Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1889-02-10
Or. REALE's PEnII.
An Incident OF Great snow-stOrm
ofIRE-

OF IHDS.
The memorable snow.storm OF 1857
has been the subject of interesting in
quiry and heightened correspondence in
| the columns OF your paper. and though
| there is some discrepancy as to the exact
date, | think it has been pretty we'll
established that it commenced on Satur-
day night OF the 18th Of January. 1t is
not at all strange that on such subjects
the testimony Of contemporaries should
vary when we consider how diff
cult it is to obtain unconflicting
accounts from honest and truth
f1l witnesses of occurrences OF more
reccnt date. Variations rs 20 date and
locality are almost inevitable, and
t%reacherous memory IS not u~nfrequently
ut fault even rs TO the principal
actors IN an event Of most exciting ma
tnre and OF apparently indelible impress
sion. OF this the varying account OF
the BREAD Riot in Richmond during
the Confederscy, as published lately,
furnish a notable example. Unless asso-
ciated with some coincident circumstance
or event Of a moro enduring impression,
we are apt to lose all recollection of mi
nor details, or retain only obscure or
vague and confused ideas Of them, or
oven 10 get them mixed with Occur-
rences of a more remote or o recent
date.
The 18th of January, 1857, is ascot
ated III my memory with m event which
can never he forgotten by me, for at 4
o'clock in the morning Of that Saturday
I lost ms mother, and Immediately fol-
loving the record of her death. made by
nv father in the registry of his family
bible. is found the following memOran-
dun "In consequence offs snow-storm.
the severest ever known by me-, the
snow-drifts in many places being ten and
twelve feet deep, carriages were prevent
ed from moving in the streets. Tie
storm commenced on Saturday night,
January 18th. and continued Sunday and
Sunday night, blowing a hurricane. The
funeral and intorment took place on
Monday, January 2Gth." The body
could not be taken to the cemetery
sooner.
But that storm Yves attended with many
incidents calculated to make 1t memora
bile, and with which the newspapers OF
the time were flled-instGnces Of great
personal suffering and many deaths.
The adventure Of our well-known and
time-honored fellow citizen, Or. James
Beale, at this time a deniZen Of Philadel-
phia, has been alluded TO by Il OF your
correspondents hut whilst the Doctor
was battling with the infuriated elements
in the snow-buried field beyond the east
ern suburbs of the city he unconsciously
was the meter of a little drama which
was being enacted in his family circle
which is worthy of ccmmemOration.
On the evening Of the 18th of Jan
uary. 1857, when Mr.. Smell called at
DR.. Beale's house to request his attend
ance professionally for a member of his
family some two or three miles beyond
the city limits. the Doctor was at my
house, on Twelfth street between Broad
and Marshall. and thither his carriage
was brought to him, rs well as | can re-
collect, about 8 o'clock. The storm was
then raging most ~furiously and the cold
was most intense, several degrees, l
below the zero point OF fahren-
heit. The carriage was driven TO my
house by the old colored driver and
with him came the nephew of Mrs.
Beale, James b. Angle, then a lsd OF
fifteen or sixteen years, now an
honored captain in the police force
the city. Whether Mr.. Smell came
in the Doctors carriage or not l
do not now remember, but he
along, and my impression
is that he had left his buggy and horse at
a stable in the lower part Of the city and
proceeded TO the Doctors residence on
loot. The weather was most fearful,
md the accomplishment Of the journey
was attended with great risk and uncer-
But the Doctor, with the self
sacrificing sense Of duty which per-
aims 10 every true disciple of Escula-
oias, hesitsted or faltered not q moment,
out. we'll clad in furs and woollens,
boldly went forth on his venturous
with James b. Angle as his con
Iuctor. and, l think, with Mr.. Smell be-
,ide him. They drove from my house
.bout 10 o'clock, and the old negro
iriver turned away to return home to the
Doctors house, on Ninth street between
trace and Franklin. Instead OF going
home. however. rs was afterwards learned,
ne old man. benumbed by the cold and
blinded and bewildered by the pelting
nowfakes and spicale of ice, lost his way
nd wandered eff in an opposite direction.
nd was found the next morning IN the
,~eishborhood Of Leigh and Tenth