Early yesterday morning, the weather, which, at a late hour Saturday night, seemed likely to be pleasant, disappointed the expectations of New York weather prophets, and rapidly changed for the worse. There had been a clear sky, twinkling stars, and air not too cold nor yet too warm, during the night. There were heavy masses of clouds, rapidly moving, a chilly, murky atmosphere, and a generally disagreeable outlook, at 7 o'clock in the morning.

 At 8 o'clock, rain began to fall. It came neither in a slow drizzle, intermittently, nor with coquettish demeanor, but started as if the floodgates of the sky had been opened and nobody was at hand to gauge and restrain the down-pouring volumes. The brisk showers of Summer shrank to nothingness in comparison. The few people who at such an hour Sunday morning are obliged to be away from their homes, wandering about various parts of the City, were in most instances unprepared for such a deluge, and stowed themselves away for a time in convenient doorways, under casual awnings, and wherever total or partial shelter was afforded. News-venders, with the morning's issue of papers, looked disconsolate enough as they tried to keep their perishable wares from the down-pouring.

The Italians, who arrived by the Denmark, on Saturday, in many instances had wandered about the City during the night, unable to find their way back to Castle Garden, and seemed exceedingly astonished at the violence and quantity of the rain. In their large cloaks, wrapped artistically about them, with various hued leggings and slouched hats, in the blinding, drenching rain, they presented a singular and novel appearance. The rain froze as it fell, and rapidly draped everything it touched with a glassy sheet of ice. The immense crowds attending early masses at the Catholic churches were victims to the violence of the storm, and found great difficulty in reaching their homes. Street-cars were scarce, and, as is usually the case in bad weather, there was a disinclination on the part of the companies to put on extra horses. The animals which were forced into service looked sorry enough.

As the day advanced the rain increased in force rather than diminished, and soon filled the gutters to overflowing, and running upon the sidewalks, made it a matter of comparative indifference to the pedestrian whether he chose the middle of the street or the ordinary highways for his peregrinations. Roofs, sides of houses, windows, trees, and everything exposed to the storm, received a bountiful washing, and then the forces of nature, not content with turning the City into a vast lavatory, glazed over the whole with ice, until New York resembled a wide-extending crystal palace. The mansion of the rich, the home of the well to do citizen, and the hovel of the beggar, were alike adorned with a smooth, transparent sheet of ice. The telegraph wires which cross the City in every direction, like a gigantic spider's web, received the common accumulation of ice, which continued to increase until no more would form about the wire itself: then the drippings from the lines formed into icicles, and these continued to lengthen until the spun-out iron was too severely tested, and parted under the intense strain. In this way one wire after another was broken, and the ordinary avenues of intelligence from near and far were closed.

The running of trains in consequence became perilous; people anxious to obtain news form their friends in distant parts of the country crowded the telegraph offices; the Fire Department was thrown into confusion; the Police Department could obtain no intelligence from the various precincts of the City. Then men, with iron "climbers" on their feet, were sent from the telegraph offices, in every direction to repair the wires. These attempted to climb the telegraph poles, and although the sharp irons on their feet pierced the ice and wood, keeping them from falling, yet the ice benumbed their hands, and rendered their positions perilous.

Little could be done toward repairing the injuries yesterday, as nearly every line was broken, and some of them in scores of places. Along Broadway, the Bowery, downtown, and in fact everywhere in the City where telegraph-wires run, they were to be seen broken, with one end attached to the glass non-conductor of the pole, and the other trailing in the gutter. Parties arriving from adjacent cities by the various ferries and trains reported the same condition of affairs, that the wires were all down, and that it will probably take several days, with a very large force of men, to make the necessary repairs.

The trees and shrubbery in Central Park presented an exceedingly beautiful appearance, the accumulation of ice upon every trunk, bough, and twig, making it easy for the observer to imagine himself in fairy-land. The heaviness of the rain, however, prevented a very general enjoyment of the unusual sight and but very few people passed in and out of the enclosure during the day. Those who braved the rain to enjoy the magnificent spectacle were mostly enthusiasts. The destruction of trees and shrubbery, however, was immense, the ground being strewed in every direction with branches and twigs broken down by the weight of the ice. Not only did the small branches give way, but great limbs, and in many cases the trees themselves succumbed to the immense pressure. The other parks in the City suffered in like manner, and it will take the growth of many summers to replace what the storm of a few hours has destroyed. Late in the afternoon the rain slackened considerably, and the weather moderating somewhat, the ice ceased to form, and melted slowly from the substances to which it adhered. The Police Telegraph Useless

