New-York tribune. [volume], December 27, 1909, Image 1

About New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
f v^^^_«b^^^ *" r "?^- 1 * - **" r*" 3^*^ -"^jK^^^f^^S^^^j^^^^^ Ci^Q^n^
NOW |
ONE CENT j
|In City «f New York. 1
'erary City and j
j Ilobokra. \
VOIV O1 LXIX....N 0 23.0r»2.
HELD TO HOUKS
ON B. R. T. TRAINS
FIFTEEX CARS WITH
CROWD STALLED.
hi Cold and Without Food,
250 Spend Night in
Swamp.
WU huge snowdrifts, wire barriers
and treacherous swamps shutting off
every avenue of escape, more than
two hundred and tifty passengers
of the West End division of the
Eroc.K Rapid Transit Company were
marooned between Coney Island and
rimer Park from midnight until 10
o'clock yesterday morning. Fifteen cars.
BaakxßS up three trains of the heavy ele
vated railroad type, rocked like ships,
while their load of passengers huddled
tepetber for shelter against the raging
gale which swept an avalanche of snow
across the Gravesend plains and ren
dered the powerful electric motors use
less against - Irlftl piled along a
mile of track.
The blockade wa. the worst experi
»need BB Brooklyn for many years, and
was not lifted until relays of shovellers
had removed tons of tightly packed
enow. The snow and ice pack lifted
electric ploughs and sweepers from the
iai!s, and made the work of rescuing the
. -'ng-ert a task which required all the
force of the southern division of the com
pan:-. In an official announcement the
Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company ad
mitted that more than one hundred and
fifty men, women and children had been
held In the cars, and that a relief train
was stalled for two hours before it could
bring food and drink to the passengers
of the cars.
The blizzard was lashing snow, Ice and
dirt into a whirlwind when the train
which left Coney Island at 11:30 Satur
day night reached "the steel bridge at
Coney Island Creek. As the first car
crossed the structure a sheet of ice
caused the wheels to slip and the train
stopped. The trainmen were unable to
cross the slippery girders of the bridge,
and it was not until the wheels began to
grind flat that the train was moved
toward Ulmer Park. The cars forged
ahead slowly ' until they passed the
TjegTO settlement in the meadows and
rounded one of several dangerous curves
or. the line.
CHECKED BY T:"3 SNOW.
Emerging from the shelter afforded by
the negro huts, the train plunged into a
whirl, which piled Enow to the window
levels.
The motors began to churn with all
thci power that couM be forced, but the
g2»e, sweeping in from every direction,
lifted ths first car from its trucks on
The icy rails and plunged it into a snow
pack. T.. n further progress was im
possible. Motorman and guards pulled
the «rirens to prevent a rear end collis
ion, Mbbb flpgrnen were driven back to
the cars, unable to make headway
against the Increasing storm.
While this train was rapidly being
incased in the snow, five cars which
had left Park Row at 10:30 were start
ing iqr Coner Island fron. Oner Park.
The shriek >f the emergency whistles
■held up this train when It was ■within
four hundred feet of the stalled cars.
I-'ignals were interchanr d between the
motormer.. and as the Coney Island
bound cars neared the stalled train th*
men were able to see the big reflector
headlights.
Red lights went out like a candle be
fcre 2. breeze, and a ooastaat use of the
sirens, with the searchlights on the
front and rear of the cars, held up the
midnight train from Coney md. which
-ras partly filled with men and women
who had attended dance halls and mov
ing picture shows.
m -up complete
r
ri
■
• .- -
- ■
- - trafl
-'.road
The passengers were not a •ware of the
danger which became more threatening
■v-;th every epurt of the etorm. While
guards und conductors were Hed in
•h»lr attempts to release the cars, th«
men and women on the trains sang pop
ular songs, while occasional inquiries
were directed to the railroad men, who
save good natured assurance that the
trcuble would not last more than a few
liours.
