New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-03-13
CUT OFF From THE OUTER WORLD
TELEGRAPH WIRES MADE USELESS.

TELEPHONE COMMUNICATIONS LITTLE BETTER
| POLES COME DOWN IN THE sTRrEr
New-Yorll's isolation from the outside word
was begun at an early hour yesterday The teie-
graph wires began to give out shortly after l
o'clock a. m This was kept up untii daylight
by which time there were only one or Two IN
operation between here and Chicago, half dozen
or so to Southern points, and few 10 Boston,
Springfield and other New-Engand cities. These
did not last long. At noon communication wiih
the West was almost entirely cut of except 20
| intervals Then the Southern lines went down,
except between here and Philadelphia, where
wire was occasionally obtained for few momems
and then lost
All New-England beyond NewIIayen was lost
! by o'clock, and even between here and NeE-
Haven little business could be transacted. Ihs
city business also suffered severely. The Western
Union, like the other telegraph companies, has
already made considerable use OF the sabways
and elevated railroad structures, but thus faf
mostly for the local lines. Local wires are SUI
carried on the poles TO large extent, and these
were at the mercy of the blizzard.
Superintendent Brennan, of the Western lnion,
operating room. said last evening that while 10
business was refused, all messages were takf
on condition. that is: subject to the delay
occasioned by The storm. This applied to cities IS
Trenton, Long Island towns and othef
neighboring aud suburban places, wh'Fe
wires could only be made TO work az inter-
ya This was segng segTus tSeP Il was &
| to get home again last night, naturally wanred
TO inform their families OF the fact Compan-
| lively few Of them could be accommodated a. 10
telephone wires however, Jared little better,
| and by these means messages were mostly sehs
during the latter part OF the day.
| Only O few poles were down In the city, ~
| out through tie country, especially In the Souih,
the damage in this respect was widespread re
| ports from some points stated that miles oi e5ie M
| r.t,,af Lana ~
were on the gF0und beIa In wns sort Of eommun
| cation between New-York and Buffalo, Pittsbnfs,
| Cleveland and Chicago, but 10 did not amount 10
much ANY business lor Ine Sou.n @ or ,hons.e
they could be got to work. large force si
linemen were kept out. but they confined their
efforts to, clearing away the loose wires ana
broken poles. - f.
attempt was made to hang wires OF course. Tor
| as Foreman Brown Of the Construction Depaft
ment declared It was pract&lcaiV & nas No ~,
rsMR' nnt the M,H storm @ abatss Many Of ts Wes,syn
consultation of the Baltimore and Ohio and MDt
uaI Union Companies, run along country roa''s
where 1t Is impossible for linemen to 20: IL Doy
take days to get these In wording order sg"n,
az the highways are practically impossible AZ
The ocean cables worked all right. but in some
Instances the land connections with them were IN
| bad shape Not over O third Of the desks in the
| big operating room Of the Western Union WIRE
| occupied. Many of the operators could not get
paratively littio TO do. The other teIegrapa
Companies, except the Postal Company, had sim
| liar reports to make.
The Postal people claimed to be in better shape.
| Five buadruplcxes and one single wire. they
said. were clear to Boston and some of the Chi
cago circuits were in fair working order. but the
| Southern lines were hopelessly mixed. It wss
the general opinion Of the telegraph officials taat
with ell its violence TIM blizzard had not injured
the telegraph service here in the city as much ~
| had the memorable sleet storm Of Issl. which
| broke up the service for o time entirely.
TELEPHONE WIRES GET OFF MORE EASILY.
| The telephone wires suffered severely. but not
as much as the telegraph lines. This was due
to the fact that moro Of them arc under ground
and as rule are better protected that tho Others
Telephone communication was kept up pretty
much all over this city and Brooklyn through
out the day. OF course, there was some delsT.
some crossing Of wires and other mshaps that are
experienced with every storm. hut as rule the
local service WAS in fair working order good
many poles were blown down. but the worst dam
age was doac In West Elcventh-st. where almost
| the entifc line Of poles belonging " the Mstse~