The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-03-12
Incidents Of the Blizzard of
'88 Recalled By Older
Citizens
Complete Tie-up of All
Forms of Transportation
Great Drifts on Streets
From Main Street to
Washington Avenue
Trees in Highways Tied
Up Traffic = Provisions
and Coal Scarce.

Twenty-four years ago today Bridge
port awoke to find herself in the
the memory of the oldest inhabitants,
the great blizzard of 1883, which for
days paralyzed all forms Of traffic,
cost many lives and worked great
hardship
BridgepOrterS whose memories ex-
tend back for a quarter of century
have vivid remembrances of the
bizarre features of this great storm
They recall the complete paralysis OF
the horse car service, the blockade OF
streets, the abandonment of business
of practically all sorts, from early
Monday, when by o'clock the street
cars had stopped running, until late
in the week, when conditions began
to be normal
Fine dry particles Of snow falling in
binding profus!on ushered in the great
blizzard. A northeast gale piled the
snow into driftS of record dimensions
Railroad cuts rapidly filled with the
snow until cuts even 80 feet deep were
blown full and the railroad men threw
up their hands in despair.
Early Monday morning the trains
became stalled. The train for New
Haven, due to leave Bridgeport at
7:0S, got stalled In a huge drift near
the Old Rosedale wharf. New York
trains stalled near the Barnum & Bal
ley winter quarters. Not a single
train got through to New York, Mon
day, before the blockade became COM
plete The northeaster whipping the
Sound into fury and driving the
snow in binding blankets over the
1,~,r 3<rf ~4r1ay
to hesitate. ALL boat service was
On March 1s, tho temperature drop
ped to 10 above zero and it remained
down we'll below the freezing point
for several days. Sudden gusts made
the work of men clearing the streets
of little avail, for as fast as a pass
age was cleared it would be blown
full again.
The worst drifts in the city were
In the side streets, leading from Main
street to Washington avenue. Here ii
was nothing uncommon to see drifts
piled up even with the second stories
Of houses. Men demanded from 81
to SIS each for services in shOvelling
out the dwellers of these snow-barri-
caded homes. Many shovellers made
more money during the blizzard than
ever before or since.
Many men who ventured out to work
on Monday did not return until We'd
nesday night. One hundred men slept
in the E. G. & B. Cos plant in Main
street, now the Crane Co.'s Main
street plant. The Warner Bros Co.
sheltered nearly 100 girls in the Sea-
side Institute over Monday night, but
Monday morning at 9 O'Clock work
was suspended because there wAs no
coal and no means of getting any.
Four girls who determined to get
1n fo of yofoI,f
were carried back exhausted and two
Of them were in a dead faint when
men watching them from the factory
reached them and assisted them back
to the sheltering Seaside Institute.
The Cartridge shop and Wheeler &
Wilson's also sheltered many of their
employees Monday night.
The first effort at railroad trans
portation was made on Wednesday.
March Ia, when two huge locomotives
and a smaller one were placed at the
head of two coaches and tool car.
More than 100 men were put on the
train and it was started for Nauga-
tuck junction.
The Atlantic Hotel, then the leading
hostelry of the city. was filled with
guests who made the best Of their
situation, and whiled away the hours
with card parties, concerts and other
diversions. On Wednesday a party of
guests chartered tug, and set out
from this city for New Haven, de-
spairing Of getting away by the steam
road.
Among the plants suffering from the
storm the Farist Steel Works was
partially dFsmantled in the gale, a
chimney was blown down at the
Bridgeport Crucible Co.'S plant. and
the tin roof was blown off the W. &
w. Cabinet Co. Wilmot & Hobbs lost
a 50 foot chimney.
Owing to the unusual opportunity
afforded for lawlessness, special eff
forts were made in policing the city.
Patrolmen John Fa!lon and Buckley,
now a bank wa+chman, suffered frozen
ears. City Auditor Keating also suf-
fen'ed frozen ears striving to reach the
City Hall during the storm.
to remain at the depot during the
storm on Monday. From 9 to IL
O'Clock Monday morning he made $40,
but at noon his horses got stuck in
the drifts and he had to abandon his
venturesome but highly profitable ef-
forts.
Street Commissioner B. D. Pierce.
clear the streets, slept in his Office
Monday and Tuesday nights. Trees
blown down in the principal thoroueh-
fares heightened the difficulty Of clear
ing them. Park avenue. Fairfield
avenue and Main street were Uttered
with boughs and fallen trees.
All the volunteer firemen were called
to the fire houses, and kept on duty
to guard against a conflagration
Each man was supplied with a shovel,
and sufficient number of hand sleds
was provided to haul the hose 1t
was impossible TO depend upon horses
with any degree of confidence The
firemen had to depend upon the hy-
drant pressure, for the streets were
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