New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-01-18
a MIXED STORM IN TOWN.
SNOW, sLEET AND RAIN IN SUCCESSION.
SERIOUS INTERRUPTION OF TELEGRAPH SER
v1CE-THE STREETS IL n HoRRI

the Old year had cOntrived 10 pile up record
that made it famous. Although 1871 opened
III rain and fog, it had behaved itself. on the
whole, with tolerablc proprety, and gave good
promise until yesterday. Then New-lork groaned
nhder what, in some respects, was the moSt
unreasonable Storm experience it has encount-
ered for long time. For nearly twenty-four
hours II was delivered over to snow, hail, sleet,
ram, wind and finally mist. All through the morn
lng afternoon and evening the hapless beings whose
business compelled them to walk ride through
the streets Of the city found themselves delivered
over to one or the other of the rival powers, with
rapldity that made them feel dizzy. Fri
day was bright clear. and for the season, mile
in temperature The local Signal Service officers
reported nothing but the thirteenth consecutive
cold wave up in the St. Lawrence Valley and
light snow the Lakes, which might bring
furry TO New-York
But early on Friday morning there had appeared
away down in Georgia small disturbance, which
at first showed no decided character and looked
insignificant. The area OF high pressure over
Northwestern Texas. however, forced it northward.
and in lis journey it rapidly gathered strength.
vigor and fury By nghtfall it had assumed the
dimensions Of full-grown storm, and pretty
considerable storm at that On Friday night
falling temperature and the change OF the wind TO
the northeast shook their heads and propheSlei
all manner Of docfu things for the morrow
The night staff of the Signal Service once had
received news of the storms approach ana hols'eu
their cautionary rcd-sht signal.
II was not until two hours after midnight, now
ever that the first decided signs of the unwclcomc
visitors arrival made themselves manifest. linen
"A light snow began TO fall and continued for one
hour and thirty-fvc minutes when it vanished and
rave place 10 slcct In the meantime the temIera-
turc which had been falling steadily all through
the night. had touched - degrees. The slcet,
blown through the air in all directions by the
steadily rising wind, barely held its ground until
twenty minutes before o'clock when snow came
III for a second inning. Its rule was short-ived,
however, and at ) o'clock the slect once more
assumed the mastery and maintained IL anna u
choru, Of eroans from afflicted humanity until
shortly after | o'clock in the afternoon, when,
with Sudden and decided rs" in the temperature.
rain ST in. and falling in steady torrent ior
rear rly three hours, set the crown upon the WORK u"
gun by lis fellow -icnds. The wind, which IN the
forenoon had blown at the rate OF thirty
mile, an hour. fell to a velocity of twenty miles
with tho arrival of the rain. and, although II was
not strong enough to blow pedestrian halfway
across CIV Hall Park, or lift him several iee'
down Spucc-s'. il had force enough to make
umbrellas look rldiculcus and heavy ovcrcoatS
worse than useless. rs the temperature rose Ser
ceant Jcsunoisky began 10 look for mlS', ana
shortly after dusl. 1t arrived The rain had then
ceased. and during tie rest of the evening icll
only m occasional light sprinklcs.
-Tb. storm area saii Sergeant Jcsunof-
sl,y. in tie course of long explanation
Of the causes which led 10 the visitation,
extends all tic WY nom Charleston northwest
ward t. Iudauapuis thence in a northcn,tcrly
direction 10 Passport Ne. II consists of rain
and snow. IN tWo divisions The dividing line
# the stolm RUSS from point between Nash
vile and Knoxville. Tenn. to parkcrsburs, W. ',
then ON TO Pitt,bure. from Pittsburg To Ncw-(ork,
and from Ncw-York to Block Island. Northwest of
that line there is ,now wwhilc south and southeast
Of il rain prcvaIl, Ncwlork VIII scarcely he
free from the abominablc weather until tomorrow
night"
The snow, slcct and rain served at least one
good purpose rhcy Afforded Commissioner Bcattl'
rn cN1ellcnt opportunity 10 smash record In
street cleaning That hc will take advanta %
Of il is almost too much t. expect from Tam
many official bat human nature Is Sangutic' ana
sometimes hopes against hope. II ne could nave
heard tie chorus of walls that went mp N's'er
day a, the long suffering public slipped stumbled
and wildly struggled to keep IT, f"otll'ld on Inc
ice covered paycmcnts, or wadcd ahk'r-dr'p III
nnd and water. acros, the crowded road"aNN' he
misht have been spurred to something Ike ehor'.
I nJoubtcdlv thc worst and gloomicst feature Of
al the gloomy incidents of the storm was 'h'
DANCER caused to life apC lirh by the condition
If the paycmcnts When slcci followed snow the
stone flags and roadways became covered WIN
3, thin coating of broken ice. drticr than the
Iirtest thaw moIc trcachciouS I" the i""th"id
than the hardest frost The man WI" was IN
proyidcd with rubber shoes had Il cold time NJ
every step he expected to slip mp ana Spfa"' 81
full length on the ground. Sometimes MS eN
-cciatioEs were realized, but IT he got SalcN
lomc with al his limbs unbIokcn, he icl HNc
,ncring a prayer of THANKSGIVING. Inc S'icc' |
.ar horses were perhaps the worst sufferers ''
III. Their struggles to move along INV H"''
nicht have softcncd the hardest heart to phI' |
n every few bocls could he seen the Spc''""
# some four-footcd sufferer PROSTATE III '"' io''
rom exhaustion or mlscnncc
Wcs-st If course did honor to the occ'Sloh
md as usual in respect of ,dlhincss had hrNt
place. At every successive storm the difnc"i'"S
f NAVIGATION across this sink of abomnaiol ar' |
Iichtly increased Where on previous occasions |
Ac long, deep pools of water, with their p"l'
# soft mud nave been in evidence at each street
.orncr yesterday they were to be found every |
where, and the ony refuge for the distracted /
sayfarcr making his way TO the Jersey 'chtru |
,r Pennsylvania ferries lay in the little Islands
4 SNOW dotted thicky between the ferries ana |
he sidewalk. Souh-st ran its western brother |
, close race.
The accumulation of frozen rain had DIS
strou> effect on the overhead wires. especially III
over Broadway, where they are most numerous
H. brief intervals Il short, sharp swapping sounu
would be- heard and the foot passenger had plrely
imc t. dart out of danger before the wire whlried
Iown on him .tong Broadway from the fosi-
flee 10 the I}attcry the ground was strcwn WIN
wires which had fallen. The telephones IN the
ity worked badly they always do during a
,ic storm. but rs 80 per cent of the wires are
Indcrg ground there was no serious brcak IN com
nuncation. A. \ Iibbard, superintendent OF the
onr-dlstancc telephone service, reported ult
pss of several wires between New ork.