Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1909-01-29
TERRIFIC STORM
SWEEPS OVER CITY
Blizzard of Wind, Snow and
Sleet, Paralyzes Business and
Does Much Damage
TELEPHONE COMPANY HARD HIT
Hundreds Of Wires Down, Poles Blown
Over, Seriously Gripping Service
Railroad Companies Have Difficulty
Operating Trains - Fire Alarm and
Lighting System Out of Business.

Operating Trains - FIRE Alarm aho
4 Lighting System Out Of Business.
One of the worst storms of wind,
sleet and snow in years, which has
i conferred over Iowa today, did great
damage in this city, Frustrated busi-
ness, wrecked telephone and telegraph
service; put out Of business the city
/ fire alarm and local street car systems:
and handicapped railroads to such an
i extent that traffic was carried on only
with the greatest difficulty. The force
of the wind and the, weight of the
sleet and snow which chung to wires,
wrecked line after line of telephones,
including city, toll and rural. bore down
commercial and railroad telegraph
1 lines, hampered the movement of
trains. blew in store fronts and de-
molished signs.
! Phone Company Hit Hard.
The Marshall Telephone company.
and also the Bell toll lines, as well as
the rural lines, were very hard hit At
4 noon, at the offic of the Marshall
Telephone company, it. was estimated
THAT 100 poles were down in the city.
This estimate is conservative, as
poles Were continuing to fall all day,
and conditions, so far as all sorts of
wire service were concerned, were
gradually growing worse as the day
advanced, despite the efforts of all the
force that could be put out to I'M
| tangle, uncross and straighten out the
| fallen wires.
Poles Down All Over City.
| In all parts of the city, and espec-
Tally north of Main street, where the
! force Of the storm seems to have been
greatest, poles are down and telephone
wires are in trouble. In some places
| long stretches of poles have snapped
off under the force of the wind and
|! the weight Of the clinging sleet and
snow.
| West Of Thirteenth street on Main,
a long line of poles was broken off.
| In the alley north of Main street, be-
, tween Center and Third avenue, some
Of the poles were broken and practic-
ally all Of the wires We're down. Some
Of these are old unusued Bell phone
| wires.
A large pole at the corner of Ninth
and State streets. carrying cable
containing scores of wires, is down,
putting many telephones out Of use.
Another pole at the alley on Third
street, north of State, carrying great
many wires, broke early this morning.
Scores of phones were made useless
by this brealsage. Other poles in the
same neighborhood were tnreut,..i.tse. "
go down any time. Both the rural and
toll lines are practically useless, none
of the rural lines being open.
Trees Fall; More Wires Down.
In some instances the blowing over
Of trees was the direct cause of other
poles and wires being torn down. The
! immense cottonwood in front or the
| Stcddart hotel went over at about g
o'clock this morning, carrying some
electric light wires with it, and block
| ing the street car line. Another tree at
| the corner of Summit and Third street
toppled over, carrying with it tele-
phone pole and many wires. An old elm
| Just east Of the court house was also
blown down. In practically all parts Of
the city ornamental, shade and fruit
trees were greatly damaged.
Street Car System Tied Up.
The entire system of the MARSHALL
| town Light, Power and Railway COM
pany was tied up. Traffic was stops ed
shortly after it was begun this morn
ling, because of the tree at Third aven-
! ue and Main which blocked the track
Because. Of the many tangles of tele-
phone wires over those Of the COM
rnorcial lighting system, the current
was shut off shortly after daylight ex-
ceptfnE In the depot district, where
there was less danger from crossed
| wires This precaution was taken to
prevent accidents resulting from loose
wires. Later in the morning the city
notified the company to shut off Its
CURRENT, which had already been done,
| and still later the city ordered the
company to shut off its commercial
power current. There is every proba-
bi1fty that those who depend on cleo
| trlc light will be in darkness tonight.
| Superintendent Hovey said their
| light, power and trolley lines We're in
fairly good condition, their trouble be-
! ing caused by the phone wires that
were down. He thouht that street car
service would be resumed as soon as
the track was cleared.
Telegraph Wires Down.
Practically all Of the telegraph wires,
both commercial and railroad, leading
into and thru the city, are down The
| Western Union had one Chicago wire
working, which was the only one that
reached to a point any great distance
from the city.
AS a result Of this condition the
| operating Of trains on all three Of The
steam roads was carried on with the
greatest of difficulty and danger.
Trains were being run by the en-
ginemen who were operating them, and
as a, result the movement of all traffic
was tedious and slow and many delays
resulted in all of the trains being be-
hind time this morning and turnout
the day. No serious accidents were re-
ported.
Train Draes Miles Of Wire.
| Telegraph wires which had been
| blown across the iowa Central track
near Hampton early this morning be-
came entangled in the trucks of the
cars and engine and were dragged and
! torn from the poles as the train caught
them. 1t was not until then that the
| trafnmen discovered that the cars were