St. Paul daily globe., 1892-11-20
UNITED IN DEATH.

A Pitiful Tale of an Emigrant
Family That Perished in a West
ern Blizzard. NJ
That's Dead Mans Cove right before
your eyes," said the old man to New
York Herald reporter, as he pointed to a
recess of half an acre in extent in the
southern face of the Little Rocky
mountains "rhat's Dead Mans Cove,
and you kin see the iron work of the
wagon lynn about when ye git closer.
When | first looked in here thar was
five human bodies lying dead i'll that
wagon. Me and my pard, we dug big
grave and buried 'em all together back
agin that cliff, there whar' the rocks is.
We piled the rocks that way so the
wolves couldn't git at the dead"
But there is no headboard no
names,'' ! protested as l rode closer to
the spot pointed out
Couldn't be no names, cause we
couldn't find any," he replied, land
them rocks is gravestun' as will last
forever. Well git off and sit down fur
a smoke and III gin ye the full partick-
lerS. Pve passed here hundred times
in the last three years, and it allus
gives me the heartache. Poor husband
poor wife-poor children!
ut was this way" he continued. after
his pipe was alight. "Me and pard had
our shanly down the valley about
mile. Plenty of emigrants in ther' xiv
cred wagons used to come by this trail
and turn south into Wyoming, OF keep
west into Idaho. They'd come five or u
six families at q. time and they'd come
singly. Some of 'em would take sich
chances of Injuns, sickness, landslides,
starvaShun and death as would make
your har' stand OH end to think of. No
man kin begin to guess how many
graves thar be of me II, women and
children between the Dakota line and
the west branch of the Missouri river.
Eve counted hundred in days ride.
"Wall. one December mornin' me and
pard woke up to feel that thar was
blizzard maxim ready to bust on us. 1t
had been cOoliSh but pleasant up to that
time. We could tell by the feel of
things what was comm, and began to
git ready fur it. II was jest arter noon
when woman walked into our Shanty.
She was an emigrant. Right here in
this cove she had left her husband and
four children to try aud find some help.
He had bin sick fur three weeks, and
was little better than dead man, and
she had bin drivin' the team am takin'
keer of things gener'ly. She orter to
hev' turned back long before, but some
fool of a doctor had told the man he'd
get we'll if they kept on. They had got
separated from the party they started
with and had made the last l0U miles
alone. They war out o. grub, hadn't
match left. to build a fire. and the
woman knowed a change fur the wuss
was bloWin' up. She was frail, leetle
woman, and she had gone through with
'nuff to down man, but she hadn't lost
all her pluck yit. AS soon as she told
us the story we got ready to go back
with her an bring in the outfit. We
made start, but we never got thar"
'The blizzard prevented, eh"'
''She did. She came swoopin' down
all of sudden. like some great bird
droppin' from the sky. A fine snow
begun to fall the wind started right in
to blow livin' gale, and l believe the
thermometer went from Is deg above to
10 deg below inside of half an hour
We hadn't any with us, but the change
was sudden an amaZin'. You couldn't
face that gale to save your life. 1t
Jest stopped us and turned US arc und
before we had got fifteen rods from
the house. AS to the cold it jest
paralyzed you. We had TO go back. and
arter takin' a big drink O. whisky all
around and puttin' on more clothes we
tried it agin. Me and Sam was tough as
BARS them days and could hev laid
down in pond Of water and let it
freeze up with us, but we couldn't buck
agin that blizzard. When we made the
here, the little woman eadin' the way
all the time. Then we had to stop
You couldn't see three feet from your
nose. and all of us was freeZin' to death
by inches"
''And you went back ?'
"We did. The woman was determined
to push on, and we jest had to pick her
up carry her back. 1t was only by the
Lords hand pintin' the way that we
ever reached our cabin agin. We had
our ears, noses and fingers friZs and an
hour arter we got back water froze solid
in our cabin within five foot of roarin'
fire. The woman prayed to God and
appealed to US, but we knoWed it was
no use. That was the blizzard of 81,
and Pye heard men say it was
~ deg below zero in this val
ley that night. 1t friz thirty-two
thousand head of cattle to death in the
Gallatin valley tn the west, and the ice
to bottom. See that rock split in half?
Wall, the cold did that at that time.
We had lots of wood and big fire, but
it was clus shave that we didn't friz
to death. The woman got nipped wuS
than we did, buther mind was on the
family back here. She was bound to
come back alone, but we stood her off
till about dark. Then she made bolt
fur it and got away"
"And went to her death?"
jest as sartin as if she had jumped
off that cliff. The blizzard shet us in
fur three days. When we got out we
found her within twenty rods of the
cabin. She had friz to death goin' that
fur. Of course we knowed how it would
be up here. The horses had been on
hitchcd and turned out. They lay over
by that tree. The folks in the wagon
had crowded together and kivered
up with all the blankets, but
ali war stun dead and as hard
as rocks. They never saw that
fust night come down. Me and pard
overhauled the wagon. but we couldn't
find anythin' giyin' the name of the
family, and so, like hundreds of others
out in this kentry of mountain and val
ley, Injun and wolf, we kivered them in
to sleep till the Lord gifts ready to call
'em fur judgment. Seems awful that a
huh family should be wiped out that
way: but they ar sleepin' thar togsther,
and [ guess the Lord'll know the spot
eYeu if thar is no gravestun to mark it,"
.se,fe 90 =. y