The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-02-14
OPENING The RAILROADS.
BE- @. and p.,W.& R.Roads
Will Have Trains Nov
ing By Night. Del
aware Railroad
Completely
Blocked.
ARMY OF SHOVELERS OUT.

DIIS .ilt NHlNil i''iii ',h'ihuy '''''
ing until last night. bat evidences of the
storm arc on every side. Stroets and rail-
r,ad3 aro moro completely blocked by tho
hugr drifts uf snow, but the sun OF the
morning brou ,ht out In army of shovel
nrs who opened city streets, while plows
made their way through twenty feet high
railroad drifts. By noon many streets
were paSsnbls but not so with the railroads
and arIcular.y with the Delaware and
Baltimore and Ohio railroads. 1t will be
several days boforo II train runs over TIE
Delaware road, and ten hours before
through train runs over the b. & U. road.
Thohand'omc Congressional express On
tho p. w & i. railroad, due from Wash
ington al IL IL o'clock noon yesterday ar
lived shortly before O'Clock last evening
with three locario ives all putting and tug.
ging. Tho train was in encased In ico and
snow, AMI shortly after proceeded on her
way north.
Tho Philadelphia, Wilmington md Bal
t!more Company last evening called cut
noaIly all tho train crews to man engines
in case tho s;o"m fbatel, 50 the tracks
could be cleared as soon rs possible. Tho
men were kent in reserve for rescue work,
If needed. A large force of SHOW shovel
crS was within h,ling distance.
Thr@ughout the morning II snow sweep
er was constantly moving back and forth
IN the Wilmington yards Of tho Penn'yl-
vania company. and the result was that
tracks thorc vera almost clear. In addi-
ton, m rrlny of snow-shovelers were hir-
ed to lcmove tbs accumulailng drifts The
railroad WAS offA!iA5 f:om fifteen to twcn-
t. cents: an hour for snow-shovelers end
the supply did not equ ii the demand. The
men wcro we'll ca red for by ho company.
Operations on tho Iaulcnbnrg branch
arc ~ standslill. In the morning train
Was started oat from Market street station
bat got stuck about Elsmere,. and finding
it impossible to go ahead returned to VIII
milgton and laid up at tho Delaware ave-
nuo station.
The street railway lines Wore not opera
ted Yesterday aftcrnoon SO rapidly did the
wind drift he snow on the tracks.
The New Castle road was also knocked
out aud not uDtll II o'clocksthis morning
was the road opened.
I The city railway company operated It's
plows during tho night and this morning
several cars wera run at hour intervals.
NIauy workmcn trudgcl through six
feet drifts and reached ihoir place an hour
behind time.
Houses in oil parts of the city looked de-
serted It was necessary tn Keep front
door, ,igh; and in many cases front shut
t,rs wore also closed This was because
the heavy wind drove the fine snow into
vestilyaie doors and filled entries The
same was true OF he various public bnl'u-
Ing; about the city. Entrances we:e Hill
cd with snow, and 1t was necessary 10 shh'
vel snow before people could get IN puo-
lie offices.
Tho malls were regularly despatched
from tho post office, but they were pl'ed
I'm n, the railroad station, us no trains
were moving, Whenever train happen
cd to pass all tho mail at tho station was
p,aced upon it,; therefore some CT tire
trains wcro carrying two or ,hroo ti'n,s
their usual amount of mail. Incoming
mails were irregular. The carly morning
mail was rather large, but the other mails
were small. Tho mail that should have
reached the city at o'clock in the morn
inc WAS not received until l o'clock In tho
afternoon. Postmaster Browne was Ht
the station personally directing tho gov
ernment's business
The severity of the storm and the lack
of patrons caused many stor,S to close III
fact some Of the stores did not open and
others that did only hid thcir doors ready
to receive customers only for n few hours
and then tho clerks were sent home, us II
was no use trying to transact business
The Street and Sewer department had
pnup Of men under the command of Sup
crvisor E,stburn trying to Keep the cros'-
inps clear They would shovel out cross
ing. but the snow would scarcely ba NOV
ed until the claarel place hal again hiieh
Nv the driving snow. While tho Street
and Sewer department made heroic efforts
to accommodate the few people abroad the
workmen were battling against odds and
tho labor was almost in vain.
WhiIc the pol l!c,man in the central part
of tho city had it hard enough, their exper'
fences were not circumstance to tho
ron III time the officers of the outlying dis
Ic soxperiencel, Their faces wero actu-
n lv couted with ice, and strong men as
they are. pane and putfcdas they strng-
gl ii through Tho massive drifts in making
their rounds. Chief Doian was Show
bound AZ his home on Become street. but
h kent in close touch with affairs at the
n,iirc station by frequently II Ing the tele-
phono
oNTuE RIVER ANDDAY.
Lewcs, Del, Feb 13-1he blizzard con-
Times at tho j3rcakwatcr. A binding
,now has boon falling all day. All tho
vrssels in tho harbor are ice-bound and
cannot move.
Tho three-inasted schooner Electa Cap
tain Bailey, is ashore near tho iron pier.
Sao was pushed on by tho Ice. Her crew
wore suffering intensely from lack of coal
and PROVISIONS and venturod ashore on tho
,c,. They are quarterel at tho Marine Hos
pital.
Tho severe storm brought up tho old
contention of whc.her.fruit Il killed. Tho
fruit dealers here who get tholr. nlorma-
tion from tho growers, say that snow Is
generally regarded as sure sign of good
f.ult crop 1t protects tho fruit vines and
trees from tho bad effects OF cold and np-
pears to help them in other ways. 1t is
claimed that the storm has helped rather
than killed peaches.
DR.. s. G. Elbcrt last night telcphoned
to the police station that If The patroimen
found anyone suffering from cold and
would bring them to his office, lie would
attend them. He also told the police men
that IL they discovered anyone suffering
from cold, who was unabc to coine to his