On This Day in History, March 12: The Bridge and The Blizzard
The Great Blizzard of 1888 began on March 11, and New York City suffered through the worst of it on March 12 and 13.
One of the many stories of the storm that appeared in the New York Sun was in its March 13, 1888, issue. They wanted to report on how the great Brooklyn Bridge had fared in the storm and how a man who insisted on walking across came close to death. Here’s the story:
“With the exception of an hour from 9 to 10 a.m. yesterday [March 12] cars ran the Brooklyn Bridge at intervals. The Bridge was enduring a severe test, but President Howell said that not the slightest vibration was discovered in the solid piers. A northwest storm does not strike the bridge so fair as a southeast or southwest storm. Delay was caused by snow and ice. Regular trains ran yesterday morning to 5:10, when the cable was started. For two hours the cable did satisfactory work, but before 8 o’clock, snow and ice accumulated on the tracks, and the momentum of the cars was not sufficient to take them to the platforms. Engines had to pull the trains into the stations. The intervals between the trains grew longer, and the crowd which every morning rides over the bridge to New York was jammed up at the entrance of the bridge on Sands Street.