-•'an hour
The etar the
-
'rora their
■
In the transfer women and children
v.ere paesed r'rom one car to another.
Hats and wraps were snatched off by
• • r.ind and whirled away. The men
v ere last to leave the car, and it was
only through the combined effort cf a
«ioz«n of the strongest tnat they made
their way through the drifts.
PACKED IS LIKE SHEEP.
When the transfer was completed the
paesennera were penned together like
••heer.. sec-lrir.s from e*ob other heat for
••• armth against the icy blasts. The cars
were fc^nted, but the windows were un
able V> withstand the driving wind*. Fnow
•••"'iired through the ventilators, and the
"■xiry were t\<to<i*d as the water dripred
*vom th~ vet clothes of the pa^jengers.
These <x>ndit:"»p.s changed the f M nr.<\ t^m
1' r of W\f Krooklyn bound passengers to
'hr~»ts against the guards. Men argued
and suggested plans for relief, but the
railroad officials announced that they
had to livb up to the rules provided for
rocil iin emergency.
At dar-n the storm aaad ta puch an
• *A*rt that a fejr of the passenger* pert
vtM to leave the stal!»d cart--. Tbese
vvk llie'.r way to ;t roadhmise on
<! inrav There a sleigh was
;rf-w-,i m fj service- and the flrst work
«•* n-f-uinz th*.- imprisoned • r.g»-rs
< ■-«i.nj»d i--.«£»-
To-day and to-mnrrow clondT;
SCENES IX THE CITY FOLLOWING THE BIG SNOWSTORM.
HORSECARS EN WEST STREET WERE DOUBLE TEAMED. A GANG OF SNOW SHOVELLERS BUST IN BROADWAY. ABOVE 42P STREET
J. F. MORGAN SELLS
DISPOSES OF HIS CHI-
CAGO TRACTION.
Deal. Involving $70,000
Includes Merger of
Man/f Lines.
[By TeiegTaph to The Tribune.]
Icago. Dec. 26.— A deal Involving
570.000,000 and the merger of the Chi
cago City Railway Company, the Calu
met & South Chicago Railway Company,
the Southern Street Railway Company
and the Hammond, East Chicago &
Whiting Railway Company was an
nounced to-night. It is a step in the
merger of all the traction companies of
Chicago, and it marks th Bale of the J.
Pierpont Morgan interests.
The final agreement was reached in
New York. The negotiations were con
ducted by Ira M. Cobe, principal owner
of the Hammond and Calumet lines. Mr.
Cobe made this statement:
An agreement has been entered into
whereby about 95 per cent of the sharer
of the Chicago City Railway Company,
all of the shares of the Calumet & South
Chicago Railway Company, a!! of the
shares of the Southern Street Railway
Company and all of the shares of the
Hammond. East Chicago & Whiting Rail
way Company have been taken over by
Chicago interests.
Thi? marks the passing of the Chicago
City Railway Company out of the hands
of the Morgan interests.
These shares, together with certain
bonds retofore placed on the prop
erties, will be deposited with trustee?,
•■' bo wfH issue Becnritles based on the
stock «md bonds deposited.
The doings and policies of the trustees
will, by the terms of the trust agree
ment, be governed by a board of direc
tors, the personnel of which will be as
follows: James B. Forgan, John J.
Mitchei!, Samuel Insull, John A. Spoor.
Edward Morris.. T. E- Mitten, E. K.
Boisot and Ira M. Cobe.
The separate corporate existence of the
several properties will continue. T. E.
Mitten will remain as president of the
Chic . City Railway Company and will
probably, at an early date, occupy the
same post in the organization o: all the
roads.
By vesting the ownership of the shares
heretofore mentioned in trustees under
the proposed agreement, complete unity
of management and operation of all the
surface lines in the south division of the
city is accomplished.
