Hutchinson gazette. [volume] (Hutchinson, Kan.) 1895-1902, 1900-05-31

A Thrilling Adventure Of Three Army
Omcers in a snow storm.

"You mightn't believe H." said an
army lieutenant 10 Washington Star
man, but once upon time when
three Of US officers were out on the
plains starving in the snow, fifty miles
from any town bigger than q water
tank, we were suddenly dropped into
u feast Of champagne, oysters, turkey
and roast beef and all the good things
you could imagine q starving man
would j ke TO encompass, OF course,
you doIfS believe 1t, but let me tell
you.
"a force of fifty men with Ave Off,
GERS were doing detail work in Mon.
tNna one winter, and as amusements
OF all kinds were scarce we were
ready for almost anything, One day
three Of Ms started out on n hunt and
when night came we were caught by
n saOwslorm IN an old cabin out on
the plains, There was nothing 10 do
but stop where we were, and, making
a fir with such parts Of the cabin as
we could spnre, we made ourselves
comfortable as possible for the night
We had nothing 10 eat and as soon ns
morning came we faced the storm
which was still bad, and started 70
find headquarters, We were In fairly
good spirits nj first, but as we found
cred around through the snow, able to
make very little progress, and that In
direction we were not certain Of
matters began TO look serious, and
when the shades Of evening came on
and we were completely lost and with
out shelter OF any kind we began to
droop and wonder how long II would
be until our friends found our bodies
In the snow.
OF course we didn't mention any
thing Of this kind 10 each other, but !
will admit that we were not very
cheerful, and when II had become &c
dark that we held hands so that we
would not be lost from each other,
for one felt that II was our last hand
clasp on earth. We had become very
silent now and were struggling along
nimlessly, growing u little weaker al
the time, and colder and sleeper As
n sudden blast stronger than the 9th
ers swept by turned half round Il
shield myself and MS | did so saw Of
10 the left the gllmmer Of light, II
seemed to be rising from the snow
and we thought II might be some cab
IN half covered by the drift with .
roaring fire inside streaming ur
through the chimney, Tn any event
we let loose the strongest shout We
had left and made for II, still clnglnp
to each other. II was not more than
quarter Of q mile nway-if II had
been farther we never would have seen
II through the storm--nnd when we
got to II we found II was a Northern
Pacific railroad train showed In. II
was digging its way slowly through
the drift and when we came down
over the snowbnnk onto II the train
men thought IL was n 'hold-up,' but
we told them pretty soon what the
matter was and they hustled u'
aboard, II was just after the second
call TO dinner. the dlning-room coi
was in full operation and there in the
midst OF the cold. the desolation, the
distance from civilized homes and the
bowling storm, we sat down to din
ner which fifteen minutes before seem
cd TO be farther away from us than
heaven. RI was like fairy tale, IteI!
YOU. We spent the evening telling
our story to all the passengers went
to bed early, slept like moles, and tn.
next morning the train had worked
through and we got off at the first
station to take the next train back to
Headquarters"