The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1909-02-13
A BIG BLIZZARD.
Struck Settlers Of Renvi|ie County In
Early DAYS. :.


While the storm was raging last Fri
Gay, Jan. 20, many old residents sat
at the fire side recalling the days that
tried mems souls" in Renville county,
when the very thought Of a blizzard
struck terror to the hearts OF the pio-
neers. says. the Olivia Times, MINI.
The storm Of last week seemed terrible
TO those Of the younger generation, but
CT impaired with the, storms OF the 70's
and sos it was a mild innocent thing.
During the, ten years from 1870 to
1880 are recorded Minnesota's worst
tiizzards. These resulted not alone
in hardships and privstions but also
in the loss of many lives. The win
ter. of '72 and ,''73 Is especially mem
orable because of Fatalities; resulting
from the terrible. storm Of Jan. 81 and
8. It was in this stern tai the O'Neil
brothers and Thos. Hold We're frozen
while on their way to Wsllmar with
wheat to market
The morning of JAM 9Th broke fine
and clear, all signs Indicating a day
OF exceptionally good weather. Three
OF the O'Neil boys, John, Charley and
Stephen, and Michael and Thomas Hol-
den, started with five loads of grain
t., Willmar distance of some thirty
miles. When about half way the storm
started suddenly and without much
warning and in a short time a terrible
b lizard was raging. The boys soOn
realized that they were emperiled and
they made for the nearest place If
shelter. This happened to be a small
some fifteen miles south of Willmar.
The former offered them shelter FOR
themselves but could provide no stab
ling for their horses. A few miles fur
tier on was large farm place where
travellers often stopped, owned by a
Mr. Meagher and the boys decided
to push on for that place. Before
starting they unloaded the" grain from
their wagons and, although night was
approaching and the storm becoming
! more and more terrific, theyshoped to
be able to reach Mr.. Meashar's where
shelter could be secured for their
horses as we'll as for themselves. The
story Of the suffering endurk6 by those
brave, stalwart young grangers forms
one of the most pathetic chapters In
not reach Meagher's, but all that night
and for two days and two nights fol-
loving they struggled against the ele-
ments. hoping against hope, and finally
giving up the fierce struggle when the
last spark Of energy was extinguished
end human endurance was at an end.
How they spent the time and what
! rueans they resorted to in protecting
themselves make an interesting story
which has been often times repeated
by the one surviving member Of tho
PARTY, Michael Holden. One wagon
box was placed bottom-side up on
another box and between those the
boys crept for shelter. This served
! we'll for while but they soon began
TO suffer from the cramped position in
which they were placed and were
we're finally Obliged to try some other
plan. Thos. Holden, aged about II,
was the first to die, then two Of the
O'Neil boys, John, aged % and Charley,
81. Mike Holden, seeing that all mist
die II relief did not soon come to them,
made a last supreme effort to reach
place Of safety. He started in the III
rection Of Meagher's and after-a long
struggle, making most Of the distance
OF. his hands and knees, he reached che
Meagher house. This. we believe was
on the afternoon Of tho third day Of the
storm. The next day the storm abate1
and farmers returning from town came
upon the boys on the road. Three
were dead, and stephen .o'Neil, the