Asheville daily citizen. [volume] (Asheville, N.C.) 1890-1900, 1892-12-30
SOMECOLD WEATHER TALK
THE GOLD SATURDAY" OF
DAYs LONG GONE.

10 - \. DaVtuoou anu Otnero
r, lIof a DaY way Back YOnder
When the Mercury Went Out OF
Q hit and Chickens FrOze ON
Their ROOsts.
Eyes, indeed, that was terrible day
terrible. and this cold snap is nothing
compared to it," said Col. A. T. David
son yesterday, recalling the famous
"cold Saturday." in conversation
started by a remark about the cool
weather Asheville has been experiencing
for several days past.
Col Davidson is right at home when
it comes to "reminiscences of any char
acter, and his description Of incidents
connected with the cold day referred to
was very vivid. II distinctly re-
member" said the Colonel, "the
cold Saturday, and have good
reasons for doing so. Ugh-h-h-h! 1t
almost makes me chilly when l 60 back
to it in memory. was boy of perhaps
IL or 13 years. This was in either 1882
or '33, think. 1t was strange, heavy,
cloudy day-dead-everything az still as
could be, with little bit of snow
on the ground. We were living then on
onathan's creek, in Haywood county,
ten miles northwest Of Waynesville, in
house that had shingle roof and ceiled
rooms, considered close house in those
days) and we had to keep a roaring
hickory fire going the whole day.
II remember distinctly trip made BY
my brother and ! on this particular Sat
urday. There were on the farm per-
haps 200 or 300 head of cattle, and
we were sent out to see that they were
cared for. Well, we struck out, just like
boys will, don't you know? without
stopping to study about the weather,
and neither Of us wore an overcoat. We
attended to our work as best we could
and returned to the house, and, honestly.
when we got there l could not speak.
My home made shoes were frozen solid
to my ankles and my ears we're frost
bitten, and, taken altogether, do not
overstep the mark when l say that /
was nearly frozen to death. Brother did
not fare so badly. Mother gathered
handfuls OF snow and rubbed my ears
vigorously, giving great relief, but the
skin pulled off my ears. all the same.
THAT afternoon couple Of neighbors
named Allison and Nelson stopped at
our house on their way home from hunt.
They had suffered great deal. Their
feet were frozen, and their boards. II re-
call this incident particularly } were solid
blocks of ice.
"All kinds of stock suffered. Every
spear of grass was an icicle, in many
instances piercing the flesh OF everything
that moved about.
I'm those days Asheville was, ofcourse.
very small burg, and there was but
one thermometer in town. That one
belonged to DR.. 7. F. E. Hardy, and on
the cold Saturday registered nine degrees
below zero. 1t could register no lower, so
the real standing of the mercury on that
day can never be known. DR.. Hardy
made report to the Smithsonian In
stitution. giving an account of the un-
common cold, and remarking that If
the thermometer had been longer the day
would have been colder
mo, there was no paper in those days
nearer than the Salisbury Watchman,
edited by Philo White. and an account
of the weather in this section was never
printed.
"But it was cOld-yes, sir; cold, cold."
and the Colonel stamped his feet as if in
memory of that terrible "cold Satur-
day."
DR.. M. L. Nelson also has distinct
recollection of this cold day. He was
living in Tennessee. The day was so
cold that chickens froze on their roosts
and feel to the ground dead.
Squire A. T. Summey was living in
Lincoln county at this time. On the
cold day he rode on horseback to his
home from Lincolnton. a distance of
thirteen miles, and he was so badly
frozen when he got home, after two
hours and half ride, that he could
scarcely move. No such weather. he
says, has ever since been known in this
country.
Criminal Court Clerk I. R. Patterson
remembers accounts of the weather
given by his mother. The dav was so cold
that boiling water taken from the stove
and thrown into the air out of doors
would be congealed into mush ice before
it struck the ground. Cattle suffered
very much from cold, and chickens died
in great numbers.
From these accounts OF the "Cold
Saturday." day when the mercury got
as low perhaps as IS or 80 degrees below
zero. it may be seen that Asheville has
little to complain of when the mercury
gets down to s or 10 degrees above zero.