Omaha daily bee., 1909-02-01
STORM FURNISHES GOSSIP
Stories, Wondrous But True, Told by
Travellers in Recent Blow.
SIXTY HOURS FROM ST. PAUL
Two and One-HaIf Days IL Time Made
by Couple EnrOute to California
in Covering 37O Miles of
journey.


Stories of the recent storm have replaced
the time-honored jokes of the drummer"
and tales of the wind and snow of Thurs
day are about all that is heard in the lob
bies OF the hotels Most of the hotels are
shetering people who were snowbound for
hours on trains tied up at small stations or
blockaded on the prairies of Minnesota and
Nebraska and though the storm is now
matter of history four days old, blockaded
passengers arrived in Omaha as late as
Sunday.
Mr.. and Mrs. D. c. Rood of Minneapolis
hold the record over all others in the
| length of time they were snowbound hav-
| ing been the road from st. Paul to
| Omaha a total OF sixty hours Mr.. and
Mrs. Rood reached Omaha Sunday morn
ing and spent the day at the Loyal, leaving
in the evening for California, where they
| hope to escape cold climate.
1--WE were stalled a number OF times"
said Mr.. Rood, "and the supply of provis-
ions in the diner ran rather low. We were
tied up several hours at Mankato, and
again at Lake Crystal. Mimi, but at the
! former place the porter OF the diner Sc
cured partial supply OF food stuffs and
we managed to get to Omaha without any
serious pangs OF hunger. ] am now blam-
| ing myself because we did not leave Min
| neapolis before the storm, instead of dur
| ing it or In its wake"
! Mr.. and Mrs. Rood came over the Omaha
road. An earlier train made the run from
the Minnesota metropolis in fifty three
! hours. w. f. Kennedy of philadelphia
also at the Loyal was on this train In
the run Of $40 miles the train was not tied
| up many times. but the delay was occa-
stoned by the cold, which prevented getting
up much steam. This made the cars cold
as well, said the Philadelphian.
Women Have some Stories.
Mrs. Evelyn Gurley Kane a we'll known
dramatic reader from the Bush Temple con-
servatory, Chicago, was on the first train
| to reach Omaha over the Northwestern
| after braving the storm between Minneap-
oils and this city. With about sixty other
passengers she left the Twin Cities Thurs
day evening. and took fifty-two hours TO
get to Omaha, having been snowbound at
| Bingham Lake, Mimi, for forty-eight
hours.
| "It was the most strenuous experience I
have ever had in all my travelling and rail-
road journeys" said Mrs. Kane at the
Rome Sunday noon, as she sat in the cafe
enjoying her first square meal after two
days OF fasting. I'VE were caught with a
dead engine and snowdrifts all around US
several feet Deep with hardly anything in
the larder and the nearest town half a mile
away.
When our predicament was discovered
by the few inhabitants of Bingham lake.
which is over 100 miles from Minneapolis,
they did their best to help u.s. but the
number and hunger of our weatherbound
| fellow passengers made the efforts of the
townspeople seem insignificant. They
brought us drinking water, a pailful at a
time. and also sandwiches, but I'm glad
that our stay there in the snow did not
last longer.
Friday morning we found an inch or two
OF snow on the floor of the PuIlmans and
buffet car. and when we became curious
and wanted TO see the outside world. we
gave up the idea of digging out after going
few feet from the car door. The conduc-
tor told us that it was the worst storm
he had experienced in his twenty years OF
railroad life.
III It had not been for the train crew
and employees we would have Jared much
worse. for they did everything to MAKE
things comfortable ana did not sleep 4
wink during the whole experience AS Il
was, conditions were dull enough. Will
nothing to do, almost as little to eat, snow
sitting in onto the berths and floors and
no heat in the cars
Fffty-three hours was consumed by q
Great Western train in making the rur
from Minneapolis to Omaha, according tC
C. c. Bobb OF Kalamazoo, who spent Sun
day at the Paxton.
G. w. Dilger of Rapid City, s. D., lef
Chicago Friday night and arrived in omahi
Saturday night while Mrs. Dilger left Chi
cage Saturday morning and reacheS
Omaha the same night. MF. and Mrs. Dill
ser were at the Paxton and he left Chi
- lcnntinnna -, 49,. r,...A