The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-03-20
HARD TIME.
Consolidated Has Trouble in
All Directions.

The trolley companies have never ex-
perienced such an ice storm since their
lines have been in and about Worces-
ter. and their repair wagons and extra
gangs of men were kept busy all day
yesterday and late last night.
Tons of ice chung TO the wires and
poles, and pulled many to the earth.
Trees bent nearly double, and huge
limbs were wrenched from their
trunks and fell crosswise or Iengthwise
or the trolley rails, and motormen and
conductors as well as accommodating
passengers, pulled the heavy pieces of
timber to the side Of the road.
Ice fell upon the roofs of.the cars as
they boWled along the streets and road
ways and sounded like the reports of
good-sized cannon. At every little
turn, the trolley wheel slipped off of
the wire, and the conductor was obliged
to get into the roadway and do a High
land dance in order to get the little
wheel back again.
The ice broke the electric contact and
many ampheres of the precious fluid
We're wasted and the blue flashes lit up
the surroundings both in ana out of the
city in weird sort Of a way after sun
down. But the sight was a pretty one
and was appreciated by the trolleymen
as well as the public.
On Lincoln street, Salisbury street,
Pleasant street and portions of Main
street Where trees are numerous. the
weight of the ice bent the limbs and
made a perfect arch and the cars ap-
peared to be passing through pur-
posely erected tunnels of ice and be-
holders thought of Canadian ice car
nvals and the pretty things they had
DIT
play was grand and could not be dupli-
Gated by man.
1rolleymen worked as they have not
worked before in many years. The Con-
solidated lines We're tied up in many
places by falling wires for from 10 to
As minutes.
The day was bad and kept the repair
wagons going, but at night the ice
was very weighty.
The first bad break occurred on Sal
lshury street, near the corner of Grove.
A big pole on the side of the road fell
with a crash and dragged a tangled net
OF wires to the ground. The repair wag-
ons and the linemen We're on the scene
in very short time but for 80 min
utes cars We're stalled both sides of
the break and traffic was entirely
blocked on the Greendale and Boynton
street lines. The cars We're well filled
with passengers, ana to say that they
were angry would be putting it very
mildly.
A guard pole on Millbury street, near
Maxwell, came down at $50, and for a
half hour all cars We're blocked each
side of the break.
A telephone would come to the car
barns on Market street for the repair
wagon, and five minutes later it would
come from an entirely different section
of the city
A wire snapped just before 9 o'clock
on Southbridge street and it was 20
minutes before that break was re-
paired. Wires broke on Summer street
and on Kendall street, and late last
night a wire came down In two places
at the fair grounds on the west side.
There were many small accidents III
all sections of the city, and the rid
ing public were inconvenienced and the
trolley company lost many nickels.
The Consolidated officials said last
night that their loss would be consid-
cradle, and that it was the worst Ice
storm they ever saw.
The Grafton line ran spasmodically
but managed to get through without
any, serious accidents or breaks. The
big cars ploughed their way through
and seemed to laugh In glee when they
met the little ones struggling through
Worcester's streets.