The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1888-01-19
COUNTING THE VICTIMS.
Ov.r q Hundred Lives Sacrificed I'm the
RlfzEard,s Fury.

nAAA4NAN~5 uESs
ST. PAUL, Mimi, Jan. l6.-The
storm which has swept over the north
west, blokading railroads in five states,
is now over and the victims ofits fury
are being counted. The pitiful list is
growing almost every hour. 1t is not
improbable when the record is COM
pIete it will show hundred lives
sacrificed to the awful fury of the biz
zard. 1t came without warning. At
sunrise last Wednesday Dakota never
had more lovely weather. The air was
clear as crystal and every object about
the horizon was distinctly visible and
the wind was from the south, YARN
and balmy and before the sun
was high in the sky, a decided
thaw had set in. Farmers took adj
vantage of the beautiful weather to go
to town to draw wood, hay, etc. About
noon cloud was seen along the north
western horizon, lying close to the
ground, but stretching from west to
north in dark semi-circle. Little at
tention was paid to it, but in an hour
the cloud had swept over the country,
the sun was obScured, snow was fall
ing fast and gale was sweeping
from the northwest with terrible fury.
n OlLLp1o Lo0 IL4C
fell rapidly and by 3 o'clock it was
fifteen degrees below zero, and the
next morning it registered thirty be-
low. All the while the wind in
creased in fury, snow fell thicker, and
the large amount of snow that was
all eady on the ground was blown into
powder and hurled along by the wind.
On the prairies an object forty feet
distant could not be seen nor
,e Of kNn hand CT
distant. The air was full Of snow as
fine as -four and the roaring of the
wind and darkness caused by so much
snow in the air made the scene the
most dismal, dreary and forsaken man
ever looked upon. Every railroad in
Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska
and Wisconsin were blocked, telegraph
wires were everywhere down and 1t
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 by brave men and
women of the storm-stricken section
that have never been equalled.
Mary COnnell, school teacher near
Cavour, started home with two of her
pupils, a boy and girl. The boy left
them and persisted. Miss Connell put
made her walk all night. sheltering her
charge with heribody. They were found
the next morning alive, but horribly
frozen.
Another teacher, Miss jacobson
near Stolof, started home with little
girl and both persisted. When found
Miss jacobson was crouched in little
hollow in the ground with her arms
about the little girl and her dress
skirt was wrapped about her. Her
own bennett was off her head and her
hand clutched her dress at her throat,
but there was smile on her face.
Two children, a boy and a girl of
Joseph Hutchinson near Gary were lost
going home from school. Twenty-Five
men at once started in search for them
| and the mother could not be kept from
going along. The poor woman was
with the party who found them. They
were lying close together and the boy
| had his sisters hand between his own.
Thursday forenoon, just before the
blizzard struck this point party of
seven farmers about twenty-five miles
northeast of here started for their
| homes having been here with wheat.
| A report comes that the bodies of four
| of them have been found dead. Search
| ing parties are out looking for the
| others.
Mrs. hunCZon, OF huSnmoro Was
| found frozen to death within forty
feet of her door. Her husband was
absent and becoming uneasy, she
started in search of him, losing her
| life in the act.
These are but few of the many ter
rible stories which have come in, a ma
| jority of which have been briefly men
toned before in these dispatches. A
number of the dead had the appear
ance of having died from suffocation.
| Some had torn their clothing away
from their throats and others had
thrown away their head covering and
were clutching at their thrOats, as
though struggling for breath. During
q genuine blizzard the air is filed with
fine ice dust, driven with terrific force,
which chokes the unfortunate victim
in short time If he attempts to stand
against IL