News Article: “Fierce Blizzard: 11 Deaths in U.S.A."

FIERCE BLIZZARD. 

11 DEATHS IN U.S.A. 

School Children Frozen in 'Bus.

DENVER (Colorado), March 28—A violent blizzard, described as the worst in the region for half a century, raged over the Rocky Mountains and States on Thursday and yesterday. The wind reached a velocity of 70 miles anhour and temperatures were below zero. At least 11 lives were lost, three persons are missing and many more are in such a serious condition from exposure and frost bite that further deaths are feared. Hundreds of frozen cattle are standing in snowdrifts.

Five school children were frozen to death in a snowed-in motor 'bus at Towner, and their 17 companions who were rescued are suffering from pneumonia and effects of the intense cold. They are given only a fighting chance of living. On Thursday, when the blizzard threatened to block the roads, the children were dismissed from the Towner school and the school 'bus set out on an 11-mile run to take them home. The storm broke suddenly when the bus had covered one mile and the crowded vehicle ran into a ditch. It was soon engulfed in a 15 ft. drift and snow and sleet quickly buried any possible fuel supply. 

Frightened and hungry, the children huddled together in an attempt to keep warm. The driver kept the engine running until the petrol supply was exhausted, and books and plank seats were burned. The driver remained with the children all night and yesterday struck out alone to secure help. His frozen body was found to-day in a field several miles away. A ranchman looking for lost cattle found the 'bus to-day and carried the children a mile to his two-room hut. An aeroplane from Pueblo took two of them back to the town and the remainder lie on the floor of the hut. A physician and nurse are present, but they are hampered by lack of medical supplies.

J. Ryan (13), the oldest boy in the 'bus, is one of the survivors, but he is suffering from pneumonia and his frozen legs and arms may have to be amputated. Describing what happened after the driver left, he said:— 'One of the children broke a window of the car by accident and we were unable to keep the cold air out. The children were then so cold that I was unable to get them to move. I started some boxing matches: but they did not last. I noticed my brother Orlo freezing and gave him all my clothes except my underwear. He died, anyway. I became exhausted and lay down in a pile with the rest.

Twenty children and a teacher were rescued to-day from the schoolhouse at Horace (Kansas) after having been isolated for two days and nights. A bus driver and four Sheridan Lake (Colorado) school children who had been missing since Thursday morning were also found safe at a farm.

Physicians and charity agencies are being mobilised over a wide area, including Wyoming, Colorado, South Dakota, Nebraska, and the western parts of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.