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14 THE EAGLE: WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 1895. BAD BLIZZARDS. Some of tho Torror3 0f tho West ern Prairie Snowstorms. Tho Settler's Cabin u Poor Refuge, from tho Icy lllugtB Ippulllng Losses Amone tho Herds mid 1' locks of tho Plains. The blizzard, as the plain man's ver nacular designator! the prairie snow storm, is utterly incomprehensible to one who has not experienced it. Gen erated in tho great storm-breeding re gions of barren British America, and swept on arctic blasts along tho vast level reaches that stretch eastward from tho llo.;ky mountains, with uo forest to break its force, it becomes a demon of the air, second only to the tornado or cyclone in destructiveness. Tho moisture is ground a3 between millstones, hurled with bullet-like en ergy over hundreds of miles of level plain, and finally transformed into yeasty sleet by the softening cfiVets of lower latitudes, falls in bleak howcrs on the ranges of Texas and No-Man's-Land. Lack of cheap building material and tho brevity of tho winter season on the prairies contribute to make the settler's cabin a poor refuge. When tho blizzard comes every resource of fuel is hus banded, and it is faced with a grim de termination to sec it through, says the Detroit Free Press. But not all arc prepared even so well ! as the settler, occasionally a uciatcu emigrant, en route cither to a chosen claim on the frontier or toward the pleasantly remembered cast, where he hopes to find old friends and helpers, is caught by the blast. He may have a tiny stove inside the canvas-topped prairie schooner, but its heat can dc little against the power of the storm. Sheltered by the low bluft of some ra vine or water course he may weather the dragging hour3 of sufiVrhig, but the chances are that team and driver will be found a ghastly monument to the storm king's strength. Tho farmer who has hurried ten or fifteen miles to the nearest village to secure supplies for the impending vis itation is often overtaken beioro reach ing his waiting family and parishes on the road, for no matter how well he knows the path, when tho blizzard rages his way is as that of the mariner without a compass. At tho prairie schoolhouscs, whore tho settlers' children arc gathered from a territory covering many miles in every direction, tho blizzard brings terror to the pupils as well as to their parents. Rescue is impossible until the lull comes, ond awful possibilities lurk in tho bosom of the storm. A Dakota schoolmistress last winter failed to dis miss her scholars in time for them to reach home, and found herself and them prisoners from a blizzard's ap proach. A night and a day at least were before her, during wiiLh her lit tle charges must bo protected. Deliber ately she apportioned the food remain in the dinner pails, divided tho larger boys into squads and put tho younger pupils to sleep on tho benches. Then through the bitter night she sang, declaimed, told ".tories, invented games, and kept the lightened children amused and cheered ,u best she could. Tho following day ',s:;ed much tho samo, but still no Mtcmcnt of the storm nor any rescue, ho s2 :ond night was dreary indeed. ''..a chiVtrxi cried themselves to slec-i, ''.".ngry and jold. With her own hands V: tea'jhi'7 broke up desks and black s', rl to feed the voracious stove. ,,"u.i the taoming came a shout at the iloor as tho r.o'wtlcrs shoveled away the snow, and then the plucky girl to whom the children owed their lives showed her womanliness ar.d fainted. The loss among r;'.ojk on the plains by each blizzard is appalling. There is less exposure of herds and flocks now than in earlier tir.:cs, yet every season ;auscs the destrujMon of thousands oí head of cattle and shoc n on the ranges and in the unsheltered corrals. Sev eral years ago, during the height of the Texa3 cattle trade, a blizzard in west rn Kansas early hi December de frayed more than' half of 800,000 cattle .hat were being herded on the open prairie. At one railway station after tho storm, 85,000 hides were shipped; at another, 20,000. One ranchman found but 225 head alive out of 7,500 that had been grazing before the catas trophe. Several hundred ponies and a score of herders also perished. Tho blizzard is a permanent feature of the prairie winter. Nothing but a decided climatic revolution can secure to the great trans-Mississippi region immunity from its death-bearing pres ence. Letter preparations are yearly being made to withstand its fury, and to protect more generously the dumb animals who suffer equally with their masters. Tho signal service is render ing aid in warning communities reached by telegraph of the storm's approach, while the settlers, taught by bitter ex perience, take with each season better precautions, and provide moro intelli gently for their time of need, which is sure to come. But with all man's care and defense, tho blizzard remains unconquered. It is cruel, relentless and unmerciful as some Norse god, from whoso kingdom it comes. It is one of the west's pos sessions which is wholly and irredeem ably detestable. In its forefront is ap prehension; at its height, terror; in its wake, desolation and suffering some times death. Oltl-Tlme Weather Prophet. What is supposed to be the oldest European book on meteorology, Itey l.ian's "Weather Booklet" tWcttcr buechlcin), published at Augsburg in I.iO.'i, has recently been reprinted, and it shows that in this science, a3 in nearly all others, tho beginnings of i Air knowledge came from the cast. Keyman's rules for foretelling the weather arc highly commended for their good sense. They were derived from tho Arabs, who taught us chem- i.j'.ry, astronomy, mathematics and I many other things, for which we have ceased to be grateful to them. WORSE THAN DEATH. ISclfflum litis a System of Refined Torture That K lis In Three Years. Though the death penalty was prac tically abolished in Belgium over thir ty years ago, the punishment of those convicted of capital crimes is so awful that none has yet been able to endure it more than three years. Another curi ous thing is that little Belgium until recently had two public executioners, while one was sufficient for her vaster neighbor, France Diebler, otherwise known as "Monsieur de Paris." The king of the Belgians recently ordered the retirement on a pension of one thousand eight hundred and thirty seven francs of the "executor of high works" (as he is euphoniously termed), who was stationed at Liege. The exe cutioner at Brussels still holds his place. Tho duties of tho public executioner in Belgium arc singular, but not ardu ous. The courts still continue to sen tence malefactors to death, but the guillotine has been replaced by a seaf ioid, on whkii is posted a copy of the sentence. Much ceremony is observed in nfilxing this document. A troop of gendarmes, with their imposing hel mets plumed with horsehair.is drawn up about the place of execution, which they gravely guard with sabers drawn, while the red-robed executioner mounts the steps, nails up the decree of the court, and after a moment takes it down again. But the condemned man might more mercifully have perished by the ax or rope. He is pl.ncd in a dungeon so constructed, that from the moment he enters it he will never hear the sound of human voice nor see a living being. II is food is passed in through a sliding panel in the door of his cell. Not one of these prisoners has been able to survive this confinement more than three years. The authorities have striven in v;tin to prolong their lives by varying their food ai mu as possible, but those who are moderately or light ly nourished gradually waste away, while those who are generously fed go mad and die raving maniacs. A LOST DINNER. While a Visitor TuKiml About Art tho liooiie i:urn;M lo a Crisp. When George P. A. Ilealy, tho Ameri can portrait painter, was living in Paris, very poor and quite unknown in his profession, ho had, says Youth's Companion, the usual ups and downs of an artist's life. lie and his wife had inexpensive rooms, neither of which was a kitchen. But, he says, our big stove boasted of something which might pass for an oven, and this Mrs. Ilealy was deter mined to utilize. Sho bought a goose mid we rejoiced at tho thought of es caping the day from tho monotonous meal in an ill-ventilated room, over crowded with famished mortals. In duo time the goose was shut up in the oven. The bell rang and a gentleman en tered. He was an important person age, very rich, and a possible nitt: r; one to be well received by a siruggli::g young artist. I forgot all about t'.io