The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-03-30
SNOW BOUND TRAIN.
IFrom the New York Journal

were very i'll ana we all suffered terri
| bly,.
Two of the passengers and I started
| to walk to Cheyenne for help and were
| met by the relief engine. There are four
women and two men left in the train.
If help does not reach them Ia q day
or so they will die.
My feet are frozen and fear they
will have to be amputated.
Most of the passengers are suffering
with fevers or scurvy. I would rather
die now than to even remember dis
| tinctly all that happened In those II
| terrible days.
JOHN OAPLEY.
IAN we had was the pork and beans.
| They began to get low, and then we
rationed them out.
I'VE had trouble to get any water, so
| we took snow and put 1t in the manhole
| of the water tank of the engine and
melted it. There's something queer
about that snow water! the more you
! drink the thirstier you get. Seems to
| make you sick, too; but it was that or
nothing. so we drank 1t. Then the beans
gave out. We were one whole day
without a bite to eat. Then some of
| the men snowshoed over to a ranch
| few miles away and got some bread and
J some more beans.
1T was getting to be Just like an aw-
| full dream. The wind howled and whoop-
| ed all night and all day. Feared like it
| was yelling at us, and telling us how
/ helpless We were, and what 1t was go
| ing to do with us, now it had US where
| it wanted US.
1.-The snow kept beating down, beat
| ing down. 1t sifted in through the win
| dows and drifted in under the doors
| The men got out and worked like Da-
| goes. We shovelled and shovelled, and
| shovelled, but, pshaw! every shovelful
| of snow we lifted off the track came
| whirling back into our faces.
| Some of the men got desperate and
| started out. Four of 'em went together
| the day the rancher's beans gave out.
| Two had snowshoes. and two of 'em
| hadn't even decent shoes or overshoes-
they'd worn 'em through trying to
| shovel US out.
That night we didn't try to be jolly
| In the car. Every time the wind came
| whooping down through the cut it
! sounded just like some one out there in
| the snow calling for help. The next day
| one of the train hands found a poor old
[ steer f1oundering in drift. We killed
| him, and for a few days we lived high.
| Then the coal began to get low. The engi-
| neer was one of those big, good natured
! fellows that never says much, but his
| face said a whole lot the day he took
! one or two of US and showed us how
J the coal was going.
! THAT night, after the women were
| asleep, we talked it all over, and in
| the morning some more men started out
I to walk to somewhere.
| zone day one of the passengers went
| into the caboose and sat talking with
! one of the section hands. ] noticed the
! section hand kept looking at him, very
sharp, and saying very little. Pretty
| soon the section hand opened and shut
| his hand at me and got up and went
| out. 1 followed him.
when he got outside he stood up close
to me and said: Do you know what's
| the matter with that mann
| No. said 1. What"
| 'Scurvy,' said the section hand.
| How do you know?' said 1.
| Been shipwrecked twice and went
| whaling once he said. This settles it;
! I'm going to walk, and in half an hour
| he and most of his gang came in and
told US good-by and started to walk
! THE storm grew worse every day.
| The engineer had to use every ounce OF
| coal he had to keep the engine alive,
and we almost froze in the car. or
| course we had no blankets and we all
| had to camp down on the floor of the
car at night and make out the best we
! could.
The women never whimpered. They
| were cold and hungry and sick, and l
| guess they got a little scared as the
! snowpiled up higher and higher and
| there was no sign of help; but they
never complained.
| lone morning the engineer came into
| the and sat down.
| His face white the snow
that flew past the windows.
| " She's dead he said, and, sure
| enough, all the coal was gone and the
! engine was dead.
zone of the women threw up her arms
| and fell down on the floor of the car
| her until she came to herself, and then
| we six men went into the caboose and
| talked Things over
| I'VE were all of US pretty sick. We
| couldn't have eaten the best food in
| the world, even if we'd had it. Three
| of US had the scurvy, and man who
has that keeps wondering why some one
! don't come and bury him.
| I'VE picked out the three stron gest of
| US and went and bundled ourselves up
and said gOod-by to the women.
| 'One of the women-the one who had
| fainted-sat huddled up in a seat on
| the coolest side of the car. She was
| singing to herself and kind of smiling.
| Some kind of a school children's song
| it was, with something about one, two,
I three, merrily,' and she'd raise her arms
| with them, same as children do when
| they are practising exercises.
| THE other women bade US goodbye
| all right, but one of the men burst right
| out crying-cried just like little boy,
| just sobbing and sobbing and saying
| Oh over and over.
| 1T made the other man mad to see
| him cry like that, and he began to
! abuse him and call him mean names
| and off he went-out into the drifts.
| I'VE walked, and walked, and walked,
on top of the SnoW-Sometime we'd
| break through every few minutes and
| have to fight to get on our feet again, ana
| sometimes we'd go for some time and
| get along all right But the wind-my.
| how it fought us, tore at US, like mad
! dog, and all the time 1 kept thinking,
One, two, three, merrily, one, two, three,
/ merrily, over and over, to the tune the
| little school ma am sang. My feet al
most killed me, they hurt so, but l
/ found out that IL I sang the song, good
| and clear in my mind, not stopping to
| count the telegraph poles in between or
4 to wonder how far we'd gone, 1 could
! keep up a good even walk.
~ was getting along very well when
| all at once looked up and there stood
| the little school ma'am right in front of
"a az a me- a nd n tn