Evening star., 1909-03-05

The oldtimers will have TO. stop dat
ing their calculations from the night of
the big wind, the st. Louis cyclone. the
Johnstown flood. the blizzard of 90 or
the Galveston food. Inauguration day,
1909. will hereafter be the only simon
date from which to draw weather COM
PARSONS.
II you want to find out just what it
meant. ask railroad and telegraph Off
cials. Also several thousand Involuntary
residents of Washington. some few of
whom may be found In and around
the Union station today, might talk "a
little on this subject. What most of
them are saying. though. is not nit for
publication in newspaper which goes
| into as many homes as The Star does.
What time does the o'clock train
lsave?" is no longer a catch ques ion, to
be answered by the facetious boy who
is holding down the ticket Office while
| the agent is out at lunch with the crisp
reply: The o'clock train leaves at
| $50 today 1t is a serious question.
| and one that the oldest employees of the
railrads cannot answer. Furthermore. it
is question they do not want to be
| asked.
| Filled to Overfowing.
| Filled to overflowing with inaugural
visitors. the Union station all day long
| has been resounding with the crash of
brass bands, accompanied by the cry
from thousands of throats singing that
great song,
| 4 want to so home now: | want TO
| 60 home
For the blizzard which began on the
| night Of March 3, and continued without
| letup until noon yesterday, upsetting all
the inaugural plans, keeping thousands
to utterly spoil the great quadrennial
event of the nations capital, proved to
| be one of the worst in history.
So far as tying up railroad and tele-
graph lines all over the country is con-
cerned. 1t stands alone in the annals of
the weather bureau, which was fooled
entirely and allowed the storm to creep
up to its very doors without warning.
The midshipmen were brought over the
Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis
electric line tracks from Annapolis to
Odenton yesterday. where they were to
have taken the Pennsylvania track to
Washington. But they did not leave
| Odenton until it was found that there
was no hope Of reaching Washingt on,
| when they returned to Annapolis.
| The 7th Regiment struck Washington
at o'clock yesterday afternoon. too late
| for the parade. They were reviewed by
President Taft today.
Departing Sightseers Detained.
Train dispatching at the Union station
was in a state Of chaos early this morn
ing, and had been since shortly after
the parade ended yesterday afternoon.
when the sightseers began to make for
departing trains. The chief reason. so
it was stated by the terminal officials to-
day, for the delays of yesterday after
noon. last night and today were due to
the large number of telegraph wires down
to the east and north and In some cases
to the south Of Washington. The informa-
ton necessary for dispatching of so many
trains as was necessary was almost i'm
possible to obtain, and the officials We're
taxed to the utmost.
A large number of people who intended
to depart for their homes in the northern
cities last night were unable to catch a
train out Of Washington until long after
midnight and early this morning. Only
out over the Baltimore, Philadelphia and
New York lines. few Of which were spe-
cials. The schedules did not assume any
semblance OF order over these lines until
today. A large number OF Baltimore
trains seemed to be fated, and were held
| over as much as five and six hours after
! their starting time.
| In addition to civilian passengers. sew
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