The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1878-12-30
Ruffalo,s Big snow.storm.
STRANGE SCENES ON THE sTREETS-sNoW
BOUND TRAVELLERS.

STRANGE SCENES ON THE sTREETs-sNoW'
BOUND TRAVELLERS.
The recent snow-storm at Buffalo seems
to have been of phenomenal violence. With
the mercury at six degrees only above zero
on Tuesday morning at IL O'Clock, snow
suuall struck the city and continued with
little intermission until Thursday morning,
and was in some places twelve feet deep,
but very curiously at the distance Of few
miles on either side Of the city measured
only few inches. Says the Buffalo Cou'
rier:
"rhe snow, which came in sharp, icy
needles, was so thick that 1t was Impossible
to see distance OF ten feet, while NIFTY
mile gale swept the flakes SO tiercely into
the faces OF those who were abroad as to
cause intense pain, The scene IN the streets
at this time was something unprecedented.
| People ran, and shouted, ana sang as
| II they were intoxicated. Gray-haired
| ladies and young girls, who had come
out to do their Christmas shopping, acted
as il they had taken laugbing-gas. In
| fact. the air seemed to be surcharged
with oxygen, and every one felt Its ex.
bllaration, and rocked not OF the cold. AS
the crowd surged up and down Main street,
for the street was full, they seemed in their
snow-coated wrappers like creatures OF
some strange, unreal world among the
clouds. The stores were almost hidden by
the whirling snow-dust, and it was utterly
| impossible to recognize any familiar shapes.
SIeighs and cars and snoW-plows appeared
and disappeared like ships in fog, the
drivers" excited, aud tho horses apparently
little less so. 1t was memorable scene,
and they who witnessed or took part IN II
may esteem themselves fortunate.
"This furry was followed by increasing
| wind, and, though the thermometer marked
higher temperature, it seemed very cold to
those who were obliged to face the wind
From fifty miles an hour the wind gradually
increased to sixty, and still continued IN IN.
termittent gusts, until at 2 +. NJ. 1t nae
reached the enormous velocity or seventy
two miles an hour, which Is set down 10 tne
books as no less than hurricane. NOW II
was that pedestrians bent to their WORK
approacbing corners with Wariness borH
Of sad experience. Ladies frequently lost
their bearings and drifted heiplessly out
| into the middle Of the street, from
which they were brought back by gal
liant policemen or others who were not
too ple0ccupied in steering themselves tc
lead helping hand. Stray hats and caps
and other articles added zest and orl
einality to the scene and served O valuable
purpose in illustrating the curved track
which hurricanes pursue, for science must
have its victims. This intense velocity Of
the wind did not last very long, but it blew
hard enough all day to make an average 81
forty-fve miles. Roughly estimated, two
or three thousand people were snow-bound
at the Exchange-Street depot. It was re-
markable to see how much real anxiety and
suffering were yelled beneath joke OF
laugh, and though the day before Christmas
waxed and waned, and the shadows Of
Christmas-eve feI! upon the depot, there
was no visible giving up Of hope until The
sad tidlngs were passed along, mo trair
east tonight. It was not until the day al
ter Christmas that the roads were opened
once more, and the snow-bound traveller
speeded on their way"