THE NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY QUARTERLY BULLETIN VOL. XIX JULY, 1935 No. 2

STATUE OF GEORGE IN FRONT OF THE SUB-TREASURY WALL STREET, AFTER THE BLIZZARD OF 1888 Photographed March 13, 1888, by Frank Hegger : 170 CENTRAL PARK WEST PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY AND ISSUED TO MEMBERS THE NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 170 CENTRAL PARK WEST (Erected by the Society 1908) Wings to be erected on the 76th and 77th Street corners

OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY

For Three Years, ending January 4, 1938

PRESIDENT FOREIGN CORRESPONDING SECRETARY JOHN ABEEL WEEKES ARCHER MILTON HUNTINGTON

FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT DOMESTIC CORRESPONDING SECRETARY ARTHUR H. MASTEN ERSKINE HEWITT

SECOND VICE-PRESIDENT RECORDING SECRETARY R. HORACE GALLATIN B. W. B. BROWN

THIRD VICE-PRESIDENT TREASURER ROBERT E. DOWLING GEORGE A. ZABRISKIE

FOURTH VICE-PRESIDENT LIBRARIAN WILLIAM D. MURPHY ALEXANDER J. WALL

The New York Historical Society is not responsible for statements in signed articles. THE GREAT BLIZZARD AND THE BLIZZARD MEN OF 1888

By HUGH M. 'FLICK

The fabric of man's memory is woven from strange materials. The unusual, the exotic, and the bizarre experiences of life linger in the mind and form the general pattern of the memory. The daily struggle for existence, the commonplace transaction of busi­ ness or search for pleasure, important as they may seem at the moment, are soon forgotten. It is equally true that man as an individualist is engrossed in the solution of his own problems and is liable to forget that he is an integral part of the community in which he lives. It is when he participates in some great com­ munal adventure that his preoccupation with his own affairs is lost. Such titanic manifestations of nature as earthquakes, floods, cyclones, tidal waves, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, and the like leave in their wake poignant and lasting memories for whole sec­ tions of a country. The eastern seaboard of the United States, from Pennsylvania to Maine, gained such a common heritage of memory as a result of the great blizzard which in the early morn­ ing of March 12, 1888, swept down furiously on an unsuspecting people and buried the hopes of an early spring in an arctic smother. Certainly those who were caught in its icy grasp will never forget the experience. The thousands who shared in this great adventure were united by a common bond of understanding. The phrase "The Blizzard of '88" has become a part of our national vocabulary to denote the worst of winter weather. It had its tragic side, but, curiously, left in its wake mainly good will, and to its survivors it has become almost a household symbol standing not only for the storm itself but also for all that was best in the "good old days". As mechanized civilization whirls on with ever increasing speed and faster and surer methods of transportation come into general use the stories of the devastating effect of the great blizzard and how it completely paralyzed the commercial activities of a great 23 24 THE NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY

city like New York will seem ever more astounding. If these tales at times seem a bit tall it must be remembered that the blizzard which roared down on New York in March, 1888, found a vastly different city than it would find to-day. Although, indeed, a bliz­ zard of the magnitude and fury of that of '88 would have dis­ astrous effects even now. The year of 1888 was by no means one of slight activity which might account, at least in part, for the persistence of the memory of the March storms. There was a presidential election of more than usual excitement and bitterness and the country was convulsed by hard persistent strikes and railway wars. A partial failure of the wheat crop caused that commodity to touch $2.00 per bushel in New York. Typhoid fever devastated many of the northern cities, the cause being attributed at the time to the unusually rainy summer and autumn which followed the "famous March blizzard". In France the collapse of the Panama Canal Company wiped out the savings of some 800,000 shareholders and in Germany two Hohenzollern emperors died and a third, William II, ascended the throne. In Italy Pope Leo XIII celebrated his jubilee. Yet to the survivors of the blizzard all these events, important as they are in themselves, are overshadowed by the memory of the hard­ ships and adventures of the blustery days of March. Even the news that John L. Sullivan, the heavyweight boxing champion of the world, had been unable to subdue his English rival Charlie Mitchell in their epochal fight at Creil, France, could not hold the headlines. After its break in the Herald on Sunday, March nth, it was relegated to an inferior place to make room for the news of the great storm which started that night. Ask any New Yorker who was living in or around the city what of importance happened in 1888 and the answer will invariably be the great blizzard. All other events have been forced into a position of secondary impor­ tance and may be found only by reading the pages of history. This is eloquent testimony to the impression which the blizzard made on the minds of New Yorkers. In circles where the blizzard is discussed one often hears the question raised as to where the blizzard came from and what caused such a furious outburst. A study of the reports of such men as General A. W. Greely, Chief Signal Officer of the Army (1890) QUARTERLY BULLETIN 25

