The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1897-12-11


zero. and as soon as the storm ceased
the mercury fell to 20 degrees below, n
Sunday was a dreary and restless dayS
People were wondering and dreadlng
what had happened on the vast prairie,
Had any perishedg All hoped not, but
all feared the more. II was not until
Monday morning that the first definite
news OF the storm came Farmers
reached town 70 beg coal or wood for
their cold homes; many OF them were
able TO buy, but had not prepared for
such a storm 80 early In The winter.
Several were not able to make a path TO
their stable doors, hut had to dig down
NOV 10 Get hay TO their horses, which
were ny this time faint with hunger and
craving their managers, Fires had gone
out In several houses, and deaths We're
narrowly ayer,ad by the timely arrivals
Of neighbors,
But there We're worse tidlngs. Two
Russians, man and wife, had come that
sprng to the Mennonite settlementand
were doing well in their little shack"
The Womans father had come over the
week OF the storm to visit them, but
was on that fateful day at the home of
q neighbor He set ont Saturday, an
xlOus as TO the comfort Of his children,
ut he found In place OF the little
shack only the charred evidences Of u
dwelling and some household goods
scattered around. There was no nys-
terry about that scene, All who saw Il
understood It, The fire had caught,
probably in the night, perhaps from the
straw stove" and had sent those two
brave eXiles from home into the fury of
the storm and to sudden death, But
with characteristic frugaIity, they were
determined that their goods should be
saved, and they were dragged out OF
the blazing hut and removed to a safe
place. When the fire died away there
was nothing left for the twain but to
set their faces to the storm and search
for haven which they found not on
eArth, Their bodies lay not far away
from the fire in large drift.
Only few miles away lived Ger
man family. As IL the custom the hus-
band and father had been working
out" that fall for nelghbor Friday
night he reached home, to find the chill
dren almost Wild with terror. Their
mother had started to make a path TO
the stable TO bring relief to the impris-
oned beasts whom she heard crying for
food, had lost her way and had perish
ed. Her body was found several rods
distant. There were minor casualties,
too but no other deaths known In that
country. The following spring, however
u plowman breaking up" claim
found the skeleton Of man whom no
one could identify or had missed; he
too may have been q victim of the
blizzard.
On Monday the wires become sufTi-
clently useful to give the wheat quo
tations, and TO let the people know that
an attempt was being made to open
up the line" with snow shovel and
pIows. Tuesday telegram gave the
first news OF the extent and spread Of
the blizzard, with its long record of
lives lost In the northwest, Day by day
the train came nearer. In the meantime,
the lack Of fuel began TO be felt Al
most no wood came in, and the supply |
that did fetched fabulous prices, while
AZ the hard-coal supply grew low, the !
fear Of fuel famine stared the people |
In the face. Some did, in fact, suffer
from lack of coal or any other kind Of
fuel What would have happened to |
that village II another storm had come
within the next week causes one 10
shudder when he thinks OF 1t, and the |
fear haunted all, for several days were
big with Omens Of storms.
At last, on Friday, nine days after
the previous arrival Of the train came
three engines behind the snow ptow, |
with crew OF men, who were almost
crazed from lack OF sleep, Twenty-Five |
men had been working on that division |
since Monday morning, and their suf-
ferings had heea great, The long
awaited train was only few hours be-
hind. But time and AGAIN, during the
winter. that line and ever other line In
the northwest was choked with snow,
and there was one branch road which
was not opened after that storm until
the next spring. Deaths occurred from
exposure and from need Of medical
care. one OF the leading women Of the
village gave up her life because no
surgeon could arrive to operate for
until too late. Yet 50 buoy
ant Is human nature that people dared
to Joke about the weather while they
were thus shut in" the week after the |
blizzard Merchants declared that, as 1t |
was the settlng-up season, they were |
glad they could get no statements"
Parties were held, at which letters
from Imaginary people were read The
editor ran column Of What May |
Have Happened" The worthless vag
nbond OF the village was missing from
the night before the storm, when he
had beeu seen lettering away from the |
rafle about midnight. quite drunk. lie !
was given up for lost, and no one sigh
cd very much, Bot Il week later he APP
reared Haharmed and smiling. In his !
usual way. One of the most vexatlous
things about the whole affair was the
Of the news which had been |
missed. The delayed papers when read
seemed to have nothing in them. except
the victory of Princeton over Yale at |
foot ball and that was expected
one might think, after such win
ter as last. many Of the people would |
have left that county and state. Not so;
a few became discouraged and left but
many came in to take their places the
land has been RAPIDLY taken IN, and
those who survived the last Thanksglv-
ing day do so with stout hearts, build