The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1888-03-21

Graphic Account Of the Effects of
the Great Storm in the
Metropolis.
The Losses OccasiOned by the Snow
Blockade Estimated at Millions
OF Dollars.

Vi DOftaISs
SPECIAL NEW YORK CoRREsPoNDENcE.1
The storm results In New York. Pennsylvania
and New Jersey since last Monday morning
are something. unprecedented. During thai
time the New-Yorkers have been as completely
isolated from mankind, and, indeed, from each
other. as though their big city had been buried
one TO i've miles from their places Of business
or employment have bad a compulsory vaca-
ton OF nearly four days. Their horse cars
ceased TO run, their ee waited roads were blocke cd
and their sidewalks ana streets we're cioagsd
with huge drifts OF snow that rendered pedes-
trianism and the passage OF vehicles out OF the
question. Funeral professions were stalled,
and the dead could not be buried. Railroad
transportation INTO out Of the city did not
exist and Geographic communication was de-
A thousand cities and towns within a days
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 haze been powerless in
the presence Of this wonderful demonstration
OF the elements. No appliances known in
those parts have been equal TO cleaning the
streets and railway tracks. and restoring the
efficiency OF the vast system OF telegraph
wires. The dams age in all dirsc tions is roughly
estimated at twenty millions. II IL probable
that twice that sum VIII not fnlly cover the
loss TO ali the interests that have suffered in
consequence OF the big storm, and weeks must
elapse before its rayages can be wholly
paired and its disturbances wholly removed
The city is just beginning TO make some ef-
forts to recover from the effects OF the phenom-
email blizzard Coal IL scarce. There is no
milk at all, an all but few OF the telegraph
aud telephone wires are yet in a desperate tan
gle. Mountains of snow block all the principal
streets and avenues. The elevated trains
though again running are in diminished num-
bers and at Il 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
"A without W Va M N
BILE blow. IL began with rain on Sunday, and
about midnight turned TO snow. On Mon
day morning the wind was blowing at the rate
OF fifty miles an hour, and screeching and howl
ing around corners in way which was terrify
ing. Snow had fallen TO a oepth Of three feet.
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
tracks clear. and harnessed six and eight
horses 70 each car To keep a-going. BY o'clock
the 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 We're taken from
Thousands walked through the biting blasts
only to hnd their places OF business closed After
~ o'clock in the morning all efforts to run the
elevated trains were abandoned Fabulous
prices we're vanly 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 in opel
alton. The cable the Brooklyn bridge
fused TO 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 were allowed on the
bridge. Ferry boats on the North and East
rivers managed TO run, but with much difficulty
and danger. The exchanges were closed at
noon. only few brokers ventured down
town in the teeth OF the gale The banks were
open. but with small clerical forces, and could
do nothing, and, for the first time in such
case, extended time on commercial paper.
Brooklyn was no better OF. and Jersey City
was in q 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
prey to the elements. The Bowery looked like
a battlefield with its abandoned cars. trucks.
and vehicles Of oil kinds broadway was O
wreck. Vast mounds of snow in every con-
ceivable shape zigzagged in the street. In front
OF the Grand Central Hotel a truck-load of lager
beer had been abandoned The snow blew
against il until it was buried from sight. As
the day wore on, the blizzard shrieked harder
and harder. When the few business men down
town tried 20 get home, not a CONVEYANCE OF any
kind could be found.
Millionaires worse of than laborers.
Even so dignified person as ex-S Senator Roscoe
Conkling had 70 walk. He started from his
office on Wall street and, with his usual grit,
struggled up through desolate Broadway. To
use his own words
1T was dark and it was useless 20 try to pick
out path, so 1 went macniheently along,
shouldering through drifts and headed for the
north. / was pretty well exhausted when
/ got TO Union Square. but i plunged
right through ON as straight n line as could
determine upon. have run across passages
in novels OF great adventures in snow
storms, where there would be vivid descrip-
ton OF mans struggle ON snow,swept
and windy plain, but have always considered
the presentation an exnggeration. had got 70
the middle Of the park and was up TO my arms
in a drift IL was so dark and the snow so
IA for QQrlV minnteG
there, and came as near giving right up and
sinking down there TO die as a man can and
not do IL. Somehow / got out and made my
way along. When reached the New York
Club at Twenty-hfth street covered all
over with ice and packed snow, and they
would scarcely believe me that had walked
from Wall Street II took three hours to make
tho journey"
Downtown hotels were packed before night
fall with business men detained in the city by
the storm. The nights terTors were even worse
than the days trouble. Men the street
staggered along as though drunk, and the
| police found number OF people Just ia time to
save them from freeary
An the cattle aud milk trains arc stalled on
/ the road, and a famine in meat qua milk has
set in, People all over the city are using con.
bottle of milk Tor his baby and after a long
search loJ il, but had TO pay 81 for pint
! Coal is luxury, too. When coal carts appear
ON the East Side crowd Of poverty strick en-
| people flock around them and clGnor for the
precious black diamonds. The carts
| nave 10 bt well kuhIutu Nv lOlct,
| All the small dealers nrr out Days must
| pass before the wants OF the poor can be
! provided for. The sufter.nE and distress are
| Something unknown IN local n story Toe few
| grot ers who have coal are charging 60 cents a
J pail, or at the rate OF $40 a toh BIZ ad has run
| out, ana -four is scarce. FrncrGis have been
\ DELAYED, and not n burial has been made since
\ sunday. The only intelligence received from
4 Boston since Sunday came by way OF London
| cable Wednesday evening ii was dispatch
| from the boston Herald. which said tnat the
! city OF culture and baked beans was as much
isolated as New York.