Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1899-02-08
THE SLEET IS SEVERE,
More Damage BY Snow and Ice
Than for Years Past
HAVOC WITH ELECTRIC WIRES
The Fire Alarm, Telephone, and Other
Systems Suffer Greatly.
MANY TREES ARE BROKEN DOWN.
They Give Way Under the Grcnt
Weight Of Ice, aud Branches Are
Cars Run with Difficulty.

| tulItu III lllS CITY lUi many f't''"s
1t lncrusted everything with ice, work.
ed havoc among the telephone and tele-
graph wires Of the city. and greatly IN
terrupted street-car travel Trees and
telegraph poles. even. snapped under the
burden laid upon them, and while there
were no casualties, there were many
narrow escapes.
The electrc-light wires and the rah-
road wires came through the ordeal bet
ter than the telephone and telegraph
wires. while fully two-thirds Of those Of
the fre-alarm system was disabled.
At midnight a number of trees and eight
telegraph poles had been reported down
i'm various parts Of the city. They fell
with the wires, Of course, impeding travel
and doing some little injury to adjacent
property
RESULT OF THE STORM.
The police were. as usual. on the alert,
and all breakages were promptly report
cd 10 Superintendent Thompson. Of the
| Fire-Alarm Department. who IS 'h" o.
pervisor Of the overhead wires in the
city. There was an extra force at .''
fre-alarm all day. and I'm each engine
house there were special details and n
night-watch.
The sleet was very disastrous to the
shade trees in the parks and on the resi-
Dental streets of the city. The icy bur
den broke the limbs in all parts Of the
city, and not a few OF the large trees
were snapped off near the ground. There
IS hardly a square in Richmond off Of
Broad and Main streets where there are
not branches Of trees to obstruct the pas
sage. Several Of the fine trees i'm the
Capitol Square were broken down, includ-
ing one that fell on the steps Of the Ii
brary building. tree that fell In -.
Johns churchyard came near catching
Mrs. George Schleiser and her three chi-
dren. who were passing Trees were also
blown down on Marshall street by me
Regimental Armory; at Fourth and Grace
Fourth and CLAY. Franklin between First
and Second. Fifth between Main and
Franklin. Cary between Fourth and Fiith,
/ Third between Broad and Marshall, on
Franklin near the Ginter mansion, on
Grove avenue above Harrison. and IN
Monroe and the other parks. In many
cases the falling trees bore the electric"
wires down with them.
THE SIDEWALKS SLIPPERY.
The snow. rain and hail-storm has
rendered the streets of Richmond very
slippery and in some places dangerous
to pedestrians. on most OF the leslueil'I"'
streets the snow which fell MONDAY morn
ING has not vet been cleared away and the
> sleet has settled upon that on the Dusl-
ness streets. however where the snow
} was scraped off the sidewalks the sleet
81 has covered the bricks. and the result
- is a much more slippery surface IMAM II
the snow had been allowed to remain.
The city street-sweepers have been at
work under the direction OF the Olly hh-
gineer and have cleaned the crossings on
Main and Broad streets and are now en-
deaVoring TO alleviate some OF the as
comforts on the residential streets. Ihe
sfreet-car service has been greatly IN
terfered with. Especially is this true ON
tho branch lines, but even on Main and
Broad streets Il is impossible for the
schedules to be maintained.
THE WIRES FALL.
Several times have the wires broken on
the Nain-street line from the weight OF
the ice which was -srr1ed upon them
| and this has delayed traffic conslderaol>
p besides andangering the lives of passers
bv. The wire first broke on Main stree
o at the corner of short and there II la!
sputtering and emitting fire until hNed
? | Then il snapped at the corner OF seFenli
1 and Main streets. and later YESTERDAY
afternoon at the corner of Ninth, ana u
| each instance were the passers-by I'm
pressed with the great danger lurking u
| overhead wires cars were run di
through Monday night to keep the wire
from freezing. and the same thing was
done last night on the main INES 'dt'
We're stopped on some OF the piahches'
DER ANGEAIENT OF TELEPHONES
e The telephone companies have had thei
= troubles The lines OF the Bel 1elephoh
Companv have not suffered much, II be
ing reported at their Office that they hdF
e been interfered with by this storm les
h than by any similar one IN years In
e Richmond Telephone Company wlie
= have been more or less damaged ana IN
service has been somewhat impaired.
= will be a day or two before the service
z can he restored TO its normal conditions
.. Large forces were out an work all las
- night trying To remedy the trouble, az
far as possible The wires OF both line
= were badly crossed and weighted down
l. poles were borne down. and wires snap
= ned in every direction. Several telephones
T. were reported burnt out. one gentleman
e telephoned TO the Fire-Alarm Depart
e ment that his telephone was on fire, ant
l. asked what he should do. He was tolC
10 wrap his coat around his arm and Gu
the wires.
. Mr.. L. W. Trafford, superintendent o
+ electric-lights, was at the fire-alarn
!. headquarters watching the progress o
, the storm. He remained there for seye
+ raj hours. so as 20 he able 10 act at once
t II II became necessary 10 cut OF the elec
o tric-light.
With the telegraph companies the sit
e uation is not satisfactory, though busl
r. ness was handled very well last night
= The Postal reports all Of its wires II
working order now, but the western
Unions wires have suffered somewhat
The railroads are not incommoded by tn
storm, and the trains are running iht
G Richmond on time.
THE STORM AREA.
e The storm is general in its area an
l. extends nrettv much all over Virgin
with equal severity. The dispatcher
the Chesapeake and Ohio reports that q
l. over his territory there Is about hVe
six inches of snow, and that III man
> nlaces west Of Richmond the neecy MAKE
,, are still falling. The river Is pecoiii'n
u someyhat affected, too, by the snow, an
II az Columbia last evening rise OF u lee
y was reuorted. This, however, does h'
indicate danger here. as II taxes - le'
there 20 force the river beyond us Dam
!, IN Richmond. The great danger he'
,y,u he from the floating Ice eorsihs
= pocketts and this Captain cunningham
y ,,,,,b the city tug, will try TO AVOID.
> rho weather prophet announces the pr
e 49,, ,bat the storm is about over, an
49, -, ,omorrow will be clear. thoua