Morning journal and courier., 1888-03-15
~ FROM ALL QUARTERS. i THEHkVOC OF THE STORM Business Begins To Pick Up
 Slightly. |A FEW TRAINS Ik MOTION. No Travel Yet To The
 South. SCENES IN THE METROPOLIS. A Famine In Milk And
 Coal
SCENES IN THE METROPOLIS.
THKeKEAT. T.LrzzARD,s WORK.

THE GREAT ATBLIZZARD'S WORK. 9 Steamers From New Kork-The Big Storm in the MctrOpOIis-A Scene of Hal ing CenfusIon-TraveI ImpossI- ble About the CIty-Mflk and Other Supplies Put Up to Fabulous Rates. PROVIDENCE, March 14.-The steamer Rhode Island arrived at Stonington at four o'clock this afternoon and was the first ar rival from New York since Monday fore- noon. The steamer had been held at New York until the Narragansett should arrive there. This boat left Stonington at 7:30 a. m Tuesday and in the heavy seas she ran short of fuel and early in the afternoon was obliged to put in at New Haven. There twenty tons of ceal were taken on and the steamer put out again and after an all night run reached New York after daybreak to- day There were only seventeen passengers on the Rhode leland which swung out as soon as the NarragaDsett arrived. The time of the departure of the boat was uncertain and only those who had gene aboard the night before were on hand. The steamer had laborious passage up East river and through He'll Gate and when once the Sound was reached clear water and pleasant weather followed New York was just recovering from the blizzard when the boat left. The storm began with slight snowfall about o'clock Sunday night which hardly Whitened the earth and steady rain followed lasting until 4:30 o'clock Monday morning. A cold wave had flung itself across the region surround ing the city by 5 o'clock and the steadily falling rain became snow. By 8 o'clock it was blowing a gale and the snow was falling at 0 rapid rate. The wind increased until at o'clock Mon day evening it was blowing like hurricane and people on the street had difficulty in standing up. The stores and offices closed before o'clock that afternoon and by even ing every one seemed to realize that a storm which would be long remembered was at hand The wind was high and snow con- tinued to fall rapidly until midnight Mon day By Tuesday morning the wind had gone down great deal and the snow had stopped, but it was not clear weather. There was more snow and an increase of wind again as Tuesday advanced, but by night wind and snow had almost disappeared. Wednesday morning the rose amid clouds and the clouds brought snow about Il o'clock, but though this can of course on- ly be conjectured since there is no later news than came by the Rhode Island, the day closed fairly pleasant.
 Such is a synopsis of the blizzard. Prob ably it will take many days to write all con- nected with it The snow fell to a depth of
 
 country within thirty miles of New York. It lay in drifts of six to eight feet high ea all the streets. When the medium early risers, those whe get up at 7:3O to S:30 o'clock in the morning, were ready to go to business Monday they found the horse cars which had fallen after the heavy rain froze down hard and had rem dered the use of the snow blows futile. It was but an hour or two later that the elevated roads began to be troubled until by noon every traction vehicle in the city was useless. It grew bitterly cold, too, six de- grees above zero being generally recorded, and by early evening the exposure of the nose CT ears to the storm was in the case of most people attended with freezing, thought about which was put out of the question by the stinging violence of the storm as one tried to make progress in 1t.
 In the afternoon, as has been said. New Workers began to prepare for bad night and the hotels to fill up. Many who were resi- dents of distant parts of the city went to the hotels at once and registered for the night. By S:30 it was impossible to get room in any hotel down town unless the rent was paid in advance and by midnight there were hundreds sleeping on mattresses and couches in the railways of the best hotels. It is a fact, though perhaps hard to believe, that after Monday night a person wEo was un- willing to pay small fortune for a room, $25 to $50, could not get one. On that Monday night, too, the hacks and cabs charged and received fares, the cabs from $S to $lo and the hacks $5 to $25 for single trip. Said burly officer on the steamer Rhode Island referring to this terrible weather: 'fGod alone knows how much suffering there was that night" Tuesday morning the city seemed to be asleep, not so much because of the white coverlid over everything as because everybody seemed to be held quiet by the weight of it. The dawn showed many singular sights. Horse oars were stuck in the snow and ice and half buried; the horses had been driven away by their drivers. The elevated roads and the railroads out of the city had trains blockaded here and there. The Fourth ave- nue tunnel was full of snow and trains were lost inside. About noon the elevated roads began to get their cars together and with steady effort the engines were got along the tracks and the snow and ice showed off. By Tuesday evening they were all running though with not any attempt at regularity. Horse cars did not move at all Tuesday and the steam roads began to sse their own con- dition towards evening. They all expected to move trains by 2:30 o'clock Tuesday af- ternoon, and most of them put up signs say ing so, but the signs had to be taken down.
 Both amusing and pathetic stories are told of the scenes at the Grand Central station, at the ferry slips and about the entrances to the big bridge. There were hundreds of people who wanted to get home, out of the State, out of town or aeross the river, and were anxious about what was taking place at home. Those going out of the State had to give up the idea, but the ferries and the bridge entrances ushered great crowds from the city and many people entered the city as we'll. When Wednesday forenoon passed the snow and ice began to show signs of yielding to the common regime. The tens ot thou sands of werkmen and pedestrians of the pre-
 l. | kIa..~ 1nof but the entire task was so great that the part done seemed to be small. It seemed to be necessary for the surface roads to open the streets for the vehicular traffic and that traf- fc began heavily between Il and 12 o'clock a. n. and made the great city look like itself again.
 This is only general account of the bliz- gard. A particular description of it's effects offers perhaps less interesting picture, but one more closely related to the way the New Workers and the others in the city were placed by it. The newspaper men were the only ones who seemed to brighten up aa the storms violence deepened. They were every where and the large fires, the accidents, the l crowds in the hotels and the railroad stations 1 hint at what they had to do. The only | trouble they had, or rather the concerns own ! ing the papers. was that there did not seem | to be newsboys enough te circulate the l papers. Copies of certain sheets sold as high ' | marked price Monday night. The Mon day evening issues were all gotten up on the understanding that it was l actually blizzard that had settled down and | there was dash of the "wild West" in their l makeup which spoke of the home of bliz-
 zards In Wall street there was practical vacation from Sunday until to-day Monday l the brokers went home, little frightened some people said, about noon. Tuesday those who came to the Stock Exchange had l reacouired good spirits. After selling two
 thousand shares of stock they turned the great hosr into ball (base balD room, agree l ing to let everything hold over till Wednes- day. At the groceries and coal and wood offices there was very active time all day long. Some coal offices disposed of every l ton in stock at the yards in a few hours. Fifteen dollars ton is now being asked for coal. The milk men did not enter the city in large numbers. The last supply of milk sold for fifty cents quart.
 The Journal reporter who for two days sat upon the Stonington landing and watch ed for the first communication from New
 York was the first newspaper man aboard
 the Rhode Island when she landed. That ii may be understood how richly he deserved the honor the public ought to understand