The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1891-01-26
MUCH TOO EXCLUSIVE
Three Thousand Miles Of
Wire Was Downed by
the Storm.
No TELEGRAPH, 10 TELEPHONE, 10 Light
1t May Be Week Before We Can
Shake Hands with Europe Or
Abuse the Pretty Tele-
phone Girl.
No TELEGRAPH, 10 TELEPHONE, 10 LIGHT
DETAILS OF THE DAMAGE.


of the city are paralyzed. The only COM
municauon by wire is with New York
city. and all messages for other points
are dispatched by messengers on trains
with the consent Of the sender. With the
exception of few local subscribers in
the lower part of the city not a phone is
in operation, and the ubiquitous hello Is
silent In the land The wires along
Grand. York and Montgomery streets,
and Railroad avenue are all down. and in
many instances the poles lie with them.
IL is estimated that 5000 miles Of tele-
phone wire is down. As it is a thin wire
and so badly tangled that it cannot be
separated, none Of it can be used again
for telephone purposes This wire is
what Is known as No. 12 and costs 10
cents per pound. There are 1863 pounds OF
this wire TO the mile, which will make
the loss for wire al one S4s. 900. The posts
used cost from S2.50 to SIPS each. The
number of poles down is not known. but
it is estimated that the entire cost of re-
placing the damaged plant will be be-
tween $4,000 and 500. 900. It Is thought
that It will take ten davs or two weeks
before the telephone system will be in the
same condition it was before the storm.
The company is employing this morning
every man 1t can get who can handle
shovel to assist Ia clearing away the
tangled wires. None but experienced
linemen. however, can be employed in
stringing the wires
THE WESTERN UNION SYSTEM
Superintendent Bertholf of the West
ern Union Telegraph Company's system
in this city says that he cannot give any
idea of the extent of the financial damage
to his company in Jersey City. The wire
which they use is much heavier than that
used by the telephone company and not
so easily tangled up, in consequences of
which much of il could be used over
over again. The wire used BY the rele-
graph company is known as No 9 and
contains 323 pounds to the mile, at a cost
of eight cents per pound. The authori-
ties of both the telephone and telegraph
companies say that they anticipate no diff
fieulty from a lack of wire or poles, nor
do they apprehend that the prices will be
advanced in consequence of the increased
demand.
They say there is plenty of manufac-
tured material In the country at the pres
ent time to supply all their wants.
The electric car wires were not injured,
although the cars did not run yesterday.
The broken wires were so entangled with
the wires which furnish the current for
the cars, and the danger OF their getting
caught in the trollery wires was so great,
that it was not thought safe to RIM The
cars. Many persons Thought that the
electric current was turned of because ir
was feared that some broken wire might
cross the car wire and kill some Of the
linemen engaged liz repairing the teie-
phone and telegraph wires. But this was
not the case. President Thurston says
that the current used TO propel the cars is
not dangerous and is only one-fourth as
strong as that used for the arc lights,
xxrhf ia hot frr ha
cars is but 800 volts
HORSE CARS BLOCKED.
The Jersey CITY and bergen Railroad
Company were badly crippled by the
storm. The wires and poles which fell on
Grand street, with only few exceptions.
fell across the tracks of tine company and
completely blocked travel. A force of
workmen were put TO work clearing the
tracks, but 1t was one o'clock before the
Greenyille and the Lafayette cars were
able TO traverse that thoroughfare.
The storm which caused this havoc and
destruction extended over a comparative
ly limited area, and was practically con-
fined to the coast. 1t did not extend
further north than Haverstraw. 1t be-
gan Saturday evening aboat nine O'Clock
with a drizZling rain This turned to a
wet snow about midnight, accompanied
with a heavy blow. The wet, heavy snow,
assisted by the high wind, is what
dragged down the wires.
When Jersey City awoke yesterday
morning 1t looked out upon streets cob
webbed with telegraph poles and entan-
gled wires. On the south side of Rail-
road avenue, from Henderson street to
Academy street, q distance of about a
mile, every pole and wire had fallen to
the street. 1t was the same on Grand
street. from Washington to Woodward
streets, and every pole that stood on
either side of Newark avenue, from the
top of the hill at the West
Shore station to Marion, lay prostrate.
The telegraph wires on Grand street.
across the intersections of Woodward
street and Manning avenue, formed
complete fence ten feet high. There were
over a hundred wires in the barricade,
among which were the electric light
wires. Glittering sparks Of electricity
flashed through the tangle and the resi-
dents were afraid to go near After the
electric light plants had stopped work
policemen were sent to cut the wires and
open the streets for travel.
AT THE CENTRAL RAILROAD YARDS
Over in the Central Railroad yard the
ruin was most complete. Every pole was
down and the wires were twisted aud
contorIed into all sorts of fantastic
shapes. A large force of men were re-
quired to clear the tracks of the wreck
The wires of the Pennsylvania Railroads
block system were also down and the
trains ran on flag signals. This caused
considerable delay, but toward evening
the system was IN working order again.
During the storm early yesterday morn
ing William Linderman, of No. $50 Grove
street, was found lying drunk on Grove
street grasping a fallen electric wire.
Both his hands were pretty badly burned.
He was taken home by Policeman Smith.
Lille Hill. aged 25. OF No. 3l9 ST. PauPs
avenue, while walking along that thor
oughfare yesterday was struck on the back
of the neck by falling telegraph wire
and pretty badly stunned She was car
ried nome by friends.
A falling telegraph pole on Mont
gomery street near Summit avenue,
Killed one of he Jersey City and Bergen
car line horses
The telephone poles in front of No 81
Montgomery street aud Hartnett's drug
store snapped about nine O'Clock in the
morning. and carried almost all the wires
down with them. A milk wagon and
coach were going up Montgomery street
at the time. When the driver OF it heard
the crash he stopped The coach ran into
IL an i hroke . The hind AXLE