The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1857-01-24
THE BACK MAILs.-THE LATE STORM.

The train which reached this city last evening from Bal
tmore brought not onlya large number of passengers
but very large amount of bac-mail matter from New
York Philadelphia and the intermediate and ces.
Many of the passengers five days the road, and
were subjected hardshps rarely experienced by travellers
in this section Of the Union. .@... ...
We have New York papers to the evening of Wednes-
day. and Philadelphia papers of Thursday mornings ISSUE
They are principally occupied with the thrilling details
Of the incidents and disasters of the great storm of Sunday
last The New York Evening Post, will be from
the following corroboraes the conectural statement made
by few days ago in regard to the extent of country
over which the storm traversed
From Montreal and Quebec in the North, Baltimore
the South and from Dubuque in Iowa, to Bangor the
die of the wind have intelligence less
pe by telegraph which enables us to form idea of the
Of the snowsorm and the prevalence of the cold 1t
would that the have not travelled with equal
pdty while the cold snap has been felt the whole
country between the points have mentioned and probably
extensively the has not extended fur
Their than Buffalo in the West and there moderate No
mention made of it in Chicago Cincinnati Dubuque
although the cold has been most intense in each of these
places the latter the thermometer registered thirty
degrees below at sunrise yesterday morning.
which exceeded only by the village of WATERFOWL in this
State where, Sunday all the mercury thermometers
peaed 81 degrees below zero, and spirit thermometer
registered degrees below The gentlemen who remained
within doors all Yesterday account of the extreme sever
y Of the weather. may gain idea from this of what the
country people endure Forty degrees below
however in the clear, dry atmosphere of northern New
York. be compared the temperature here
where the cold is aggravated the damp salt air from the
For nearly hours the mercury ranged
between and 40 degrees below the whole
country we describeda fact which will distinguish this
among the coolest winters experienced by any living
Philadelphia and Baltimore harbors completely closed
,xyt
copy from the Journal of Commerce. that the harbor
New York is nearly in the same tight predicament:
Hundreds of people crossing the East river on the
ice Saturday afternoon, opposite the Wall Street ferry
bridge proved rather unstable for when there prob
ably 500 persons the ice, about four O'clock the whole
broke loose and commenced floating down towards
dy Hook cutting off all means of escape. For time, the
scene quite eIctng but finally the towboat Rather
the relief of the unwilling voyager and
ming her bows into the ice, all hands gladly awaited themselves
the chance get board Two other went to
their assistance and got couple sloops Their
condition for time critical The river closed about
three hours At five o'clock the ice offered obstruction
whatever to navigation, and the river eer from ice
than has been the past fortnight. The ice being much
broken along its edges for two three feet distant
from the PIERS made it difficult for the adventurers to get
upon it, Taking advantage Of this difficulty number of
spectators procured ladder and extending IL from the firm
ice pier sxacted toll of two cents from person
making of 1t, which generally cheefully paid The
receipts from this ferry monopoly must have been large
at somewhat remarkable that while the Montague ferry
thus enlarged, the crossing at both the
and Fulton ferries above and below comparatively
easy to the boats"
Although railway communication has been partially
resumed between Washington and New York. we cannot
for days to come expect the trains to perform their
regular daily trips between these two points.
We still without any intelligence from the South
and the accounts published in the Alexandria papers do
encourage the belief that the railroad distractions in
that quarter will be speedily removed. "a.