Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-12-27
1T BLEW A LIVELY GALE
Last Nights Storm Gut Off Communi-
cation.
Telegraph Service Interrupted-Much
Wind and Water Around
Washington.

A man who was caught out in the storm
last night summed up the situation in
terse and epigrammatic way this morning
when asked what 1t was like:
THE wind was blowing hundred miles
an hour and the rain was falling a hundred
buckets minute-to the yard
Few persons who viewed the tempest and
torrent that came together with such sud
den and unexpected force would charge the
description with the fault of exaggeration.
Wherever men met this morning the topic
was the same-the big, wet blow--and no
one could ever remember having seen any
thing just like 1t in this neck of the woods
There had been bad storms, to be sure
and violent winds, but they had been more
diffuSe, so to speak, in a sense OF tine.
Last nights exhibition, however. was Kan
SaS-like IN its instantaneous action. In fif-
teen minutes 1t had come and gone, and
while there was an aftermath of wind
couple of hours later. the main display was
brief in the extreme.
In that short time, however between
$40 and S:35 Jupiter Pluvius showed what
he could do In manner entirely uncalled
for and wholly unnecessary. The wind
blew ove- sixty miles an hour, and reached
this velocity, too, while carrying thousands
OF tons of water along with 1t. The rain
fell in perfect sheet instead of drops and
1t was this blanket-like mass of water that
probably prevented greater havoc by. the
wind There was sufficient damage, how
ever. to make the complete loss reach
high figure Windows were blown in all
over town; shutters were torn from their
fastenings; Easements were flooded; avn
ings tattered and their irons loosened
from their fastenings, and many trees
blown down, while countless limbs were
torn off and taken away.
Damage to the Telegraph Wires.
The storm played havoc with the poles
and wires of the telegraph companies.
Manager Allen of the Postal company
said his lines carried everything west and
north last night, but were knocked out
south of Norfolk and Petersburg.
1--WE were pretty lucky he said, land
today We are handling northern and west
ern business the same as usual and without
delay. South of Petersburg and Norfolk,
however, we are in the same condition as
we We're last night. The only reason we
We're not affected as badly as other COM
panies is because our poles are newer and
don't carry such heavy loads of wires
1t is very poor policy to pile wires on
poles until they can bear no additional
demands on their capacity"
Manager Marean of the Western Union
said that business was being taken SUBJ
ject to delay, but he expected everything
would be in order by tonight. There was
more, but the other routes were working.
Between Baltimore and New York the
storm appeared to have been more violent
and there was more wreckage. At IL
O'Clock the Western Union had no direct
wire west of Cumberland and was sending
western business by way of New York and
Atlanta
As Described by the Weather Bureau.
The storm was designated at the weather
bureau today as a SECONDARY whirl from
the big storm which formed yesterday in
the Ohio valley, moved through western
Pennsylvania and New York and down the
St Lawrence river, and Is stationary today
In the lower ST. Lawrence valley. There
were heavy rains turning to snow in west
ern Pennsylvania and western New York
and general storm ragged all along the
Atlantic coast from Norfolk to PASSPORT
Me. One-third of an inch of rain fell here
last night at the beginning of the tempest
and at IL o'clock the wind was blowing
sixty miles an hour. At New York at the
same hour the gauge registered seventy
miles, and the breeze blew over Boston at
the rate of fifty-eight miles. The weather
bureau had sent out warnings from Cape
Hatteras to Portland. Me-, in anticipation
of the blow, and the railroads in western
New York and western Pennsylvania were
also notified of the probabilities of high
winds and snow. In consequence of this
many of The trains were sent out equipped
for possible contingencies, and coastwise
vessels Rugged their harbors out of respect
for the warning flags displayed at the vari-
Gus ports. Today Is clear all along the
coast.