Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-01-04
WINTER WORLDWIDE .
Storm Of Sleet and Forty-Mile
Gale Visits New York.
SEVERE COLDIN EUROPE
FIRST SNOWFALL IN AFRICA FOR
PERIOD OF THIRTY YEARS.
Paris Ice-Sheeted - Lausanne EXPRESS
Stalled--snow in Naples-Men
Frozen in Barcelona,
SEVERE COLDIN EUROPE

Driven by a forty-mile gale from
the northeast, storm of sleet.
which turned into hail and was fol-
lowed by a furry of snow, swept
down on New York and the entire
eastern part of the country last
night. For several hours it almost
paralyzed traffic on asphalted
streets and wherever there is an in
cline. Ferryboats were rocked un-
| til many passengers were terrified.
Nearly all trains were from twenty
minutes to several hours late.
One man died in a BROOKLYN
street because of the cold. More
than score OF horses had to be
shot after they had fallen with bro
ken legs, and the ambulances of the
| Society for the Prevention of CRU
city to Animals were kept OH the
run carrying injured animals to vet
Urinary hospitals Or stables.
For two hours the sleet poured
down, freezing as it fell and turning
pavements and smooth streets into
sheets of ice. Fierce gusts burst
from every corner, and the most
sure-tooted pedestrians had diff
Guilty in keeping from being swept
off their feet.
NEW YORK, December Anew York
city and all the surrounding country today
was In the grasp of the most severe storm
OF the winter Traffic Of all kinds was ham
pered. trolley lines were tied up and the
streets. swept by a gale driving before II
fine snow that cut like sand and piled In
great drifts, were practically impassabIe.
Railroad trains from all points were de-
layeG from few minutes to three hours
and the elevated lines were operated with
the greatest difficulty without regard 10
schedule.
While the snowfall had practically ceased
today the gale which prevailed during the
night continued and swrling clouds of fine
particles of snow swept through the
streets stinging the faces of pedestrians.
ping up In monstrous drifts and battling
all attempts to restore anything like nor
NAL conditions. The remarkable drop in
temperature from well above the freezing
point to scarcely more than ten above zero
III the city and far below at inland points
made conditions out Of doors almost intoi-
erable and entaf!ed untold suffering.
Conditions at Sea.
AT sea the conditions must have been he
yond description, but up to an early hour
today no disaster had been reported The
bark Alkaline was blown from her aachor-
age off Staten Island and was dragging
ashore, but her anchors finally held her off
Fort Wadsworth.
In the harbor, the only point where OBJ
servation could be had an immense sea
was running and several great liners and
smaller vessels tusged all night at their
chains in the semi-sheitered spots where
they had sought refuge from the storm
What may have happened off shore to any
luckless craft, which had to face the fury
OF the gale only time can tell
Beginning with a cold cheerless drizzie
accompanied by piercing wind yesterday.
after several days of almost springlike
dimensions and before night half a blizzard
was in progress. Every hour added to the
velocity of the wind. to the volume of snow
and to the intensity of the cold.
Traffic Suspended at Midnight.
AS early 6 O'Clock trolley and street
traffic had begun to feel the effects of the
storm in earnest; by . the conditions were
becoming hopeless. end at midnight traffic
was practically suspended. The little horse
car lines which regularly cover many OF
the city's streets were the first to sue
cumb. Then the trolleys gave up the
struggle, and the elevated lines alone were
left to battle with the storm. Even these
We're hours behind their regular schedules
morning
cars blocked in the streets great drifts
piled against them and preventing them
from moving inch. In many of the
cars We're snowbound passengers who had
remained in the all night rather than
face the blizzard in an attempt to walk To
their homes.
City Lodging House Crowded
Because of the severity of the storm po-
licemen were sent out during the early
morning hours to rescue persons who had
fallen in the snow. The doors of every
station house were thrown open to the
homeless and unfortunate. The city lodg-
ing house was crowded from cellar to roof
by men, women and children, and not an
applicant was turned away from Bellevue
Hospital
Four serious fires during the night, two
of them calling for two alarms and two
for three alarms each gave the fremen
and their horses their most bitter expert
ence of the winter. In one case-just be-
fore dawn and when the storm was at its
height-the occupants of several tenement
houses in the upper East Side were routed
from their beds and forced to flee half
clothed to the storm-swept streets.
Fifty-Four Horses Burned to Death
In this fire fifty-four horses which were
quartered in stables near the tenement
houses were burned to death. None of the
fires caused heavy financial loss, that at
the Clyde Line docks. where 10000 worth
of property was destroyed. being the most
extensive. but the fremen were thorough
ly exhausted and suffered terribly from
cold as a result of the hard nights work.
The horses. too. suffered severely, some OF
them being in harness and out Of doors all
night. either tugging the heavy engines
through the drifted snow or standing In
the chilling blasts.
The delivery of food and milk became a
serious question during the day. The con-
dition OF the streets made the movement
of delivery wagons extremely hazardous.
The non-arriyal or long delay Of milk
trains from the supply districts In ths