Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1896-12-19
The WOES or THE HERDER
Ierrible Suffering Caused by the
Late Blizzard in South Dakota.
The Drifts Reveal the Heroic strup.
gle to Find Shelter - Reports (:
of Several Deaths just -,
Received"

Chamberlain, s.. u. dec. 14.-Although
more than a week has passed since the
recent blizzard. reports are just begin
ming to come in from rcmota sections
from west of the Missouri river, eigh-
~ or II hundred miles from railroad
Joints or telegraph stations. 1t was be-
leVed that no loss of life occurred in
South Dakota during the blizzard.
but the belated reports from the remote
sections referred To show that six, and
possibly eight, persons persisted in this
state during or as "A result of the terri
BILE storm, which for years will be re-
ferred to as one of the worst billiards
ever experienced in south Dakota
An unknown man and little boy were
frozen to death on the Belle Fourche
river. They wen across to the north
side of the stream during the storm for
some hay, lost their bearings and per-
ished. The bodies Of two men known as
"Scotty' and Bob Carson, who were
employed by John ID. Haze. of Tilford,
as sheep herders, have been found since
the storm. When caught in the bliZ-
zard the unfortunate men were on their
way 10 Hale's ranch on Red Owl creek
with eighty head Of sheep. They
reached the Belle Fourche river before
being overcome by the raging elements.
TWO white men became bewildered
within four miles of st. Mary's mission,
on the Rosebud indian reservation,
and attempted TO make camp. Both are
reported to ave succumbed to the
storm. Probably the greatest losers by
the blizzard were the Lewis brothers.
who owned a flock IF 5000 sheep in The
western part of Nowlin county. They
not Cn'y lost some 1000 sheep, but VIII.
Gam Lewis himself persisted in the bliZ-
card, and DR.. j. KENNEDY, an employe,
died the following Monday from expo
sure. The story Of their sufferings and
death shows the peril and hardships
incident 10 the life of a herder. The
brothers are living at a temporary
ranch on the Big Plum creek, one of
the tributaries of the Cheyenne river,
and their sheep were about seven miles
distant, in two punches. One OF them
was in the care of DR.. KENNEDY and
Ralph Washbern. a German herder
had charge of the other. The herders
lived in tents, and the sheep were kept
at night in wire c~orrals, which were
moved from place to place as the feed
became scarce. On the morning of the
blizzard William Lewis went out to the
sheep pen, intending to move the ami
mails down to the home ranch, il posi-
BILE. But just as he arrived at the cor
raj, which contained 1900 head, the
sheep began pil,ng up against the
southeast side Of the Enclosure, having
been stampeded by the fierce wind then
blowing from the northwest. In a mo-
ment the animals were piled in "A huge
mass against the side of the corral and
were falling over the top. Lewis in
stantly seized an AK, cut the posts and
let the sheep pour forth upon the open
prairie. Inside the tent DR.. KENNEDY
was lying in bed seriously i'll. Wash
bern acted as nurse and was trying to
Keep tl.e temperature Of the ten above
treeZing. Just as the sheep poured u
of the corral he CHANGED to glance out
side. Noting the state of affairs, he
snatcbed his cap, and without stopping
to put on his overcoat, dashed out into
the storm to assist his employer. The
Two men did their utmost to hold the
bunch together and keep them on the
high divide, SO they would not become
engulfed in the ravines and washouts
on the lowland. But in spite
of all their efforts the sheep
became separated. Washbern fol-
lowed the smaller bunch and succeed
ed in driving them to the other corral.
which contained 1000 more head under
the charge of the German. Washbern
corralled the sheep and hurried off to
render Lewis further assistance, but he
never found him. After wandering
around in the storm until nearly dead
with cold n fatigue, Washbern dis
covered the tracks of a wagon in the
hard crust of the old snow, over which
the falling flakes whirled i'm binding
eddieS. He realized at once that the
tracks must ave been made by Gilbert
McGee's house wagon. and that his only
salvation lay in reaching IL as soon as
possible. SO he ran n staggered along
the tracks until he reached the wagon
in a sheltered bend of BuZzard creek.
He had just strength enough left to reel
against the door, but could not open il.
MCGEE heard the noise, opened the
door and pulled him inside. Lewis, it is
thought, must have kept on after the
sheep until, overcome by cold and IA
tigue, he sank upon the snow and was
unable to gain his feet or stumbled into
some drift covered rdvlne. to be instant
ly covered by the dry, powdery flakes.
A number of cowboys and sheepmen
have been searching for him ever since,
but not the slightest trace Of his body
can be found. Washbern had hardly
turned his bunch Of sheep into the cor
raj when the other bunch began to pile
up. The German cut the fence and
turned them loose. They started di-
rectly for Buzzard creek, then ran pell
..zl1 1A.,n tla npAnly thA 1aalArJ lI1ina
the empty ponds with their carcasses
and the others pouring over them. Fin
ally the German succeeded in stopping
them and held them until morning,
when, nearly exhausted by cold and
hunger, he was compelled to abandon
the animals and return to the tent. All
this time DR.. Kenidy was lying in the
tent with the Dakota blizzard bowling
through the holes in the canvas and fill
ing the interior with A hardy
Indian pony picketed outside was frozen
to death. The day following the storm
a man came out from the Lewis ranch
to assist in moving camp, and was nat
urally astonished to find Lewis and
Washbern and the sheep all gone and
DR.. Kenidy alone I'm the tent nearly
starved, badly frozen and seriously Ill.
The doctor n his bed were bundled
into the wagon and hurried back to the
ranch, where the alarm was given.
Charles Lewis got some men together
as speedily as possible and commenced
the search for the missing men and
sheep. Although everything possible
was lone by Mrs. Lewis for DR.. Kenidy
at the ranch, he died the following Mon
day. He leaves a large family in desti-
tute circumstances at Fort Pierre.
Washbern will recover. William Lewis
was one of the most prominent and sue
cessful stockmen in the state. The
brothers started in business six years
ago with a capital of only $40. They
purchased a flock of sheep on time and
were on the high road to fortune when
this calamity overlook them. Neither
Of them were ever known to have the
least regard for their w safety or COM