The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-02-14
NEW FORK HIT HARD.
Center of Two Storms -- A rmories Opened
 to Poor Brooklyn Bridge.

| to Poor Brooklyn Bridge.
 New York, Feb. 13.--New York is al
 most snowbound. Traffic, which was
 light to-day on account of it's being a
 holiday, will be necessarily so to-mor- row. The snowstorm, which began Sat
 urday night, to-day developed into the
 worst blizzard in the citys history.
 During the day northwest gale blew
 through tn snow banked streets at the
 rate of twenty-five miles an hour, and
 at nightfall it's velocity increased to
 forty miles an hour, driving before it
 the fine icy blinding snow, such as
 usually accompanies blizzards. Great
 drifts piled up in the principal thor
 oughfares and traffic on all the street
 car lines in the city except the Broad | way and Third Avenue lines was prac-
 tlcally at standstil. The underground
 trolley lines were forced to stop early
 in the evening and only few cross town cars, drawn by four and six horses, made occasional trips.
 The railways running into New York are paralyzed. The Pennsylvania at-
 tempted to get but one train through
 to the west to-day. Local traffic has
 practically ceased Disasters in the ice
 filled harbors and rivers have multi
 piled. The huge drifts in the streets
 have produced a coal famine in parts
 of the city where it is impossible to
 5p1iIyarxy +o ,1Io
 provisions are rapidly going up, while gas and water pipes are frozen up in many parts of town. The suffering from cold has never been so widespread in this city, it being estimated that at least sixty thousand persons are in misery from cold and destitution
 New York Is the storm center, or rather the center of two opposing storms, one from the Gulf of Mexico and the other from the northwest. The storm which developed in the gulf re- zion Saturday night moved in north- erly direction. Another storm started on the Canadian coast and met the one from the south over this city. The tenn perature is not so low as it has been, but the wind which sends the blinding snow into great drifts along the thoroughfares makes up for it. At no time since mid- night Sunday night has the thermome- ter risen above 9 degrees above zero. Drifts are piled up in the streets to depth of four feet and the present weather conditions indicate that they will be much deeper tomorrow morn ing. Excavations in the streets are fill ed to the streets levels forming dan- ' gerous pitfalls for vehicles.
 The ferry traffic to New Jersey, Long Island and Staten Island Is uncertain Both the North and East rivers are filled with floating ice and navigation becomes hourly more difficult. The big Brooklyn bridge is taxed to the utmost by the traffic from the ferries. The bridge trains are packed like herring cans. The bridge is thirty inches high CT in the center than the normal on &C., count of the contraction of the iron and steel work Chief Engineer Martin says it is not in any danger, however. Tn the borough of the Bronx traffic | was effectually blocked at Il o'clock to- day. All the lines of the Union electric | road were stopped and most of the streets were impa ssa ble to vehicles. The East river is frozen solid from Riker's Island to Oak Point, while Long Island Sound is filled with immense blocks of . ice and vessels that attempt to navigate It's waters are in grave danger. The Bronx is in worse condition than any other part of the greater city Harlem S suffering intensely. This is the great lat section of the city and many of the buildings have thin walls. It is almost impossible for their tenants to keep warm and the discomfort of residents in hat section of the city will increase to positive suffering with the continual liminution of supplies of fuel.
 So, far the local telegraph and tele- phone wires are in fairly good shape. with many outside points, however, Is cut off. The eevat- d roads have maintained a fairly good ervice. The trains are damned with people, as this is the only sure means # transportion left In the city. The treets are deserted. No one braved he storm to-day unless compelled to To so The horseless carriage was in .reat demand and coped strongly with he blizzard The theaters were poorly ttended and many dinners and meet ngs were postponed on account of the torn.
 By onder of Governor Roosevelt all he armorles in the city, excepting the tn regiment armory, were thrown open o the homeless poor tonight. Many hurches were also thrown open, while Il the charitable organizations opened : Il the rooms they could obtain for the helter of the unfortunate. Many places f refuge havG been provided by the alvation Army and the Volunteers of merica All of the hospitals and char able institutions and the police sta ions In the city are crowded.