New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-01-26
| DRAGGED DOWN BY SNOW.
MILES ON MILES OF WIRES GONE
TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION CUT OFF
ON ALL SIDES.
CRASHING POLES IN MANY STREETS.

|
AND SEVERAL CITIES ARE IN DARKNESS
PROPERTY VALUED AT MANY THOU
SANDS OF DOLLARS WINED-
SCENES IN THE CITY.
The storm that prevailed in New-York from
Saturday night until yesterday morning was by
no means so severe as the great March blizzard
! of 1888, but in its own peculiar way it was fully
as remarkable The blizzard beginning with
| rain and winding up with wind and snow, ana
plenty of both afflicted all classes of people, conf
plctcly obstructng travel. and isolatlng the city
| bv shutting off communication by both wire and
| rail Following the billiards. example, this storm
| began with rain, succeeded by snow and wind,
but il bent all of its energies to the destruction or
| the telegraphic system of the city. This concen-
traion of the force of the elements formed an IRE
sstible power, and the decentralization OF the tee-
| graph and telephone service was complete ana
with out precedent. Poles and wires are down IN
| all parts of the city. Many of the great pieces
of timber fell against houses, smashing windows,
breaking cornices damaging roofs, knocking on
| chimney-top and frightening men, women ana
children in their homes. The streets are still full
of broken poles and tangled wires and when this
report was written last night not wire was work
ing in the great Operatng-rOOm OF the western
| Union Telegraph Company. The telephone syS-
fem was wiped out of existence for the time, ana
many days will eapse before the broken threadS
of metal can he reioined The Fire Alarm ana
Police Department teegraphic service was as com
petely demolished if destroyed by hre Inc
railroads suffered the loss of their entire eectlcal
| establishment, and trains had TO be run on all
roads slowly and with extreme caution.
One may be excused in this instance for dis
PLAYING the I-tod-you-so" spirit. Had the COM
NAMES which depend upon electric wires to fur
nish to the public the benefits Of the telegraph
and telephone service buried their wires long
ago. as they should have done, there would have
been in this city at least comparatively little in
convenience Yesterday Aside from the danger to
which life was exposed. and aside from the
property wrecked and damaged. there were and
will he for some time endless annoyances and
ycxations which cannot be said to have been
unavoidable.
! Owing TO the danger to life from the crossing
~ electric light currents with the broken tele-
graph and telephone wires, the city authorities
corv in the day directed the electric lighting COM
panics to cut of all their currents and suspend
their service temporarily. In consequence 'he
city was in darkness last night, save IN snch
placcs as gas lamps were available for lighting
PURPOSES, and save for the moon
CITY CLOTHED IN WHITE.
II was strange sight that the people Of New
York gazed upon yesterday morning. lazy man
,,bo lives in Harlem near the upper end of Cen
tral Park. and who arose late as Is his wont on
J sunday mornings looked out OF his bedroom WIN
! dow and then rubbed his eyes, uncertain whether
no WAS not still asleep and dreaming OF some
| wonderfil and heretofore undreamed-of country,
or whether he had not been Transported Dy some
magic power TO an Arctic falryand' 10 'nc
southword the trees in Gen trail Park seemed
drapcd in costly robes of erm.ne Inc ceuai'
sprnce and pine trees bowed their heads uhder :"
! burden of this decatciy pure fabric, ana 'He'i
| branches bent over until their white drapery 'P'
,..ar,d 70 rest upon a similar substance whlch COW
crcd all the earth In some places there was no
| d,rcoreon line between the white on tne e'rlI Il
! o,d tho white on the trees, such as one SEES III
,,irtor occasionally. and which marks the dl'Is'on
hc,,,cen the cvcrgrccns and the snow
! ,r1, ,ro.t rocks near observation-disclosures
| ore also covered with white, ana they ioohe"
| as much as possible like what the lh'sliid'loi
! I'D conceive to he the mausoeunls OF arctic
f,irics. If fairies ever die. LOOKING sun 10 '"'
| .o,h,v, ri along Columbus-ave., great white haw-
sers had taken the places on the poles Wncie
,oIe,ronb wires had been the night before From
these hawsers huns thick as man arm
| rI, noIcs themselves had grown TO an enormous
io and they too mad changed from rusty
| hr,,,, In tLe purcst white. Their crossarmS
,orncrlv small oiSs painted rcd were now heavy
,ieces of timber and all white. Inc brooNiSh Il
Rridpe WAS morc beautiful than ever was ANY
structure built by men. The great cables were
mammoth strands joining the tall towers, ana tN'
irtcrscctinc supports had become many times
,heir usnal size ard all were absolutely whltc
r,.or,. twisted wire cable mad expanded, and the
,.hJn structure seemed closely woven wen
conposcd of gi.aniic but pure white strands. Inc
Hridcc itself seemed to be many times It's usual
size. and It's grandeur and purity of appearance
.r.lr wonderfully impressive. Inc statue o'
Liberty had become transformed into column
of white raised upon white pedestal rlSihS out
of the grayish waters of the Kay
All these things were seen by the people VINO
lacked to The southward Those who gazcd
toward thc north saw trees ordinarily bare or
.,rccn roIes of ordinary thickness and bare rocks.
HOW THE STORM CANE on.
Tho storm. one of the most severe in IFS chects
for MANY years, lasted just twelve hours, peslh-
nino at 1O.3 30 o'clock Saturday night with
heavy fail of rain. As the temperature ieli 'he
rain GRADUALLY turned 10 snow, and shortly al''r
midnight pedestrians found their clothing changed
,o white by the falling upon it of wet and cling
ING spownakcs Tlcn tie wind rose and howhhS
gale prevailed for about three hours "heh
rain fell the wind came from the southeast, pu'
bv the time snow BEGAN to fall 1t had Vecred
around 70 the north. The wet snow still mingled
with rain, was blown against the fronts OF houses
on the south side of the streets, pasterlng them
nil over with white. Brownstone and brick
residences were transformed into what appeared
70 be long rows of marble mansions. After the
gale had subsidized the snow continued to fall IN
great wet, sloppy flakes, which remained wherever
tbcv fell, whether il against the side OF
house q TELEGRAPH pole a clothes line tele
graph wire.
The enormous weight of snow upon the poles
l.. Ii. 1IoStrl nnncfs