, 1891-02-26
STORY OF A BLIZZARD.
Fearful Experience Of a Lost
Stage Driver.
Forty Eight Hours Spent in a Howl.
Ing Arctic Tempest.
Rescued by a Faithful Horse But
the Man Now a Cripple.

OF tne STATE. since 1910 MS headQuarterS
have been chiefly at Lander though his
residence has usually been wherever his
stage trip ended. His business is that of
a stage driver and he bears on his person
the dreadful evidence OF one of the most
frightful experiences hat a mortal ever
vent through and escaped alive.
Dougherty has been in own for a couple
OF days having just arrived from a brief
trip TO Denver and will leave for Douglas
this morning to engage as a driver on the
stage line which runs between Douglas
and Junction on the Northern Pacific.
He sat ia a lawyers Office here yesterday
talking with a friend who induced him to
tell his story in the hearing OF a LEADER
reporter.
1t is Just eight years age, on the last
day Of January aud the two first days of
February in 1888, that l was driving
stage between the Big Sandy and Green
River City. We had had quite a heavy
snowfall, about two and a half feet on the
level until it began to blow. | left the
station at I O'Clock IN the evening with
tvs horses and no passengers. to carry
the mail through. | made pretty slow
progress until about 9 o'clock, when the
wind began to blow hard and piercing. |
saw at once that l was in the midst of a
terrible blizzard which blotted out the
road and made everything about me a
perfect blank. l knew | hadn't got very
far from the station so | tried to turn
back. In the binding storm / suppose |
didn't get the wagon turned completely
around so l drifted off the road. 1
marched all that night and until 10 or IL
o'clock the next aight before I found my
self
Il then found the creek bed of the Big
Sandy. The wind was still blowing a
piercing gale and had never let up a
minute from the time it started. l
stumbled on the creek accidentally. The
wagon got stuck 10 a snow drift aud l
unlocked the team. | started ahead
with the team. Suddenly one of the horses
disappeared. | found afterward that it
had rolled down an embankment thirty
feet high. Myself and the other horse
rolled down about twenty feet. Once on
the creek l cauld not tell whether l was
above or below the ranch. ] dug down
with my knife till l struck the sand but
not a drop of water was flowing. The
stream was frozen solid. The darkness
was intense so | didn't travel around
much till daylight a. | was afraid
Of getting separated from the horses.
AT daylight | began to look around for
driftwood and soon satisfied myself about
the way the stream ran. By this time
l determined to move ahead along the
creek. One horse was able to go with me.
He vas frozen almost stiff and his body
was covered with splotches. | couldn't
get him to move SO l took the other horse
and started slowly forward. 1t took me
all that day to cover five miles. l made
the first mile or so pretty easy. but ct the
end OF that time my legs began to cramp
and 1 was so stiff that l couldn't get on
to the horse. Finally l put one band into
the hame tug and grabbed hold with the
other. The horse moved slowly ahead
dragging me after him. Every four or
five rods I'd play out and say whoa to
the horse. when he'd stop and wait until
l recovered.
Finally my mouth and tongue became
so frozen that | couldn't make a sound.
Then every time | slipped my hold from
exhaustion the horse would stop of his
own accord and wait till I'd gather some
more strength. In this way We dragged
along until between 5 and G o'clock in the
evening. Then we came in sight of the
Big Sandy station. | weakened right
there and couldn't move a muscle. The
horse waited for me but | wasn't able to
get any more and he started for the
stable. he couldn't get in SO he went
to the house where Charley Bright. the
stock tender found him. Charley came
out and found me lying in the snow and
with his help l got into the ranch"
did you learn how cold it WASP"
The mercury was frozen in all the
thermometers in hat section OF the coun-
try but the spirit thermometers showed
640 or Csc below zero. | lay in the stage
station two and a half days and her made
up my mind to go to Green River for a
doctor. Green River was 6fty-four miles
away. Stakes and | started out and made
Starvation, the first station, that night.
We ktaid there until the next morning
and then started for Alkali. At 3 o'clock
in the afternoon another storm came up.
We lost the road and finally broke the
wagon tongue in a snowdrift. We left
the wagon and took the horses and finally
reached Alkali. We staid there that
night and as there was no wagon at the
station we started horseback. About
five miles out we met a wagon hat had
had been sent out from Green River with
the mail. This turned back and took me
to Green River, thus making the trip in
two and a half days l remained in Green
River one day when the doctor was sent
out on the upper end of the line. | then
went to Laramie and lay four months and
twents-three days under the care of DR..
Harris. When my limbs began to slough
of then he performed the amputations,
which saved my life but left me as | am.
Three fingers of ~Dougherty's right