New-York tribune., 1885-01-18
BLOWING so MILES AN HOUR.
A TERRIFIC WESTERLY GALE.
TELEGRAPH WIRES OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES AND
WALLS NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. EFFECTS.

N stioHS westerly gaze DieW ycstciuay iton ouh
rise far into the night. At a. m. the velocity of
the wind was thirty miles hour with
pressure of four aud half pounds
to the square foot. At IL o'clock 1t
blew forty miles an hour and the pressure was
eight pounds to the square foot. At p. IN. 1T blew
forty-two miles hour and the pressure per square
foot was nearly nine pounds. At o'clock at night
the velocity of the wind forty miles an hour
and the pressure per square foot seven pounds.
maximum velocity for the day was fifty miles an
hour with pressure of twelve and half pounds
to the square foot. This occurred little before
o'clock In the afternoon.
MUCH DAMAGE TO TELEGRAPH WIRES.
Great inconvenience was caused to business men
yesterday by the havoc played by the storm among
the telegraph wires in every part of the country.
Connection with Chicago and the West was en-
tirely cut off for several hours. The telegraph
companies lost no time in repairing damages and
were able in the afternoon to handle all their mes
sages to all parts of the country. Trains de-
layed by snow In the West, but the damage to the
wires was principally caused by the wind, which in
some places attained tremendous velocity.
William b. Somerville, of the Western Union
Telegraph Company, in relating what damage had
been done by the Storm said to TRIBUNE reporter:
Communication with Chicago was entirely cut
off this morning. At $50 there was no
wire to Buffalo. The wind there is reported
to have had velocity of seyenty-One
miles an hour West of Buffalo the
service was crippled, too and between Harrisburg
ard Pittsburg also. The business with New
Orleans was interrupted Between Philadelphia
and Washington. and south of that city, the same
state of things prevailed, On the Southern route
train is proceeding with men putting mp the
wires, and whole force is at work in the various
sections of the country where the wires are down.
We arc working with a limited supply of
wires in all directions. There are from
thIrty-six TO forty wires shortage III the East.
About half the wires III that direction are III run
ming order. We have repair forces at certain CEN
tres ready for such emergencies. and the Ine-men
are all out Our wires generally run along rail-
roads and our men have hand-cars TO use i'll
transporting themselves and implements and sup
plies to needed points, and besides they can travel
on any trains. which always stop for them at any
place. so able rapidly TO repair the damage
in n case like this. The storm at Washington was
very severe We had some big strong poles, seventy
feet high near Offices IN Fourteenth-st.. near
Pennsylvana-ave in that city, and their tops were
cut of by The gale. We using the Wheat
stone automatic system 10 Chicago via Buffalo. BY
this system we can send 200 words a minute on one
wire-as much as five or six men could send
on as many wires. While we have estab
lished our connections West and East, the
Southern wires still in bad condition AT Mll-
ierstown. Penn, a dwellIng.honse was blown
again, Il our poles aud wires aud tore them down.
The storm was very bad at Boston this morning.
Al Cincinnati -. Louis and Louisville our wires
are still in bad shape. On Saturdays the volume
of bv ,iness is not large other days Monday
Is n. heaviest day with us. Oar wires VIII all bc
ic~,l.tler Ly Monday
"U has been pretty serious" said ID. II. Bates,
pre,ldent of Baltimore aud Ohio Telegraph Com
pany IN response to question about the effects Of
the Storm There was terrific slcet and rain storm
throughout the West, mterruptng our wires 10 a
considerable extent, but we have been able
to work several of them To Chicago and st.
Louis. and other Western points. aud | believe
ours are the only ones working To those points to-
day The Produce Exchange ls getting quotations
from us. II is pretty hard 10 Keep up the wires III
such n wind. our wires leading To Chicago are an
new. and stood the storm, We think, very we'll we
have one duplex wire on the floor Of the Produce
Exchange ard one mp STAR, connecting with Chi-
cagD in running order. We have otjers by way 0i
Baltimore 10 Cincinnati and IT. louIs. our wires
are newer aud built III a more substantial manner
than those of any other company. They have all
the latest improvements
J. II. Emerick, superintendent Of the Eastern
was found at his office, No. 46 Broad
way. lie said: Our wires are
working South all right We still have about haIi
of our wires to Chicago. our wires III the west
were all down until 1880 a. H. Our pole Ine Is the
bcsr In the country The poles afc large and strong
and close together and TO superior construction Is
due he fact that wires are not generally down.
Saturday i one of our light days, but we are gem
orally pretty busy until ori O'Clock"
OTHER EFFECTS or THE GALE.
When the last relocated soldier of King George
looked over the stern of the last ship III the eet OF
Admiral Lord Howe, he flagstaff at the Bat
terry from which was flying the British ensign.
Then Richard Van Arsdale climbed the pole. tore
down the flag and mailed IN ITS place The banner O
the ncw-bern Republic. The old stan remained
and grew old with the country. Finally Il new TOP
mast had to be put on IT, This, IN ls6i, was stfacH
by lightning and entirely destroyed. new stan
was put up and remained until yesterday AZ t;Zo
D. H.. when the wind was blowing q gale the
staff was observed to sWay: nay ilc aIG "a wstc SiowS
IT, In a few minutes there was cracking sound
and the stan fell, broken OIL about eighteen Inc les
front OF the Barge Office, the topmas reaching into
the park The wood around the base oi the stan
and where the topmast joined the lower mas. , was
considerably rottcd The staif broke only at those
places giving way at the latter end as 1t struck
the ground. . 4, -
At 6 o'clock 200 feet OF fence on Pier NO. =
East River were blown down.
When the tugboat Leonard Richards was twenty
five miles south-southea OF the higniahds AT
$50 q. m yesterday she sighted the Dritlsh pr.s
The Charley, from Point-a-Pltre, trying TO MAKE
pert, but having hard time on account ol me
terrific westerly gale. The tug TOOK tnd
t5re S5s times m tH% Hs last O tune at n o p NJ At that
time the tug and tow were fifteen miles southeast
of the Highlands and the tug bad to give up the
attempt to land tho vessel into port only one
ship and two schoOners came by Sandy Hook yes
teriay. heavy sea was reported outslut. ~ ,ho
The gale caused an extremely low tide on the
shores of Staten Island. The shoals were bare
in many places and the oystermens
and clani-diggers made the most OF
the opportunity Tho ferry-boats had
much difficulty in making IheTilandinss. o,o
The residents of Middle Illlagc, !" l., Werc
startled at / a m Yesterday by "a loud ruEibling
noise IL was caused by the fall of the east and
west walls of the United states Cremat0ry bnlid-
ing on the top of Mount OlIvet, which had been
blown down by the wind. The walls were twenty
eight feet high and ready for the roof The loss
to the company is over $4,000.
ruIlcr rink In of erection IN BELL