Whenever a feasible plan shall be
worked out for a consolidation of all the
surface lines Derated in Chicago, then
as to the soutli division it can be dealt
v.-ith from a practical point of view as
one -.vn-rship instead of several, thus
greatly lessening the difficulty of har
monizing a number of conflicting inter
ests.
While no definite arrangements have
as yet been entered into with other
transportation companies, yet the joinder
in interest of the south division lines
may fairly be considered as an impor
tant step in th/ direction of ultimate
comr consolidation.
The name of the new company will
be the Chicago City and Connecting
Railways.
DEATH FOR A LAT'GIL
Man Shoots Tzco JVomcn nrtd
Destroys Himself.
Baltimore, Dec. 26. — Because he
thought she had laughed at him in pas-i
ing, Conrad Vox. forty-five years old, a
team=ter employed .it the Maryland Asy
lum and Training School for the Feeble
Minded, at Owings Mills, about fifteen
miles from this city, this evening shot
and instantly killed Miss Rita Phillips,
of Cambridge, this state, and fired five
bullets into the body of Miss Edith
Spence, an attendant at the institution.
He then barricu •:■ himself in the
quarters in v.iiich employes of the insti
tution are housed and, scattering kero
sene about, set fire to the building. It
was destroyed and Vox was burned to
death.
The two youn women had been sleigh
riding with Thomas O'Reilly, and were
within a short distance of the institu
tion when they passed Vox. Miss Phil
lips mistook him for some one whom
she knew, and spoke to him as the
sleigh passed him. Her attention v.-aa
called to her mistake, and she laughed
heartily. Calling out a question as to
whether she was laughing at him, Vox
immediately fired and Miss Phillips fell
out of the sleigh dead.
A second eh-;t struck Miss Spenne,
who, as the frightened horse started to
run. also fell out of the vehicle. Vox
ran ip and ehot her four more times,
leaving her for dead. She managed to
reach the institution, but is said to be
in a critical condition.
FIREMEN VISIT MAGISTRATE.
While the . nily of Magistrals Ker
nochan was dining with friends last Dight
at the magistrate's home, at No. 11 East
i«ith street, several tire engines drew up
near the house and • •••■. ran up the
etepa and rang the bell. When 3<im!tf-i1
they ran up to the roof, examining all the
rooms on the upper lloora. Dense clouds
of smoke were poorinc from the chimney,
I'Ut there was no fire. After throwing
atshes and salt down the chimney the fire
man departed, each with a Christmas cigar
in a dry spot underneath hla rubber coat.
The alarm was sent in by somebody B •<
thought that where there was a lot of
fcirioke there- must be soiue lire.
DEWEY'S WINES FOR HOLIDAY GIFTS.
M.75.
o . \Z: Fulton vt., JJ.¥,
NEW- YORK. MONDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1009.— TEN PAGES
A TAXTCAB IN A SNOWDRIFI IN FRONT OF THE ASTOR HOT'SE.
WHJSREY IS DEFINED FIVE DRIFT TO SEA
LABEL MIST TELL
KIXD. SAYS TAFT.
Straight Brand Has Xo Mo
nopoly of Xame — Roose
velt's Verdict Reversed.
Tribune Burea-J ;
Washington. Dec 2li.— President Taft
mad'- public to-day his answer to th<;
Ion? debated question. "What ia whls
key°" In a decision which, in addition t<t
its intrinsic interest, charms by Us sim
plicity and common sense and brings
into striking- light th« strong judioia. l
bent of th- present Chief Executive.
Confronted by a multiplicity of duties
which would appal an ordinary man, Mr.
Taft could not resist the temptation to
take this apparently complicated ques
tion into his own han.is, and the ease
with which he haf extricated the prob
iein from an apparently inextricable
maze of conflicting testimony and aca
demic opinion?, and the clarity of hifl
i if ion. which by its very simplicity car
convtetion even to the layman, he
demonstrate? his great capacity a?
jurist.