MADISON AVENUE AFTER THE BLIZZARD From about 46th Street looking south toward Holy Trinity Church 26 THE NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY and Everett Hayden who was in charge of the division of Marine Meteorographic Office of the Navy Department, and Elias B. Dunn who had the honor of being the "weather man" in New York City during March, 1888, has revealed the following information in regard to the history of this storm of storms. It seems,to have been first noticed on March 6th over the north Pacific'Ocean moving in a southeasterly direction. By the 9th, it had:passed over Oregon and reached northern Texas and by Sunday, the nth, the barometer trough, or line of storm center extended from Lake Superior southward to the eastern part of the Gulf of Mexico. The southern storm center, with which we are concerned, moved slowly eastward and passed off the Atlantic coast somewhere near Cape Hatteras. If it had continued its easterly course all would have been well, but on the evening of the nth, the pressure, which had been about 29.07, decreased and the storm center shifted, moving almost directly north. In the early morning of the 12th it was central off the coast, and the full force of the blizzard descended on New York. A blinding northeast gale roared across the unsuspecting city, car­ rying with it a mass of stinging, needle-like snow which whooped up the side streets and swirled around the back courts. The progress of the storm had been watched by the govern­ ment Weather Bureau in Washington. At 10:35 A.M., on the morning of the nth, that office had issued a "cautionary southeast storm warning" but at 6150 P.M. this was changed to a "northwest storm warning" with the additional information that a cold wave was to be expected. These warnings apparently did not reach the weather bureau in New York in time to be handed on to the daily papers, for although Sunday's paper stated that "tomor­ row it promises to be colder and generally clear" on Monday the incredulous New Yorkers who were fortunate enough to get a paper read to their amazement that "The weather today in New York and vicinity (including points within thirty miles of the city) promises to be generally fair and colder, preceded by partial cloudiness near the coast. Tomorrow it promises to be slightly warmer and generally fair." No forecast of weather appeared in the Herald for Tuesday, March 13, 1888. QUARTERLYBULLETIN 27

In reality by 7 A.M. Monday, March 12, the storm was raging in all its fury with the barometer at the storm center down to 29.20 and steadily dropping. The storm remained nearly stationary, moving only as far as a point midway between Block Island and Wood's Hole by midnight of the 12th, and here it remained nearly stationary throughout the whole of Tuesday, the 13th. By Wed­ nesday, the low pressure area had gradually filled up and the storm abated. Throughout these three days real blizzard conditions prevailed in New York and vicinity. The gale which roared across the city ranged from forty-eight miles an hour on Monday to fifty on Tuesday. The temperature fell from thirty-one degrees on Sunday to eleven on Monday to five above on Tuesday. It rose to thirteen on Wednesday. This sudden decline in temperature resulted in the precipitation of by far the greater portion of the aqueous vapor which had been drawn by the easterly and northeasterly winds from the Atlantic Ocean and was responsible for the almost unprecedented snowfall which in three days amounted to a total of over twenty inches. The daily snowfall for the three days of the blizzard is as follows: sixteen and one-half inches on Monday, three and one-half inches Tuesday, and 1.4 inches Wednesday. If any of these three conditions had prevailed in more or less normal times or if the precipitation had been in the form of rain the amount of damage would have been inconsiderable, but the combination of high winds, low temperature, and a heavy fall of snow practically paralyzed the activities of New York and the surrounding cities. In other words New York and the nearby section became the battleground of the elements—the heavy storm from the south, forced on by the warmer moisture-laden winds, tried to force its way through a cold northern high pressure area and the net result was the raging and never to be forgotten blizzard of blizzards. The struggles and experiences of those four furious days are deeply written in the memories of those who have survived and although nearly half a century has passed they can still recall vividly their harrowing adventures. Space will permit the mention of just a few of the tales that have come down to a rather incredu­ lous younger generation. If, however, we are inclined to doubt 28 THE NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY the validity of some of the more exotic tales we have only to examine the photographs. Probably the most striking difference between the good old days of '88 and those of the present may be found in the ways and means of rapid transit. The Brooklyn Bridge was the only span across the East River and over it small trains, usually of three cars, with cable traction, transported the thousands of commuters between Manhattan and Brooklyn. It was on Tuesday morning; the second day of the storm, that this little train became inoperative but a freak of the storm pro­ vided the commuters with a novel method of crossing the East River. During the night an enormous section of ice, locally known as a "harbor-master," broke off and floated down the Hudson River. Just as it reached the Battery at the lower end of Manhattan, the strong tide changed and carried it up the East River where it became jammed between the banks, just below the Brooklyn Bridge. Enterprising longshoremen tested the strength of the ice and upon finding that it was safe devised means of getting on and off it. Within two hours some three thousand people had the unusual experience of walking on the ice between Brooklyn and New York. The entrepreneurs of the descending and ascending stages charged nothing to get the people down on the ice but they demanded anything from a dime to a dollar to help them off on the opposite shore. As soon as the tide changed the ice floe began to loosen and the police warned the people off but several who remained too long were carried down the Bay and had to be rescued by a tug. Subways were unknown, as were tunnels, and the most expe­ ditious means of transportation were the various elevated railroads. There were four of them in operation, the Second Avenue and the Third Avenue lines running from South Ferry to 129th Street, the Sixth Avenue and Ninth Avenue lines from South Ferry to 155th Street. Broadway alone could boast of a cable car, the cars on all the other lines being drawn by horses. As is true to-day, many of those who worked in New York City lived in the surround­ ing sections. Those in New Jersey came to the city by train and ferry and Westchester had her crowded commuting trains. All suffered alike during the storm and participated in the adventure (O

