The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1888-06-27
ON THE TRAIN.
STORY OF THE GREAT BLIZZARD.

A STORY OF THE GREAT BLIZZARD.
cts no use, ladies and gentlemen, we
cen go no farther. We have done the
best we know" said the conductor in
tones that he meant to be ordinary and
commonplace, but which had an ill-con
cealed ring of apprehension in them, de.
spite his eiort. "Gou eau make YOUR
selves as comfortable as you can, and in
Two or three hours an engine will be
started from the other end OF the road TO
help us out, he continued, and passed on
to The eng ne.
This was provoking. There was a
whole train load of people, fully ten miles
from l lexington, on little branch road
in New Jersey, stopped by the snow.
At the conductors announcement, some
OF the men arose from their sea s, and
lelsurely walked out after the conductor,
with look of intense disgust on their
faces The lady passengers shivered as
they looked out of the windows at the
swiftly flying snow, and declared it was
too bad. Each expressed his individual
opinion to his ncighbOr, and seemed to
ease his mind in so doing, some com.
plalningly, some laughiugy, the great
majority good humoredly, and trying to
make themselves as comfortable as pos
sible, settled down to wait, how long
they did not know.
The conductor went ahead to the en-.
gine and climbed up into the cab :
"Well, Jim, what's the outlook. Can't
you drive old Seyenty-three through iti"
"No, George, it's no go; the bank
ahead is fully five feet deep and there is
no doubt but that there is fully fifteen
feet OF snow in the cut, and we're in for
1t land no mistake. TO back out is out of
the question, as the first car would be
off the track before it had gone hun
dred feet; the storm is increasing every
moment, and unless they miss us at the
other end of the road aud send out help,
there is no knowing when we will be
out of this"
very well, Jim, we'll make the best
we can of it; this is not as bad as n
smash-up. Blow the whistle every few
moments, so if an engine should be on
the road looking for us they will not run
us down. I'll go back among the pas
sengers.n
The three coaches of the train proba-
bly, contained $50 passengers, on their
way from Pennington to Bound
Brook. About thirty five of them were
young ladies on their way to school, and
their lively chatter, with their frequent
bursts of merry laughter showed that
they were not very sorry that the train
was stuck In great, nasty, cold snow
DRIFT. The hours wore slowly along and
the storm was increasing in furry in
stead of abating and the wind, terribly
cold, had increased to blow gale. The
hour of noon came aud went, but no
assistance for the snowed-in travellers.
Some one asked the brakeman to put
more coal on the fire, as the car was get.
ting cold. The brakeman shook his head.
and in an aside to the a a'scnger said that
the coal was nearly all gone. The cry
for coal came from all the cars, and soon
the last bit of coal was gone. The situa-
tion began to look desperate, and the
men gathered in the baggage car TO talk
1t over away from the women so as not TO
arouse their fears any more than possible.
All suggestions were quickly proven i'm
practicable, there was no way out At
last some one said, "well, we need not
freeze to death, we are standing in the
woods; get axes and I'll be one to 90
out and cut wood, and another party can
go in search of some house where we can
get food. A search through the train
brought to light two axes, and party of
five started out into the woods; two
worked at cutting down, while the others
dragged the wood to the train. In this
way the fires in the cars were soon going
again, though it kept the two axes work
ing lively TO cut enough wood; but there
was no lack of hands, as the men were
willing and anxious to work. The party
that started out in search of a farm house
was not so successful. After three hours
tramping through the cold and snow,
they were forced to return, unsuccessful,
to the train, cold, weary aud hungricr
than ever, though there was not man
among them who would acknowledge
that he was the least bit hungry. ut
was for the sake Of the ladies, you know"
And so the night closed in around them,
the wind bowling, the drifts getting
deeper every moment.