New-York tribune., 1920-03-07
New Jersey and Long ISL
and Suffer Heavy Dam
age; Many Made Home
less; Traffic Stopped
Bridge Between
Amboys Wrecked
Manhattan Escapes Seri-
Gus Harm, but Street
Forces Call for Recruits

that the worst was over, struggled
with the after effects of brief but
vigorous blizzard yesterday, while
dwellers in New Jersey and on Long
Island sought refuge from spring
I floods.
The city awakened to find that the
snow and icy tempest Of Friday night
had plunged it again into mid-January
conditions. Surface traffic was dis
rupted. Trains from upstate were
hours behind schedule, and the mercury.
which recently had shown signs Of q
| spring rise, was down near the bottom
of tho tube.
The Jersey rivers, inspired by the
rain OF Friday afternoon, were retard-
ed but little in their rising by the cold
snap that eventually came.
New Brunswick Badly Damaged
Two hundred persons were driven
from their homes in New Brunswick
| when these were invaded by the
swollen Raritan. Twenty factories in
the town are flooded, streets are under
water and the property damage is esti-
mated in the hundred thousands. Troll
ley tracks have been washed out, roads
demolished and telephone and tele-
graph poles swept away throughout
Jersey by the high water.
Yesterday afternoon the ice jam that
the Raritan had banked up against the
bridge at Perth Amboy broke through
| the structure and whirled it away, clos
ing the state highway to traffic for at
| least two weeks.
Long Island also suffered from food.
One hundred families at Hampstead
! were marooned early in the day by the
water that cyept up about their houses
while they slept. The Long Island
Railroad system was broken at half q
1t was New Jersey that suffered most
heavily, however, and New Brunswick
was the center Of damage. The Rari-
tan rose steadilysall Friday and night
before last overfowed its banks. At
10 o'clock yesterday morning it was
| FIVE feet above normal, and all the
low land of the city was inundated.
! All waterfront factories were flooded,
among them johnson & Johnson, surgi-
cal supplies; the United States Rubber
Company and the Janeway Wall Paper
Company. Approaches to the Albany
| Street and the Landing bridges were
| under water.
The river invaded the yards Of the
Rolfe Lumber Company and the Howell
| Lumber Company and whirled away
| thousands OF dollars worth of timber
Burnett Street, Dennis Street and AL
bany Street were all under water, and
residents were forced to leave.
a large part of the poorer district
of the city was inundated. All Friday
night and yesterday a stream Of refu-
gees plodded through the streets seek
Ing shelter and pushing before them
in wheelbarrows and push carts the
most precious of their household treas
ures.
Fire Houses Under Water
At daybreak the water was up to
the second-story windows of many
houses, and business men near the
water front whose establishments had
not yet been reached were paying
press wagons to move their stocks.
Fire apparatus in the lower city was
forced to retreat before the rising
water.
Arthur H. Boyd, editor Of "The New
Brunswick Home News" enlisted some
firemen and saved $4,000 worth Of
newsprint paper stored in the threat
ened district.
Great sheets Of ice went drifting
down the Raritan ais night, to pile up
against the bridge connecting Perth
Amboy and South Amboy. In the morn
ing the bridge was closed to traffic,
and desperate efforts were made to re-
lieve the pressure. The bridge buckled
and broke late yesterday afternoon.
the main arteries of Jersey traffic
Across it runs the state highway over
which vehicular traffic to Atlantic City
Lakewood, Asbury Park and other coast
points passes. It aaso carried the tracks
Of the Middlesex branch Of the Public
Service trolley line and of tho Jersey
Central Traction line from Perth Am.
boy to Red Bank.
Early in the morning tho high wind
structure to the Ice fifteen feet below
Inside the shanty was Joseph Grace, OF
South Amboy, watchman, and Daniel
Kennedy, who was waiting for car.
When the building hit the ice Grace
was pinned underneath tho stove. Ken
nedy was badly burned and strained his
back in rescuing his friend. Grace Is
in Perth Amboy Hospital and may die
Trolley Lines Tied Up
All through central New Jersey the
trolley lines were tied up and telephone
service was seriously crippled by the
number of poles that had been blowr
down. x0e EUDllc O0Tv1Co mA4u AAHs
between Newark and Elizabeth sus.
pended service. Twenty-Five Of the
thirty-two lines Of the Public Service
Company in Essex County alone were
out Of commission.
"This is the worst storm in the com.
pany'a history" John L. O'Toole, as
; distant to the president Of tho Traction
. company, said yesterday. sThere never
were SO many feed wires down at one
time. Water has frozen in the switches
and ice has formed on the rails. de.
". 6. Kerr, district manager Of tn.
New York and New jersey Telephone
Company. echoed Mr.. O'Toole's state
ment.
aThis ls the worst storm. from the
telephone point Of view. that We have
had In tsn ysara," be said. "Loca
service is fairly good, but suburban
service 10 crippled, particularly TO New
Brunswick and points south"
Steam trafic Jared bettex, but it wa,
Affected by tho storm and high water
Trains on tho New York 4 Long Brancl
Railroad were delayed half an hour o.
more by the lack Of wire communica
!. ton. The Eric, Jersey Central, Lacks
wanna and Pennsylvania ran somewha