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to BROADWAY, BETWEEN LIBERTY AND CORTLANDT STREETS, MARCH 13, 18 CO (Now the site of the Singer Building) 30 THE NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY

whether by a tumultuous ferry ride across the ice-laden Hudson or imprisonment in a snowbound train in Westchester. The week-end immediately preceding the great blizzard had seemed to herald an early spring. Some optimistic suburbanites had even ventured to work in their gardens. The accumulation of winter snow had melted and as if to confirm the fact that spring was really at hand Barnum & Bailey's Circus had moved from its winter quarters in Bridgeport, Conn., to open its season at Madison Square Garden. Saturday night saw a good portion of New York's population out to view the circus torchlight parade which, as Tody Hamilton expressed it, was a "grand, glittering, gleaming, glistening, glorious, gigantic coruscation, blinding to the . eye and two miles long." The newspapers carried advertisements of fine, invigorating spring tonics and the new spring styles were announced. All seemed to agree that another winter had passed. Even the rain on Sunday did not keep the young blades from appearing in all their new finery. Late in the evening it became colder. By midnight the rain had turned to damp, heavy snow, which coated everything with a sheen of ice. Monday morning dawned and an unbelieving citizenry awoke to find itself fast being buried in ah arctic blizzard. In spite of the forbidding prospects, many hardy souls started as usual for their places of work, only to find that all the regular means of transportation were badly crippled by the force of the storm. Only the Third Avenue "L" kept up a curtailed service throughout the morning, the others being snowbound along the way. In many cases the "L" trains, crowded to capacity were stalled between stations. In one instance a train loaded with passengers took six hours and twenty-five minutes to cover a dis­ tance of two blocks, between the 18th Street and 14th Street sta­ tions on the Sixth Avenue line. After hours of waiting, the benumbed passengers were forced to pay as high as a dollar for the rather dubious privilege of descending a precarious ladder to the comparative shelter of the street. Here at least they were able to thaw out in one or another of the numerous bars or coffee shops. The commuters fared even worse, whole train loads were snowbound for hours without food QUARTERLYBULLETIN 31 or warmth. The same was true of incoming New York trains from distant points. Some of the snowbound passengers started to walk either back home or on to the city, (in many cases with more energy than discretion), but in every case recorded they seem to have reached their destination, albeit in a thoroughly chilled and exhausted condition. Many of those who did manage to reach their place of business found that they were unable to return home and were forced to spend the night either in one of the over­ crowded hotels or in their offices. Every available part of the hotels was taken. Many persons slept in corridors, on billiard and dining room tables, and in chairs, but in spite of the hardships a spirit of jollity and comradeship seems to have prevailed. The driving snow and roaring wind soon brought the heavily burdened telegraph and telephone poles together with mass of wires crashing to the ground, and all communication with the outside world ceased. "It was," as a contemporary account in the Evening Sun described the storm, "as if New York had been a burning candle upon which nature had clapped a snuffer leaving nothing of the city's activities but a struggling ember." The same lyrical scribe . continues: "The wind howled, whistled, banged, roared and moaned as it rushed along. It fell upon the house sides in fearful gusts, it strained great plate glass windows, rocked the frame house, pressed against doors so that it was almost dangerous to open them. It was a visible, substantial wind, so freighted was it with snow. It came in whirls, it descended in. layers, it shot along in great blocks, it rose and fell and cork­ screwed and zigzagged anl played merry havoc with everything it could swing or batter or bang or carry away. . . . The streets were littered with blown down signs, tops of fancy lamps, and all the wreck and debris of projections, ornaments and movables. Everywhere horse cars were lying on their sides, intrenched in deep snow, lying across the tracks, jammed together and in every conceivable position. The city's surface was like a wreck-strewn battlefield." All day Monday the storm raged with unabated fury. By noon the great commercial activities of the city were at a standstill. The Stock Exchange and all the other exchanges were without business and by midday had shut their doors. At the Produce 32 THE NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Exchange, where