Jasper County Democrat, Volume 1, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 February 1899 — BLIZZARD IN SOUTH. [ARTICLE]

BLIZZARD IN SOUTH.

DEEP SNOWS AND HIGH WINDS CAUSE HAVOC. Eastern and southern States Para* lyzed by Cold Wave Of Uitprecedeated severity—Peril to Shipping— Tropical Fruits Badly Damaged.

The protracted cold wave 111 at recently held the Northwest in its grip, lattr ex* tended U> the South and East, changing tts Tofni east of Ohio into that of blffezard Of almost unprecedented ferocity, and carrying its below-zero weather far yut iuto the Gulf of Mexico. The storm, as a whole, was phenomenal for its vast extent and its extreme severity. New York was practically paralyzed under the fierce blizzard that, swept over it, with the wind at tifty miles an hour, the thermometer at 8 degrees above zero, and the soon coming down steadily for twentyfour hours. Three feet of snow in Washington city, forty inches in Maryland, and twelve inches in South Carolina continue the story of disaster and suffering : southward. Kentucky seems to have suffered the worst that the thermometer could do. In sunny Georgia drifts of snow ten feet deep and a temperature of 15 below are reported, while the waters of the gulf are said to have been frozen a mile out from shore. The suffering everywhere was pitiable, but in tlu> South it was worst, because the cold was so unprecedented. There is something appalling in the thought of zero weather along the Gulf of Mexico. The suffering among the ill-clad and 'poorly housed negroes and indigent whites in that laud where frost is a, rarity must of necessity be extreme. Severe damage to crops has been one of. the results of the cold snap. Florida has suffered enormous loss. The pineapple industry has been dealt a serious blow. The extent of the damage to the Orange groves cannot be definitely stated at present, hut reports agree that many trees are killed. Early vegetables are ruined. Throughout the South early fruit crops have been mined. Cotton planters have suffered heavily.