The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-01-27

w xkF misery In the northwest;
Y.xczY. but In it, range and do
~ structivc intensity this
3 = cold wave surpasses all
hitherto recorded. From
H., Athabasca 10 tho Rio Graade and over
an the plains and prairies from the Rocky
mountains to tho timbered hills along
To Mississippi, comes the same wall Of
u1notonous misery: Travellers buried
uudsr the snow, farmers dying within
. few rolls Of their own doors, chill
dreu fro5on stift ON the way homo from
.eh,)l aud domestic animals dying by thou
ends: and following the cold in western
Kansas there Is starvation, till whole fam
Lies are said To he perishing In their
frail cabins. With the calamity, too,
come those actions which ennoble hu-
mani;v-hcroic self sacrifice in many forms
The father has cheerfully yielded his own
life 20 save his child, ncighbor risks life and
limb "a rescue neighb0r, aud in many
town the heroic citizons turned out and
.eaf,,hed through the long, dismal night for
ils lost. tying themselves loosely In groups
with long cords, 80 that they might not be
separated and lost
For such storms Dakota has invented the
arproprlate name of blizzard II differs from
m, ordinary winter storm in two points-it
rises with tho suddenness of tornado and
continues n long time, and by peculiar
whirlinr motion Of the wind tho air Is 30
llled with q dry powdory snow that one can
not SEQ a yard before him. Often the fine
PARTICLES OF snow strike the face with the
sharp impact Of steel fakes; in such case
no animal can no driven against the wind,
but lifts helplessly before it till exhausted
IN a snow bank, and tho wind cuts through
tho thickest wooden clothing Language
cannot describe tho paralyzing terror which
selzes on all save tho very stodtast hearts, and
the vitality Of most people can sustain the
toiiiy heat but a few hours in such q
struggle Unless shelter is reached the
limbs are lrst frozen, then the chill OF death
apprOaches the vital organs. And at this
sage Of freezing strange symptoms often APP
pear. as tue blood retires from the surface
Il cougests In tho heart and brain; then de-
lirium comes on and with Il delusive sensa-
ton Of snlothering heat The victims last
eveltioDs nre 10 throw off his clothes and re-
move all wrappiDgs from his throat; often
the CORPSE Is found with neck completely
te.re and in an attitude indicating that his
last struggles were for fresh airl Even after
the STAGE Of delirium IL reached one can be
restored 10 life aud painful experience has
taught the people Of the cold northwest a
REGULAR science OF restoring the frozen. For
merly the victim was brought at once TO the
fire: this thawed the frozen extrenities be-
fore circulation was restored, and so the
limbs mortified and had to be amputated.
Il. L.. al g..
10 a cool room. and by the application Of
snow aud rapid friction restore the circulation,
the thaw extending slowly from the vital
centers 10 the cxtremries; thus, II the life can
DO saved, the limbs generally canbe.
The late blizzard was unusually sudden.
On tie morning preceding its appearance all
Dakota rejoiced In lovely calm. Tue air
VAS soft, the sky dazzlingly clear A few
wise old settlers remarked that there was
dancer the air was too clear aud the mirage
TO noticeable.
Why. YOU could see towns, lakes and little
hills fifty miles away" says one survivor.
Immigrants from more southern localities
said that Dakota was at last to have jan
uary thaw,n and an unusually large number
we're away from home. About noon low
bank OF black cloud appeared in the north
@est. and soon spread from north around to
west an hour later all the sky was black and
the snow falling and in another hour tho
bll,and was raging. Hour after hour Its
pro.res3 could be traced eastward and south
wurl from town to town where telegraph
luos could give warning. So most Of Min
ues1ta and Iowa were warned in time,
but 10 all western Kansas, Nebraska, the
indian territory and Texas no such warning
was possible When the blizzard had ex-
haustcd its fury and cold, clear morning
dawned, there were many sad and curious
sights Every railroad train lay where the
storm had struck it, headland Of long
moraine Of snow which had piled up behind
il Every fonce and rock was marked in like
manner as the beginning Of drift, while
hero aud there over the wide cxpanss OF
dazzling white little mound marked where
some hapless man or beast had made his last
halt
Strange scenes are recorded. AT one place
tue men tied themselves In line to long rope
and worked their way along the railroad
track during the storm, taking their bearings
by the telegraph poles, the man In front
shouting whenever he found the pole and the
whole line then advancing q secton-thus
they reached and rescued the passengers OF
e. imprisoned train