The Daily Texarkanian., 1897-12-20
NONDYKISH WEATHER.
The Country Coated With a
Shield of Ice.
FRUIT AND FOREST TREES INJURED
Telegraphic Communication Cut of
and Trains Running on Sched-
ule Time Cards.

| A'N"J hib w !" 50 N'Ni NAN - NNA
tinued ,all day Saturday and into
the morning OF Sunday, The colo
was not intense, in tact the grount
did not freeze, but the slow driz'
cling rain as It fell on house tops
fences, tress and wires, froze, anc
as the rain kept up at short inter-
walls most OF the time, and The
thawing out was slow, the ice ac'
cumulated 80 last that many trees
bent over and broke under the
weight of ice carried, and II was sc
with the telegraph, telephone and
electric wires in the city.
Miles Of wire was broken down In
the city limits, and we learn that
the havoc wrought to the wires
was not confined 10 this place alone,
but In all directions out of the city
for miles, extending west 70 the
Pan Handle cauntry, south TO, the
Gulf of Mexico, north to the north
pole, and east TO the Atlantic
Ocean,
The Iron Mountain railroad, was
the FIRST to grasp the situation and
by 8 o'clock Sunday morning It had
torce of twenty men In the city
making repairs to wires and clean-
ing up fallen limbs on their right
of.way,
The "oldest InhabItant" here,
says we have never had just such a
spell of weather before, but we
take issue with the "ancient gent, ="
for In 1885, just such another
freeze up visited this section and
city, and just such another Ice de-
post was placed on trees, house
tops and telegraph wires u
We didnot start out to write MP
the storm or present cold snap In
the boundaries we have given, but
to give a local resume of the de-
atruetIon caused Ia this city, D.
TO begin with we can say that
many miles Of telephone, telegraph
and electric wires were either bro.
ken by the accumulated weight Of
Ice deposit, or torn down by fallen
limbs, aud the expense ol repairs
will be greater by far, than can be
imagined by those who have not
taken The trouble TO give the mat
ter a thought
The operators OF the Western
Union aud Postal companies as also
those holding down keys on the va.
rlous railroads out of here, had yIr.
tually no communication with sta
tIons out of the city They said
the havoc to their wires was great
and extended all over the country
The reporter made several trips
to different parts OF the city and
found the shade aud fruit trees
broken aud down, and the side
walks strwn with limbs, The trees
that suffered most were those which
hold their leaves ecdara, magno.
has and box trees, many OF them
broken and ruined beyond fsdehpu
tion,
On Maple ST. Dr., j, W. Talbot
suffered more than perhaps any
one, He had some aIty or sixty
large willow trees growing around
his place, and they were badly
broken Added TO this the tele.
phone company had a lead Of some
eight or ten wires running through
these trees aud the limbs falling on
the wires broke them down,
j, u, Rosbofough on the same
street had bis beautiful magholias
broken down, aud others suffered
on this street In like manner
On state Bt, We noticed that the
fine eedars In the yard OF Judge u,
\, Estes, az also a magnificent boz
tree laid TO the ground, either
broken on or torn up by the roots.
ON every street In the city eau
be seen broken trees scattered here
aad there Ia all directions
The reporter took d tour Ia the
forest, and the sight, while one OF
destruction, aud waste, was a
grand Que from an artistic point OF
view, 40 the Ice coating on lImbt
and grass made the landscape look
like faifyland,
We did not fail TO visit the park
In our rounds and a. this shaded
nook, We found that the Ice had
laid is fingers on the trees, aud The
ground was stfewh with many
branches that Afforded shade "a
pleasure seekers a few short weeks
back
To-day The weather has moder.
aled and the Ice is dropping from