The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-04-12
COOLEST WEATHER
ON RECORD
When Railroad Trains Froze to the
Tracks and Actors Were
Frozen to Stage.
lChica 80 Trlbune.l


the other side of the wOrld-in Rus
STA, the land OF winter. over there
they are having weather that makes
our recent feeble attempt at a biz
Zard look like a spring zephyr.
1t has been cold in ST. Petersburg
colder, they say, than for 200 years.
Nobody knows how many degrees be-
low zero it has been, for apparently the
thermometers all were put out of bust
ness.
1t was so cold over there that the
people thought that the end of the
world was coming. The earth had been
deluged once and now it was to be
frozen, said the SuperStitiOus ones, in
stead of being destroyed by fire.
1t was so cold that the railroad
trains froze to the tracks in Siberia
For days at a time care were not able
to run. They were not snowbOund. as
they sometimes are in this country,
but literally frozen to a standstill.
1t was so cold that the milk froze
in the cans, and the Finnish women
who run the milk carts in st. Peters
burg found themselves unable to de-
liver supplies So cold that cannOns
burst when they were discharged so
cold that the actors were frozen away
from the theaters and the regular per-
formances not given.
A Chicago man in st. Petersburg who
bought tickets to the Grand Okhta
theatre for Sunday evening, December
20, tells how he failed TO see Rubin
STEMS opera, Nero" No one, he says,
who was out on that evening is ever
likely to forget it, so bitter was the
cold.
There was no snow falling, indeed,
the sky was cloudless and srariit, but
the air was filled with fine powder
like diamond dust, sharp and spark
ling, of which the particles seemed to
be now rising. now falling. Walk as
briskly as you might, your feet, though
cased in wooden socks. heavy boots. AID
thick, high, fur-Ined oversh:Ac. AEIlsI
| increasingly. Through warm. furry
gloves the frost king tied ones fin
gers and turned ones hands to stones.
Mustaches and boards, unless buried
in ample collars of sable, beaver, skunk
or bear skin, were weighted with heavy
icicles. The eyelashes would freeze at
times to the skin. In fact, it was a
sacrifice to go out anywhere, even to
the theatre. and especially to see Ru-
binstein's Nero" in the Grand Okhta
theatre; still hundreds made 1t.
Eight o'clock was the hour fixed for
| the spectacle, but at 7:30 already a
large crowd of spectators had assem-
bled. In Russia people are fond of
the theatre, and in ST. Petersburg the
supply is far from being equal TO the
demand At o'clock, however, the
bell which precedes the raising of the
curtain did not ring.
For quarter of an hour the audi
ence possessed its soul in patience.
Then another fifteen minues was spent
in kissing and stamping. And finally
a veritable storm of indignation broke
nd L
end-perhaps, people whispered, the
theatre might be burned down.
Then the curtain suddenly rose and
| the impresario, a highly respected
member of the profession. came for
ward and addressed the spectators
soothingly.
He was not, he said to blame. and.
therefore, ought not to be punished.
| The fact was that, the cold being in
tense and the stage not sufficiently
heated, the actors would not-couId
not-appear. The theatre director sig
nificantly pointed TO the boards, and,
behold. a layer of snow hard and
white slippery snow. lay there, and
showed no signs of thawing. He add
&c certain critical remarks about the
! thrift of the owners of the Temple of
Thespis, but he failed to conciiate the
public.
When his address ended the "ruc-
lions" began. A free fight ensued. and
it was not toll 10 o'clock that the police
managed to clear the theatre. And even
this result would not have been attain
ed if the money had not been refunded
TO the wrathfui. shivering playgOers.
Whether it was also the frost that
burst st. PeterSburg's thunderous time
keeper is a mystery which the authori-
ties are endeavOring to fathom. 1t is
the custom in the two capitals and in
the principal cities of Russia to an
nOunce noon every day by firing off a
cannon. 1t st. Petersburg the place
chosen is one of the walls of the fortress
of SIS. Peter and Paul, whence the sound
usually is carried over the entire city,
and people set their watches accord
ingly.
For thirty years the same big gun had
been regularly used, never missing a
day. But on one of the coolest moons
last week, together with the ordinary
/ explosion. the soldiers heard a much
louder boom and saw the cannon burst
| in pieces, one of which, weighing SIC
pounds, was hurled violently to one
/ side. but happily, everyone got off I'M
/ scathed. Now midday is announced by
/ a new piece of ordinance.
I If it was not the frost that killed the
/ cannon il certainly was the frost that
kept the troops of one of the regiments
/ from guarding their rifles with proper
! care. For on one of the coolest nights,
when even words seemed to freeze on
ones lips, number of revolutionists
/ got into the regimental storehouse and
/ stole sixty magazine rifles. Nobody
! heard them, nobody saw them, and no
/ body punished them.
Many a breakfast table and nursery
( of st. Petersburg have been made to re-
alize in unpleasant ways the meaning of
/ the intense frost that held all Russia
/ in its icy grip. All the milk used in the
! capital comes from the country and
most of 1t from Finland. Every morn
! ing at O'Clock the sturdy, hardy Fin
1 nish women arrive with their carts fill
/ ed with tin cans and begin their rounds
/ among their customers. The other day
! they found the milk frozen in the YES
sells, and nothing they could do in the
streets availed to get it out again. They
( hammered and prodded and shook the
/ tins, but all TO no purpose.
AS the same mishap befell them all
/ they did not run the risk on the follow
! ing day, but stayed at home When
4 they next came their frozen. milk was
refused. Meanwhile there was quite a