the daily attendance was close to 1,700, only ninety-five members arrived. The Custom House, the Clearing House, and the Sub-Treasury might as well have been closed all day for all the business that was transacted. At the Post Office, only four out of the forty-four out of town mails which were due between 8 A.M. and noon arrived. The Postmaster reported that the mail at the Post Office was like that of a city of 10,000. There was no Mayor in the City Hall and the law courts were without juries. John B. Jarvis who was a Deputy Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas recalls how he and another clerk went through the formalities with Judge Henry Wilder Allen of opening and ad­ journing the five various parts of the court. This was typical of nearly all branches of business—if they were opened at all on Monday it was not long before they shut down for the day with the exception of the dispensers of liquor, fuel, food, warm winter clothing, and snow shovels. Indeed John J. Meisinger, who was manager for Edward Ridley & Sons' department store in Grand Street, had been the butt of many jokes when he purchased on the first of March a car load of unclaimed snow shovels. The laugh was his when he sold out the entire stock on the first day of the blizzard. In another case, a restaurant owner in Mount Vernon had come upon hard times and had filed a petition in bankruptcy on the Friday before the blizzard broke. He had overstocked, having $4,000 worth of food stuff but no customers. Then came Monday and the storm. There were some 5,000 snow­ bound travelers at Mount Vernon and as time passed they became hungry and descended upon the bankrupt restaurant. Every scrap of food was sold, sandwiches selling as high as $4.00 apiece. After the blizzard the petition of bankruptcy was withdrawn. As the storm continued and all communication with the out­ side world ceased, the thought of a shortage of the actual necessi­ ties of life loomed in alarming proportions. After the week-end, the larders were generally sadly depleted and within a compara­ tively short time the neighborhood stores were nearly sold out. It was estimated that there was a sufficient food supply to feed the city for about ten days and when no milk trains arrived and those bringing provisions were snow-bound either up the Hudson Valley or out on the Jersey plains, prospects became rather alarm- c > p H W P ir)

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ing. The price of food and fuel tripled and quadrupled. A defi­ nite effort was made by the city authorities to see that hospitals and the most needy were supplied with milk and food. In fact one survivor recalls that "the city commandeered the grocery stocks of milk and bread, making immediate orders for delivery to hospitals and for women and children. . . . Such orders were admirably put into effect by the police and during the week the metropolis was under almost military discipline." The threat of a serious famine was averted by Thursday when the sun came out warm and genial, melting the snow and allowing a resumption of traffic, and trains from outside points brought in supplies of fresh food stuffs. The only really serious result was the failure of the milk supply which by Wednesday had become acute but this, like the food shortage, lifted Thursday. After the big thaw on Friday the city began to assume a normal appearance, and may be said to have heaved a sigh of relief. The great blizzard was past. The blizzard nevertheless left its cruel marks and the com­ munity suffered severe losses. It is estimated that within forty- eight hours of the beginning of the storm from eight to twenty lives were lost in New York alone and there had been inflicted upon the city a $20,000,000 property damage. Perhaps the most outstanding fatality was that of New York's former Senator Roscoe Conkling, a man of unusual strength and endurance who against the advice of his , William Sulzer, insisted upon walking home from his office at 2 Wall Street to the New York Club at 25th Street in the teeth of the icy wind and stinging sleet which had for the moment replaced the snow. After a two and a half mile walk which had taken him over three hours to accom­ plish, he finally reached Union Square where he sank into the soft snow up to his armpits. For nearly twenty minutes he floun­ dered about before he was able to free himself from the treach­ erous snow and when he finally reached his destination he was exhausted. He died on April 18, 1888, largely as a result of this misadventure. Another case, attended by equally tragic results, was that of a promising young newspaper man, James Reilly. He was overcome by cold and fatigue while attempting to walk to Coney Island in order to establish the validity of the rumor that the Manhattan Beach Hotel had been blown from its foundations QUARTERLYBULLETIN 35

