The Logan County banner. [volume] (Logan, W. Va.) 1889-1903, 1889-06-06
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FREEZING 10 DEATH.
It Is Pleasant, But Not So the
Restoration to Life.
a Memorable Night Ride In Maine In the
Cold Winter of I84O-RemarkabIe sa-
gacity Displayed by 2 Horse--Ex-
circulating Torture. S'-


i.Frceze to death If you want to.
You viii like-it-. But don't let any
body fetch You to again. That will
almost kill you.
That was the strange remark made
| by Captain r. l.. Zely, OF Uniontown,
who gravcly declared that in the terri
I bly, rigorous winter. l839-40 he was
actually frozen to death" which
declaration he supplemented with the
above remark.
The first snow Of that season, y said
the Captain, .'fell the last week in DC
tober, 1889 The last snow of the sea-
son came May 16, 1910. Between
these two dates there wasn't less than
| six feet Of snow on the level all the
time, and where the wind had full
sweep twenty foet.was no uncommon
thing to see,I We had eight months OF
uninterrupted sleighing, and the Their
tsatafat,tesF-@fer-His e-inentfas =was at no
time higher than twenty degrees
above zero, while most Of the time it
sported between fifteen and twenty
below.
This was in Maine. / had an in
tefest In some lumber that year up in
theaRR iise#tastft euntfy, and 1t was
necessary in, February, 1910, for me to
go into that region and look after my
interests. 1t was a long journey, but
the slcighing was like glass, and had
one Of the best horses that ever lived.
If he hadn't been wouldn't be here
to-day to tell what occurred to me on
that trip.
THE second day of my journey the
weather was as cold as twenty below
yefo could make it, and was grad
Iually getting colder. ] knew / would
reach one OF those queer little villages
common to the Maine backwoods early
thai evening" There intended to
stayaatl-nigh and drive on next morn
ing to the-house= of agent OF the
lumber property twelve miles further
along, reached the village and
found that there was no tavern there.
|
as private house, but 1 was informed
thatvI could not obtain a drop OF water
| for any horse in the entire settlement.
There had been no rain since winter
set in, and there wasn't we'll or a
spring anywhere in the regionin which
there was a drop OF water. The near
est water was in the Piscataquis river.
nearly three miles distant, to which
what stock there was in the village
was driven every day=to drink and
enough water was carried back in
buckets to keep the personal wants OF
the villagers supplied. My horse was
badly in need. of water, and l couldn't
think Of letting him go all night with
out drink. SO ate my supper at the
village house. and, finding that must
drive on to the river if my horse was
| to have his much-needed drink that
night. ] made up my mind that might
as we'll keep right on to the agents as
to drive back to the village after water
ing my horse.
ut was starlight night, but the air
was filled with that peculiar frozen
mist frequently noticeable in high,
frosty localities. As we neared the
kriver this haze became more dense, un-
/ til finally it was with difficulty that
could see any thing ahead OF me. 1t
was almost like passing through a
storm OF scaly ice. Suddenly was
thinking that we must be almost on
the margin Of the river-there came a
cracking sound. a loud splash of
water. and the next second my horse
was foundering about in water, which
also covered the sleigh and the robes
land myself up to my waist. In that
4thick bank OF icy mist the horse had
plunged inte= the~Hixe rHbelo w whereI
: had been told to cross. and hadsbroken
! drought the thin ice that had formed
since the ice had been cut away that
evening to give the cattle from
the village place to drink. The water
splashed about by the horse soon
/ drenched the rest OF me, and in less
time than~I can tell it ! was coated
with rapidly thickening armor Of ice.
i guess my noble beast must have
houndered at least minute In that
hole before he knew exactly what had
happened. When. the situation did
come to him he became quiet. threw
his fore feet up, and lodged them both
9e44tl11 ice with a concerted blow like
a tMp-hammer. The ice was thick,
but beneath that blow an immense
cake was broken off and carried down
under the edge of the ice below. The
horse swan onward, dragging the
sleigh with it.. through the RAPIDLY
freezing slush. Once more he pounded
the ice AHEAD of him with his powerful
lore feet and ag-in the ice yielded
Hs1fng all this time was shouting for
help. ! might,l at the first breaking
Y OF the,horSe, have turned and leaped
BACK te.1here, but i did not collect my
thonghtsin time. 1t was now too late,
unit even il .it7 had not been | was so
suhened. by the casing OF ice that 1
."plun have moved to save myself
'ie'' death The horse kept on. ind.
Sl'allge assit may seem. broke a chan
net Tor tttE tcet across that river and
n l,,s sleigh out safely on theother
etues linen he started of at the top oil