Rensselaer Republican, Volume 20, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 January 1888 — A WESTERN BLIZZARD. [ARTICLE]

A WESTERN BLIZZARD.

Over One Hundred Persons Perish in a Snowstorm. , The Weather Moderating and Brmqa Appalling Reports of Ca«aalitl«a—The Storm Hateudn from Dakota to T«io—- . Uacqaallrd Binao ISS4. | r

The terrible storm which has swept over the Northwest, blockading railroads in five States, is now over, and the victoms of its fnry are being count ed. The pitiful.list is growing almost every hour. It is not improbable that when the record is com plots it will show 900 livea sacrificed to the awiul fury of the blizzard. Next to this, the worst blizzard that the Northwest ever had occurred January 7, 8 and 9, 1873. In that storm seventy persons were frozen

todeath, and thousands of dollars’ wor.h of property destroyed. The storm came without warning' at sunriselaet Wednesday. Dakota never had more lovely weather. The air was was as clear as crystal and every object about the horizon was distinctly visible. The wind was from the south, warm and balmy, and before the sun was high in the sky a decided thaw had set in. Farmers too a advantage of the beautiful weather to go to town, to draw wood, hay, etc. About noon a cloud was seen along the northwestern horizon, lying close to the ground, bat stretching from the west to north in a dark semieircle. Little attention was paid to it, but in an hour the cloud had swept over the country, the sun was obscured, the snow was falling fast, and a gale was sweeping from the west with terrible fury. The blizzard had begun. The mercury fell rapidly and by 5 o’clock it was 5* below zero, and the next morning it registered 30“ below, and all the while the wind increasing in fury. The snow fell thick, and the large amount of snow that was already on the ground was blown into powder and hurled along by the wind. On the prairie an object forty feet distant could not be seen. A man’s voice could not be heard six feet distant. The air was full of snow as fine as flour, and the roaring of the wind and the darkness caused by so much snow in the air made the scene the most dismal, dreary and forsaken that man ever looked upon. ’ v Every railroad in Dakota, Minnesota, Manitoba, Nebraska and Wisconsin was blocked. „ Telegraph wires everywhere were down, and it was not until Saturday that the full extent and awful results of the storm became apparent. The telegraph hourly bringj.the most pitiful stories of suffering, terrible struggles for life and heroic deeds of the brave men and women of the storm stricken section that have never been equalled. Saturday and Sunday night were the coldest ever experienced in the vicinity of Kansas City, the thermometer registering It* below zero Sunday morning, and no time Sunday did the mercury get above 4“ below. The reports that come from Western Kansas are appalling. The blizzard that raged through that section a few weeks ago, left the people in such bad condition that they were unable to stand more severe weather and & large number of deaths from cold and starvation areknown to have occurred.

A car-load of provisions was started Friday from Wichita to Ashland, Clark county, but the storm stopped the train. It is estimated that three thousand people in Clark county are in a destitute condition, and unless immediate relief them the number of deaths will be fearful to contemplate. Th&pastor of the Presbyterian church in Hartland, Kearney county, writes for assistance forf the people of that section, saying that if belief does not soon come hundreds must die. The casualties among stock have been greater than ever known in the State of Kansas. Horses and cattle have perished in their stalls, and the owners have been badly frozen while attempting to care for them. On the Missouri Pacific Railroad two train loads of cattle coming in from the West were caught in the blizzard and every animal was frozen to death. In Indian Territory the entire range is frozen over and the cattle are drifting badly. The wave reached as far South aa Texas. The dead body of a man was found near Sioux Falls, Dak., Saturday night, frozen solid, as also was the team'of|horses with him. His face was so bloated as to be unrecognizable, and he has not been identified. The horses had been unhitched from the sleigh with the harness on, and the man had no overcoat on, and it is supposed that he, with othera, wasridingand that he unhitched the team to go for help, leaving the others in the sleigh covered by his overcoat. Hunting parties are out. Another heavy snowstorm is now in progress.

Three young men living on the Jim* river, east of Mitchell, D. T., are still missing. Trains will be blocked for a 1 r ’ *; • The school at Inwood, la., was dismissed in the midst of the blinding blizzard, and two Fitzgerald children were” lost in the storm. Others are likely to have perished. Two farmers started from Bridgewater to Marion Junction, and perished on the way. Up to the 17th 184 deaths had been reported fro» the excessive cold. Chicago is in quite a fever over the gas trust there—a sort of gas trick fever, bo to speak. J