
from the school house. Four childre
froze 10 death in a school house at Me
\. lette. The teacher left them to get Al
sistance. and her body has not yet bee
found. Miss Steubierner, another teacl
a or. twelve miles northeast OF Aberdeen
a was out all night in the blizzard. Whe
, - sba ,vea barely alive and die