The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-05-27
Live Wires Blown to
Ground.
MOST INJURY IN WEST END
Danget From Broken Tro1ly Wire
on South Court.
No one Received Shock, Though
Nny People Were i'm the Vicinity.
Many Poles are Broken
Down.

heavy wind and rain storm, &C.
conpanied by electrical disturbances,
during which the wind attained a We
Lofty Of forty miles an hour, passed
DER Montgomery shortly after 6
o'clock yesterday evening. seriously
dhmaging electric light and telephone
gstems. temporarily Gripping the
street. car service. and incidentally en-
tangered the lives of persons on the
kreets.
For three blocks on Clay Street,
West End, every pole and wire was
laid to the ground by the fury of the
gale. The street., from Whitman to
IDickerson Street, was a mesh of high
potential light wires tangled up in the
darkness with telephone wires.
1t was too dark to ascertain exactly
how many poles were blown down, but
a representative of the light company
estimated there were at least twelve,
three of which belong to the light COM
pany and nine to the telephone com
pany. A resident of Clay Street, be-
tween Whitman and Hanrick Streets.
said that six poles were blown to the
ground in the block on which he lived.
All of the poles, 1t seems, were broken
off at their base, and lay horizontally,
extending from the sidewalk into the
street.
Pulled Poles Down.
1t was explained that one of the
large telephone cables and leads was
blown down and its heavy weight pull
ed the poles down with 1t. Falling
across the high potential arc circuit
at the corner of Clay and Dickerson
Streets, two light poles were snapped
down and the same thing occurred at
the intersection of Holt Street.
The power was immediately turned
off the circuits in this vicinity to pre-
vent any possible casualties. Repre-
sentatives of both the light and tele-
phone companies visited the scene of
destruction, but it was too dark to
attempt to repair the damage, and 1t
was decided to wait until morning to
begin the work of reconstruction. Two
arc light circuits were cut out for the
night, leaving a large area in that
vicinity, extending through West End,
in complete darkness.
Residents in the neighborhood of
the damage remained close TO their
homes being afraid to venture out
in the network of wires. Numbers of
persons, passing in that direction,
were warned of the danger and turned
back to find a more safe route.
The greatest damage has been
wrought to the telephone lines in this
immediate neighborhood, and 1t is be-
lieved 1t will require several days to
put the lines in proper shape. The
light company believes that their lines
will be restored by tonight.
Slight damage was also reported on
Heron Street between Holt and Dick
erson Street. where wire had fallen
across the street, and 1t was reported
that a live wire was laid to the ground
on Holt Street between Jefferson Da-
Wis Avenue and Ludie Street.
Trolley Wire Breaks.
The greatest danger to life, however,
was on South Court Street. just at the
intersection of Court Square, where the
trolley wire snapped in two and fell
to the ground at 7:10 o'clock. while
crowds of people were on the streets.
The wire sputtered and flashed for
several minutes before sufficient con-