The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1879-01-17
STREETS AND AVENUES BLOCKADED.
Exciting Scenes at the Ferries and the
az Railroad Stations.
A VESSEL WRECKED AT DEAL BEACH.
Trains Delayed on Railroads in New York
and New England

The storm predicted in the HERALD broke
with furious force upon the city on Wednesday night.
about half-past nine and at once asserted its SUI
premacy every living thing from pedestrians to
horses The evening had been dark and lowering
with threatening clouds heavy with snow. and oc-
casional spurts OF wind. with spits Of hail. There
considerable ice in the rivers and the harbor-
quite enough to embarrass the ferry navigation to
both Brooklyn and Jersey City. The thin surfacing
of snow on the avenues leading to the Park well
worn away. and even that in the Park itself had
begun to suggest that wheels preferable to
ners For week the city had been in a condition of
untidiness and dirt unprecedented since the street
cleaning deadlock Of last summer and Wednesday
night the ashes and other castout accumuations
entirely removed for the first time in fortnight.
The snowfall was unlike any New York has wit
messed this winter. 1t came with rush and whirl
and drifting tendency. In less than fifteen minutes
after it began the air was filled with it. and
it needed no prophet then to declare that the
storm had come on business and meant to stay. The
whole sweep Of the island was enveloped with the
spotess mantle. The dark waters of the rivers. bur-
dened with huge cakes OF floating ice obscured
from view. Pilots could not the sterns OF their
boats. Policemen had to feel for the end of their
batons. The darkness was something mar
vellous It q suggestion of terror to man
and beast. The wind wildly whistled through
the Streets the sharp icy particles cut the flesh OF
those who compelled to face the blast the sky
was hid from view by huge, black clouds, and even
on the best lighted streets of the city men uncon-
sciously quickened their pace the extraordinary
darkness closed in about them. New York has been
showed in before its street have been stopped
until long lines of them paid tribute to the power of
the storm; travel has been impeded on land and
water and great drifts of have barred the pro-
been such sudden transformation from the pleasure
of uninterrupted thoroughfares to the positive perils
of blockaded streets and drifts Of packing snow as
marked the city's life on Wednesday night.
THE NIGHTS CONFUSION.
The fun of the schoolboy is the car drivers DOOM
All night long increasingly fell the snow. silently
pilng up trouble for the coming day. Central Park
was the place all Manhattan Island where it's
coming was benefit to be desired. There and on
the outlying avenues fall of snow means pleasure
excitement and joifcation for the rich elsewhere it
carries discomfort, Inconvenience expense, bother
and diphtheria to the poor. The fun of the
few is the misery Of the million However. phi
losophy aside. tho snowfall continued increasing
in volume and in force, dsmaying the managers Of
horse railroads. delaying trains obstructing the
ferries and knocking time tables into cooked hat.
Fire engines snow ploughs. balky horses
up and every material outdoor interest Of tho city
and its vicinity in way interfered with.
damaged or married.
TROUBLE coMErH WITH THE MORNING.
Experience teaches practical men Of affairs that
snow storms in New York mean gangs Of men. heavy
expenses. much annoyance and the necessity OF pa
thence. Long before the so-called dawn of day-a
dawn ascerained this occasion by the firing of
harbor gun ony-long lines of wagons gathered at
the ferry gates in Brooklyn and Jersey City. They
were the advance guard of the yet to milkmen.
butchers green grocers expressmen and cartmen who
make daily pilgrimage to this Mecca of provisions
800 times in every year. II not pleasant
to listen to their owners drivers they swore
with impatient curses, at times directing their i'm
precautions at the unoending keeper Of tho gate and
and then consigning their eyes to a fate of
never ending woe. Nevertheless they did it The
ferries in great tribulation. The ice moving
The morning light declined TO break. Everybody's
whistle was on the rampage. and there peace
tor the wicked or the good. That pilots should fire.
qucntly run against the bulkheads with steam ON is
not remarkable that very serious accident married
the efforts of the early morning is matter for graft
tude estimated that about two hundred thousand
people come from the suburbs by way of the East
and North River ferries. and il may be safely
serted that the two hundred thousand who to
Town yesterday were III state OF mlnd not at all
pleasant to contemplate cheerful to experience.
Tho approaches to the boats wet and slippery.
The decks were partially clean. The cabins were as
they always on rainy snowy days. damp COM
fortress and odorous 1t the cndeavor of the
companies to adhere to their time tables so far as
possible but the dangers of the rivers and the terri
BILE pressure OF wagons carts carriages aud cabs at
the gates inspired kind OF Generalization that
Affected visibly the entire service.
THE RUSH TOWN.
New York yesterday understood the practical utility
Of its elevated railroads. II also their
attendant and. as yet. unavoidable infecities. IL
evident at five o'clock in the morning-the storm
then being at its height and sweeping along toward
the proportions OF hurricane with the majesty OF
tornado--that the drifting snow would render tho
surface roads practically useless. until the snow
could be cleared away. Hours before that time the
great ploughs. with sixteen sturdy horses had
been plunged through the heaps upon the tracks
but the plunge had done no special good to the
tracks and the drifts were not hurt an the Ieast
Armies OF men with shovcls and brooms werc act 4,
work, and while it would be false TO say they did no
good 1t would be absurd to that they cleared the
rails. The fact is, the fall Unprecedented
heavy. and the snow was of that damp. packablo Kind
dear 20 every boy hated by every railroad man
Where 1t fell it packed II the wind sportiycly tosse
1t in heaps, in heaps II packed. II IL adorned the
crown OF pillar, At packed the crown and IL it
modestly sought the obscurity OF the gutter in the
CUTTERS rctracy nevertheless it packed Packed snow
Is not easily shovellcd removed. and no army
OF men ever yet employed and dircsted by New
York surface road was competent to deal with the
great result of yesterdays Storm And yet the vast
multitude living above Fourteenth street had to
reach their business in some way and the rush down
town, though probably less than on ordinary
sions. appeared phcnomenally great and overhowcd
every means provided
r1iE SURFACE CARS BLoCKADED.
Everybody living any where near the 81 roads
said, Everyone will push for the IL road"
aud of these thousands cunningly continued.
.But the rush will be great that 1 can do
better by trying the surface road" And they
did. With what success the surface roads were
tried OH this most trying occusion let chilled pas
eengcrs, exhausted urivors poor patient conductors
long strings of idle and drovcs of WORKOUT
wcl-whipped. Understanding horses testify. In
their own interest," OF course, each company did its
best 1t was pleasant to tho Fulton ferry bob
tailed Blocker street onc-horsc stuck deep
Ann street drift, with four painting horses In the
van. First OF all the great snow poughs were
started out, drawn by twelve, fourteen or sixteen
horses. In the broad avenues the consequent heap
ing up OF the snow In long winrows
pretty bad. It divided them into narrow lanes,