into the sea. Another victim of the furious wind and bitter cold was George D. Barremore, a hop merchant, forty-seven years of age, who was found frozen to death in a drift at the corner of 7th Avenue and 53d Street, within four blocks of his home in the "Osborne Flats." Besides those cases which resulted fatally, the list of crippled and maimed was exceedingly large, most of them, happily, not permanently incapacitated. The amazing thing, how­ ever, is that there were not more real casualties. It is necessary at this point to mention briefly a phase of the blizzard which is often lost sight of in the welter of material, namely the affects of the blizzard at sea. It is agreed by all that the three days of March, from the nth to the 14th, were wild and stormy times ashore but it was tenfold more so off our coast "where the lights at Hatteras, Currituck, Assateague, Barnegat, and mark the outline of one of the most dangerous coasts the navigator must guard against." Along this treacherous coast innumerable coastwise vessels, sailboats for the most part, were beating their way. On the Atlantic, some twenty-nine more were coming from European to American ports, nineteen of these being bound for New York. Saturday had been an unusually busy day in New York harbor and no less than eight transatlantic liners had sailed. All vessels left port without a thought of the fate that awaited them. Among these was the palatial yacht Cythera with her owner, William A. W. Stewart, who was going south for his health, along with Joseph Smith Lee and a social crew of Joseph Phipps and Charles Sevenson, all ardent amateur sailors. She was bound for Bermuda but was last seen off Barnegat Light and never heard of again. So far as the ocean is concerned the blizzard reached its maxi­ mum on Monday, the 12th, the velocity of the wind being recorded at Block Island as seventy miles an hour. The gale which was blowing early Monday morning became a storm and the storm a veritable hurricane. A summary of the vessels blown ashore, sunk, or damaged reveals the grim struggle which was waged, and not always successfully, against the wind and waves. Chesapeake heads the list with two barks, seventy-seven schooners, and seven­ teen sloops; Delaware Bay next with thirty-seven vessels; along the New Jersey coast and in the Horse-Shoe at Sandy Hook thirteen 36 THE NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY ships; New York harbor and the Long Island coast saw the wrecks of twenty vessels, while along the New England shore nine more were destroyed by the storm. In addition to these, six vessels were reported lost at sea and nine others as missing, among them the two boats: No. 18, the Enchantress and No. 11, the with pilots Frederick Whitehead and John Johnson aboard. At least one other of these tiny pilot boats escaped destruction almost by a miracle. The report which was made of her escape from the clutches of the hurricane constitutes a story packed with drama and one is amazed that so small a craft could withstand the buffeting of so mighty a storm. She was No. 3, the Charles H. Marshall. On the afternoon of March nth, she was standing off Barnegat and, fearing that a storm was in the air, headed for home, but she only managed to beat her way to within twelve miles of Sandy Hook when the storm descended with almost cyclonic violence and drove her back to sea. For three nights and two days they were beaten unmercifully by the roaring gale, the icy cold, and the mountainous waves, with no dry clothes, no sleep, and precious little food and fuel. Throughout all this time they feared that every moment would be their last but although they were driven a hundred miles from their destination, they managed to weather through. It took them three hours to chop the ice away so the little vessel could sail home. This is but one of the many successful life and death struggles which was waged against the elements during these trying days and in memory of those less fortunate it should be remembered that their efforts were none the less heroic because they ended in disaster. When a whole section of a people is subjected to the same great communal adventure, when they experience the same titanic mani­ festation of nature, when they undergo a complete revolution of the ordinary and accustomed manner of life, it is but natural that such occurrences should make a deep and lasting impression. It also follows that with the passage of time those who possess this common tradition should be drawn more closely together. Espe­ cially is this true as the number of survivors becomes fewer and fewer and the memory of the good old days sinks deeper and deeper into this mist of obscurity. As the details of life in the o ICI Ip w p

