The Washington herald., 1909-02-25

New York. Feb. 2A-Fog, smoke. clouds,
and rain eommingled to-day 10 make New
York weather almost ike dear old Lun-
non. There was a phenomenal darkness
about ! O'Clock. Various mishaps were
directly due TO the murk. HarbOr naviga-
tors thought the fog was the worst Of
the winter.
The big Kaiser Wilhelm II, Of the North
German Lloyd service. inward bound
from Bremen. Cherbourg. and Southamp-
ton. grounded while trying TO enter the
Gedney Channel, but was afterwarG Aoat-
ed with the assistance Of tugs. She an
chored between the fairway and the
channel. waiting for the fog to lift An
other accident resulted from the fog
when the Ellis Island ferry boat wander
ed cut Of her. course while bound for the
Barge once pier and brought up against
the Battery sea wall The bow Of the
vessel knocked down one Of the stone
POSTS on The sea wall and the propeller
was damaged. The fog was also resPon-
sibls for a collision on the elevated rail-
road in Brooklyn
After a morning Of gloom. with traffic
mon rlls.-reied waters devious. dilatory.
and dangerous. with Manhattan's sky
scrapers bIotted from view. and only dim
lv discerned lines OF congested vehicles
in the great West Side thoroughfares.
there came . black change a few minutes
after l o'clock
Like a Heavy Blanket.
As though some genius OF the fog had
waved a dripping wand. a pUn Of clammy
c.r. bearing binows Of mUrE. sifted into
Office windows. dimming electric lights. L
was as though. literally, a blanket had
been draped over the town From win
dows. objects not more than ten feet dis
tant were not visible. On the streets
tesmsters halted their horses. and from
the rivers came bewIdered chorUses of
whistle blasts and -mufled bell warnings.
For five minutes the pan hung; then
the mist lifted apprecisbly. 10 settle a
few minutes later as heavy as before For
a. hour OF two this lifting and falling
continued
Al that could be seen after climbing 70
the tower CT the Singer Building was a
whitish-yenow smear Not q single roof
could be sighted. Ones outlook could not
be projected more than ten feet. With
the wind the fog rose and fell floating
around the tower in great waves. The
wind forced the rain against the windows,
which ranted rs If pebbles were being
thrown against them
For those who held memories Of fog
laden London. there was much for con-
versatiOn, when the veil was thickest;
they had 10 higher compliment TO pay
Manhattan than the assertion tfaq il
was very Ike the other place OF fOggy
recollection. HarbOrmen and rivermen
who are always ready 70 maintain thai
any fog IS the heaviest OF the year. and
thereby kave gained for themselves repU-
tations Er short memories. found them
selves justified IN their statements that
never since they knew the harbor had
they seen such conditions. L was like
'.pea soup all day, they declared. and
to say that exhausts the average bar
nacles utmost powers n the way OF
smile
Kaiser wilhelm II Aground.
i chief incident Of the fog was the
grounding Of the North German Lloyd
Line Kaiser Wilhelm II. in the Gedney
Channel. outside Of Sandy Hook. She
was Inbound from Bremen. with Is first
cabin passengers and 30 in the second
saloon. These. together with so aliens in