The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1891-02-04
Y 'RECK OF WIRES.
HUNDREDS OF MILES OF POLES AMO
WIRES IN A TANGtS.
The Great snow and s.eet and Wind Storm

munication ..lmos: Completely Cut on.
New YORK. Jan. 23.-It is just three
days since the terrific storm swooped
down upon this great city.
The first authentic account of the
wreckage caused by the snow and sleet
and gale is given in the Sun. That pa
per devoteS more than dozen columns
in describing the situation in New
York city and state. and surrounding
country. The greater part Of this vast
amount Of information was received by
incoming trains and special service
not by telegraph, for the wires were all
in a tangled mass On the ground
The first wire service has just been
established, and other are being righted
as rapidly as men can work, and in q
few hours regular outside communica-
ton viii be established again.
In speaking of the storm, the Sun
says:
Within the city the wreck OF aerial
lines was unheard Of. Rows of poles
toppled, broke off and fell. overb0rne
by the snow coating of the wires Such
was the maze and tangle Of wires Of all
sorts that it might have been man
slaughter to turn on the arc light cur
rents last night The streets were left
to the moon, as they were when the
mayors ak was falling on the poles.
After this dose it is not likely that any
electrical company which can get itself
underground will want to inhabit the
upper air As for the magnitude Of the
event, look at these items. for instance:
Philadelphia was dead city to us.
Every wire by which she is usually
reached was gone.
Every instrument in the Office of the
Postal telegraph was silent, for every
wire out of the city was lost. Even the
blizzard had not so absolutely demoral-
lied the service.
The Western Union could boast of
just three wires in use at o'clock Sun
day night. These ran to Buffalo and
Albany, and by these routes all busi-
ness, north, south, east and west, was
transacted.
The, long-distance telephone lines,
which Withstood the blizzard bravely,
surrendered completely to this storm.
The state of New Jersey is tangle
of wrecked poles and wires from one
end to the other, and it will be week
before the telegraph service is restored.
Five lines Of wires across the Newark
meadows look as it a cyclone had passed
over them, so completely have the damp
clinging masses Of snow done their
work.
The destructive effects of the storm
extended over a comparatively limited
area. A short distance below Philadel-
phia was the southernlimit of telegraph
Decentralization, and Boston was the
northern limit. The storm was prac-
tically confined to the coast, and ex-
tended 10 further north in this state
than Peekskill and Haverstraw.
1t started as a comparatively harm
less affair down in Texas. At o'clock
on Saturday morning its center was N
Alabama. while the entire gulf was de-
luged with rain. BY o'clock On Satur-
day night the storm center had jumped
UP to the neighborhood of Cape Halter
as, with lively wind coming down to
meet it from the centre of high barom-
etric pressure to the northeast. The
storm Slid uD from Cape Hatteras un-
der cover of darkness at lightning
speed, and was upon us before the sig
nal service folks were ready for it.
Philadelphia caught it early in the
evening, and the advance guard came
to us in the rain which began at 1045
p. m. The mercury fell, and snow be-
gan just before midnight, when the
temperature was just a degree or two
above freezing. That was what played
havoc. The snow had come down
through an upper statum of cold air.
The flakes took on their most clinging
nature when they got down near the
earth in warmer temperature. Every
thing was wet with the rain, and the
flakes clung to whatever they touched
This condition of things kept up until
10 o'clock Sunday morning, with the
snow coming down continuously ana
the mercury trembling around the freeZ
ing point.
Tie poles began to 60 down when the
wind freshened from the North. through
the early morning hours. At 4 o'clock
a. m. it was blowing a thirty-iiye-mile
blast The storm centre, though, had
already whipped to the northeast, and
now it is out Of tie grip OF the civil
service men somewhere Off Halifax.
It was such storm as the telegraph
companies have not been called upon to
combat in ten years. Old telegraph
hands say that there has been nothing
| like it since the famous sleet storm OF
Sunday, Jan. %, 1881. just ten years ago
almost to day, when the telegraph
lines all through the east We're par
alyZed.
vt II o'clock Sunday night only one
dispatch had reached the Sun office
from its hundreds Of telegraphlc cores
pondents through the country. This
dispatch came from Scranton by way OF
Chicago. The correspondent said the
only wire working from Scranton con.
nected with Chicago. Of the scores OF
wires between Chicago and New Y ork
one was in working order, and the
Scranton item reached the Sun by this
roundabout route. The land connec-
tons OF the cable service were almost
wholly out OF order, though a few
words were occasionally received.
With all the wreck ard tangle there
were only two persons reported injured.
Mrs. Catherine Mccormack was cut
about the face, hands and neck by fall
ing wires. John J. Burke was struck
cn the shoulder by a bunch OF wire and
his shoulder was diSlocated.
The Goats Blood euro.
PARIS, January 29.-DrS. Berth ;tGd
picG, OF the Nantes faculty, have ere