Year: 1872

and burglars were usually active. TIL


police had relaxed their strictness, an


many of the patrolmen neglected thei


beasts to attend religious services, thu


giving the dangerous classes an orpor


tunity of which they at once took ad


vantage.


On the 9th of August, for the frs


time, there was general neglect o


business. The steamers for Liverpoo


carried but two passengers, and the rail


way trains were thinly patronized


During the day the churches were al


open, and the stores for the most par


closed. Wall street alone kept up it.


interest in worldly things, and bough


and sold as though no comet had evel


made its appearance. Singularly


enough, a very large number of mar.


riages were celebrated ON this day


though during the previous three week.


there had been fewer marriages than al


any time during the last twenty years


The comet was now stupendous sight


Its nucleus was nearly as brilliant as


the sun, and its tail swept below the


horizon, while the part which was visi-


BILE was fully one hundred and twenty


degrees in length. The press on the
morning of the 9th admitted the COLI
sion to be inevitable, with, as usual
the exception of the World which still
asserted that the comet was receding,
and that the astronomers who asserted
the contrary were ignorant persons
who had not read the World Almanac.
During the night of the 9th hardly any
one in the whole city, and probably
few persons in this country or in Eu-
rope dreamed of going to bed. The
streets were crowded, and while some
affected to keep up their spirits the ma
jOrity acted as though death was newt
able. The women were, for the most
part, cooler than the men, many of the
latter being beside themselves with ter
ror. Here and there street preachers
organized prayer meetings, and the
sound of voices echoed with wild de-
spairing sound through the night. Men
were observed as a rule to seek the
companionship Of their families, and
forming little groups ON the doorsteps
clasped their wives and children silent
ly. Now and then troop of drunk
ards paraded the streets, bowling parO-
dies Of pious hymns. The theaters were
open, but they were nearly deserted,
and the burglars and pickpockets piled
their trades unmolested. Thus the
night wore on, until the comet passed
below the horizon, and the paler light
of dawn began to manifest itself. Many
men and women had dropped
asleep, and thousands of young chill
dren were sweetly sleeping in the arms
of their anxious parents. Suddenly the
City Hall clock struck six, and MUIR
mur from the lips of the watchers an
that the crisis of their fate was
at hand. The clock, however was wrong
and not until five minutes afterwards
did Trinity and its sister clocks strike
the fatal hour. For moment the most
oppressive silence weighed upon the
city. Then the shrek of hysterical
who could no longer bear the
strain to which she had been subjected,
Or the wild prayer of an excited fanatic
broke the silence. Suddenly, at pre-
cisely four minutes after six, hardly
BILE jarring of the ground was
felt,as though heavy piece of artillery
had passed along the street. The comet
had struck us and we were still unhtrt.


The tumult that ensued was indie
The vast crowds at once
separated. People broke into unmean-
ng laughter, and frantically clasped
hands with perfect strangers. A boy
detected in stealing handkerchief was
seized upon and clubbeG with joyous
by policeman who mo-
nent before had been upon his knees.
A general rush into the hotels and eat
ng houses for breakfast took place, and
n half an hour the city resumed its ac-
appearance.


The morning papers appeared three
hours later than usual, the presses hav-
ng been kept waiting until after the
collision.


They contained no news from Europe
ater than midnight, and consequently
We were left to imagine the possible re-
;ult of the shock on the other hemis-
)here. About O'Clock the water about
he docks began to fall, and as the ebb
.apidly continued it was evident that
he sea was receding. A tremendous
current toward the Narrows and the
'ea swept with its hundreds of small
,raft, and in half an hour New York
Bay, and the harbor which had made
his city the commercial center of the
new world, had vanished. In its place
here stretched vast mud fiat dotted
with stranded vessels, and forgotten
wrecks. The East River totally disap-
peared, leaving only few pools of wa
;er in the midst of its channel, while
he North River wandered sluggishly
through the dreary waste of mud where
vas once the outer bay, and reached the
sea some three miles beyond Sandy
Hook. The vessels at the docks lay
.oppled over and against one another,
stranded, and fit for nothing
but to be broken up. New York was
no longer a marine city, but has sud-
ienly become almost as much an in
and town as Philadelphia or Pough-
leepsie. 1t was at first feared that this
of the sea was only prelim-
mary to its return in irresistible force
to sweep away the last vestiage of the
,ity. A new excitement thus sprang
ip, and there was frenzied rush for
he railways on the part of panic-strick-
I'll people who sought to fly TO the
beyond the reach of the
coming flood. The days wore on, how
,ver, and the sea showed no symptoms
If returning-the sceptre of maratime
New York had passed away forever.


An hour after the sea began to fall a
strong wind sprung up, which soon in
creased to hurricane, and blew with
force until O'Clock in the
when it gradually died away
% be succeeded by another hurricane