The Waterbury Democrat., 1940-02-15

For 1z hours the gale laShed across Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts toppling poles and power lines, casting a small steamer with 50 passengers adrift in Boston harbor and leaving g snow- fall of from 6 to IA inches. --.rS ! Then the wind shifted north and the storm roafed out to sea, com- pletely missing Vermont and New Hampshire and touching Maine lightly at Portland.
 A man and two women died of heart attacks induced by exertion. Walter Taylor, 62. of Great Barring! ton was found dead In a snowdrift where he had fallen enruote home. In Maiden, Miss Lillian MacFarlane of Boston collapsed and died waiting for a bus. Mrs. Henry Lowell Mason, 6l, of Boston, died while driving her automobile through snow . clogged streets. -.-.---....-..-.......-.-.. ... -.-..
 Rhode Island appeared to have suffered most severely, Heavy prop erty loss was reported along the shore from Watch Hill to Narragan- sett where the gale-churned sea rushed far inland.
 Pupils Stranded
 At Newport, 100 Rogers high school students were stranded when the Jamestown Island ferry captain re- fused to make the perilous trip from the mainland. All were &C., commodated at a hotel.
 Throughout the state highways were closed by drifts or stalled au. tomobiles. Hundreds sought refuge in Providence hotels, sleeping ip chairs or on the floors of lobbies. All police stations and many private homes served as refugee for stranded wayfayers.
 Two fishermen were rescued by Newport coast guards from the drag ger Alice which pounded to pieces and sank off Seaconnet Point.
 At least two other fishing vessels were unaccounted for. The drag ger Palmer's Island radioed for coast guard aid when she fouled net in her propeller 22 miles of Gay Head, the tip of Martha's Vineyard. The cutters Chelan and Tahoe were ordered out but the Ta- hoe was unable, to leave New Bed ford harbor. The Chelan was un- able to contact the ship, reporting visibility of 50 feet.
 The dragger Martha Murley oi New Bedford with a six -man crew was also overdue from a trip in Vineyard Sound.
 Cape Cod Battered
 Cape Cod was given severe bat tering from Falmouth to Province. town, with drifts one to four fee! deep. It was in the latter port that the American Export Lines $2,500, 900 freighter Exchange, off fol shakedown cruise with 100 aboard including maritime commission Of- ficials, sought refuge from the storm
 In the harbor only a short dis. tance from where the Exchange rolled at anchor, a score of small boats including two draggers were smashed by heavy seas.
 In New Bedford traffic blocked downtown streets where firernen bat tied 8 $20.000 two-alarm blaze in a business block.
 Forty persons fled a four-story apartment in Haverhill when fire swept the building. A Manchester N. H., furniture company burned and l3 were driven into the blizzard by fire in Boston. Most severe fire was in Stoneham where firemen from five communities battled a blaze that swept the three-stoay wooden Bell block and threatened the business district. Loss was set at $50,O00.
 tumble of Autos
 Metropolitan Boston was a jum- ble of abandoned automobiles and stalled trolley cars, halted by a 1l. inch snowfall.
 The city-owned steamer Michael J. Jenkins with 50 persons aboard, ferry to Harbor Island CorTec- ton Institution, drifted . mile