That which has long been known to
the •rade and to the consumer as whis
key, President Taft declares to be still
whiskey, svhether it be simply distilled
or distilled and rectified, whether it be
free from caramel or contain it. and his
decision of the several problems pre
sented is that "straight whiskey" must
be so labelled, that the ao-called neutral
Epirits whiskey must be labelled "whis
key from rectified" or "redistilled or
neutral" spirits, and that a blend of the
two must state that fact on the label;
and whiskey which has been aged in the
wood may bear a statement of the fact
on the label, and that is practically all
Lhere is to Mr. Taft's decision.
MUCH FRAUD IN LABELLING
After citing the fact that there has
been much fraud in connection with the
labelling and ea!e of whiskey, Mr. Taft
?ays:
"Th* way to remedy this cvi 1 is not to
attempt to change the meaning and the
scope of th" term "whiskey. 1 accorded to
it for one hundred years, and narrow it
to include only straight whiskey, and
tn^ r(i 1P nothing ir. the pure food law
that warrants the inference of such an
intention by Congress The way to do
It is to require a branding in conne
with the use of the term 'whiskey* which
will indicate just what kind of whakey
the package contains."' In addition, if
they co desire, manufacturers of straight
whiskey may also use the words "bour
bon" or "rye," as the facts may warrant.
The President's decision will doubtless
a disappointment to those pur
rs "f straight whiskey who have
■ | t to acquire a monopoly of the gen
term. as it will to those who. actu
nvictlon that all whiskey
beverage is deleterious, ha\» rought
through the pur- food law to discredit a
input and thus
artirv ' ' the supply. N'-ith^r
the Prei lecision support
those purisi would read Into the
law th- authority to establish an arbi
trary standard of chemical purity, but
that ' 'n will command the ad
miration and respect Of those who ad
mire common .-ense and who love j
fur justice's sa. issured.
DECISION A JUST ONE.
Even a limited familiarity with the
mass ''t testimony and the dhrer
onfllettas opinions which con
•■l Mr Taft when he undertook to
settle this moot Question must serve to
ise one's admiration for the clear
thinking and keen logic which ha%v? re
jected all that it extraneous and reduced
a seemingly complex problem to one of
Hu<~h obvious Btmpllefty that almost
without argument 11 • ■ ■ eeaapel-
In b
tlie i nding i>f various I
,r lii !i< t. holding, among other
« ontloucd on third p*e°-
TWENTY SAVED WITH
BREECHES BUOY.
Standard Oil Freighter Goes
Ashore and Barge Breaks
Azcajf from Her.
Point Pleasant. N". .T.. Dec. 26.—- The
Standard Oil freight coaster S. 8. Thur
man, loaded with soft coal, went ashore
off Tom's River a' i): 20 o'clock this
morning, during a storm which played
havoc along th^ New Jersey coast. The
twenty-two men which manned the ship
were all saved by the -tifwavers of the
Tom's River and Chadwie^ stations
with the breeches buoy.
Five men who were aboard a barge
which the Thurman was towing were
cast helplessly adrift in the raging seas
when the hawser broke, and nothing had
been heard from them when communi
cation along the shore was broken off
later in the day. It is doubtful whether
th- % barge was able to weather the storm.
The doubled forces at patrols discov
ered the burning of the signals from the
steamer a little after 4 o'clock, and im
mediately their own lights gave the sig
nal to the lifesaving crew There was
a terrific gaie blowing, and the snow and
sleet w.-re blinding. It seemed likemad
ness for the men to attempt to launch
their boat. Time after time they es
sayed to get the boat beyond the break
ers, but each time they were beaten
back by the wind and waves.
RUING OUT BREECHES BUOY.
