New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-03-13
ATTHE MERCY THE STORM
EW-YORK OVERWHELMED By A
BLIZZARD.
BUSINESS SUSPENDED AND TRAFFIC AT A
STANDSTILL,
NO TRAINS OUT OF THE CITY AND FEW INTO IT
ELEVATED AND SURFACE ROADS BLOCKED
MANY ACCIDENTS AND ONE FATAL COLL
SION - TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE
WIRES DOwN-A FURIOUS, BLINDING
GALE THAT NUDE EXPOSURE TO
1T AN EXQUISITE TORTURE.

GALE THAT NUDE EXPOSURE TO
1T AN EXQUISITE TORTURE.
The forcibe if not elegant vocabulary of pugil-
ism supplies the phrases which will, perhaps, best
reveal to the popular ina gnaton the effect Of the
storm that visited New-York yesterday. New
York was simply knocked out" paralyzed,'
and reduced to condition Of suspended ami
nation Traffic was practically stopped, and
business abandoned. The elevated railway SER
vice broke down completely but not without
supplying tragedy to the history Of the day;
the street-cars were valueless; the suburban rail
ways were blocked, telegraph communications
were cut; the Exchanges did nothing; the Mayor
didn't visit his office; the city was left to run
itself; chaos reigned and the proud, boastful
metropolis was reduced to the condition of
primitive settlement
The wind and the snow did It all. There
have been before in New-Yorl winds that have
howled louder and sped faster and snow
falls heavier and deeper but never before, not
even In the memory Of that most astute disciple
or Ananias-" the oldest inhabitant'- such a
terrific combination Of wind and snow.
To say that March exhibited the lion-like
qualities. with which it is usually credited. would
be weak slander March yesterday wasn't a
lion merely 1t was whole bowling menagerie
GATHERING FORCE ABOUT MIDNIGHT.
The mischief began brewing on Sunday with
drizzling rain and gusty Winds which steadily in
creased in force. The rain gave way TO snow
at ten minutes after midni ght, and then the
wind lashed itself into fury and howled wrathfully
Newspaper men going home in the wee sma'
hours O the morning" found progress difficult:
To avoid getting stalled the trains the Third
Avenue Elevated Railroad skipped the intervening
stations between Chatham Square and Ninth-st.
and Ninth-st and Thirty-fourth-st, and so on
until the terminus reached.
When the city aw6Ie, it was staggered and
amazed Great riffs of snow that kept shifting
and twisting were piled up at the doors; side,
walks and streets were invisible, the air was filled
with sleet and fine pellets of hail. which, impelled
by the force OF the wind, plnched and stung IKE
hot needles and clouded the vision with what
looked like clouds of white smoke. The conse,
quent discomortS began ear Y. The milk and bread
for the morning breakfast were frequently miss
ing, because the milllman and the baker were
unable to make their rounds. To add to the dis
agreeablencss of stale bread and coffee without
milk the morning newspaper, on which the head
of the family often vents his spleen, was Ire
qucntly missing.
THE CHARACTER OF THE STORM.
But not until the door was opened and the man
of business started down town, did he fully realize
what sort of visitor it was that had taken
possession Of the town and was roaring through
it. If not man expert IN definitions ne az once
declared that il was blizzard" Geneaily he he
had not ploughcd his way ten steps through the
to weak, and strengthened ,u, it with
some profane eXpletiye. The snow
itself would have been bad enough, but the wind
made il hundredfod worse, whisklng 1t hltheI
aud thither and defying all efforts of snow plough
or shovel to clear a path anywhere. 1t was bit
ter cold The fine particles of snow formed cakes
OF ice on beard and mustache, and even transf0re'
I the eyelashes and eyebrows into ridges OF Ice
| A few minutes of exposure to the storm trans
| formed every bearded man into fac SMILES Of
| the children's patron saint, Santa Claus.
sTREET.oAR TRAFFIC. ABANDONED.
| Getting down town proved to most people whC
essayed it an insurmOuntable task In the earlier
hours of the morning here and there street cal
| might have been lurching like ship In a
| storm behind four eight horses with no room
| inside for the traditional " one man more But
early in the day the street ear people generally
abandoned the battle against tie clements and
did not resume it until the storm had aDateo
something of its violence -.
On the elevated railroads matters were worse
than on the streets and IL is certain that some
result of the storm will be to start boom
for Mayor Hewitts underground scheme. Inc
elevated trains proved u delusiOn and snare q
trap for the nnwary ,ey Mene
often compelled TO come to stand-stlil between
stations and stop there Tor hours Whefe tnert r
was no getting out Of them except at eX pchsc o ne
and limb While the storm was raging no lrsln snl
cot through under three or four hours ana toi
the greater part of the day no elevated train'
ran.
wAIKrvC TIE ONLY RESOURCE.
Most of the people who succeeded in getting
down town had to foot it. Only the favored OF
fortune could avail themselves of the other al
tentative and endure the extortion OF some mer-
cenary and merciless Jehu. Fabulous prices were
demanded and often paid for carriage hire 10
walk any distance required good deal OF " Dull
dog persistancy and good powers OF endurance.
Not few did IL at the expense OF 1rost-Dllteh.
oars Umbrellas were useless. No eXpertness
could nrevent them being inside ont" In short
order for the wind shrielSed and howled around
corners without any regard for pasSers oy' \,
The snow was uneven and treacherous ana the
wind prevented it from packing. Drlts varied
i'm height from two to three, four, and even ilNe
feet, and they never remained long IN one pace,
for the demon of the storm was more urgent % ana
peremptory than ever any blue-coated mlnlon
of the law in keeping things moving -,
To add to the difficulty of locomotion was the
danger of getting ones legs sfeI nd eocpc Sp IN sht a
wires that were pcntfully strewed about. Bui
worse OF all was the sleet that cohgeaIeu
upon the eyclids and made 1t frequently as I'M, M
possible to see where one was going as thouBn
| In the midst of London pea-sOup log AS
result. collisions between pedestrians were ire,
ouent though the results were always accepted
! od-naturedy.
AMERICAN GOOD HUMoR CROPPING OUT
To any one who venturcd abroad on q tour
of observation nothing was more noticeable than
the spirit Of good humOr that prevailed every
where 1t was eminently Characteristic Under
similar circumstances the Brton would have
| grumbled persistently and volubly. Bub The
| American simply laughed at every mishap ano
discomfort and made light of it. And to any one
| in good health there heap Of fun IN thil
! plungIng through snow-drifts and defyfng OLD
| Boreas TO do his worst. But his ruder blasts
often compelled one TO cling to Il telegraph pol'
| or "A lamp post until their force was spent.
or course many sign posts aud awnings were
wrecked, and the pedestrian who was luckes'
enough to let his hat go in the clutch OF the storm
| frequently found pursuit hopeless. Numerless were
| the smaller discomlorts and nconvenlences oc,
casoned 1t often happened that clrks aho
| others who succeeded in reaching their stores VI
offices found that those to whose keeping the keys
had been entrusted had got stuck somewhere
H. ,vas bard to decide whether il best To walt
or strike out for home again. The only shops that
| did any business of any consequence were INC
| qrog sfops the cigar shops and the gents iur
55is5ings sfores where ear muffs and such rrotcc
tors from Arctic weather were sold The storm
| stopped the work Of the law courts the legal mil
ceased to grind and Tor hua uS the Soddes.