The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-02-14
NEW YORK HfRD mr.
Travel Badly Hampered and tho City's Food
supply Quite Seriously Affected.

Travel Badly HaInpered and tho City's Food
supply Quite Seriously Affected.
Who says that IL is not an ill-omencd NUM-
ber2 On March 10. 1894. Father Keickerbocker
who had struggled home through u thrashing
storm Of slcet and snow on the previous day.
nwokc to find himself so completely showed up
and showed IN and Snowed or from his
usual avocations that he worked all day
with II snow shovel before he was able to
get TO any other work. and ever since then Ia
has been saying to himself and 10 the stranger
within his gates. whenever bad weather was
the topic:
oh. but It's nothing like the blizzard OF
'SS'
Yesterday. as any one may sec by reference
to the calendar, was also a 18th day, and It was
very like the blizzard Of 'SS, worse in tompera-
ture and wind velocity. equal in snowfall on
the whole. quite the equal ofthat famous storm
except in two respects. One of these Was the
important matter of the quality of the snow:
fluffy. light. and tractable yesterday: soggy,
solid, and obstinate in the weather attack Of
eleven years ago. The other differences was a
matter of pure luck: that this storm came
when New York was having II holiday. But
wait until The city rouses itself this morning
and begins to shake of the white burden.
Then there will lie n hustle!
New York had an easier time with the storm
| IMAM most OF the rltlpS SOntn OF nero, ana TOOK
its b%ufretinG Acknowledgment mcrrily.
but considered in the lightest aspect. II
was n rough experience. and brought
with it no little hardship. In the first
place. railroad travel. from noon ON. both
ucomin. aud outgoing. was Il thing to
be undertaken only under pressure OF dire
necessity. and then with full understanding
that the terminus of the DAYS work might be
in open country on a blocked track. Sea traNrl
simply was not. Not II shin came into this port
yesterday. Not II ship. 80 far as the Sandy Hook
lookouts know. went out. Ferryboats and an oc-
casional railroad tug were the only craft to dis
! turb the e-foes in the rivers. The r"rryhoats
gave up business early in the evening and the
| pilots rrjoiced in the end oil the blinicst and
most dangerous days work in the career al
most of them. River and Sound boats re-
manned in thei" sIips. II is many Il day Since
the guils were as little disturbed in the waters
surrounding Manhattan Island rs they were
| yesterday,
On land business was not paralyHcI because
people don't do business on a legal holiday to
nmountto anything But local trahlc is sup
posed 10 60 on forever. and IL that wasn't paral-
yIed il was. at least. %paralvti" in most
Of its members Early in the afternoon
the underground trolleys gave up the
competition for nickelS. Then IN" cross
town horse car lines began to drop OF, one nv
one, until the transfer system was Il thing to
be Knocked at by the bowling winds. The
cable lines struggled on hcroically. often
they were blocked. occasionally they broke
down. but they kept at il bravclv. and n mid
night one could see from THE SUT Office win
dow an occasional lamp loom dimly through
the whiTiiug clouds and then n Third avenue
car slip past silent and ghost-likr amid
wreaths of snow. Tho elevated roads on the
west side ran nearly on time: on the east side
rs well NJ to schedule 10 they could, which
didn't prove To ie very well. In Br""kiyn rhc
trollcyS started ont well. hut fell away rapidly.
Bv night they were about as common among
the snowdrifIs as potato bugs and not much
Swifter. Tho elevated roads lid pretty
well. But. on the whole. travel in the city was
not n thing 10 he lightly undertaken. To he
sure. Il man might hire Il cab If h" werr II mil
l]iOna,re. hut miliionaircs aren't as common in
Billiards as they would he IL every cabby yes
tcrday had received The price he asked. Bat il
WAS certainly worth n big price to direct any
kind Of Il vcllicl" through The wild swirl. and
elevated road guards. trolley employees and
railroad men had a tough time.
The hrcm"n and police here suffered severely
during the bad weather. The epidemic Of fires
has exhausted almost tn" entire department.
and unless II decreases or the weather NOD
crates. matters will soon r"0chH point whore tn"
men will he unable TO stand under the strain.
This strain comes on The police. too. Tor tn"
reserves are turned ont at all fires in dangerous
districts. To relieve the men as much as poS-i-
Bile Chief Devery has suspended all drills. The
pole" are instructed 10 keep an extra sharp
lookout for drunken men and those overcome by
the cold. and this means no Sinking on patrol
duty, for II II man is found frozen the policeman
on that beat will be called to account. In order
that there may hr refuge from the cold the
station houses have been thrown open 10
dodgers. Many Eases Of hunger and cold
among The poor have bcrn reported, 1t IL not
impossible that the more Hcll-to-do classes
may suffer from lack Of food and heat
also. for already Il scarcity of meat.
milk. eggs and fish is reported from
the markets. aud The propensity 81
furnaces to get out Of order at the most irul-
FORTUNE time has driven many hOusehoiicrs 70
hotels, Sea traffic Hnru4iiatcd. railroad traflr
badly crippled. local traVcl by water and lund
miscrably Inadequate, police aHd Fir" Depart
mont worn uut from oy"rw0rk, markets ~hoIj,
suffering rom cold prevalent. general disraIn-
fort on alI -id"--it i-n't IN" blizzard Of ~,
perhaps. but IT, no Joke.
Considered as u weather performance. the
storm has been pretty m"notonous. SNOW.
snow. snow. and wind, wind, wind. That has
been tho wcarifui programme Tor hour after
hour. Sometimes there wa Il lltll0 more
snow: sometimes u little l"N7. The wind
varied in velocity and simply rio'rl ia
the matter Of direction. ia a manner
to make u w"ather-Gock look ike a 10Y Wind.
Mill ON n pin. Possibly me most unpleasant
quality Of The snow was, It's lack Of adhesion,
one WAS lust ~ likely rs not 70 go around u
corner and meet half a snOwbank sound in the
opposite direction. Then, too, the ltimy sirT
would wrrnthoit-cltiu artist" -horrso ON roofs
aud after il mad hHarrd m tErce Zee, high
would l. ~ ,udd 'nlg nal }~n5"Usi" into The air
uud ~ rourius down the street In an al but
solid mass. This was very nice lor Tia" man
who owned the roof and was Tins ahsolved
from weeping it an, but "a" cimnro traveller
who happened g.. hr tuIliug w"arily through,
su"wdr,lrs beiuw vas irrt'y 'nre Ia got i ~
In ,rrk in th" most literal sense nj the term,
uuNgu NanH,tln" uw w'ud - n.i1ulvt
49, Il e. -tr"rt rl,enfg department ~ the
4,E," VI Ihe sodtn SIDE VI the crosstown