T nail: they gave up the attempt, and
brought out their gun and line and the
breeches buo3'. Three or four times the
slender line and its weight were fired.
and at last it feU over the rigging of
the stranded vessel. The balf-periahed
crew caught the line and hauled aboard
the heavy hawser, over which the
ties are worked, and then began the
real work of rescue. The first aian
ashore said the steamer was the Thur
man and laden with coal. They had
Lad a barge in tow, which was also coal
laden, and this had broken adrift. It
ttempi ' the barge
and the five men that comprised its
crew that the steamer went ashore.
The work of rescue continued until
twenty men. including the captain and
u+her officers, had been saved. The offi
cers and the last few men were nearly
oVad with cold and exposure when taken
ofT. They were all sent to the station.
where they wore made as comfortable as
possible. When the men left the steamer
they said that part of her upper works
had been hammered in by the high
waves, and they did not 3ee how it could
be possible that she would ever be
saved They believed she would be a
total wreck It la hoped that the barge
may be picked up by a passing vessel
before she :s blown ashore.
BARGE BREAKS LOOSE
Th,- Thurman left Virginia on Friday
bound for Now England heavily loaded
with coal In tow was the barge with a
similar cargo. The ship proceeded up
the coast and wa= off the New Jersey
■xhen th^ BtOTU was encountered
It was shorty -iv break, when
the fury of the storm had spent Itself but
had lash, d the sea to a dangerous height,
when the hawser parted without warn
ing and the barge broke loose. The air
thick with the driving storm and
the dim outline of the barge faded away
out to tea. The Thurman put about and
tried to stand by th* barge. Before the
commands of the captair. had 1 .--en exe
cnted the barge was out of sight and
the steamer failed to pick her up
Then began a search lasting for two
!#> irs. with the Thumian steaming up
and down in the direction in which the
bar«e disappeared. While thus engaged
the steamer went ashore on a sandbar
MR. ROCKEFELLER BENEFICENT.
John D. Rockefeller spread good cheer
acaong the employes at the Tarrytown rall
roail station yesterday, despite the storm,
when he sent to all J3 h old pieces. To the
school teachers at the Pocantico Hills
schools he gave JlO gold pieces, and a num
i.er of the employes, on his estate were re
membered.
?»aTi;e OF DE PETSTER, TV BOWa>
ING GREEN
damage of *2ojooojdoo.
Seven Hundred Boats Szcept ta
Sea at Oporto.
Lasbon. Dec. 2S. — The damage don-? by
the storm at Oporto and in the adjacent
country is estimated at HMN.NI
Seven hundred boats have been swept
"tit to bsb and it i? betteviad thai all hawa
be°n lost.
DVMOXT CLARKE DIX S
Banker Victim of Pneumonia
After Short Illness.
Dumont Clarke, president of the
American Exchange National Bank, died
last night at his home in Dumont. N. J..
after a few days' illness, from pneumo
nia. Si^ adult children survive nim
His wife,' who was Miss Cornelia F
lery. died two years ago. Mr. Clarke
was sixty-nine years old and was born
in Newport. R. I. Kis funeral will be
private and his body wtll be buried fn
Newport
Dumont Clarke came from a fad
Of bankers and became president of the
American Exchange National Bank in
ISD3. He was a'.^o a trustee of the Ma -
kay Companies, the ilutua. Life Insur
ance Company of New York, the Press
Publishing Company and the Caledonian
Insurance Company of Edinburgh, Scot
land He was a member of the board
c? manager; of the Adams Express Com
pany.
He was also a director of the Law
yers' Title Insurance Company, of New
York; the American Beet Sugar Com
pany, the Home Insurance Company, of
New York: the American Felt Company,
the Federal Sugar Refining Company.
Swift & Co., of Chicago: the Audit Com
pany, of New York; the Orange Na
tional Bank, the United States Mortgage
and Trust Company, the United States
Safe Deposit Company, the Lake Supe
rior Corporation, the Algoma Central &
Hudson Bay Railway, the Lons: Island
Railroad Company the New York.