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brown stone era fade into golden impressions, the memory of the great blizzard stands out in bolder relief. Weather has always been a favored topic of conversation. When this tendency is bolstered up by a tradition such as that of the great blizzard of March, 1888, it follows almost inevitably that at some time survivors should band themselves together for mutual satisfaction, It only awaits the proper time and impetus. This was supplied in January^! 929, forty-one years after those eventful days in March, 1888, when a meeting was held in the office of Thomas Gilleran, oLj_sjL_Charnbefs--Street, New York City, to discuss the advisability and possibility of organizing the survivors of the great blizzard into a club. Unfortunately a full list of the names of these early promoters has been lost but the seed was effectively sown for in the following month a second meeting was held at Mr. Gilleran's offices and a club was formed to be known as The Blizzard Men of 1888. Mr. Gilleran, who acted as temporary chairman, in addressing the group declared: 1 "We blizzard survivors are not only organizing to keep alive the traditions of the storm but we are sick and tired of all this mod­ ernity and want to go back to the days when we New Yorkers lived j simply and got our fun out of simple things." (The New York Times, Sunday, March 3, 1929.) The following officers were elected: President, Theodorus Van Wyck; Treasurer, James Madden; Secretary, Richard Tingley; and Historian, Charles P. Molesphini. The directors elected were Thomas Gilleran, J. E. Algeo, H. C. Smith, Otto Raubenheimer, and Dr. S. M. Strong. After the business of organization had been completed, the mem­ bers adjourned to have their pictures taken on the steps of City Hall with Mayor Walker (who unhappily did not make an appear-, ance). They did, however, have the pleasure of exchanging tales of mighty winds, huge drifts, and zero temperature with Sir Hubert Wilkins who had but recently returned from his flight across the North Pole. The tradition for the annual gathering had been established and President Van Wyck, in a letter to the Herald Tribune, dated February 16, 1930, announced these yearly get-togethers of the Blizzard Men of 1888 would be continued as it not only afforded an excellent opportunity to "swap some great yarns," but wrought QUARTERLYBULLETIN 39

"together men of all creeds and parties who keep alive in their jovial acquaintance the memories of a 'perfect day!' ' In 1932 the anniversary of the blizzard was celebrated by a luncheon in the Hotel Pennsylvania on the 12th of March, and the day was given over to the great old stories of the great blizzard. Preceding this there was an election of officers and James Madden was elected President; J. E. Algeo, Vice-President; Theodorus Van Wyck, Historian; and D. A. Woodhouse, Secre­ tary and Treasurer. Dr. S. M. Strong then made a motion which was unanimously adopted, that the very interesting collection of photographs, newspaper clippings, prints, and personal reminis­ cences of the blizzard should be placed among the collections of The New York Historical Society for permanent preservation. Two years later, on the 3d of May, at a meeting of the board of directors, held in the office of Mr. D. A. Woodhouse, a motion was passed authorizing Dr. S. M. Strong, who had just been elected President, and Mr. Woodhouse, the Secretary and Treas­ urer of the Blizzard Men, "to take up the question of turning over the organization's records to The New York Historical Society." On the 4th of April, 1935, the arrangements were completed and all the material which they had been gathering since their first meeting in 1929, was presented to the Society where it will be preserved and maintained. There are some fifteen photographs of the blizzard, several of them being used for illustrations in this article, one large scrap- book containing clippings which relate to the blizzard from papers both contemporary with the blizzard and of the present, including several cartoons and cuts. But by far the most interesting part of the collection is the two hundred or more personal reminiscences , of the .unforgetable days of March in 1888. These range in / length from one to fourteen pages and constitute a most important / source of information as to the progress and general effect of the / storm. They have been written by people from almost every walk/ and station in life and carry with them a spirit of the 1880's as well as much factual detail. They not only paint a realistic picture of the snow, the wind, and the cold but they do much to portray the spirit and habits of a great community, the intimate details of family life, as well as the general social customs of what even 40 THE NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY then was a greater New York. They are shot through with tragedy and comedy, humor and pathos. Much of the foregoing material was gleaned from these records and if it were not for the limitation of space much more could be added. There ar'e stories of sparrow pies which augmented a meager larder; of the rescue of a small child who was almost completely buried in a snowdrift while bringing a pail of coal home to the family; of how the show went on at Tony Pastor's Theater with only four in the audience; of a New Jersey farmer who tried to sell, sand­ wiches to the passengers of a snow-bound train at an unreasonable profit and as a result lost both his profit and his sandwiches; of one poor man whose jaws, due to the intense cold, shrank to such an extent that his false teeth jumped out into the blizzard but were found the following day near where they had taken their leave; and of the report that Mr. Theodorus Van Wyck had been frozen in a snow bank, his obituary appearing in the Wednesday newspapers but how like Mark Twain he lived to report that the story of his demise had been grossly exaggerated. Thus through the efforts of the Blizzard Men of 1888 not only is the story of the great blizzard perpetuated, but also the spirit of a lost epoch is at least in part recaptured. Each suc­ ceeding year has seen a growth in their activities and membership. The annual luncheon held March 12, 1935, was the largest in the history of the organization. As evidence of the increasing interest in the great Blizzard, as well as its survivors, several of the speeches were broadcast, and letters were read from such far away places as Halifax, Nova Scotia and Miama, Florida. A number of new members were enrolled and additional accounts of individual experiences were collected. It is sincerely hoped that any who have not as yet compiled their reminiscences will do so in order that the story may be as complete as possible. QUARTERLYBULLETIN 41

