The following letter is from MR. FRED SMITH of New York City.

"On Monday everything was tied up. The East River was frozen up the first time to my knowledge. Henry Ward Beecher was the first man to walk across it, then a horse and sled, then a lot of boys played on the ice when the ice broke, and they were carried from Fulton St. Ferry down to Gov. Island where a tug put out from the Battery, forced its way through the ice and rescued them. The horse cars were all left in the avenue. All you could see was a small piece of stove pipe about a foot long sticking through the roof on every second block."