The storm had a most disastrous effect upon the wires of the Police Telegraph, and at an early hour yesterday afternoon telegraphic communication between the Central Department in Mulberry-street and the various precinct stations throughout the City had almost entirely ceased. All Saturday night, and until an early hour yesterday morning, the line was in its usual good condition, and messages were being continually transmitted over the wires. As the storm continued during the morning, and the wires became coated with ice, the lines began showing signs of weakness, and the rapid transmission of messages was somewhat retarded, but no serious interruption occurred until about the noon roll-call. The station on the south section of the line, which comprises the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Twenty-sixth and Twenty-seventh Precincts, failed to answer roll-call, and on the line being tested it was found to be completely broken down.

The other sections quickly followed the example of the south section, and by 3 o'clock in the afternoon there were but four stations in telegraphic communication with the Central Office, and these were the Ninth, Fourteenth, Fifteenth and Sixteenth Precincts, located on the western section. Mr. James Crowley, the Superintendent of the Telegraph Bureau, was notified by special messenger, and at once repaired to the Central Office to see what could be done in the emergency. After a careful survey of different portions of the line, Mr. Crowley became convinced that the wires were hopelessly broken down and nothing could be done to remedy the evil until today. In some instances the wires were broken from the poles and lying in the street, in other cases the wires on the poles had become crossed and entangled in inextricable conclusion, while a great many poles were found to have either snapped in twain from the immoderate strain to which they were subjected, or had been uprooted, and were lying across the roadway, impeding travel in the side streets in the upper part of the City.

This was particularly the case along First and Second avenues, where a large number of poles had given way, and were either lying across the streets or were suspended by the wires, which had remained unbroken. The great damage to the telegraph line was caused by ice forming on the wires to such an extent as to render them so heavy that they, by sheer weight, dragged themselves from their fastenings on the poles, and snapped asunder in hundreds of places. Where the poles were weak they gave way first, and are still partially upheld by the wires. No less than twenty-six prostrate poles were counted along First-avenue between Twentieth and Fifty-ninth streets Most of these belong to the Western Union Telegraph Company, and on a great many of them the Police telegraph wires are run. None of the poles belonging to the Police or Fire Departments are down, but the wires are all disarranged and broken to such an extent as to render them entirely useless for the present, and several days must necessarily elapse before they can be placed in anything like working order. The line running from the Central Office, in Mulberry-street, and the Fire Department Headquarters, in Mercer-street, also broke down during the day, but were repaired in a few hours, and the Superintendent of Police and the Fire Commissioners were kept in constant communication.

Superintendent Kelso, on being informed of the sad state of the Police Telegraph, promptly adopted measures to remedy the evil as much as possible, and to keep communication open. Orders were transmitted to the Captains of the various precincts by special messengers to be more than usually vigilant, particularly to keep a sharp look-out for fires, and to communicate with the Central Office as speedily as possible by messenger. Sergt. Westing, of the Mounted Squad and his whole force was brought to Head-quarters and a mounted patrolman was sent to each Police Station below Fourteenth-street to be used as a messenger for communicating between the Police Stations in case of emergency, or of help being required from the adjoining precincts. The following order was issued to all the precincts below Fourteenth street at which these mounted messengers are on duty:

(From Central Office)

Captain___________:

You will provide quarters for officers of Mounted Squad. Upon receipt of intelligence of other emergency requiring the reserve of adjoining precincts, and you cannot communicate by telegraph, send message by mounted officer to the Precinct from which you require aid, and notify this office.

JOHN J. KELSO. Supt.

Besides the detail of mounted patrolmen referred to above, Srgt. Westing, two rounds men, and four patrolmen were kept on reserve duty at Police Head-quarters all night to be ready for any emergency that might arise calling for their services.

During the afternoon Superintendent Kelso, received a notice from the Fire Commissioners informing him that their telegraph was out of order, and the transmission of fire alarms from the street-boxes almost wholly suspended. The aid of the Police was invoked to facilitate the transmission of alarms to the quarters of the fire companies throughout the City. In accordance with this request, the Superintendent issued the following order to the Captains of all the precincts in the City, and it was conveyed to the station-houses by mounted messengers:

(From Central Office)

To All Precincts:

The Police and fire-telegraph wires are broken throughout the City from the effects of the storm. You will notify your command, in case of fire, to pull the box as usual and then proceed to the nearest fire-company quarters with the alarm, and promptly notify this office.

