The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1882-02-21
THE STORM.
It's Effect upon the Telegraph
Wires.
How the Railroads were In
convencienced.
Only One Slight Accident in
this vicinity.

The storm which visited this locality yes
terday proved to be quite general and has
resulted in more or less inconvenience to
railroads and telegraph wires; but with a
single exception, the c. B. &. O., no wash
outs or other serious interruption to travel
has occurred.
i Yesterday the sleet falling during the
day made pedestrianism upon the sidewalk
a difficult and uncertain means of locomo-
ton The same concomitant OF the
change in the weather covered the telephone
and telegraph wires and rendered their
successful operation an utter impossibility.
CHANGE.
At about 10 o'clock last night the Their
mometer fell, and the rain and sleet was
metamorphosed into snow which fell dur
ing the night and morning. The change
was accompanied by severe wind which
blew from the north, and caused the insig
tnifcant fall of snow to be of more conse-
quence to railroad travel than would other
wise have been the case. AS it is the tele-
graph wires are badly demoralized, and
proper communication throughout this sec
ton can not be perfected until late hour
this afternoon, although gangs of men
were set to work this morning to repair
the numerous breaks and accidents to the
wires.
/ THE TELEGRAPH
suffered most severely from the effects of
the storm. This was manifested in the
meagre reports in the morning papers, and
in the difficulty experienced in transmit
ting messages from this city to points
west
The sleet completely encased the wires
/ yesterday and thus loaded they became sus
ceptible to the high wind which prevailed
during the night. In many instances the
wires were snapped off by the force of
the wind, while in other cases the
poles were blown down and thus the com
munication was broken.
The lines west of this city were more Sc
verely dealt with than those located be-
tween here and Chicago. Seven poles on
the Island were Frustrated and thus COM
munication between Rock Island and Dav-
export was for the time being, completely
cut off. This accident was repaired dur
| ing the morning. The local office of the
Western Union was kept extremely busy
during the night in transacting the bust
ness of Des Moines, Kansas City and 9TH
er western points, in addition TO the usual
business of the home office.
It is thought that similar accidents to
the wires may occur during the day. as the |
wind is still prevailing and the sleet con-
tinues to form an adjunct to the western
system.
RAILROADS.
The railroads centering in this city were
more or less affected by the storm.
The trains ON the c.. r. I. & P. arrived |
few minutes late this morning. but were
detained in this city some time awaiting
orders from Davenport The wires being
down, the delay was unavoidable, as the
trains could not depart without the neces-
sary orders
The incoming trains on the c., III. s.
st. p arrived about one houElate. The
conductors reported that the storm had
caused no damage to the track, but the
wires were down At late hour this
morning communications with other points
had not been perfected, and it became
impossible to secure any information con
corning the road at large
The r. I. & P. reported trains running
ON time, but the telegraph system was
totally demoralized During the morning
the wires were down in six or seven places
and no attempt was made to use them
until after the breaks had been repaired
which occurred later in the day.
The r. T. & Mercer County was also all
right as far as the track was concerned,
but the telephone wires were out of order.
No breaks were discovered and the wires
were utilized before the noon hour.
THE C. d. s. Q.
train due in this city at an early hour, was
detained by two washouts between Alton
Junction and Beardstown. The accident
necessitated the running of the train via.
the c. & A, and thus caused It's delay in
arriving at Rock Island
The lower portion of the road between
BeardstOwn and St. Louis was visited by a
heavy rain STERN during the major part
If yesterday. The water in two smaller ,
,reeks washed out the bridges crossing :
hem and thus prevented the regular trains
rom passing through Beardstown. The
wires on the road between the last named
tation and this city were also down, and
his prevented the local agent from know
ng the full nature of the mishap.
During the morning the bridges were re-
paired and..also the telegraph system.
FLAKES.
The storm caused about ten tramps to II
eek the protection of the Arnory last
light.
The jail roof being in half completed
ondition, the snow and water penetrated Fl
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