George Greer - Out in a Blizzard

I found this cabinet card at a flea market in Tulsa.

A young man with an extra bit of hair and a moustache drawn in.

The photographer is N. A. Voss who arrived in Kansas and set up shop in 1878.

The town the photograph was taken in could be a bit of a challenge to pin down …
Hays City or Ellis or Wa-Keeney.

What interested me the most was a portion of the faded penciled writing I could make out on the reverse.

It said the photograph was of George Greer but it didn't look like him because he’d been in a blizzard.

A few scenarios came to mind … all involving frostbite.

But even after I had the photograph home, and under better lighting, and had spent considerable time playing with letters; I could still, only get as far as …

“Geo. Greer but it don’t look like him as he had the misfortune to be out in the blizzard and it …”

AND IT WHAT!!!

And it froze? … “froze” was what should have been next.

But it wasn’t.

I took a break from trying to read the handwriting and read a few stories of blizzards in that area and around that time.

The winter of 1885 - 1886 was a rough one.  I found two blizzards that hit western Kansas in the first week of January 1886, killing 100 people and 100,000 cattle.

When I returned to deciphering the handwriting, it didn't take long to make sense of the words … and when I did, all I could do was laugh.

“Geo. Greer but it don’t look like him as he had the misfortune to be out in the blizzard and it blew his moustache off.”