The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-02-14
MONTGOMERY
 IN ICY GRASP COldeSt Weather in Many
 Years. THE RIVER STILL RISING Elements Interfere With Rail .
 road Traffic. Prediction is Made by Government Weather, Bureau That stiu Lower Temperatures win Come with
 Today.

Montgomery and Middle Alabama grappled with the Ice King yesterday. It was one of the coldest days of the year and lower temperatures are pre- dicted for today.
 The Alabama river Is flooding its banks and railroad trafnc in this sec- tion is impaired.
 Early yesterday morning night po- licemen, newspaper men, nighthawk hackmen and other persons who had business down town heard a northeast wind playing Chopin's funeral march on the telegraph wires. They knew what 1t meant and they sought red- hot stoves or plentifully blanketed beds.
 But Montgomery in general knew not of the impending drop in tempera- ture. When Montgomery arose from its nights rest and began to build its morning fires, 1t recognized that the Ice King had been perambulating around the neighborhood. The ther- mometer. which the night before had pointed toward 50 was then lowering around the 20 degree mark.
 The cold did not abate with the progress of the day. Toward noon, the thermometer registered 24 degrees About o'clock 1t pointed to 90 de- grees and at o'clock last night the temperature, according to the ther- mometer at the Weather Bureau of- flee, registered IS degrees.
 And it's getting colder!
 It is expected that a reading of about to 10 degrees above zero will be registered in Montgomery this morning, giving the coldest weather of the season.
 ruary IS. 1899. the lowest temperature over recorded here was registered, probably the lowest at Montgomery in the past century. when the thermom- ater registered degrees below zero. All Sorts of Weather. Montgomerians experienced every kind of weather possible yesterday Tn the early morning there was a wind storm and a cold drizzle. Later the drizzle changed to a furry of snow. Again 1t assumed the shape of sleet. At o'clock yesterday afternoon the ! sun shone forth for the first time in several days and Montgomery expe- rienced fine bracing weather until | dark
 Walking in the crisp dry air was iu- vigorating and many citizens "cut' the | cars and cabs.
 Although the temperature through. out the day was cold enough to make the ears jingle Montgomery's business | held up remarkably well. Numbers of persons were on the streets and the re- tail stores were well patronized. The street car companies reported 1 that the cold wave had fine effect on their traffic. There was much travel throughout the day. The tracks were kept clear of ice and no accidents were reported.
 Not so with the railway systems. Just as the roads were beginning to run on something like schedule time. after the blizzard of last week, north ern snow drifts knocked. these sched. ules to pieces. Trains struggled into Montgomery at any time The Alabama river was plainly v1aI ble yesterday from Court Square. The waters began their steady advance on the city yesterday and at nightfall the underpass at the end of Commerce Street was filled with water. Drift wood was plentiful on the river.
 The present cold wave. for which the Weather Bureau issued ample warning Sunday, began to assert itself here yes- terday morning, when the rain turned to sleet, and. later in the day, a very light snow furry occurred for a few minutes, not enough to lay on the ground.
 Severely cold weather prevailed over the entire country to the north and west of Montgomery yesterday. zero temperatures being reported as far south as West Tennessee. The Weather Bureau issued suDple- mental warnings yesterday, saying that the temperature would be as low as 14 | above zero to the gulf coast this morn ing. The Bureaus warning of this cold wavo has been of incaIculable benefit to householders and many in- dustries. in preventing damage to pip ing and to perishable products in stor- age
 Advice About Water Pipes. Section Director Chaffee of the Weather Bureau said last night that