Evening journal., 1891-01-26
LAST EDITION
RAGING ELEMENTS RUIN.
A FURIOUS WIND, RAIN. HAIL AND
SNOW STORM PLAYS SAD HAVOC.

u
Rain and Snow Weigh Down Wires and
Poles Until There Was no Resistance to
the Terrific Wind.
The most disastrous storm ever known
TO telegraphic interests, the fearful bliz
zard of 1888 included, visited this 10
cality Saturday night, working terrific
devastation, causing untold Inconvenience
and interruption to traffic on the rail
roads and the loss of thousands of dol
lars.
The damsge done by the famous bliz-
zard, II will be remembered, caused sew
eral days interruption TO traffic because
workmen could not get over the block
AIDED railroads to make the necessary re.
pairs, but the damage. in general, did not
approach yesterdays in extent. Snow,
with rain and slret at alternate intervals,
stuck fast to everything and was frozen
to solid, heavy mass Consequently,
the wires aud poles accumulated snch
tremendous burdens that there was no
resistance against the fierce winds. and
they were swept away, or borne to the
earth in an mixing
The storm must have covered a wide
area, although no definite in formation
as to its full extent has yet been re
eeived. 1t began about o'clock on
Saturday night, with but little premoni-
tion OF its coming, by drizzling
rain. About o'clok this developed into
a constant and heavy down pour, and
became terrific rain storm The wind
increased in volume until 80 Yesterday
morning, when it had developed into
stiff gale, With every characteristic of
blizzard. Hugh sheets of hail and snow
were driven into the faces of belated
pedestrians and completely blinded them.
The storm ragged in its greatest fury be.
tween 2 30 and 4 o'clock
The Western Unions Heavy Loss.
The Western Union Telegraph Com
pany suffered the greatest loss since its
organization Thousands of its poles
were snapped to pieces like m atch sticks,
while its wires for hundreds of miles
around were rent in twain as If they
were threads. This, in addition to the
loss in tolls, will foot up far into the
thousands of dollars. All kilograms
were accepted to-day subject to indef-
mite delay, as everything is in such a
state that no messages can be forwarded
as usual
Telephone system
The local telephone system. which has
been in operation sit ce 1875, never suf.
fered such widespread devastation, over
800 telephones being affected to such an
extent that they have been useless all
day. Manager Mehaffey of the Delaware
and Atlantic Telephone Company esti-
mates that it will require about ten davs
of constant work to get the system IN
good working order again. The local
ri fc ole al
account Of heavy and broken wires. No
estimate Of the pecuniary loss, through
damage to the lines can be given.
Along the Railroads.
On the p W. b. railroad all the
wires from Linwood, north. are down.
and the trains are being run "hlind.
The schedule time is being carried cut,
however, with marked proficiency Com
munication with points south is also shut
off, as nearly every pole between New
port and Newark is down. The nun Der
down south of those PLACES can not be
estimated, although they are very
numerous
On the Delaware railroad there is very
little damage from this city to Porters.
From there to Mt. Pleasant all the poles
are damaged, over half of them are
pieces. All the way south from Harring-
ton the poles are strewn over the earth
and every telegraph instrument is
silent. One strange feature. how
ever. is that there was no snow
south of Harrington. and nothing
but mud and pools of water are visible to
remind one Of the big storm. There are
also very few trees and fences down in
the lower part of the state, although
this work of demolition was widespread
in the upper counties The Old Point
express trains and passenger train No. so
were delayed from fifteen to forty min
utes this morning, but no accidents were
heard.
Repairing the Damage.
All the workman that could be secured
this morning were despatched il large
gangs with orders to push the work to
comp elton as long as it could possibly be
continued. Notwithstanding this, the
damage is so extensive that the work
will BE- very tedious The wrecked poles
will be righted or replaced frs6 of all, and
this will require much time
On the B B. o. railroad the most serious
damage to the telegraph lines was done.
Over $50 poles were reported as down
between this city and Philadelphia, and
thirty more between this city and
Newark. Communication cannot be re-
stored to day because Of the complete de-
molishment Of the wires and poles between
every station. About 2 AS o'clock oA
Saturday night large pole crashed
through the end Of passenger car on a |
Philadelphia express train. The accident |
made deafening noise and created |
panic in the car for an instant, but no
body was injured.
No Intelligence from shipping
The Maratime Exchange between |
Philadelphia and Lewes is cut to pieces, |
aud no tidings of the fate of outgoing or |
incoming vessels can be learned. The |
direction of the wind was fatal to coast |
wise shipping, while numerous accidents |
must have occurred from boats drag |
ging their anchors. II there was |
any loss of life, however, it |
could not have been heavy, as some |
tidings would have reached this city, but |
what has happened outside OF the capes
may not be heard Of for several days. 1t |
is evident that few vessels, no matter /
how well manned. could have ridden in
the teeth of such furious storm in
safety.