Brooklyn & Manhattan Beach Railway
Company, the Long Island Consolidated
Electrical Companies, the Vacuum Clean
er Company, the British-American In
surance Company, of New York; the
Washington Life Insurance Company
and the New York Clearing House Asso
ciation. He was a member of the New
York Yacht Club.
Mr. Clarke was one of the leaders of
the Clearing House Association, and in
the panic of 1907 was one of the advisers
of J. Pierpont Morgan in the measures
taken by the latter to restore OBanMemce,
He was also prominent in the reorgani
zation of the Mutual Ufe Insurance
Company and permitted hi« name to be
used in the directorate chosen after th
investigation. His influence was always
rt>-d for sound business principles
and he had much to do with shaping the
official utterances of the American Bank
ers' Association.
TROLLEY IX A RIVER.
Tzco Men Drozcned in Plunge
of Car Over Embankment.
[By Telegraph to Tlsa Tribune. 1
Derby. Conn.. Dee, -»'> — Frederick
Beard, of Shelton, ami Marcus Donovan,
Of Ansonia, motorman and conductor,
respectively, were drowned when a trol
ley car, thrown off the tracks at a
switch, plunged down a ten-foot em
bankment Into the Naugatuck River,
near Seymour, to-day. Four men and
twe women passengers escaped with a
wettiny anij were cared for at the farm
house of John Fritz.
The c*».r was the first to attempt to
reach this city over th« Waterbury line,
which had been tied up twelve hours by
the storm. Donovan, who was on the
front platform, was imprisoned with
Beard as the car shot head first through
the i<e and settled end.vise in the river
bed. Donovan was twenty-five years
old and unmarried. Beard was thlrty
flve years old and married
PRICE OXE I_/-EjjM r.X-->2rVTUEEE TWO CENTS.
FIVE DIE 1H STORM
IVIXD AND SNOW
TAKE TOLL.
Citif Siicpt by Gale, Blocking
Traffic and Threatening
Food Supply.
The men of to-day may be "conquer
ors of the air," but when It starts mov-
Inf. and carries with it a 10-inch blanket
of snow, the boast of control is frozen in
the utterance. Especially has the air
everything its own way when the dis
tribution of the burden ia uneven. This
ten inches of snow waa tossed and
turned and twisted and heaped up in the
wild abandon of nature. The result:
Five dead in the storm, whole railroad
systems demoralized, surface trains and
cars of the metropolitan city stalled and
made the sport of the drifts srires torn
and. hurled like weird antennae seeking a
lodging place before being bound by the
snow, and everybody taking all the at
tending discomforts goodnaturedly, be
tia.us-1- rt was the day after ChrM
when the extent of the mastery ot the
storm became evident.
Away across the continent, in middle
California, the fuss had its beginning on
Friday. it swooped down into Lowt
California and then struck across coun
try -.10 Texas. Finding no fcaramstric
resistance, the journey, at an angle
across the southland, was made at more
than express speed, and then the storm
swooped northward. Hasten as it would,
it could not even sway the tails of Santa
Claus's coat. He had made his calls,
had hurried away, and the mult.
hereabouts were gloating over their
treasures .when the flakes came.
Milk eompan reported !ast evening
that theo» would be no shortage of sup
ply to-day, but from the railroads it
was learned that the trains bring-.r.^
other food supplies into the city might
be delayed far beyond the usual hours.
Vegetables are kept on storas:- except
ing those that are shipped from tl far
South.
The refrigerating cars containing beef
Ebr this market may be held up I? they
should not get through, a jump in the
price of beef is expected. Owing to the
great drain of the holiday, it was said
last night, the situation might become
cerious. as the shops had sold their
stock down to the lowest limit.
RAILROAD CONDITIONS BAD
At the Pennsylvania terminal in j>r
sey City late last night it was said that
Western trains were from six to seven
hours late and suburban trains from
thirty minutes to an hour late. Freight
traffic, which had been abandoned, was
being resumed and fast freight was
being moved as well as possible. The
nearby situation was improving, but
there was considerable trouble between
Philadelphia and Washington and west
of Harrisburg.
