The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1898-02-04


All Transportation Companies Para
lived Great Damage to Property.
Boston, Feb. 2.-For just one night and
a day was Boston at the mercy of the
storm king. Summoning his forces
from the great lakes and the South At
lantic coast, he established his dynasty
en- the shores of Massachusetts bay
early Monday evening, and When ne
ceased his onslaught shortly after moor
yesterday, he had paralyzed the vas
business interests of a great city Tor
day. and caused damage that Will re
auire herculean labor to repair.
A city of 600, 900 inhabi, ants turned in
a night into a country village streets
and steam railroads, built and arranged
TO withstand the most severe emergency
tests, crippled completely; business alb
solutely crushed for want of hep ant
customers; all means of telegraph anG
telephone communication with the out
side world cut off as though Boston oc.
eupied a planet by itself; $4,000 subur'
han residents who earn their living in
Boston every day unable TO move
left behind by he worst snow storm
that has visited the city of Boston s-nc'
Uncle Sam established a weather bureau
here to record such untoward happen
ings. The blizzard-for it was a bliz'
zard rather than a snow storm-means
q loss of money to this city that will
reach into the millions.
The street car service was the first t.
Rno 1o Of ha bs
early evening the unusual number o.
persons seeking transit caused consider
able delay, but cars were pushed through
with some attempt at regularity until af
ter dark The suburban service became
stalled and, as the weight of snow in
creased upon the trolley wires, the pass
ing cars left an almost continuous train
of electric light, flashing like lightning
and Kissing and cracking as the truck
passed on.
At length the accumulation of snow
being made compact by the force of tn,
wind, was almost as firm as ice. Their
the trolley wires began to snap and to fall
on all sides. The cars, power having
been taken away, could move no farther.
and they stood Wednesday at various
points everywhere, just where they
stopped.
The snow had been piled upon the win.
dow frames, and the frost upon the glass
added to the cherries aspect. Some.
times one car stood alone. Again there
were two, and yet again, three or four to-
gether, all banked up and half hidden
from view
The railroad trains to points within
the i'm mediate vicinity of the city farce
little better than the street car service
and few of those who came into the city
from the suburbs to attend the various
places of amusement Monday realized
the severity of the storm. 1t was un
pleasantly impressed, however, upon
those whose return was delayed after
10 o'clock The embargo was on in full
force at that hour, and many suburban.
lite was compelled to become an involun,
tary resident of the city.
This condition was exactly reversed
Wednesday, when, early as O'Clock
workmen living outside the city began
TO attempt to reach their places of bust.
ness. They went to the points where
they usually take the electrics, but
there were no cars. The snow lay un.
broken along the rails, and had it beer
light enough the dangling wires would
have rendered more emphatic the i'm.
possibility of transit by that means
Then they looked towards the rail.
roads. The same condition of blockade
prevailed there. Attempts to keep the
lines clear had been abandoned after
midnight, and reports came from all
directions of trains stalled and genera.
suspension of traffic. By o'clock the
electric car stations and the railway sta.
lions had become crowded with waiting
passengers, but there was no sign of a
break in the embargo. A few more cour
ageous ones walked, two, three and five
miles into the city, but there were few
business houses which had anything like
their usual force of employees yesterday
their usual force of employees today.
The severest blow which the city sus
tanned, however, was probably the inter
ruption of communication with the out
side world. Up to IL Monday night
wires worked fairly well, but the ire
nnendous weight of the snow sagged the
lines to such an extent that it required
only an ordinary gale to send them down
Mondays storm not only did this, but
wires, cross-arms and pole after pole
went to the ground.
The aspect of the streets was almost
DeyOHQ utoCIlDliO1. Ut SCIdpeIS VI
the street railway, which were kept
going until the wires went down, had
thrown up huge banks at either side
of the streets. On other thoroughfares
the wind had caused deep drifts. In
and out of these mounds of snow, curled
and twisted in an indescribable way
were ends of broken telegraph and troll
ley wires. These fractured lines, be-
sides having blocked traffic, furnished
one of the most disastrous features OF
the storm. 1t is conservatively esti-
mated that 200 horses were killed along
the streets. The carcasses lay in many
eases just as they had fallen, the blocked
streets having prevented their removal
The blizzard completely demoralized
wire service and traffic in Lynn, and last
night the call men of the fire department
are doing patrol duty in the business
section, as the fire alarm system is
practically useless
Special reports to the Springfield Union
from western Massachusetts indicate
that the storm is much worse than the
memorable blizzard of March, II, 1888
Traffic on all railroads is stopped The
storm was worse in Hampshire county,
and many of the hill towns will be cut
eff from outside communication for sew
eral days to come. In Northampton