Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1888-03-22
NEW YoRKs BLIZZARD.
Graphic Account Of the Effects Of
the Great Storm in the
Metropolis.
The Losses Occasioned by the Snow
Blockade Estimated at Millions
OF Dollars.
LsrEcIAL NEW YORK coRREsPoNDExcE.l

ESPECIAL NEW YORK CORRESPOND ENoE.l
The storm results In New York, Pennsylvania
and New Jersey since last Monday morning
are something unprecedented. During that
time the New-Yorkers have been as completely
isolated from mankind, and, indeed, from each
other, as though their big city had been buried
under an Alpine avalanche. People living from
one to Ave miles from their places Of business
or employment have had O compulsory vaca-
ton Of nearly four days. Their horse cars
ceased to run, their elevated roads were blocked
and their sidewalks and streets were cloRged
with huge drifts OF snow that rendered pedos-
trianism and the passage OF vehicles out OF the
question. Funeral professions were stalled,
and the dead could not be buried Railroad
exist, and telegraphic communication was de-
Btroyed on all sides.
ride, and containing twenty millions Of peo-
pie, were as badly of as New York. Nothing
so stupendous in the way OF storm damage has
ever been known In America. Human ingenu-
ity and inventiveness have been powerless in
the presence Of this wonderful demonstration
OF the elements. No appliances known in
streets and railway tracks and restoring tho
efficiency OF the vast system OF telegraph
wires. The damage in all directions is roughly
estimated at twenty millions. 1t is probable
that twice that sum Will not fnlly cover the
loss to all the interests that have suffered in
consequence of the big storm, and weeks must
elapse bofore its rayages can be wholly re-
paired and it's disturbances wholly removed.
The city is just beginning TO make some ef-
forts to recover from the effects OF the phenom-
email blizzard. Coal is scarce. There is no
milk at all, an d all but few OF the telegraph
and telephone wires are yet in desperate tan
gle. Mountains OF snow block all the principal
streets and avenues. The elevated trains
though again running are In diminished num-
bers aud at q low rate OF speed. AS for the
horse cars the tracks are buried under two feet
of snow and cannot be cleared out for several
days. All business is at standstill. Coming
as 1t did without warning, the storm was ter
rib!e blow: 1t began with rain on Sunday, aud
N Nj mil IN mad In
day morning the wind was blowing at tho rate
OF fifty miles an hour, and screeching and howl
ing Snow had fallen g epth n sseses ssrFstS Eset
Huge drifts from six to ten feet high rapidly
formed. The many employees OF factories and
stores started early, but horse-cars and omni-
buses were soon abandoned. The surface
roads made herculean efforts TO keep the
tracks clear and harnessed six and eight
horses to each car to keep a-gong. by O'Clock
tho surface roads were forced to abandon their
cars. Then the rush for the elevated road
began, but the trains were stalled by the
icy tracks at Fourteenth street. After hours OF
DELAY the weary passengers wero taken from
trains by means OF long ladders from the street.
Thousands walked through the biting blasts
only TO find their places of business closed. After
10 o'clock in the morning all efforts to run the
elevated trains were abandoned Fabulous
prices were vainly offered for cabs, but livery
mon would not expose their animals. The
telegraph telephone, and electric wires fell in
oil directions, and by noon only two cir
cults OF the Western Union were in opel
fused 10 work, and for hours no trains passed
over Finally, late at night, dummy engines
started and ran two trains over the swaying
structure. No pedestrians wero allowed on the
bridge. Ferry boats on the North and East
rivers managed to run, but with much difhcu ty
and dagger. The exchanges were closed at
noon, as only few brokers ventured down.
ton &c "Rnohs sa df tA thS n
case, extended time ON commercial paper.
Brooklyn was no better on and Jersey City
was In worse condition Out in the bay sail
ing craft of all kinds fed before the storm. The
steamship Alaska, Of the Guion line, arrived
Sunday night. but could not get up to her pier
until Tuesday.
Viewed in the afternoon. the city seemed a
prey to the elements. Tho Bowery looked like
a battlefield with its abandoned cars, trucks.
ana vehicles of all kinds. Broadway was a
wreck. Vast mounds OF snow in every con-
ceivable shape zigzagged in the street. In front
OF the Grand Central Hotel truck-load OF lager
beer had been abandoned. The snow blew
against il until il was buried from sight. As
tine day wore on, the blizzard shrieked harder
and harder. When the few business men down
town tried to get home, not CONVEYANCE OF any
kind could be found.
Even so dignified person as ex-senator Rose oe
Conkling had to walk. He started from his
Office on Wall street and, with his usual grit,
struggled mp through desolate Broadway. To
use his own words:
1T was dark and it was useless to try to pick
out path, so l went magnihcently along,
shouldering through drifts and headed for the
north. /, was pretty well exhausted when
/ got to Union Square. but 1 plunged
right through on as straight a line as could
determine upon. have run across passages
in novels OF great adventures in snow
storms where there would bo a vivid descrip-
tion OF a mans struggle ON snow-swept
and windy plain, but have always considered
the presentation an exaggeration. had got 10
tho middle of the park and was up to my arms
in drift. 1t was so dark and the snow SO
binding that for nearly twenty minutes stuck
there, and came as near giving right up and
sinking down there to die as a man can and
not do it, Somehow / got out and made my
way along. When 1 reached the New York
over with ice and packed snow, and they
would scarcely believe me that had walked
from Wall Street 1t took three hours to make
the journey"
downtown hotels were packed before night
fall with usiness men detained in the city by
the storm. The nights terrors were even worse
than the days trouble. Men on the street
staggered along as though drunk, and the
police found number OF people just in time to
save them from freesn2
All the cattle and milk trains are stalled on
the road, and famine in meat and milk has
set in. People all over the city are using con.
denced milk. August Belmont wanted to get
a bottle OF milk for his baby and after long
search lot IL, but had to pay VI for pint
Coal is a luxury, too. When coal carts appear
on the East Side crowd Of poverty strick en-
people fock around them and clamor for the
:: So black we'll aSaased bR' bR pocs
All the small dealers are out. Days must
pass before the wants Of the poor can be
provided fr The suffering and distress are
something unknown in local history, The few
gro, eIs who have coal arc charging 60 cents a
pail. or at the rate Of $40 ton. Brsad has run
out, and -four is scarce. Funerals have been
delayed, and not q burial has been made since
Sunday. The only intelligence received from
Boston since Sunday came by way OF London
cable Wednesday evening. 1t was a dispatch
from the boston Herald, which said that the
city of culture and baked beans was as much
isolated as New York.