Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1888-03-23
AN EASTERN BLIZZARD.
The Worst Snow Storm in New
YOrk's History.
Almost Entire Stoppage of Bust
ness in the Metropolis.

stopped and business abandoned. The elevated
railway service broke down completely, but
not without supplying a tragedy to
the history of the day; the street
| cars were valueleSs; the suburban rail-
ways were blocked, telegraph communica-
lions 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 a primitive settlement The
wind and snow did it all. The mischief began
/ brewing on Sunday with drilling rain and
! gusty winds, which steadily increased in force
When the city awoke Monday morning, it
was staggered and amazed. Great riffs of
snow that kept shifting and twisting were
! piled up at the doors; sidewalks and streets
| were invisible, the air was filled with sleet
ana hne pellets of hail, which, impelled by
the force OF the wind, pinched and stung like
hot needles, and clouded the vision with
what looked like clouds of white smoke
Getting to business proved to most people
who eSsayed it insurmountable task In
the earlier hours of the morning here and
there a street car might have been seen
lurchlng like ship in a storm behind four or
eight horses Most of the people who sue
ceeded in getting down town had to foot it
or endure the extortion of some mer-
cenary Jehu. Fabulous prices were de-
manded and often paid for carriage hire
10 add to the difficulty of locomotion was
the danger of getting ones legs snarled
up IN the wrecked telegraph tele-
phone and electric light wires that
were plentifully strewed about
The storm stopped the work of the law courts:
the legal mill ceased to grind and for a day
Offenders went ''unwhipt of Justice Sad
was the plight of many who had come into
the city on the early suburban trains and
mat there were no trains. To make
matters worse when they hurried
to the telegraph offices to send re-
assuring messages to their wives and families.
told
down" and there were no communications
open.'
Many people rather than put up with the
ulscomIort OF return uptown on foot,
stopped for the night at down town hotels |
1aken all IN all 1T was a unique experience !
Tor New York, one that New Workers |
t Mlll talk o,c a6Gut for tro many day Up
had fallen. The blockade on the rail
roads was complete and there were no
trains out of town all day. Superintendent
Ioucey of the New York Central, said that
some forty trains were snow bound between
10th Street and Woodlawn Junction on the
Harlem Road land Spuyten Duyvil, and that
the blizzard had captured all the trains
within distance of at least thirty miles,
But two trains were dspatched-one of
them the newspaper train with two engines,
and the other the Southern express with three
locomotives Both were sent out wild, with
out reference to the time table All tele-
graphic communication was cut off
between New York and the Jersey coast
The telegraph wires began to give out shortly
after l o'clock A. NJ. This was kept up until
daylight, by which time there was only one
Or two in operation between New York
ana Chicago, half a dozen or so to
Southern points, and a few to Boston.
springfield and other New England cities
cation with the West was almost entirely
cut Off except at intervals. Then the South
I'm lines went down, except at Philadelphia,
where wire was occasionally obtained for
eW moments and then lost.
1t is calculated that not less than 500 O0O
nen, women and children, who are classed as
Vage-earners, were idle in New York, Brook
YIN, Long Island City, Jersey City and Ho-
men there about 10000 men who are
Employed in various capacities by street,
team railroad and elevated railroads who I
pHle n cond M0gh fhey are empoyed as
andlers and checkers, yard and switch .
zen, truck-drlvers, expresSmen. Streets
Which generally are lined with
noving freighted wagons and trucks were
eserted 1t is estimated that 10000 truck
nd wagon drivers did not work. Thousands
porters, cab-drivers, store clerks, printers,
genus, collectors, slaughter house men, lum-
err handlers, 10000 longshOremen, dock
lborerS, brick handlers, blue and brown-stone
ltters, coal-yard employees, granite cutters.
errickmen, hod-carriers, laborers remained
{ home When dusk came there was no
batement of the fury of the blizzard. 1t
owled more and more loudly, accentuated
y the darkness and absence of all distract
lg sounds. New York had at last
18th Western blizzard. Business was r
tally suspended in Wall street. the Ex-
langes the Clearing House. the banks, the
1b- Treasury, the Custom House, and the
ISlness that centerS about them All the
eat Exchanges were practically closed at .
Don. a
A collision occurred on the Third Avenue g
levated Railroad in which one person lost
S life and several passengers sustained in
rles. A serious accident occurred at Dobb's
cry, IL which several persons were injured
id one very seriously and it is almost
IracIe that there were not a number
lied The ferry-boat Oswego of the
est Shore line, came in collision
tn schooner on the North River
n unknown woman who was a passenger on
e ferrvbOat, lost her life through the acct
MT The mail service was at a standstiIl:
g carriers could not make their rounds II
81 no mails were received from the outside -
orld- The loss entailed on the
y by the storm is simply meal
liable. Figuring only on the few cases
which definite amounts are obtainable or
2 losses mounts up into hundreds of thou
1ds, and if estimates based on the total sIls- I'D
nsion of business in all branches be in
lded the total will reach far into the op
lions. ne