GIFTS The following is a partial list of the gifts presented to the Society within the past three months: From Mrs. T. Bache Bleecker,, in memory of her father, William E. Verplanck, 25 early deeds, bonds and wills of the Verplanck family in New York City and Dutchess County, 1698- 1792. Mrs. Bleecker and her brother, William Verplanck pre­ sented an original map, on parchment, of the Rombout Patent, surveyed and drawn by John Holwell, April 1, 1689. From Mr. William L. Brower, a scrapbook containing invita­ tions, menus and tickets, 1883-1896. From Dr. Sydney H. Carney, Jr., 125 calling cards, 146 invi­ tations, 1882-1897, 26 tickets, 22 New York City trolley car trans­ fers, and 40 Christmas cards. From Miss Maud Schuyler Clark and Mr. Henry Schieffelin Clark, Jr., two copies of the Schieffelin genealogical chart, com­ piled by Miss Clark and drawn by Mr. Clark, 1934. From Miss Lena Cadwalader Evans, an original water color portrait of Governor George Clinton (1739-1812) by Ezra Ames, 1795; a lithograph of the Aldenville Tannery, Wayne Co., Pa.; Daniel Corse's diploma as a Fellow of the National Academy of Design, 1864; and an engraved stock certificate of the N. Y. Academy of Music, 1885. From Mr. Harrold E. Gillingham, 29 manuscripts, relating chiefly to importation of tea from Canton in 1827. From Mr- Richard M. Gipson, 11 manuscripts of Hempstead, L. I., 1727-1801. From Miss Mary Thurston Horn and Miss Sarah Lawrence Horn, a silver tea and coffee service, made by Gale & Willis of New York about i860, which belonged to their mother, Mrs. William Thurston Horn (Lydia S. Lawrence). Miss Mary Thurston Horn also presented a flag, with 34 stars in the canton, which their father, William Thurston Horn, displayed at the time of President Lincoln's funeral, April, 1865. From Mrs. Irving McKesson, 6 trunks from "Lynganoir", the home built by the Rev. Samuel Jones (1737-18 n) at Bustle- ton, Pa. 42 THE NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY

JACOB SCHIEFFELIN Born in Philadelphia, Pa., August 24, 1757. Died in New York City, April 16, 1835 Presented to the Society in May 1935* by his great-grandson, Howland Pell, Esq. QUARTERLYBULLETIN 43

