The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1891-01-26
FOURTH edition
A TERRIBLE STORM.
RAIN, SNOW AND HAIL ACCOM-
PANIED BY A GALE.


which soon developed into down
pour, and about o'clock, the wind
commenced to blow gale.
IL continued until toward midnight,
the wind was blowing from the north
west, at rate of so miles an hour.
To make matters still worse, the rain
turned to snow and hail, making q
heavy slush, which stuck to everything
IL touched. The consequence was that it
proved very destructive to the electric
wires. and last night there were but
two wires leading from this city that
could be used One Of these wires he
longs to the Postal Telegraph and Ca
BILE Company, and the other to the
Long Distance Telephone Company.
At midnight last night communication
was effected with Baltimore by Western
Union.
It will take at least ten days to re-
pair the damage sustained by the
Delaware and Atlantic Telephone and
Telegraph Company.
The entire telephone system in this
city was almost useless yesterday, as
the wires were broken and lying on
the housetops, fences and across
streets. The confusion at the exchange
was greater than ever before eX-
perienced, and some of the sub
scribers, finding that they received no
answer to their constant ringing, hur-
ried to the exchange to demand the
reason. 1t did not take them long to
ascertain that 1t was the storm, and
not the manager or operator that was
to blame. Manager Mehaffy said:
I'VE are completely knocked out. Our
system is almost useless. 1t will take
at least ten days to replace the wires
and repair the damages, and II com
| plants CONTINUE 1o cQme IN Is thick
and fast as they have been Coming, It
is difficult to tell when the damage
will cease. The sto m was most
peculiar one, and the damage sus-
tanned must, surely have been accom-
plished by sleet on the wires accom-
panied by heavy wind. Peculiar as
1t may appear all the wires running
north and south are only slightly
damaged, while the wires running east
and west are broken. The only way
to account for this IL that the wind
| WIS either from the east or west, and
must have been terrific In its velocity
and force. The wires were covered
with ice, and being very heavy, the
strong wind Ind little TO battle with.
The storm was far greater in damage
done than the blizzard of 1888, and 200
per cent. worse than the storm of
saturday, January nth. That storm
was II very severe one and the COM
pany's wires were only repaired few
hours before this last storm made its
appearance"
All tho men that could be secured
Were pat at work yesterday, and last
evening the greater number of the
wires in the centre of the city were in
| working order.
All the wires of the Western Union
Company leading to this city were
down, and with the exception of the
two wires already mentioned Whining
ton was cut on from the rest of the
world. All messages to Philadelphia
or points beyond were sent by a special
messenger ON Tho r.. w. & b. railroad :.
who made several trips and carried n
number Of messages during the day.
The wires of the f., w. a. b. Railroad
Company We're also rendered useless,
and IL Will require considerable time
and expense to repair the damage. IN
the meantime, the trains are running
on schedule time, and up to this morn
ing there had been very little delay.
There are nearly two hundred poles
down along the Baltimore u Ohio
railroad, between Newark and phila-
dclphin, consequently the entire sys-
TEN is crippled.
The police signal system was rem
derrd entirely useless During all of
I
work at all. The police were furnished
with the old sergeants' cards last night
and will have to make their reports
the same II, before the establishment
OF the signal system. 1t will I've sew
eral days before it will again be in
working order
While the storm was at It's height,
the electric wires became so tangled,
that they came in contact with the fire
l lNsf
CITY Hall to strike II number of times,
IN IL very el4sttie manner. Many per-
SONS, who were unable to sleep on ac-
count of the storm, hearing the bell,
jumped from their beds thinking that
Il large fire had broken out, to add to
the tcrrors of the night.
A two-story brick house belonging
to Franz Ginglebach, at Fifth and Du.
; Pont streets, was blown down by the
, storm. The loss will amount to sey
eral hundred dollars, but the house
, will be rebuilt at once.
An incandescent electric light wire
! broke at Fourteenth and Scott streets
; during the storm, and last night wheI
! the current WIS turned on the inSula
, ton being worn oil in many places the
exposed wire set fire To u fence on
which it rested. Word was sent to tn,
. police station and Officer Ayers mott
lied the electric light men, who i'm
mediately sent some men to repair tbs
} broken wire
As far as can be ascertaincd there
was no other damage done with tn,
exception of that by the wind. Severa
i fences We're blown down, among then
i being that at No. s school, Seventh anI
= Spruce streets.
|. THE STORM ELSEwHERE.
5 PHILADELPHIA, Jau. 2B.-Ihe tele
graph and telephone service was badl,
damaged by the storm of SATURDAY.
night. Superintendent of the West
+ ern Union Telegraph Comany said tn,
II damage was greater than that CAUSED
|, by the blizzard.
The storm OF Saturday night AM
yesterday morning, changing from
rain to slcet and snow, and accompa
MED by high winds, Frustrated all tn
telegraph wires between Philadelphia
and New York, and also cut off com
munlcatioii between Philadelphia an,
points South and West. One wire wa
= open to Baltimore and another I,
z Reading, and some slight service wa
had on those wires. A despatch from
Il Norfolk, Va. reports the signal seryic
y wires down along the coast.
N READING, Jan. 25.-The wind am
STOW storm which set IN at m earl!
hour this morning was the worst 70
8 Telegraph and telephone wires in tn
Q. history OF the service In this city
At Reading was practically cut OFF from
all communication with the outsid
9 world, and the prostration of th