The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1915-07-03
STOPS
STREET CARS
Electrical Machinery Dis
abled Until Tuesday or
Wednesday
EIGHTY TELEPHONE
LINES AFFECTED

"A. H Harvey's House Struck by Light
ming and Roads Are Badly Washed
Jitney Service Engaged for Field
Day a. Valley Fair Grounds.
The rainstorm which began in Brat
tleboro Wednesday forenoon cuImi-
mated last night in an electrical storm
OF unusual severity, and as a result
the trolley service in Brattleboro is
q minus quantity for the longest pe-
rlod in its history of 20 years.
The storm burned out the coils in
the rotary converter in the power sta
ton and today it is certain that no
cars will be in operation before Tues
day at the earliest and possibly not
before Wednesday. 1t is a hard blow
to the company to be out of commits
sion entirely on the holiday.
A bolt of lightning Just before 7
o clock burned out the coils in the con
verter and did so effective a lob that
had plenty of spare coils and experts
been on hand at the time it would
! have been a two-days' job to remedy
the damage. As it is, the time will
| be longer.
Besides this damage, so telephone
I>hnes, serving over 800 subscribers.
went out of business. The electric
| light service in the Fort Dummer dis
| trlct, Guilford road and the upper
end of Western avenue was nut ont
OF business by damage to transform
ers. The hills on Estev. Maple and
Canal streets were washed consider
ably and tightening struck the Chin
| hey of the two-flat house owned bv A.
| IL. Harvey on Clark avenue, knocking
! bricks and slate from the roof and do.
ing minor damage without iniuring
| any OF the occupants. Burned d-eut
| fuses in several houses in different
sections of the town were reported.
| but no fires resulted and no one was
| injured.
The storm struck soon after $50
clock and Just before Z O'Clock came
the flash of lightning that relieved
| the trolley cars from further aetiv-
| lty. One car was stalled on Main
| street opposite the homes of Charles
! I. Mann and Mrs. T. II. O'Connor
and the other stopped on Chaplin
| street. They were there this morn
| ing, but arrangements have been made
| for towing them to the switch on the
Common if traction power enough can
| not be obtained to get them to the
ear barns.
When its was discovered that the
damage was so extensive that it
| could not be repaired for several
days Supt. Arthur L. Tripp arranged
| for teams to be at the terminal of the
| line in West Brattleboro this morning
to bring the workers from that village
/ to Brattleboro. At first it was in
tended to make only the first trip
/ with teams, but later Supt. Tripp, on
/ his own responsibility, ordered trims
to be made until $50, which accommo-
dated many people who otherwise
would have been obliged to walk. No
/ charge was made for the transporta-
! tion and the accommodation was
greatly appreciated by those favored.
As the storm seemed to have done
| the greatest damage to the telephone
system in the Western avenue section
it was impossible to notify residents
| in West Brattleboro last evening of
thel aek of trolley service so they
could provide means for their own
| transportation, and this was one prin-
/ clpal reason for the transportation of
those who make the early trip.
Not only was the trolley service
made extinct for some time, but dam
age was done 70 the Dummerston
power plant. This, however, was
readily overcome by taking more
power from the Connecticut River
Power Co., and this morning the dam
! age at the Dummerston plant had been
| repaired
Seven transformers were damaged
more or less during the storm, which
accounted for the lack of lights in
three sections of the town, but these
had been repaired during the morning,
| no one of the transformers being put
entirely out of commission.
The telephone company escaped Sc
rious trouble with toll lines, but dur
ing the evening so lines refused to
carry messages. BY noon today al
most all of them had been replaced in
| service through hard work on the part
of the linemen.
1t was in the earlier part of the
storm, which appeared to be divided
IN severity into two parts, the first
OF which was about o'clock and the
last about 8, that the two-fat house
at IL Clark avenue owned by A. Fl.
| Harvey was struck. Bricks from the
chimney and slate from the roof were
thrown long distances Mr.. and Mrs.
| Carroll Snow, who were in the upper
flat, and the Misses Chase, Wyman
and Jaquith in the lower fiat, were
confident for a few minutes that the
/ house was tumbling down about them
The house occupied by Frank Rob
inson on the same avenue was enter
ed by lightning on the electric wires