The Portland daily press., 1898-02-23
Hoods Pills taken after dinner aid digestion
SPOILED BOYS FUN.

The youngsters always look forward
with pleasureable anticipation to "Tar
Bucket night" This celebration should
have occurred last night. Usually the
boys are as plentiful on Commercial
street on the afternoon of Washington's
birthday as the flowers in June. Yester'
day afternoon there was not boy to be
seen and the usual professions of young
sters hauling sleds loaded down with old
barrels, boxes and rubbish of all kinds
suitable to make bon fires We're conspicu-
GUS for their absence. At dark CONNER
cial street is usually brilliantly illumi-
mated by hundreds of bon fires, but only
one star bucket sent its loud light
over the deserted streets last night. This
one was placed at the head of Portland
pier by the wide.awake clerks OF Ryan
q Kelsey. 1t was a barrel of coal tar
and burned away all by its lonesome far
into the night.
Late in the afternoon the shovellers be-
gan to make some impression on the side
walks and cutters were dug here and
there. drained off the water. but as
rule the sidewalks as we'll as the streets
were nearly impossible for all who did
not wear rubber boots. Late In the
afternoon, too, the cars on the Congress
street line began to make trips without
the snow plows...l The roof shovellers
were also at work and the snow began to
fall from the roofs in great chunks. One
of the worst places in the city was out
by the West End hotel, where in one
Mace the water was SO deep over the
railroad tracks that it rose above the
floor Of one of the cars.
The storm which caused all this
trouble came from the south. Its advent
was heralded by the weather bureau as
early as Saturday and the red flag with
the black square In the centre, began to
flap in the breeze and had not been
hauled down last night 1t was strange
storm for. there was little wind here and
the barometer was not very low, but the
rain fell in such torrents that last eve
ming q fall of over four inches of rain
and melted snow had been recorded at
the Tsignal office here. Had this come in
the form ofssnow it would have made
pile over three feet deep on level and
as the.wind was blowing hard enough to
make drifts the result in the streets and
the roads in the country about the city
can be Imagined. Perhaps it was just
as we'll that the rain fell instead of the
snow. Eastport as usual, reported much
more wind than was experienced here,
the gale there attaining a velocity OF
over 30 miles an hour, while the wind
| did not exceed 26 miles here. Late yes
terday the storm centre had not touched
Portland and was supposed to be some
where out at sea.
| INCIDENTS OF THE STORM.
Not many times in recent years have
the people of Portland seen the side
walks about town in such bad condition
as they were last night. The man who
attempted to get about town without
his feet incased in pair of rubber
boots had a decidedly hard time of it,
while the few women who were seen on
the streets had the sympathy of all who
saw them. Some people in an honest
endeavor to improve the condition of
things shovelled off the sidewalks in
front of their dwellings or stores
| These places Immediately filled up with
water and if anything made the side
walks worse than they were before.
The street cars were run with remark
able regularity considering the difficult
ties which had to be overcome, but even
the street cars do not go everywhere
and the hackmen and drivers of barges
repeated golden harvest. Perhaps
Middle street was in the worst shape of
any in the city and to cross from one
side of it to the other without danger of
going into water over the boot-tops, a
dory would have been necessary.
About seven o'clock last evening the
Portland railroad made an attempt to
clear its tracks ON Middle street of the
slush and water. Two cars with a snow
plow ahead were sent down the street at
a fast rate. The plow threw the water
and slush in all directions while a
| regular wave folleu up III 1Iouu Oh IHe
cars as they went through the street.
AS soon as the cars passed the tracks
were covered with water fully two feet
deep and in some places this river of ice
water was even deeper. The plow ran
off the track several times but was
pulled back on to the iron again with
little trouble. Once the plow left the
rails and started for the entrance to the
Falmouth hotel. 1t shot around until it
was perpendicular to the hack and with
in few feet of the sidewalk. A large
crowd gathered about the plow ex-
pecting to see the crew have hard work
to get it back on the track. But the