Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-18
COLDER THAN In NOVEMBER, 1890.
Gas Returns to Its Old Winter Schedule of
Getting Scarce as the Weather
Grows Cold.
MANY ACCIDENTS CAUSED BY THE DROP.
Wood and Coal in Red-Hot Stoves Create Number Of
Chimney Fires.

!
ored fluid slid down the glass tube from $50
to 100, and to add to the misery of human
ity a snowstorm blew at Western
cyclone rate nearly all of the after
noon. 1t was the first noticeable
snow of the season, and the swelter-
ing populace of the day before couldn't
accustom itself to shivering without throw
ing in few curses with chattering teeth.
1t seemed as if Pittsburg had been picked
up in the torrid zone to be dropped in
the frigid regions, and many of the people
when they awoke in the morning looked
up at the Court House tower and wondered
if it wasn't the North Pole.
Storm overcoats with moth-eaten collars
and cobwebs reaching from one pocket to
the other were as plenty as umbrellas on
rainy day. They had been resurrected for
the time being and there wasn't enough
time to have them put in condition. The
only winter attachment that wasn't brought
out was the cape overcoat. 1t was too
much like ships sails and couldn't be
handled on account of the high wind.
Had to Sprint for Their Hats.
The gale reached such high speed toward
evening that it was almost impossible for
men to keep in sight of their hats on down
town streets A few chimneys were
toppled over and all the loose boards in the
city went off OF an excursion, but no damage
was reported.
Comparisons are odious and none more so
than comparing yesterday with November
II year ago. The thermometer then regis
tered $50, and as men knocked the icicles
from their whiskers yesterday they thought
of the happy times 365 days before when
they were engaged in mopping their fore
heads with bandana handkerchiefs. The
lowest point in November last year that
the thermometer reached was % degrees.
That was on the 2sth and if the lead yester-
day made is an indication of what the win
ter will be, the prospect for comfort is
about as pleasant as life in a little cottage
few miles north of the Arctic Ocean.
AS is usual on cold day., the gas fol-
lowed the ground hogs example, and hid
himself in hole. Up on Dinwiddie street
furnished by the Peoples Company to
stock a prohibition agitator, and toward
evening, when 1870 was reached on the ther-
mometer, the fires in gas stoves sawed the
bars and went out. In other parts of town
people renewed their condemnation of gas,
and it was the general opinion that there
was even greater shortage than in the ac-
counts of Allegheny officials.
Railroad Accidents Caused by Cold.
Two accidents were reported of men who
were injured on the railroad on account of
the storm and cold. SiIas Bolliver,
colored porter on the Philadelphia express,
was injured at Greensburg in the afternoon
He left the train to get lunch. and as the
train was moving out attempted to jump |
on board. He slipped on the snow
covered platform and fell, the wheels
passing over his right foot. He was
brought to the West Penn Hospital and the |
limb amputated above the ankle. Bolliver
lives in this city, and is the son of a Metho- |
dist minister.
George Boyd, brakeman on the Penn |
svlvania Railroad had his hand crushed |
while coupling cars near Greensburg yester-
dav morning He was brought to the hos |
pitai and the injured member amputated |
above the wrisf. He is % wears of age, sin |
gle and lives ON Twenty-eighth street. The |
accident was due to his hands being be- |
numbed with the cold.
Wood and coal fires were started in all |
the old stoves that could be found, and as |
result chimney fires kept the populace in
continual excitement. The larger number |
we're put out with buckets and water, and |
only four alarms were struck.
No damage was caused by any of them. |
The alarm from station % at $50 was
caused by chimney fire in dwelling house |
on Duquesne way near Ninth street. No
damage resulted.
Two Other Chimney Blazes.
AT 6:05 an alarm was sent in from station !
81 for chimney fire in the house of John |
Hart, on South Eighteenth street. There |
was no damage.
About o'clock alarms were sent IN from |
stations 90 and 1876. No. SO was for a |
chimney fire in dwelling on Muriel street, |
near Thirteenth street, and No. 1876 was for |
a chimney fire in a dwelling on Second |
avenue, Soho. No damage resulted in either |
case.
Cold weather always has a demoralizing
effect on the railroads, and the sudden fall in |
temperature yesterday was no exception to
the rule. Most of the through trains on the |
Pennsylvania road were late last evening.
The ST. Louis express came in 45 minutes
behind time, and the limited was held two
hours by slight wreck which would have
been cleared away in short time in hot
weather The men found it difficult and
slow work. In the mountains the winds
were high and the snow was flying. Only
engineers and the hard-worked firemen
know what it is to run trains in the face of
a driving gale; speed is impossible. How
ever the Pennsylvania road Jared very well
last evening. and the trains were not far
behind scheduled time. The B. & o. always
has a tough time in the mountains beyond
during the winter. Consider
able snow fell all along the mountain
but as it was light and f1eecy it
did not interfere a great deal with the
freight trains.
Snow Drifts on the b. & o.
The through express trains from the East
arrived on time. The Cincinnati express
was on the scratch. The Baltimore and
Ohio's greatest trouble is with the Sand
Patch tunnel. The snow often drifts so fast
in that neighborhood as to completely choke
up the passage way.
DR.. Todd, of the West Penn Hospital.
said last evening that he expected number
Of accidents among railroad men. One had
occurred at that time. A brakeman had his
hand crushed in making a coupling. The
extreme cold makes their limbs numb, and
he railroaders are not so active. The
loctor remarked that they always have
more accidents in winter on the roads than
Turing the summer.
A. II. Logan came in from the Mcdonald
,il field last evening. He was afraid the oil
operations would be stopped until it got
warmer. The water pipes were freezing
'apidly, and it is impossible to get water to
un the boilers He thought drilling could
De. continued, but pumping is out Of the
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