From the National Academy of Design, 8 scrapbooks of James Carroll Beckwith (1852-1917), 3 volumes of his sketches, 42 photographs of portraits and paintings by him, a diary kept by Mr. Beckwith in 1895, and 4 photographs of him, taken in April, 1906. From Mr. Howland Pell, a miniature of Jacob Schieffelin (1757-1835) ; a bowl given by Mrs. J. Lyon Gardiner, of Gardi­ ner's Island to Howland Gallatin Pell on his first birthday, August 17, 1889; a piece of bomb-shell found at Fort Ticonderoga in 1909; three books; and a Bible containing family records of James G. and Isabella C. (Anderson) Coffin. From Mrs. W. Merritt Post (Katherine E. Van Nest), two dolls, a uniform dress coat of her father, Major Jacob Janeway Van Nest; a brocaded gown worn about 1820 by the donor's maternal grandmother, Mrs. Hewlet Townsend Coles; a pink and white gown worn by the donor's mother, Mrs. Jacob Janeway Van Nest (Ida Ann Coles) as a bridesmaid in 1859, and at the Prince of Wales Ball in i860; and a gray silk dress made for Mrs. Van Nest by Propach in 1874. From Mr. Harold Seton, 50 photographs of stars of silent motion pictures; and eight flashlight photographs of stage scenes, 1897-1901. From the Hon. William Sulzer, a silver cup presented to him by the Officers of the U. S. Revenue Cutter Service; a fur rug presented to him by Queen Ka Ka, of the Esquimaux; 21 original drawings of cartoons, 22 photographs, 2 scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, certificates, diplomas, relating to his political career, 60 volumes, and 26 letters to the donor, 18 93-193 3. From Mrs. David A. Turnure, a journal kept by David Mitchell Turnure, January-December, 1861. From Weekes Brothers, 9 atlases of New York City, 1883- 1916. MEMBERSHIP The following have been elected Associate Members of the Society: Mrs. T. Bache Bleecker, Gerard Bradford, Lt. Comdr., U. S. N. R., Mrs. Howard M. Canoune, Miss Mary Thurston Horn, Miss Sarah Lawrence Horn, William F. Reeves, Dr. Edward C. Titus, and Clarence H. Vance. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

FIRST CLASS FOR ONE YEAR, ENDING THIRD CLASS—FOR THREE YEARS, ENDING 1936 1938 JAMES LENOX BANKS LEONIDAS WESTERVELT ERSKINE HEWITT ARCHER M. HUNTINGTON JOHN V. IRWIN HIRAM SMITH

SECOND CLASS—FOR TWO YEARS, ENDING FOURTH CLASS—FOR FOUR YEARS, ENDING 1937 1939 SAMUEL V. HOFFMAN AUGUSTUS C. HONE ROBERT E. DOWLING DEWITT M. LOCKMAN JOHN HILL MORGAN HENRY PARISH SAMUEL V. HOFFMAN, Chairman ALEXANDER J. WALL, Secretary [The President, Vice-Presidents, Recording Secretary, Treasurer, and Librarian are members of the Executive Committee.]

STANDING COMMITTEES

COMMITTEE ON FINANCE COMMITTEE ON ANNIVERSARY GEORGE A. ZABRISKIE ARCHER M. HUNTINGTON R. HORACE GALLATIN I DEWITT M. LOCKMAN ROBERT E. DOWLING ERSKINE HEWITT

COMMITTEE ON LECTURES COMMITTEE ON BUILDING B. W. B. BROWN ROBERT E. DOWLING LEONIDAS WESTERVELT GEORGE A. ZABRISKIE ERSKINE HEWITT B. W. B. BROWN

COMMITTEE ON LIBRARY AND MUSEUM COMMITTEE ON FINE ARTS ALEXANDER J. WALL DEWITT M. LOCKMAN ARTHUR H. MASTEN WILLIAM D. MURPHY WILLIAM D. MURPHY JOHN HILL MORGAN

COMMITTEE ON PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE ON PLAN AND SCOPE ALEXANDER J. WALL R. HORACE GALLATIN R. HORACE GALLATIN JAMES LENOX BANKS HENRY PARISH JOHN HILL MORGAN

COMMITTEE ON MEMBERSHIP HIRAM SMITH AUGUSTUS C. HONE GEORGE A. ZABRISKIE

HOURS

Library and Museum, 170 Central Park West Open Week days, 10 A. M. to 5 P. M.; Holidays 1 to 5 P. M. Annex No. 1, 5 West 76th Street, open Wednesdays, 2 to 4 P. M. } Closed Annex No. 2, 4 West 77th Street, open Saturdays, 2 to 4 P. M. J for summer Buildings Closed: Christmas, New Year's, July Fourth, Thanksgiving, and during the month of August