The eagle., May 01, 1895, Page 14, Image 14

About The eagle. (Silver City, N.M.) 1894-1???

Image provided by: University of New Mexico

                
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