The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-11-15
FIRST SNOW OF
THE WINTER
From II in the Morning Until S
in the Afternoon a Whirling
Mass Of Flakes Filled
the streets-Many
Wires Broken
Down.

The first snowfall OF the season canie
unexpectedly Sunday, beginning about II
o'clock A. NJ. and continuing until about
s P. M. It was strange sight, Niis fu-
rious snow storm with many Of the trees
still laden with leaves and temperature
on Saturday night so mild that nothing
more than continuance OF the rain then
prevailing was anticipated.
The rain came down intermlttently all
Sunday forenoon until II o'clock. when
the raindrops turned to fine snow fakes
The surprise occasloned by the first flakes
gave place to amazement3a little later
as the & furry developed into q furious
whirllng. swirling mass.ofg large flakes. e
Is The soft. wet condition of the ground
caused the snow to melt as fast as 1t
fell Ter some time. but as the storm IN
creased In fury the snow began to stick
and finally to accumulate until there was
nearly or quite an inch Of slush upon
pavements and the roofs were white.
# The scurrying flakes and the chill ter-
perature accompanying them, brought
many lingering leaves scurrying down. In
some places the pavements were Uttered
with tho large catalpa leaves that had
withstood the early fros IS. Other and
harder leaves succumbed to the snow and
the stiff cold wind that sent the branch
es swayng. n Ss
Streets Were Deserted.
# The streets OF Richmond were deserted
most OF the day. The snow fall is dif--{
lficult to estimate, 50 much melted as It
fell, but probably two inches came down
during the day. It was packed down into,
"a slushy Goa ting on pavements that
made walking firing and uncomfortable.
The temperature lowered with the early
evening reaching the freezing point, but
the abatement OF the storm caused the
mercury to6 drop d ring the night. With
daylight nd sunshine and a mild temper
ature the snow and slusll soon disappear
cd yesterday. s 5st az Hi N
s 81 Tho snowfall was the ircsult OF q West
Indian hurricane, VIII lch2 swept up the
coast with fury and by y intact Of at at
Smosphcre OF varying temperatures caused
congelatlon snnd snow. On the seacoast +
there wassS no snow. but as as the the storm '1'
swept a>rthwnrd 1T grew moro severe.
washington had a. heavy fall and the
further northwest the storm went A the
worse 1t got. Reports from. all over the
northeast tell H OF the severity OF A the
storm. { 8j IL 3g sis Nj s1 re
Many Wires Down.
As a result o. the wind and the weight
of the heavy wet snow, telegraph and
telephone Wires in great number were
prostrated Z In the northern States and
even In this statelnort OF this city. The
management OF tile two telegraph cem- Z
panles 'awoke to find their wires grounded
and the city Isolated in almost every d.
rection. Communication with Washing
ton BY wire was cut off and early train
service was seriously retarded. The tele-5
graph and telephone companies soon sent
out their forces Of linemen and before
night the wires were clicking and sput-5
terlng away, laden with accumulated mes
snges The damage to- wire service was
much worse north OF Virginia than with
4Inithis State. j3Ss.
Train service was somewhat inte'fered
viii, and trains on several roads delayed
yesterday morning, The south bound
trains due here in the morning were de-
3Iaycd from a few minutes to three hours,
hwIng chiefly to waiting on late connesci-3
tlpns at Washington. BY noon, however,
trains were running as usual.