New York, Feb. 20.—New York is, fighting a fifty-fifty, battle with the worst storm since 1900, and one which may yet prove to be the worst since the historic blizzard of 188. Five hours after the first flakes fell, a new alarm struck in every fire station in the city—the 14-14 alarm—and another new one—the 6-6-6-struck in every police station. Then New York shook off the snow with the ease of a bather on Palm Beach throwing off a covering of sand.
The 14-14 alarm brought out 300 tractor type tank snow ploughs manned by firemen and the 6-6-6 was a signal to the police stations to summon the volunteer snow shovellers who enrolled after last year's six-inch snowfall had tied up street cays in Park Row and other thoroughfares for more than four weeks.
Three thousand volunteers took to the streets with scoops and scrapers, and 4,000 regular white wings left their homes to compose the backbone of this snow fighting army. There was no difficulty about finding thousands of other shovellers in the hangouts of unskilled floating labour.
Eigutcen Incnes ar Boston.
Boston reported, unofficially, a snowfall of 18 inches in 24 hours, and there was a heavy fall in Philadelphia and Baltimore, which threatened to turn to sleet. In New York States the worst area was between New York and Syracuse.
Train service on the New York Central Railway, which carries much of New York's food supply, and on the Pennsylvania lines, which also help largely to feed the great: city, was badly retarded, but the railroad companies were san-guide of bringing the trains through in time to obviate any danger of a food shortage.
Passenger trains from the West and Boston on the New York Central lines, were delayed during the day from 30 minutes to one hour. The chief difficulty with the Pennsylvania, and Baltimore and Ohio trains was that. the snow, being heavy and wet, clogged the switches in the terminals which reached out ina vast network of several miles down in New Jersey in the terminal area, also, the use of steam locomotives ordinarily is prohibited and the third rails had a heavy coat of adhesive snow which broke the contact between the motor "shoes" and the electrifier rails.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.