JAMES J. KELSO, Superintendent.

The Police were further notified that on the discovery of a fire to convey the information the quarters of all the fire companies in their respective precincts as promptly as possible, and to facilitate as much as possible the operations of the Fire Department.

The Eighteenth Precinct Police reported that during the day telegraph poles at the following places were blown down: South-east corner of Second-avenue and Twenty-second-street, south-west corner of Second-avenue and Twenty-second street, south-=east corner of Second-avenue and Twenty-first street, at Nos. 314, 328, and 342 East Twenty-first street, and south-west corner of Twenty-second-street and Avenue A.

Operations of the Fire Department Impeded.

Almost imperceptibly the ice on the wires of the Fire Department Telegraph accumulated; but its weight steadily increased every hour, as drop by drop the rain fell. By 1 o'clock, the wires with the icy coating measured an inch, in some places even an inch and a half in circumference, and then from midway between the telegraph poles the peaks of harmless-looking icicles began to appear. About the same time news was taken to Fire Department Head-quarters in Mercer-street of "a break" in one of the wires, and a "line-man" was promptly sent to repair it. Then the wire snapped in every direction, breaking clean in two, and always near the poles. Within two hours telegraphic communication of the Fire Department stations with each other and with their head-quarters was cut off; telegraph-poles swayed out of position, and, in many instances, fell to the ground: and on all the principal streets and avenues of the City, the wire, which is made of steel, with a thin coating of copper, hung in shreds, often of an incautious pedestrian, or cutting him on the face.

In the evening the weather moderated, and by 9 o'clock the ice had disappeared from the wires. But during that short period one of the most essential parts of the new Fire Department system was utterly prostrated, and the Fire Commissioners had to fall back for help on those of the old system, the bell towers. The damage done is estimated by Commissioner Blair at $150,000. Telegraph operators call it a sleet storm. They say it was the severest that has ever visited New-York, though one, almost as disastrous in its results, swept over the City in March, 1869. The Fire Department had 620 miles of wire in use, supported on 2,800 poles.

Effect of the Storm on Ferry Travel

The fog which arose after sundown yesterday caused some little delay with the ferries, but not more than enough to allow the pilots time to make a careful passage. The Hoboken ferries observed the caution to wait in the slip on the Jersey side until the New York boat arrived, thus avoiding all chances of a collision in the stream. It being Sunday the traffic was much less than on a week day, consequently the delay last evening did not cause serious inconvenience. The Jersey City Ferry had no occasion to alter the time of their trips. The Roosevelt Ferry ran somewhat irregularly, as to time, but managed to keep up a communication between Williamsburg and this City, the boats between South Seventh street, Williamsburg, and Grand-street, New York, running more frequently than usual on Sunday. The Fulton and other Brooklyn ferries did not change their usual Sunday time of fifteen-minute trips. The pilots and hands on the boats said the fog was not as thick on the river as in the City, and by aid of the head-lights, with the assistance of the bells and whistles, they were able to make fair passages. The Staten island ferry-boats ceased running at 8 o'clock last night.

Storm Casualties

The number of street accidents yesterday was very large, though the number of persons seriously injured was fortunately not great. Many people sustained painful falls, but the following are the only serious casualties reported:

John Burke, of No. 326 Pearl street, laborer, was taken to the Park Hospital, last evening, suffering from a fracture of the left arm, near the shoulder, caused by a fall on the sidewalk.

At 8 1/2 o'clock last evening, Bridget Murphy, of No. 120 East Twentieth-street, fell, at the corner of New Chambers and William streets, and broke one of her legs. She was removed to the Park Hospital.

Jane Miller, aged fifty, of No. 156 Eighth-avenue, fell on the ice yesterday, and sustained serious injuries.

At the close of the funeral services of the late Capt. John Cameron, while the assemblage was leaving St. Paul's M.E. Church, corner of Fourth-avenue and Twenty-second street, Officer Potts of the Eighteenth Precinct Police, slipped on the ice, and striking the back of his head against the stone step of the church, was seriously, if not dangerously injured.

Bridget Falvey, aged forty-eight, of No. 120 East Twentieth street fell on the sidewalk at the corner of New Chambers street and William street and fractured her left leg. She was cared for at the Park Hospital.