Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 February 1912 — WAS A FRIGHTFUL STORM THAT STRUCK RENSSELAER. [ARTICLE]

WAS A FRIGHTFUL STORM THAT STRUCK RENSSELAER.

Calls the Oldest Inhabitant to Scrateh His H ead to Recall a Worse Show aß<l ’ Today is bright and somewhat warmer and a brilliant sun has shown during much of the day. The wind has subsided and toe storm is apparently all over. Before sunset Wednesday the snow had almost ceased but the wind continued to blow for several hours. This morning great drifts of closely packed snow were banked up on sidewalks, in streets,' in yards, against houses and barns and travel was next to impossible, but the day was pleasant and it was early this morning when, property owners began to clean off the walks and then Jacob Gilmore, the snow plow man, started out on his mission of path making for the school children. Some places the snow was packed so firmly that the plow but skimmed the top and his horse soon became' so exhausted that he had to change to a team and to confine his .pathways to the center of the streets. The school attendance is a little better today than it was Wednesday afternoon. The rural route carriers had ail sorts of trouble. John Daugherty on Route 1 managed to get home at about 5:30 o’clock. He got his horses down in deep drifts twice and had help to get them out, but he kept on going. He had to cut out a part of his route' and arrived home almost exhausted and chilled through and through. Harry Murray got stuck in the same snowdrift that Mr. Daugherty did at a point where their routs overlap. He also forged ahead .but finally got stuck near the Bowling Green schoolhouse and had to Unhitch bis team and leave his wagon out all night. He remained over night at Estel Osborne’s and came home this morning, arriving at noon. It took a long time to dig his wagon out and to clear away a passage at the railroad cut, where the snow was banked six feet deep. J. Q. Alter reached the home of Marion Freeland in Newton township, and remained there over night and will be there tonight also. The lanes in that part of toe country are blockaded to such *n extent that travel Is impossible. The road supervisors are trying to get the roadways cleared for travel. J. B. Martindale remained all night at the home of Al Peters, south of town, and arrived home at about 11 o’clock this morning. He had a lot of trouble * yesterday, having to cut wire fences and go through the fields to avoid impassable drifts. . ♦ Ross Bringle came in from his father, W. D. Bringle’s about 9 miles southwest of town, at about 12:40 o’clock. He rode horseback, coming after medicine 'tor' hTs mother, has the grip. It took him 3 hours and 10 minutes and he was almost capsized in snowdrifts at places. Business in town is practically at a standstill. Grocers were compelled to give up deliveries Wednesday afternoon and stores closed at 6 o’clock In the evening. Coal dealers were submerged in appeals tor fuel and had to refuse to make deliveries in afternoon. Trains have been running with great irregularity. The , milk train from the north, due at evening, did not reach here until' 5 o’clock this morning, it went to Lafayette and turned around and started back and at 2 o’clock this afternoon had not yet reached Monon. It would naturally be expected that today’s run would be abandoned but this cannot be done on account of the mall contract, toe milk train taking on and delivering mail at small stations along toe route where other trains do not stop. Other trains are from two to fonr hours late, except the south bound Hoosier limited this afternoon, which was only about a half hour late.

The oldest inhabitant has had to scratch his head to find anything that comes up to thia as a storm. Steve Comer called us by phone this morning to let us know that his part of Jasper county was up and doing. He recognizee tots as a bad storm but pot toe worst ever. He remembers the cold New Tears of 1863 and a big storm of Feb. 14th, probably in *72 or *73. On that day a wolf hunt was to be pulled off with the* hickory grove, near toe jpresent town of Gif* ford,, as the central turning point It turned bad about 10 o’clock and a blinding storm a emm panted by frigid temperature ensued. The participants had a hard time to reach their homes The temperature sank steadily until it reached 14 below, sero and chickens froze to death in the eoops and cattle in toe fields. - The Indianapolis Star says it is the worst storm there since the sixties and the Chicago. Tribune ealls it the worst storm in tost dty since 1894.