The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-01-15

UNITED IN DEATH.
A Pitiful Tale of AZ Enigrsnt Family Tha,
Persisted In n Western Blizzard.


That's Dead Mans Cove right before
your eyes" said the old man as be
pointed to q recess OF half an acre in
extent in the southern face of the Little
Rocky mountains. That's Dead Man's
Cove, and you kin see the iron work Of
the wagon lynn about when We gil
closer When I first looked in here
thar was five human bodies lying dead
in that wagon. NE and my pard we
dug q big grave and buried 'em all to
gether back agin that cliff, there whar
the rocks Is We piled the rocks that
way SO that the wolves couldn't git at
the dead.
But there is no heedboara-no
Names" protested as I 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. Wen git off and sit dowr fur
smoke and I'll gin We the full par
ticklers. I've passed here a hundred
times in tho past few years and it alIus
gives me the heartache Poor husband
pun HllS-pOCT S1i4uIen.
'It was this way" he continued after
his pipe was alight- me and pard had
our shanty down the valley about 2
mile. Plenty of emigrants in Their
kivered wagons used to come by this
trail and turn south into Wyoming, or
keep west into Idaho They'd come
five or six families at time, or they'd
cf-rI, Of al
SIGH chances of Injuns, sickness, land
slides, starvashUn and death as would
make your har' stand on end to think
of. No man kin begin to guess how
many graves thar be OF men, women
and children between the Dakota line
and the west branch of the Missouri
river. I've counted hundred in a DAYS
ride.
wall, one December mornin' me and
pard woke up to feel that thar was q
blizzard maxim ready to bust on us. 1t
had been cooiish but pleasant UP to
that time. We could tell by the feel OF
things what was comm, and began to
git ready fur it. It was Jest arter noon
when a woma walked TO our shanty.
She was an e1nigrant. Right here IN
this cove she had left her husband and
four children 30 try and find some help.
He had bin sick for three weeks, and
was little better than a dead man, and
she had bin drivin' the team an taltin'
keer of things gener'iy. She orter to
hev turned back long before, but some
fool of doctor had told the man he'd
get well if they kept on. They had got
separated from the party they started
with and had made the last hundred
miles alone. They war out O. grub,
hadn't match left to build a fire, and
the woman knowed a change for the
wuss was blown up. She was fral,
leetle woman, and she had gone through
with huff 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 wish her an bring in the out
TT We made start, but we never got
thar"
'"The blizzard prevented, ehP"
''She did. She came swoopin' down
all of sudden, like some great bird
droppin' from the sky. a fine snow be-
gun to fall, the wind started right m to
blow a Twin gale end ! believe the
therm ometer went from forty-fve de-
grees above to ten degrees 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. It jest stopped Us
and turned us around before we had
got fifteen rods from the house. AS to
the cold, 1t Jest paralyzed you. We had
20 go back, and arter talsin' big drink
o whisky all around and putin on
more clothes we tired it agin- Ne and
Sam was tough as bars them DAYS and
could hev laid down in pond of water
and let it freeze Wp with US. but we
couldn't buck sgin that blizzard.
When we made the second start we got
about half way sp here, the little
woman leadin' the way all the time
Then we had to stop. You couldn't see
three foot from your nose, and all of US
was freezin' to death by inches.
And you went back?"
owe did The woman was deter
mined to push on, and we Jest had to
pick her up and 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 fin
gers friz, and an hour arter we got
back water froze solid in our cabin
within FIVE feet of rosrin' fire. The
woman prayed to God and appealed to
us, but we knowed it was no use. That
was the blizzard of 81. and I've heard
men say it went down 10 fortv-two de-
grees below zero in this valley that
night. II friz thirty-thousaud head OF
cattle to death in the Gallatin valley to
the west, and the ice in the Missouri
See that rock split in half? Wall, the
cold did that at that time. We had lots
of wood and big FIRE, but ii was q clus
shave that we didn't friz to death. The
woman got nipped wuss than we did,
but her 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 a bolt fur it and
got away"
And went to her death?"
Jest as sartin as If she had Jumped
of that cliff. The blizzard shet US in
fur three days. When we got out we
found her within twenty rods Of the
cabin. She hsd friz to death goin' that
fur. OF course we l1uowed how it would
be up here. The horses had been on
hitched aud turned out. They lay over
by that tree. The folks in the wagon
had crowded together and kivered up
with ali the blankets, but all war stun
dead and as hard IS rocks They never
saw that fust night come down. Ne and