Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1895-02-14
A GREAT BLIZZARD.
SHUT OFF FROM THE OUTSIDE WORLD.

Heavy Snow, dreat Drffts, lntense eo'o'
Violent Winds.
SHUT OFF FROM THE OUTSIDE WORLD.
All the Railroads Blockaded and Country
i Roads Made impossible.
! There was portentous circle around
the moon Wednesday night of last
week. So when the snow began to
fall thickly on Thursday morning,
those who were weather-wise were
not at all astonished. All day Thurs
day the flakes fell Increasingly, and SO
cold was the atmosphere that not one
! of them melted. Soon after dark a
bowling gale sprang up, as cold as If
it came straight from the North Pole.
The wind blew fierce and strong, and
kept right at it for several days-not
until the following Monday did it
really get calm. The thermometer
kept near zero all the time, too, while
the drifting snow filed the air and
blew everywhere in binding sheets.
| Altogether it was blizzard such as
we read about as being indigenous to
the far West-a storm that the young
err generation has never seen equalled
in this section of the country. The
purpose of the detailed chronicle that
follows is not so much to convey the
information of the great event to those
who were in it as to leave record for
future generations. When the folks
of the present day shall have become
oldest inhabitants, and shall tell
their grandchildren the story of the
memorable storm of 1895, if there shall
be those who doubt the facts then the
REGISTER may be brought out and
the yarns substantiated by the vera
cious statements here set forth.
Probably about ten inches OF snow
fell. 1t would have been hard to find
place, though, where the snow was
neither blown away or drifted. Fri
day and Saturday the gusts Of wind
moved it constantly. Looking from
the top story of the REGISTER building
out into the country, the snow could
be seen driving before the wind In
great clouds. 1t was strange sight.
The public roads and private lanes
were soon made impossible. They
were filled with snow up to the top of
the fences on either side. No one has
been found who remembers drifts so
deep and so numerous.
From early Friday morning until
Monday evening the Shenandoah Val
lev division of the Norfolk g. Western
Railroad was completely blockaded.
Passenger and freight trains alike
were buried in huge drifts that in
some cases completely buried the cars.
Friday and Saturday but little could
be accomplished in the way of clearing
up the drifts. AS fast as the snow
would be shoveled away it would be
blown back. Sunday the forces OF
workmen were better organized, the
weather had moderated so that the
men could work efficiently, and what
was done staid "done." The snow
gave comparatively little trouble be-
tween Shenandoah and Roanoke. From
White Post to Hagerstown was the
worst of the difficulty. Great drifts
were formed at Berryville, Charles
town, Antietam and st. James. That
at Antietam was the worst of all.
Passenger train No. 6, the through
yestibuled train from the South, which
passes here about 6 o'clock in the
morning, got stuck early Friday morn
ing when within mile of Berryville
All efforts to get the train through
were fruitless and the engine was cut
loose and sent below to secure the as
sistance of another engine, supposed to
be near by, and was unable to return
Meanwhile great suffering befell the
passengers, some of whom state that
many of their fellow-travelers had had
nothing to eat since early the morning
before. The dining car, which usually
accompanies this train as far as Wash
ington, was recently taken off and the
only means of allaying the pangs o.
hunger was by opening crate of eggs
found in the express car. The coal
supply was short, and as the drifts
rose higher above the coaches the colo
became more intense and the situation
more critical. The news soon reached
Berryville, and party of gentlemen
on horseback went in search of The
/, , snow-bound sufferers, and with great
difficulty few of them were brought
behind the rescuers across the fields
and fences to the town. Upon thell
arrival eonveyances were sent for tn