The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-02-17
The MUD-STACE
Predictions Made By g The
News p In View Of
a Thaw Unfortu-
nately Verified.
HORRIBLE CONDITION OF STREETS
Beautiful Electrical Display
On Trolley Routes-No
Coal Famine.
HORRIBLE CONDITION OF STREETS

CITY officials and particularly railroad
peonle are now wondering which is the
worse snow or it's twin brother slush.
Jersey City streets this morning after the
rain last night were in particularly
sloppy condition. The trolley car Wheeis
lost their grip on the rails and 1t was as
one conductor explained it:-"Sllde Kelly
Slide
Sewer basins were choked up and the
surface water in many principal streets
not finding any mode of escape spread
over the street and sidewalk too. Gut
tiers, not being cleared out. there were no
means in the avenues for the innumeraoie
riverlets from the thawing snowbanks,
lining the sidewalks to get away and that
meant annoyance and inconvenience to
the foot passengers.
The Street and Water Commissioners
have two hundred men at work removing
the snow from the principal thorough
fares. The cost of removing the snow Is
being shared by the city and the North
Jersey Street Railway Company The
company, under its franchise, is supposed
to remove the snow from its rails to the
curb.
The officials maintain that they are not
required to remove the snow business men
shovel off the sidewalks and roofs OF
their places of business. 1t is that con-
tention which resulted in the city agree
ing to bear half the expense of clearing
the streets.
The Junction today was huge sea OF
slush, and if one crossed the street in that
section without being wholly covered with
yellow water he was indeed lucky. In
some places the slush is half foot deep.
Rubbers as a safeguard against wet feet,
are about as good as slippers. Boots are
the only proper things to wear while
crossing in that vicinity.
Probably no where in the city Is there
such deplorable state of affairs. With
the ceaseless lines of cars running in all
directions and a constant flow of trucks
vending their way back and forth to
Newark and New York, the state of
affairs is pretty one. Passengers cannot
get on or off car without getting up to
their ankles in half foot of slush.
There are continual blocks along Grand
street and Communipaw avenue, conse-
quefitly traffic at that point is at a stand
still about one-l1a1f of the time. Horses
slip and fall or else become so tagged out
that they can go no further. Not infre-
quently do the Newark cars have to push
loaded trucks up the Communipaw avenue
hill.
The storm last night partially melted
the snow and caused a miniature flood in
the meadow section of Hoboken. The
cutters and sewers were all clogged and
in the remote sections rowboats were
used.
Paul frost, an elderly man, of No. 3o4
Bergen avenue, slipped on the icy pave
ment as he was leaving the Fourteenth
street ferry house, in Hoboken, last
night. He received severe injuries to his
head and back. He was removed to st.
Mary's Hospital
Paul Mayberry, a cook on the canal
boat Jane, at the foot of Fourteenth
street, Hoboken, slipped on the icy pave
ment at Fourteenth street and Park ave-
nue., last night, breaking his leg. He was
The appearance of the trees last night
was beautiful They were coated with
ice When the electric lights and gas
lights shed their rays upon the ice it
glinted brightly and caused a dazzling
spectacle. The effect was like that which
is produced during the annual freeze"
in the South, when every avenue of trees
looks like the interior of a crystal palace.
Each twig was an icicle. Each icicle had
the appearance of prism. 1t was a
grand night and one which somewhat
mitigated the unfortunate lot of those
persons who were obliged to brave the
storm.
Though traffic on the Heights has been
opened up, travel by street car is still un-
comfortable and slow. The car tracks in
many places are covered with several
inches of water or slush. With the ex-
ception of some of the corners in main
thoroughfares the big heaps of snow still
remain and in a melting condition assist
in keeping the crossings in most dis
agreeable condition. Ladies and children
are obliged to wade almost over their
shoe tops in some places to get on or off
the cars.
On Grove street most of the big heaps
have been removed, at least south of the
Erie Railroad, and an army of men and
carts are engaged north of the tracks.
All the cars are overcrowded and pas
sengers of almost every car experience
great discomfort. One might almost as
well be in mix-up in a football game.
Traffic on both this thorughfare and Pa
vonia avenue promises to be much easier
during the rush hours of this evening
than that of last evening, however.
rEDDVDnAT h1DIET