MR. JOSEPH BYRNE of New York City writes:

"At that time I was residing on Dyckman Street, New York City, quite close to the Hudson River, and was employed in the National Bank of Commerce in New York, which was located on the corner of Cedar and Nassau Streets. Mr. Nelson Olcott, who was a neighbor, was the correspondence clerk of the National Bank of Commerce, and on Monday morning, March 12, 1888, he called at my father's house about eight o'clock and he and I started on our journey to the bank. The trains on the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad which we usually took were not running so we proceeded to walk to the elevated railroad at 155th Street and 8th Avenue. Mr. Olcott wore a beard at that time and after we had been out in the storm for a short time he gave an excellent suggestion of the popular conception of Santa Claus, his eyebrows and whiskers being heavily laden with frozen snow. Going down Kingsbridge Road we encountered a number of hills which proved to be quite an impediment to our progress because of the difficulty of securing a foothold in the slippery ice and sleet while climbing the hills. However, the gale from the North was of great assistance.

"We finally reached the platform of the Sixth Avenue El at 155th Street about ten o'clock, the distance covered being three and a half miles. Naturally, the violent exercise occasioned profuse perspiration and when we boarded the express train, which proved to be the last one that left 155th Street that day, we entered cars that were exceedingly cold. Most of the passengers were walking up and down the cars to maintain their circulation. Our trip around the curve at 110th Street was a very anxious moment for all of us as we seemed to reach there just as a particular violent squall struck the train which shivered as did the whole elevated structure, and we fully expected that we would be precipitated to the street. The train proceeded as far as 32nd Street .on the Sixth Avenue line when it was stalled by the depth of the snow on the tracks, and the passengers walked back on the trestle to the 33rd Street station. We then repaired to the Gilsey House for a hot drink and after warming up there for a little while we started down Broadway, reaching the bank about noon. As I recall it, there were about twelve of the force of sixty who had arrived at that time. Particularly noteworthy was the arrival of an elderly man, Mr. Lewis, who resided in Plainfield or Metuchen. Mr. Lewis appeared to be rather a delicate man of about fifty years of age. When his train was stalled he got out and ran from train to train and finally, just as he reached the foremost train, it began to move and he got aboard. He was the only one, as far as the records could determine, who reached New York City, leaving Plainfield or Metuchen at the time he did.

"Another unusual case was that of Mr. Perry Townsend, who was about six feet tall and exceedingly thin, and who lived somewhere on the East Side near 100th Street. He walked to the bank from his house in the morning and after a day's work, about five or six o'clock in the evening walked back again. The return journey was, as you will appreciate, against a very stiff wind.

"Mr. W. C. Duvall, who was then Assistant Cashier of the bank and who lived somewhere in the neighborhood of Washington Square, , came down all right, wearing heavy leather boots. He left the bank about four in the afternoon to return home, and after struggling about an hour to cross Fulton Street, which doubtless was very icy, he gave up in despair and returned to the bank. Those who were left in the bank at about seven o'clock went to Murphy & Powers Restaurant on Cedar Street and had a very substantial hot dinner, and then started walking up Broadway to their respective homes. Around Canal Street we saw a fire engine struggling to go to a fire on the West side. Some of our companions followed the fire engine, but Mr. Duvall and Mr. Olcott and I continued our walk to the west side of Broadway, stopping for a little rest at the Southern Hotel, and finally arriving at Mr. Olcott's parents' residence at 111 West 13th Street, where we were well taken care of for the night.

"Tuesday morning . . . the Olcott residence was in darkness because their front windows were covered by the drift. The house is still standing and is occupied by Mr. Van Vechten Olcott at this time, and is the usual three story and basement type. After breakfast, we got out some table leaves of a mahogany table and burrowed our way to the sidewalk, tunneling through the snow. On the south side of the street the snow had been entirely blown away by the gale but the drift on the north side, as I recall it, was from thirty to forty feet high.

"When we started down to the bank on that . . . winter's morning, the temperature was still very low. Many people were going down town in sleighs of all descriptions, cutters and delivery sleighs, etc. and everyone was most jovial and a good many were lustily singing."