The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1909-09-03
A DRUMMER'S EXPERIENCE.


ST have been on the road some
thing over forty years" said white
haired drummer the other day, "and
l think that I have seen about all
the different kinds Of experience that
there has been to see. About the
worst experience I ever had was when
1 was caught in blizzard up in Ne
braska. That was nearly thirty years
ago, when there weren't so many
railroads out West here as there are
now, and we had to make some long
hard drives. 1 had to make a drive
that day of forty miles toward the
north. I got the driver and the best
team there was in town and started
at daylight.
cit was a mild day in December,
about the middle of the month, and
the roads were good. I figured that
we ought to make the drive in eight
hours with out any particular trou-
bic. Everything went along all right
till noon. We stopped for dinner at
a ranch house twenty-four miles from
where we started in the morning.
While we were eating | noticed that
the wind began to blow some from
the north, but the sky was still clear
1t was a few minutes after one o'clock
when we started out again on the
sixteen mile drive. The first hour
we drove, as I figured it, about six
miles. By that time a black cloud
was gathering up in the northwest,
and in about twenty minutes it COM
menced to roll down toward us. The
road was well beaten and the driver,
who knew what was coming, put the
horses to their best. They were
tagged, however, with the thirty-two
mile drive they had already made,
and it was hard to get them to hit
the storm was on us. The air was
filled with driving snow and the
weather, which had been mild two
hours before, had turned bitterly
cold. We still had about six or seven
miles to go, and every minute it was
getting darker and colder. I was
lucky enough to have a big fur coat
along with me- If it hadn't been for
that my opinion is that neither the
driver or I would have lived to get
to the town. Of course, as the wind
was blowing nearly in their faces,
it was had to keep the horses in the
road. They wanted to turn tail to
get away from the storm. We pulled
along as best we could for half an
/ hour when l discovered from the way
the buggy was humping over the
ground that we were out of the road.
l had the driver stop the team and
I got out and hunted until I found
the road again and got the team back
in it. When 1 got into the buggy I
discovered that the driver was grow
ing stupid with the cold and was
about to fall asleep. We were then
probably four miles from town and
I knew that if he staid in that buggy
he would be a dead man within halt
an hour. The blizzard was blowing
harder and harder, and the team was
more and more inclined to turn away
from the storm. got out, unhitched
the team, got the driver out and start
ed with him on foot for the town.
How I ever made it over that four
miles is something I cannot now un-
derstand. Three or four times the
driver went down on me and I had
to beat him like a dog in order to
get him aroused enough to go on
Finally slapped him in the face and
called him an ugly name 1t had the
effect I had hoped for. 1t made him
mad. He got up and struck at me
with all his might l lodged and
ran, and he ran after me- That
burst of anger carried us to within
mile of town, when he fell ex-
hausted again. 1 finally got him up
again and half dragged him for an
other half mile, when he fell again.
From that time until we got to town
I practically had to carry him. I
was certainly all in when I struck
the first house on the outskirts of
the town and fell against the door
! In spite of the fact that | had a big
fur coat and fur gloves and fur
cap l was nearly frozen to death. My
face was badly frozen. The driver
was not nearly SO warmly clad Both
his feet were badly frozen and both
hands. His face was good deal
worse frozen than mine. He finally
pulled through, but had to have one
or two of his toes amputated.
THE team took the back track till
they got to the ranch house and took
shelter in a shed. I might say that
we were fortunate in striking the
town as soon as We did The bliz-
Zard increased in violence until it
was one Of the worst storms that ever
swept over that country. If Isa had
J been out an hour later than we were
on the road it is sure thing that
both of us would have perished
. Since then | have been mighty careful
not to take any long drives across the
! prairies of Nebraska Or the Dakotas
after the first OF December ."-Mer-
chants Jonrnal