In addition to an article previously posted by Terry Colegrove: Newark Advocate (Newark, Ohio) Thursday, April 3, 1902 Train Stalled by SnowDrifts North Dakota Passengers suffer from the cold and hunger One man attempted suicide and hastened the rescue of the entire party - sidetracked four days and five nights St Paul, April 3 - Passengers arriving on a Great Northern train, due last friday, tell of being snowbound for four days and fie nights on the prairies of North Dakota in the midst of the worst blizzard the Northwes has seen in many years, with only food enough for two frugal meals a day, and with such a small amount of fuel that the ladies had to wrap themselves in blankets and the men to wear their overcoats day and night to keep from freezing. The train was completely lost to the world. Late Thursday afternoon it picked its way out of Williston in the hope of being able to reach Monit, 14 miles away, before night. Almost midway, at a little stopping place called Ray where there is only a siding, a coal shed, and awater tank the train stalled. The engineer thought he could run the engine back to Williston and get aid, and, taking the conductor with him started on the trip. The lone engine was stuck in a dried in a cut a short distance out of the town and had to be abandoned. This left the train of eight coaches and about 250 passengers alone on the siding and with all communication cut off. Then started the long siege, during which the cold had to be borne and hunger stifled. There was much suffering and there was an incipient riot the first day. the second class passengers insited that they must have as much or more food than the others, and as they were in larger numbers and had more ravenous appetites it was difficult to confine them to their quota. Many were not willing, as they first class passengers insisted, that the women and children should be taken care of first, but after some argument they were prevailed upon to yield. Monday evening, Prof. Colegrove of the University of Washington, who was enroute East on a vacation trip and who had been despondent and morose, attempted suicide by cutting his throat with a razor. There was a physician on the train but he had no facilities for performing the necessary operation and it ws absolutely necessary to get into communication with one of the neighboring towns. In their desperation the passengers broke open everything in the train's chest, and in the conductor's box found a telegraph instrument. A young man, an electrician, on the train faced the blizzard and tapped one of the wires and attached the instrument. He knew little about telegraphy and notified the operators at both Minot and Williston of what had occured. From each place a snow plow was started in front of an engine bearing a surgeon. The one from Minot after a hard nights work reached the siding early the following morning and the wounded man was removed on the first train to St. Paul where he was cared for at the City Hospital. The almost famished passengers who had suffered from the cold and exposure were given food and warm berths in the first train pushed through the drifts. The rotary plow made one trip through the drift between Ray and Minot, but the snow piled so rapidly that it was necessary for the rotary to pass through and then precede the train through the cut. Prof. Colegrove was brought to st. Paul yesterday. The jugular vein is partially severed and it is not believed he can recover. He has been ill from too close application to work, and had decided to spend a month with relatives and friends in Hamilton, N.Y. Source:http://content.ancestry.com/browse/view.aspx?dbid=7359&iid=NEWS-OHNE_AD.1902_04_03_0001&rc=3604,1692,3682,1729;4754,1267,4969,1304;4586,3904,4666,3941;4686,3904,4886,3941;4540,4100,4676,4137;4296,5821,4397,5858&pid=473041921&ssrc=&fn=Prof.+F.W.&ln=Colegrove&st=g Also printed in The Albany evening Journal Thursday April 3, 1902 which can be found at http://www.fultonhistory.com Casandra Colegrov