St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-03-24
ONE SEA OF SLUSA.
The Storm Leaves tho City in
a Condition Simply Hor- i.
rible.
4
Great Lagoons OF Muddy
Slush Make Life a Dull
Burden.
q
A Chorus Of Disguised Com
plant Heard All Over
the City.
4
Rail and Wire Both Suffer
Materially in the
Storm.


has deepeued the slush on walks and
streets, intensely emphasizes the need
for some steps being taken by the au-
thorities to open the highways to travel
that may be less dangerous to life and
limb of pedestrians. That street cross =
ings and the cutters have not long sine
been cleaned to some extent at least has
been the subject of severe denunciation
of the policy of the city. For long
weeks foot passengers have Waded
through muddy water and slush with
knitted broWS and EXPLANATIONS of
SHOW long, Oh Lord. will this con-
dition of things go on without an
effort TO give relief?" The conditions
Of the past day or two have grown
UNNECESSARILY worse, and are simply
unbearable. If the cutters at the street
crossings even were opened at a small
expenditure, the conditions could be
materially improved by releasing the
lakes of filthy water that cover very
many of the crossings in the business
center of the city to dept h ranging
from an inch or two TO as many feet.
There seems to have been no movement
in this direction except in few places
where the street railway company found
it necessary to remove snow or open
cutters to bring the tracks to the sur
face. in some cases citizens have done
something to clear crossings or to make
outlets for the lakes of water, and have
petitioned the city to assist them IN
carving the work further, but have met
with no encouragement. 1t has been
even proposed to raise money by popu-
lar subscription.
10 DO street Cleaning.
and it may be necessary to prosecute
this method il the city shall not soon act
in the premises. Besides the fact that
many of the crossings are out or sight,
all of them are in a miserable condition.
Many of them are piled up with Jumps
or ice which look like boulders In frog
pond. At nearly all the crossings are
holes filled with filthy water which can
not be escaped in the jostling crowds of
people in the heart of the city. 1t is a
wonder that accidents are not more fire.
ouent. 1t is not an uncommon sight to
see pedestrians Iall on the crossings and
almost disappear from sight for mo-
ment i'm the pools of filth. At any of
the crossings it is difficult to get to the
street cars, and at many OF them aDso-
lutely impossible without Wadlns IN
slush and water nearly knee deep. This
is not a mere figure of speech, but an
absolute fact at places along Wa0aSha
street.
The conditions few days ago were
bad enough. but infinitely worse yeSter-
day while the slush lay oil the sidewalks
to the depth of two inches or more.
When this melted and sought to escape
where no egreSS was provided except
absorption, the walls of woe vent up
and will continue TO ascend untll relleI
by nature or man comes.
The electrical storm that accompanied
the rain early yesterday morning did
considerable damage throughout the
city in the way of interfering with the
Telephone, telegraph and electrical
lines.
Damage to Wires.
At the telephone exchange fire was
started i'm the terminal room which
charred the walls. This was at an
early hour yesterday morning. The
fire was extinguished with the aid OF
the fire department with chemical.
About one-half of the lines were burned
out. The loss to the telephone COM
pany will be about $1,000. The burn
inc out of terminals was continued dur
ing the forenoon of yesterday. b. +.
Greedy, manager of the telephone COM
pany, said yesterday that he was at
work repairing the damage done, and
will continue until completed. he SAID.
1--WE will have repairs OF temporary
character made by tomorrow morning.
| | do not think that many OF our wires
| fell or broke, but the load of sleet ana
ice brought them in contact with the
wires of the city railway company and
| the electric light companies. Our wires
| could not withstand the heavy currents,
| and about halt, of the 1900 terminals III
| the terminal room were burned out.
| The foreign current from heavier wires
was so strong that it not only burned
out the fuses, but jumped across and at.
tackled the wires, burning them out. /
think the lightning did us but little
damage; it was the fatal contact with
| the wires of these other companies that
| did the mischief. About one-half the
telephones in the city are working to.
day. We find that we are not cut o Il
! from outside towns, though some OF the
| Minneapolis wires are III Dad shape.
can hardly tell yet the extent OF the
| damage" ~
Rails Also Suffer.
The storm was very hard on the
| electric railway. The first cars to Min
| neapoIis yesterday morning were ovel
| three hours in making the trip. Supt
f. s. HOskins pronounced the storm as
| the worst for the street car company oil
the season. Ehe suddenneSS of the
storm took the company unawares. anC
| it was not prepared TO cOunteract its In
| f1usnce. Wires were down i'll many in
| stances. and it took work to put then
| up. Then the tracks were covered Will
| ice. The trolley wires were covered
with coat of sleet, and it was impOS
sible to make connection of the electric
| current until ice was cleared away
| On the cable lines the snow plOws made
but little Roadway with the ice in the
early morning, so that it was necessary
to send gangs OF men ahead OF cars Il
break the ice.
The electric light companies did no
experience much difficulty from Ice
| owing probably 10 the fact that many
| of their wires are under ground.
The railroads experienced consider
able difficulty, and many trains were
delayed several hours.
The telegraph lines were incOmmodeC
to considerable extent, and will Dt
affected until some further modiicatloi
of the weather occurs.
| l.. II