Year: 1873




From the Correspondence Of the Gin.
Commercial:


RED WING, MINI, Feb, 3.
The true story of the storm will new
er be written. The lips that could have
told the most are cold in death. The
king has silenced the witnesses
that beheld him in his greatest fury
1t only remains for us to collect frag-
ments here and there from those who
lived, and who have seea and buried
the dead.


Mr.. Jenkins. OF the Ohio Bridge
Company, set out with the mail carriers
from Shelby to Rock Rapids. when
Is miles out the storm burst upon them
in its fury. The binding snow fell
thick and fast, the horses lost their way
and foundered in the drift. They
crowded into the hack, and in this way
spent the terrible night. At daylight
the roor horses were frozen dead. The
storm incre ased in violence every mo-
ment. They thus remained penned for
forty-eight hours, suffering all the
pangs Of cold and hunger. One of the
men was frozen to death, another was
a raving maniac, and the third was 90
near dead that he will lose his arms
and legs.


In stage on the road between Ma
della and St. James, eight people were
frozen to death. The stage was found
after the storm. The horses were dead
in their tracks. The faithful drivers
icy hands still clutched the reins. Draw
ing away the curtaies of the stage, the
discoveries found crew as ghastly as
that which sailed with the Ancient
Mariner. Wrapped in icy and frozen
robes and blankets were-borTor Of
horrors two men, three women and
two children. The storm had burst
upon them in sudden fury and they all
died in their seats. Who can paint
the miseries OF that dreadful three days
in the stage! Which ofthe seven ling
cred lor gest ? Oh, what must have been
the feelings otthe strangers as they saw
their com panions one by one drop in
the long sleep rom which there is no
waking!


And here is an incident that may ap.
near incredable, but have assurances
that it is true. Butler Rarseness, of
Pope county, was returning home with
load of wood one evening OF the storm
He lost the road and wandered off into
the prairie. Striking his ak and whip
stalk into the snow as the sign of his
resting place, he buried himself under a
DRIFT and remained twenty-tour hours
He then crawed ont, but the storm had
not aba,ed. He covered up again and
remained until the next day, when he
found the snow so firm around him that,
in his weak condition, he could not get
out. He remained three days more In q
stupor, and until found by his brother.
after the storm. He was dug out, and
will live, although mis- hands, feet and
face are badly frozen.


A sad case WAS that OF John Manly,
of Renville. He was driving an OK team
through the thickly settled township OF
Branden, when the storm overlook him.
The poor fellow turned his back 10 the
wind, and travelled ten miles before he
gave up, looking in vain for houses when
ihey were all around him. The storm
was 90 binding that he could not see
ten feet At last he laid down on his
face, with both hands under his chin,
and died.


Near Fort Ridgeway six little chill
dren started tor home from school, but
the home they found is above. When
the storm had lulled. search WAS made,
| and all six were brought to their par
ents dead. One had his books under
bis arms; two were locked in death
embrace, with tears OF ice in their eyes,
tnat there were no kind hands to close
when they grew dim in the binding
drifts. The others were found, covered
with snow, and all frozen stiff.


The case of Mr.. Evans, a minister
OF the Gospel, and his family, in Fill
more County,is particularly sad. Fl had
been awav TO preach and was returning
home on Tuesday, with his wife and
children The storm overlook him
and it appears that when within three
rourths OF a mile Of his house, a snow
DRIFT stopped his horse. He was driven
to the extremity Of carrying his chill
dren home in his arms. He took the
eldest and pushed through the dread
full drits and driving snow. He found
his home, lett his child well wrapped.
and, taking two heavy blankets will!
him, returned TO the cutter. These he
wrap pped around his trsil wife, and took
the baby and again started for the
house. Poor, poor man, be never
reached il! In the binding storm he
lost his way, and perished with his
tender little babe folded to his breast.
What must have been the agony OF this
Door man as be foundered in the be-
wilderiug drifts, completely lost, but
knowing that his vile was freezing iu
the cutter alone and that his eldest
child WAS at home dying alcns, and he
unable to reach either OF them, or save
the babe 10 bis arms? Could death, in
any form, be more cruel2 None but the
God OF Heaven knows how long he
struggled in the binding blast before
he yielded to the terrible Jury Ct tht
storm. All we do know is that father
babe, child and mother pe7lshed. The
wife in the cutter waited for husband
aud died waiting; the child st home
waited Tor his father, and died waiting
Who can describe the agony OF the one
or the terrible suspense OF the other
All are now dead, aud the mystery and


II 49,, toLip1 off 10 Gporr