Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-10-06
CITY STREETS DARK
Electric Lights Fail for Nearly
Two Hours.
ACCIDENT IN POWER HOUSE
Short Circuit Puts q Big Turbine
Out of Business.
FOUR WEEKS FOR REPAIRS
Lines of the Washington Railway
and Electric Company Tied.
Damage Patched Up.

The Potomac Electric Power Company
lost its Pep last night. as the base
ball fan would put it.
A fog-enshrouded London night had
nothing on Washington for nearly two
hours, when a short circuit put out of
business the 5,OOO-kilowat turbine in the
power house at Benning, "doused the
glim'' as far as electric lighting was
concerned for practically the entire city
and stopped many car lines. From $50
o'clock, when belated homeseekers, dinner
guests and others Of that ilk were hurry
ing to their destinations, the blow that
not only turned on the darkness, but put
the street car lines of the Washington
Railway and Electric Company out of
commission temporarily, fell without
warning, and the thud of the fall found
expression in the hurrying footsteps of
victims who walked when they wanted to
ride.
Excepting the District and government
buildings, which manufacture their own
current, and some of the larger hotels
the usually brilliant thoroughfares Of
downtown Washington bore the gloomy
aspect of the candle light era.
Utilization of Substitutes.
Gas jets and chandeliers long unused
were hurriedly put into commission;
candles and Oil lamps were pulled from
the discard and put to work, and IN most
places where lights burn brilliantly after
6 o'clock there was little interruption.
Three institutions suffered more generally
than otherS-the cook with a perfectly
good dinner spelling because the master
oh, t1A
telephone operator who had the time of
her life handling calls of people who
wanted to explain why they were not
where they should be, and the moving
completely until the damage was tenn
porarily patched up and the lights turn
ed on.
OF course there were those who con-
Quoted themselves philosophically, nota-
bly, street car conductors and motor
men, who embraced long-desired op-
portunity to light up while everything
else was kept dark. and drivers of cabs and
taxicabs. who reaped rich harvest from
the accident. To the latter class the af-
fair resolved itself into a huge joke, par-
ticularly when a car on the bureau of en-
craving and printing line lost the Juice
while crossing the Pennsylvania avenue
tracks and tied up the 18th street and
Georgetown lines for ten minutes while
stalwart shoulders of train crews were
gently urging it to get out of the way.
| Performances Threatened.
AS the first hour rolled past without
any change. managers of theaters. with
| a performance a few minutes off, were
in despair over visions of returned mon
ey and empty houses. Just about that
time the minor actors in the various COM
panies evened matters up with plans for
| a quiet, restful evening, far removed
! from the footlights and property boxes
| But the managers won out. the actors
| worked and the patrons kept their tick
| cts.
| With the huge electric signs that turn
| night into day on Pennsylvania avenue
| blackness of the thoroughfare broken a
| long intervals by the brilliantly lighted
| New Willard. District building and pos
| office. the avenue presented a weird aspect
| reminding one of pictures of Washington
| in war times. before the advent of the
| tickle incandescent lamp.
While Washington was worrying large
| crew of skilled electricians and machinists
was toiIing overthc damaged turbine, strug
Cling to disconnect 1t from three others rem
| dered temporarily useless by the breakdown
| The damage was patched up by 8 o'clock
| Washington resumed a normal aspect
and drivers of cabs and 'taxis'' settled
| back to await another harvest.
The cause of the breakdown has no,
been announced 1t will take about -four
| weeks to repair the broken machinery
but new turbine is being installed at the
power house, and will be available for use
before that time