The worst delay on the Erie was to
No. 4, the morning express from Buffalo,
which did not arrive until 4:45 o'clock.
The evening express, due at 7:15 o'clock,
was almost on time. Other trains were
generally about an hour late and freight
was being moved only slowly. The sit
uation was worst near Buffalo.
The Lackawanna was from fifteen
minutes to an hour late with its subur
ban trains last night, as it had been for
twenty-four hours. The fr.rouarh trains
were coming In without regard to sched
uies The situation was improving, ac
cording to those about the depot, and
this morning suburban trains should be
on time.
The Central Railroad of New Jersey.
• ike the Western roads, reported its
worst delays f-om a distance. Bal
timore & Ohio trains were reaching the
terminal of the Central from six to eight
hours lati . and the Western conditions
were not improving- Philadelphia &
Reading sen-ice was from half an hour
to an hour behind.
Tl>- Jersey Central's coaat lines were
cssoed all day. largely owing to sand
drifting on to the tracks, but late last
night train 3 were running on one track
Ths aarvlca to most points from Atlantic
BkfhJaads to Atlantic City, including
Ljikewood, had b- • p. cut off for thirty
hours.
Om great MBSS of trouble last night
was with the switching facilities. Trains
twgan to fal! behind at every junction
point and in tht» yards. Outgoing trains
were losing from five to fifteen minutes
getting out of the yard limits. A freight
*reck tied up the Pennsylvania near
Millstone for a tim© yesterday morning,
and last night a freight wreck at Bristei.
Perm.. was delaying traffic from beyond
thai point.
The high .Mini. soon after midnight
yesterday, going at a sixty-mile rate, t^re
at the tide aiu! sent It swirling up the
buy. into the rivers, over the Battery
w«ik»nd up the streets of Jersey City—
</ — — .
. . » . . I ontlnunl on Krood jm : -.
NOW
ONE CENT |
; In CltT nt *•<» Y«*r*. !
Jrr*»j City and t
Hobnk'O.
STORM AA'D TIDE
HIT JSEW EJSGLip
HIGH WATER i tVSKM
THREE DEATHS.
Railroad* Crippled and Shore
Property Damaged — ?£OQ
Homeless' at Chelsea. *
Boston. De<*. 26. — Orirn -winter swept
into Netv England to-day or. the wtns*»
of a northeast storm with such terrific?
force as to cause great -Jama**. HBSjt*
lnccnvenier.ee. not a little f»r.ng ait<l
a few deaths.
The gale drove a tide into Massa
setts Bay which nearly equalled that of
the i mous storm of 1331: tha w«t simiw
prostrated wires — telephone, telegraph,
electric light and trolley— throoßTho'. th*
southeastern section, railroad ■bbbbb
were stalled, an.l three persons lost their
Jives in Chelsea by the sudden rls« of the
tide.
The storm was sighted on the weath«r
chart on Friday far down in the Missis
sippi Valley. It gathered strength on it*
way up the coast, but did net prove a>
menace until late last night, when ♦«
was central somewhere off th« <*outh
eastern coast of New England- From
midnight until late to-day its de«true
tive powers were unusually »xtensl-»<»
and severe. With its centre - tn«whar«
off Nantucket. tt drew down by a wid^
spiral into a continuaily deepening cen -
tre, a northeast gale which awept over
the greater portion of New England and
waa accompanied by a. heavy fall «f
snow.
The high tide, however. wa3 the feat
ure of the storm. Coming on a full moon.
the gale rolled a wave along the- coaat
which in some places reached a height
of more than 14 feet above low water
mark, and has only been exceeded, ac
cording to local records, by ißßfl whichj
swept the coast at the time that Mlnot
Light waa destroyed in April. ISSI. tj»
this city the tide went across Atlantic
avenue on the water front, and, filling:
hundreds of cellars, caused an estimated
damage of over $1,000,000.
