The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-12-26
Temperature Drops 20 Degrees
Within a Space of Only
Four Hours.
DAMAGE BY THE GALE
Buildings and Trees Suffer in In
diana-Walls of New St.
Louis Hotel Topple.

Coming just at the close of delightful
Christmas day, a raging blizzard. accom-
panied by a sudden and decided drop in
the temperature. struck Indianapolis at 5
o'clock last evening. The gale perhaps was
the worst experienced In this city for some
time. Early reports from other Indiana
points, from the northern boundary TO the
Ohio river. indicated a terrific windstorm.
AT o'clock last evening the temperature
registered 30 above zero. with the wind
blowing a gale at neutrality-suspicious.
rate. After that the wind dropped fast,
and did the temperature,
At o'clock the temperature registered
rs above, at o'clock. is: at o'clock. u:
at O'Clock, g. and at midnight. above,
with the wind blowing at about twenty or
twenty-five miles an hour.
Snow fell early last evening in binding
sheets. but the sky cleared about o'clock
and the forces of nature devoted them
selves strictly TO making things cool for the
hapless dwellers In Indianapolis.
Most OF the hapless dwellers devoted
themselves to staying close indoors. but
such Of them as had to be stirring were
kept busy trying TO keep their feet on the
slippery walks. buffeted about by the fierce
wind that blew around corners and down
the streets at terrific rate. Street cars
ran late, and corner drug stores were
crowded with people trying to catch belated
cars and keep warm at the same time.
The damp snow of the early part of the
evening left the streets and sidewalks wet
so that when the sudden drop In the tenn
perature came little later it left the
pavements covered with a thin coating of
Ice that made navigation on foot difficult
and hazardous. The ice on street car
ules, while interurban time tables were
hopelessly deranged. People who grew tired
of waitIng for af sSrs started start to walk al
Ing proposition after battling with the ter
rife gale for few squares.
Railroads entering the city began to feel
the effect OF slippery rails and wind early
last evening Within a few hours through
trains from the East began to run an hour
or more late, with local trains from thirty
condition of affairs grew worse the
night wore on. East-bound trains were
even more badly affected by the storm and
a train could be expected. II was a cer-
tainty that by morning trains from the
IVES West would be from one and two hours TO
was reported very light, probably a good
thing under the circumstances.
At midnight the Postal Telegraph Com
pany reported exceptional good fortune in
having few OF their wires down. with some
little trouble between Indianapolis and
Richmond. The Western Union Jared
worse. Communication with Washington.
which bore the brunt of the storm I'm south
ern Indiana, and with Martinsville, only
thirty-four miles away, was entirely cut
off.
Reports TO the local weather bureau from
points I'm the West and Northwest showed
the gale and the sudden drop i'm the tenn
perature to be widespread At o'clock
last evening Duluth had a temperature OF
s below zero. the coolest recorded up TO
that time. At o'clock the wind was blow
ing at forty-eight miles an hour in ST.
Louis.