Died In The Blizzard

New York, 1895

SIX SAILORS PERISH IN THE RIGGING OF A STRANDED SCHOONER.

The Storm was Terrific Both on the Land and on the Sea — Three Persons Killed and Several Hurt on the Railroad — A Man and a Woman Frozen to Death.

The storm of Thursday night and Friday was the severest that has visited Long Island since the blizzard of 1888. The high wind drifted the snow, blocking the railroads and highways, and making travel almost impossible. The cold was intense, the mercury in some sections marking 6 below zero. At Peck's Hall of Pharmacy, Jamaica, the mercury at 8 o'clock Friday morning marked 4 degrees above zero. Travel on the electric road between East New York and Jamaica was entirely suspended, although attempts were made by the company to keep the road open. Friday evening the road was opened and Saturday cars were running regularly. So intense was the cold that the men employed by Isaac B. Remsen at cutting ice, refused to work. Saturday they resumed work and cut ice ten inches thick.

Travel was delayed on the main lines of the Long Island railroad. The Greenport express train, due at Jamaica at 10.30 A. M., did not reach Long Island City until late in the evening. Only one train from Hempstead reached Jamaica on Friday. It was drawn by two engines.

The first train west from Jamaica over the Atlantic avenue division crashed into the rear of a rapid transit train near the Morris Park station. Two persons were injured, one of them, Hugh Livingston, the engineer, severely.

The passengers on several of the west bound trains on the Long Island railroad that became stalled were obliged to remain in the cars all of Friday night. The company furnished them with food and made them quite comfortable. Saturday afternoon the blockade was raised.

Streams and ponds that have not been frozen over in years were covered with ice from six to eight inches in thickness. Jamaica Bay was frozen over and men crossed on the ice from the mainland to the beach.

W. A. Hawkins, a baker at Southold, drove to Greenport, some five miles, on Friday. Upon reaching home his family noticed that the horse remained unhitched standing in the yard. Upon going to the wagon they discovered Hawkins sitting on the seat all but dead from the cold. He was unconscious and in a terrible condition. He was carried into the house and a doctor summoned.

Friday morning William Sells, colored, residing at Greenport, after playing for a dance, started to walk to his home, a distance of five miles. After falling through the trestle work of the railroad three times, he reached Greenport with his ears, hands and feet frozen.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, Feb. 15, 1895, p. 1.