The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1888-03-17
DAKOTA oUTDoNE.
An Eastern Blizzard that Caused the
Northwest to SILVER from Envy.
Rail Roads Blockaded-T Travel and
Business at Stand Telegraph,
Telephone and Fire Alarm
Wires Down.
wharvos and Shipping Destroyed.
Famine Threatened in New York, PhiIad lphia,
Boston and Elsewhere.


Famine Threatened in New York, Philad, lphia,
Boston and Elsewhere.
The storm which broke on the Middle
and Eastern States on Sunday last and con-
tinued until Wednesday night is without a
precedent in the history of this country.
When reading the dispatches one must take
into consideration the thickly settled country,
the loss to business centres, the extensive
mails, the immense population OF the cities
that are dependent upon the adjacent country
for the necessaries of life, which being shut
off only for day produce great distress
New York was without milk, fresh meat, fish
and vegetables for SO hours; Philadelphia
and Boston in about the same condition,
while smaller cities and towns suffered pro-
portionately. In many places the water sup
ply was shut off, thus adding additional anx
iety in case of fire.
MANY streets in New York, Boston and
Philadelphia had snow banks from o to 35
feet high. The following summary will give
an idea of the condition of things:
MARYLAND.
Nearly all the trains ran regularly, except
an occasional delay by drifts. On Wednes
day all trains were on time. Much damage
was done by the blowing down of barns, out
buildings, telegraph and telephone wires;
some local trains were delayed for from II to
Baltimore dealers. Many of the country
roads were drifted shut and cattle and stock
suffered. Only few deaths by exposure are
reported. Shipping and wharves on the
Chesapeake Bay and tributaries were greatly
damaged.
During the storm ON Tuesday. the new
Episcopal church, built last fall at Nfhe-
Rocks nine miles from Belair, was blown
down and destroyed.
OTHER STATES.
Telegraphic communication with nearly all
points outside Philadelphia was interrupted
and news was procured under the greatest
difficulties. Trains were snowbound on all
the railroads in Eastern and Central Penn
sylvauia, and the telegraph wires were down
in all directions. Train wrecks were report
ed at Meyerstown and Fritztown, Pa. The
drifts were from eight to twelve feet in depth,
and in the coal regions the depth was lSiuches
on a level Three days will be required to
clear the Lehigh Valley tracks. At Shame
kin the snow drifted so badly as to almost
stop mining and railroad traffic. AT Reading
the storm blocked up all country roads, filled
railroad cuts, Frustrated telegraph poles, and
was unprecedented in its fury. In the vicinity
of that city houses and barns were unroofed.
tower Waterman, walked into q drift, and
while blinded by the snow was struck by
train and killed. A freight train on the
Reading Railroad was wrecked at Gordon
Station on Sunday night, about so cars being
piled up. The brakes could not be worked.
West Chester, had no communication with
outside places. The trains that started for
Philadelphia were snow bound on the Frazer
branch and on the West Chester and Phila-
4 l.. hat
teachers and pupils.
Telegraphic communication remained sus
pended on Tuesday between many of the
principal cities of the Atlantic coast. No
Western Union lines were working between
New York and Philadelphia, and no dispatch
had been sent to or received from Boston
during the 4S hours which ended Tuesday
evening. At 10 o'clock that night the Western
Union Telegraph Company were working
nine circuits from Philadelphia to Pittsburg,
two to Chicago, two to Cincinnati and two to
Harrisburg. Eastern business was being for
warded via Pittsburg, and that for the South
via Cincinnati. They had no direct wires to
New York, Baltimore or Washington. At
10 o'clock they had just succeeded in reaching
Wilmington, Delaware, by telegraph.
The Boston Globe, i'll order to communicate
with its correspondents in New York city,
resorted to the extraordinary expedient of
cabling to London and having the dispatch
cabed thence to New York.
All business was suspended in the New
York exchanges on Monday and Tuesday.
Trains colided on the elevated roads in
New York, owing to the binding snow and
icy tracks. Several persons were killed and
others MANNED and wounded. No surface
ears we're running, and the snow was frozen
so hard that plows could not be used. The
Courts were closed because the officers could
not reach them. Not a single out of town
mail had been received or despatched during
the "A hours ending at 10 O'Clock Tuesday
night The East river was frozen and many
persons walked over from Brooklyn. Many
trains stalled between stations on the Hudson
river and Harlem road. George Paremore,
well known merchant of New York, persisted
in the snow storm in that city on Monday
morning His body was found next morning
in snow drift within three blocks of his res
idence.
On the Reading Railroad on Tuesday 10
trains were snow bound between Reading and
Bridgeport. The Reading and Columbia
branch was badly blockaded, and several
wrecks reported. Mail stages from all sec
tions failed to reach their destinations, and in
many cases the vehicles were abandoned.
The drifts in the country roads were from 3
to IS feet deep. Six hundred men were sent
out from Reading to shovel out snow bound
trains, and it was reported that many of them
we're badly frost bitten. The railroads run.
ming to West Chester we're still blocked, and
on Tuesday Is of the 100 snow bound pas
sepgers at Frazer started to walk 10 West
Chester, Pa, a distance ofseven miles. Only
eleven got through; the others, becoming ex-
hausted, stopped at farm houses along the
way.
At Syracuse, New York, no trains were
moving in any direction, and the hotels were
crowded with belated travellers.
The steamer Alaska, which arrived at New
York on Tuesday from Liverpool, was com
pletely covered with ice, hull and masts. A
number of ocean steamers were lying atquar
antine at New York for two days, unable to
go up the bay to the piers. They report rough
weather outside. Seven pilot boats were
driven ashore at Sandy Hook during Monday
night.
The mountains in the vicinity Of Lynchburg,
Va, are covered with heavy snow, and the
weather was very cold.
Eighteen men are reported as frozen to
death in the rigging of vessel at Lewes, Del.
A train on the Wilmington and Northern
railroad became stuck in drift on Monday
night, about 20 miles from Wilmington,
Del, and were not rescued until Wednesday
morning, when the passengers were found to
: L 4 Il. IL 4