Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1897-12-26

an fin nra Luz u lay w.
sh,,r-os 49, he a blizzard is
+rai-,-.s, - the experienced
. = e-r1 go ia roads. There
,sa,s.,.i,,. -, town that day,
ance, and they Eng lana !, 1ha;r
rough, unpainted No. la a.
plenens.se ~ rrow. Not that
80, 'nes 49, CO 20 Z he day inspired
lost on the pratrie go. ,iobt
where one may in "a -, ,er
lio1 ~ 49, =. seeing a house,
aces are almost
But the storm lessee ! :; Intensity
at nightfall, the cars cd - - o,d al,
fear Of blizzard .passey ie ou', Ts,oge
who attended the raj a"" ~ "Eig
Jake's" that night saw 4 ne s;ans If q
storm when they retired, a. ID @ha dan
GERS of Easily felt sure ca +haiS wav
home at O'Clock that they AZ would
tie calm and fair. But the editor of
the Weekly News, when he was up"
at o'clccs, % pour another scuttleful
CT that $11.50 anthracite ccal into the
hun cry stove, thought he heard some
thing strike the house with roar, and
as he crawled back INFO bed the cot
tage shock, and he sighed as he lay
down again, "Well, | guess we're in
for storm after all.
lie had often heard Of billiards, but
lie had never seen genuine Dakota at
fair, this being his first winter in that
section Of the world, and he was little
prepared for the scenes of the next
day When he arose for breakfast he
found to his amaZement and diSmay
tEat the snow had poured into the cot
tage through a thousand Invisible
crevices, and was piled in heaps over
carpet and floor. 1t was packed in be-
tween the storm window and the inner
window, SO that the light did not pene-
trate. He tried to open the back
south door, but that was impossible.
Tie snow had been carried round the
corner from the north exposures like q
brood Of chickens. Outside he heard
the awful roar Of the storm, and then
he began to realize that there had
come to that Dakoto town a real biz
Yard.
But, as soon as possible, he hurried
off to the Office, for it was publication
day, and he intended to get off the pa
pers early and send the boys home. AS
he stepped out upon the street the
swift rush CT the wind struck him and
almost hurled him to the ground. And
with that fearful wind, coming straight
from The north, came the snow in tor
rents, cutting, binding and freezing.
Objects across the street were inViSi-
Bile, huge drifts were piled up on the
walks and only a few lights were to be
seen at intervals in the distance. 1t
was an awful day and the editor crop
ed his way along as well as he could.
lie fell again and again in going those
two blocks to the Office; he had to wait
behind buildings for shelter and to
stop at the hotel on tie way, and when
he rushed through the front door Of the
Weekly News Building he was ex-
hausted and almost ready to drop, al
though he had been an athlete at col
lege and in no sense a weakling.
The Office was a remarkable sight.
Snow was over everything from the
'power-pTess, Of whic< the publisher
was very proud, to the box of sound
money literature, most of which had
been distributed and had done good
work for tie cause during the previous
months.
q suppose the train will be late to-
day" vertured the editor timidly to
the visitors who dropped in and mount
ed the high stools near the fire.
''Haw, haw, haw, Late? weN, yes"
they all Toarad. You won't Gee any
train into this town before Monday, and
you'll be lucky if you get it them
The editor paled at the thought No
trcir7 for G1-O oil
down! Then he frightened up and de-
termined to make the best of it. He
SHUT the Office up, sending the boys
home, and with hs wife spent the day
with the college chum who had induced
him to come up into that frgid zone
few months previously Throughout
the day the wind grew higher and the
cold more piercing. the drifts became
greater, and the day became 50 gloomy
that lamps were lighted III many of the
houses al day long.
Although no farmers came to town
that day, there wa6 one boy who did
come, and his coming deserves to rank
with some Of the great rides of history,
not for its heroism in a grand way, but
the devotion to simple duty of the rider
ard the awfrl risk Of the journey. It
was an astonished group Of l0ungers at
the post Office into which the boy burst
that day.
What, is that you?" cried the post
master; Joe, you're the biggest fool I
ever saw."
1t was indeed, Joe La SWEET" as he
was called, although no one knew
why, for his real name wss Alexander
La Liberte. He smiled in his queer
way and tried to make light of the deed
but when his face was examined half of
it was found 70 be frozen, several fingers
were stiff, and, although he wore a coon
ekin cap, his head was SO badly frosted
that the skin came off in many pfaces
in the course Of the next few days.
Joe is a French-Indian boy who
carries the mail from Olga, twenty
miles east Ct Langdon. He had gone
over that distance with the storm in
his face; over prairie without the sign
OF q Path. through a htlly stretch Of a
few miles, where a nisstep by his
horse. would have rieant disaster,
without being able to see more than
twenty feet in any direction, riding III
q frail, slender sled with little cover
ing. Nothing but his Indian instinct
and that of his Indian ponies could
have brought him safely through the
most terrible storm which the north