Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1888-03-23
NO. 12.

On the very day that the brute world need
ed its friend the most the noble heart of
Henry Bergh ceased to beat.
So terrible did the storm become that
men lost their way ON the streets. The
heavens darkened, and a great roaring
sound came from the laundering clouds
1t seemed as if million devils were loose
in the air. Sign boards were stripped
from the fronts of stores and hurled
through the snow clouds. Hats were
picked up and carried out of sight. As the
afternoon wore away men and women were
blown flat on the ground or picked up in
the air and thrown against buildings.
Hundreds of pedestrians were cut and
bruised. Many were run over. The very
mail wagons had TO be abandoned They
were left in all sections of the city. On
Eighth avenue an empty hearse was desert
ed by its driver. All funerals were post
poned for the day.
Each hour the fury Of the hurricane in
creased. At 3 p. NJ. the rate Of the wind
was Ga miles an hour and the mercury was
only + above zero.
So indescribably terrible was the storm
that the very sparrows appealed to human
beings for protection. Many birds flew in
to the Gilsey House, Hoffman House and
other hotels. They were very tame and
ate food from the hands of the guests. One
sparrow sat on the Gilsey House bar for
ten minutes
But the scene of all scenes was the strug-
gle of New Workers who had to get down
town and started out to do it on foot.
Broadway was entirely changed in appear
ance. Against the long line of vacant com
mercial palaces the snow was piled up.
Doorways, through which thousands of
busy customers surge every day, were
choked up. The street was a series of hills
and valleys and ravines Narrow paths
were worn by the feet Of thousands who
walked in Indian file. The costumes in
which the pedestrians were clad were be-
wildering Fat men tied pieces of rope
around the lower ends Of their trousers 20
keep the snow from reaching their ankles
as they waded through the drifts. Thin
men wore their stockings over their shoes
Every man who owned shooting Jacket
or T. pair of leggings bossomed out in
tlountalneer style. Thousands of men and
boys he'd their feet tied up in salt bags.
This eened to be favorite way of keep
ing wsrm. Hundreds and hundreds of
men and women cut holes in their handker-
chiefs and made masks out of them. Coup
ed with the shattered windows. broken
signs, scattered fragments of trees and
wild hillocks of snow, all seen dimly through
the whirling cataract of flakes flying on
the wings of the gale-these extraordinary
costumes gave Broadway the appearance of
a snow blocked ravine invaded by hunters.
Thousands of guests were turned away
from the hotels. Many of them begged
ptifully Cor cots in the corridors They
were visitor to the city who could not get
away. Even women were turned out into
the pitif1l gal.. In some of the hotels
there was not even room to lie down on the
floor. The very chairs were engaged hours
and hours before dark. What awful suf-
ferings have resulted from this no one can
say at present. Hundreds of people crouch
ed in dOorways to escape the beating of the
wind. The lodging houses Of the police
were crammed full of houseless people.
In short it was a day and a night that
shall always be memorable while the pres
ent generation lives. Nothing even ap-
preaching it was ever known.
In Albany, Troy and Saratoga.
An Albany despatch of Tuesday, the
3th, said The total snowfall foots up 3S
inches, and its like has never been seen bv
the Oldest inhabitants. Street travel for
vehicles has been entirely suspended since
yesterday and horse cars stand i'll the
streets, well-nigh buried where they we're
abandoned. The streets are filled ON an
average with six to eight feet of snow In
some localities the streets are buried to the
second story of dwellings. People had to
get out by tunnels dug through the banks
Not wheel moved in any direction from
here on any railroad today and no attempt
was made to keep the tracks clear.
In Troy the condition of the city was de
scribed as absolutely appalling" The
streets were impossible, horse cars aban-
doned, and the public schools closed. Drifts
were piled II feet high and the snow was
ft. in. deep on a level.
From Saratoga and from all other inter-
or New York points, the story was the
same, heavy snow storm, gale of wind,
impossible streets, blockaded railroads.
In the City After the storm.
New York city was cut off from railroad
communication with the outside world from
Monday until Thursday. The first train to
get in was the Chicago express over the
Erie road, which had been showed in at
Monroe for GO hours All over northern
New Jersey the railroads were piled with
drifts 10 to 10 feet high, and passenger
trains were stalled two days and nights be
tween the populous cities and towns of that
region. Even the perfectly equipped Penn
sylvania line between New y ork and Phil
adelphia was completely showed in, with
trains standing in the drifts at various
points. Heavy snow-plows, with four and
six heavy engines behind them plunged in
to the drifts in vain, and the road was on
ly opened by shoveling out by large gangs
of Italians. Communication with New
England over the New York, New Haven
and Hartford road was not opened until
Friday.
In New York city the snow was got rid
of by being carted off and by being melt
ed by steam and by big bonfires. 1t was
not until days work on the Sunday fol-
lowing the storm by thousands of men and
clrta that it could really be said that the
city wac again open to traffic.
The Herald says that of all the strange
things of the storm the strangest was the
stopping OF all funerals. Funeral process
sions were stopped by the snow and wind
m the streets; the collins were dragged by
hand to some place of safety and in some
cases the mourners had to abandon the
dead on the highways to save their own
lives. There We're over 800 unburied
corpses in New York and Brooklyn Thurs
day morning.
1t is estimated that the number of per
sons Vho died in the metropolis from OK
p, sure in the great white storm was over
20, md Tine death list grew dismally large
as re, rms caGie in from the outlying coun-
try, sh, wing hat some unfortunate had
been eau, Int out in the storm here and
there and been overcome before he could
reach place of shelter.
1t was hard time for the poor because
Of the difficulty of getting food or coal,
and the high prices at which these neces-
saries were held. The Times concludes,
however, that the benefits which accrued
to this class as a whole largely outweighed
their sufferings An immense amount of
money was paid to them for work inciden-
tai to the great storm. Every man and
boy who could handle shovel was able to
make double ordinary laborers pay for all
he could do. The New York, New Haven
md Hartford railroad engaged all the men
1t could get on Tuesday evening TO shovel
snow from its tracks at 50 a day the
Pennsylvania railroad engaged everybody
that offered his services at 30 cents AN
hour. All the street car companies, the
department of street cleaning, the park
department, and other large corporations
gave work to everybody at 81 or more a
day But by far the largest amount of
work was given TO men who would shovel
snow by private househoders and proprie-
tors of stores During Tuesday and Wednes-
day many a man made as high as $40, and
every man got far more than usual wages
Children Buried ~ Hours ia the snow.
A remarkable escape from death Of two
Waterford (Ct) children, aged nine and
four years, is reported. The little fellows
were left alone at home by an elder broth
er, who was doing chores about the farm.
The mother of the children was at her sis
ter's house on an adjoining farm, with a
sick relative. The children started late
Monday afternoon TO go across three va
cant lots to get to the house where their
mother was The storm was at its height
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