TAKEN FROM HOMES IN 3OAT9
In many places along the -:oaat peraonsi
were taken from their homes In boat-i.
hundreds of 88808 cottages were un
dermined, bulkheads were destroyed and
persona living some distance from 8881
•;oaat found themselvea looking over th»
open ocean.
The prostration of the ware service.
especially in Southeastern New England.
v.as more extensive than for many years.
The telephone and telegraph companies
had a few wires through to New YorVc
by ay of Northern circuits, and com
munication with the North and Easr,
where tr.e anow wat* dry. was in fairly
pood shape to-day. But Prov.
ciung to the outside- world by OB a.
single wire, while communication towar.l
Fall River. Newport and New Bedford
and Cape Cod by ordinary lines ceased
at Brockton. The wireless, however.
established .■omrr'.unication with Cape
Cod. and there' was much relief when
word was received from the peninsula
that its long, sandy beach had nor been
marked by a wreck.
RAILROADS BADLY BLOCKED.
It is many years since the railroadst
and street railway companies have been
so badly blocked. The wet snow proved
leas of a handicap than the fallen wireo
and telegraph poles for the stearu rail
roads, but the street HMfaassj could
make little progress in dearies tfeerr
lines of the heavy drift. Ths delay oa
tiio 3>ilroads was worse to the North and
South than to the West. Between Provi
dence and New London fallen wlrea and
poles held trains for many hours, whila
eastbeund trains over the Boston &
Maine for Maine and New BrunswtcS
points were bbbbT* delayed.
Fallen wtres for a radius of twenty am
thirty miles around Boston and tnrousa
out Southeastern Massachusetts and
Rhode Island made it necessary to cue
out completely electric lighting plants i»
those communities that were served by.
the overhead system. Large citiea*
such as Cambridge. Somerville. Ljrnn.
Brockton. Providence, Fall River anal
New Bedford, were in darkness, except
for the light afforded by the full mooa
behind heavy banks of clouds.
It will probably be many days bacam
the ■B extent cf the storm is Idowo «c
the damages repaired.
EIGHT MISSING AT CHELSEA.
Two thousand five hundred peopia
were driven from their homes. three)
persons were drowned, with eigr-- re
ported missing, and property damage)
to Urn amount of hundreds of thousands
of dollars was caused by the tidal fiood
which swept the west end cf Chelsea at
10 o'clock this morning .
Carrying with a rush the old dike.
which for sixty-five years has confin-d
the island end river, the immense wav«
surged without warning through. tha
thickly populated section in tha West
End. covering to a depth of from four to>
twelve feet an area hair a mile square-.
Panic-stricken. hundreds of people
leaped from "idows and doors of their
houses, half clad, into the icy water an-i
were dragged to safety by policemen,
who launched a flotilla of rowboats to
release the imprisoned families and pic'i
up the victims.
In the flooded son* are several stablea.
and two miikaea lost sixty cows.
drowned in their BtaJai b*tore they
Several horses in other Tallhlß met th*»
sam*» fate. = *« *
Mr. and Mrs. Cornelius Harkip.K. Tir
ing in Locust street, were drowned la
their beds. Harkina occupied the Baa*.
ment tenement of .->nr- of the houses.
In 3d street. Chelsea, an infant was
drowned. The baby apparently wai
abandoned by its parents in their has*i»
to escape tn» oncoming waters.
Barely recovering from the ftro which
wiped out the major portion of tfc^ city
a little over a year ago. this second dts>
aster has been a severe blow to Chelae*.
About rrs houses in the densely, peeq
lated tenement section were swamped-
The refug- were taken care of In th-»
State Armory at Chelsea.
The asaeaßßßl tidt at Chelsea cad a.
grade of IT feet. The night tide, al
though some few feet lower. completed
the property damage caused l»rttec in
the day. and with mary ha.-^ ta ■