Evening star., 1923-03-07
Entire City Suffers Incon-
venience and Traffic From
Suburbs Is Slowed Up.
STREET ACCIDENTS DUE
TO STORM ARE MANY
Telephone and Telegraph Service
Hardest Hit by Masses of
! Sleet on Poles.

Sleet and ice following in the wake
of yesterdays storm caused heavy
damage to overhead wires and trees
and Washington and vicinity today
paid tribute to the storm In the form
OF slackened street car service, inter
mittent electric light trouble and
crippled telephone and telegraph ser
was more keenly felt in the suburbs.
Aside from the damage the blanket
Of ice that covered suburban Wash
ington created a picture far above
any human masterpiece OF natural
lanscaping. Suburbanites making
their way cityward shortly after the
sun peeked over his frosted coverlet
caught sight of fields. meadows.
trees and shrubs all clothed in iri-
descent wells of ice. When the rays
Of the early morning sun got to work
fields doomed up in brilliantine Grim
son: trees became structures of living
rose tints. And the whole picture OF
suburban Washington this morning
vas semi-transparent mass OF Varl-
egated coloring.
Southwest Hard Hit.
The southwest section was hardest
hit of the city proper in telephone
damage. reports from the Chesapeake
and Potomac Telephone Company in
dicated. although long-distance traf-
fic and telephone service to various
nearby suburban points were crippled.
A thousand men are working today
to repair the damage wrought by the
sleet. The law of gravity and frozen
water on the wires did the work. Ice
about an inch in circumference on
mile of wire weighs several tons. j.
pulls down poles by mere force OF
weight.
Almost all Of Southwest Washing
ton was incommunicado via telephone
early today. The damage was grad
uaIly repaired to the point where at
noon it was promised that everything
would be working smoothly again to-
morrow.
The long distance overhead wires
from New York. Baltimore and York.
Pa. to Washington were knocked
gallcy-weSt by the storm. Service Is
proceeding. greatly crippled, by the
underground cable between tnese
points. Long g-distance service from
Washington to Richmond was prac-
tically annulled today as result OF
the storm. Norfolk, Va, also being
out of reach. The line from Wash
ington 70 LynchburG also is out OF
condition.
Suburbs Cut on.
In the suburbs telephone service
also IS greatly slowed up. In some
instances the trunk lines from Wash
ington direct TO suburb were
broken. necessitating the detouring
of telephone traffic around the vicin-
ity several miles in order to get an
exchange. This holds good with An
napolis. Sandy Spring, Md; south
and west Of Falls Church. Va; Fred
erick, Bethesda, Gaithersburg, Rock
vile, kensington and other points
in the same radius.
Just beyond Bethesda, Md. twenty
telephone poles toppled over, break
ing the wires. as a result of the
weight imposed by sleet and ice. Fort
Myer. Va, reservation reported
similar case. In addition, around the
reservation for several miles. stretch
ing as far down county as Falls
Church, the ground is covered with
large branches of trees and in some
instances with entire trees borne to
the ground by the weight of ice and
the wind of last night.
Suburban Cars Late.
Rhode Island avenue northeast fur
nished typical illustration OF
suburban car service after the storm.
Cars from Mount Rainier. Riverdale
and points east wandered into the
city fifteen minutes or SO behind
schedule because of the sporadic
starts and stoppages Of the current.
Pedestrians after awaiting trolleys
for considerable time were faced by
cars tipping past with capacity loads.
Automobilsts played roles of good sa
ma aritans in fair numbers,
Four poles of the Potomac Electric
Power Company went down about Z
o'clock last night near Wisconsin ave
nue. and Belt road. The damage had
been repaired this morning. AT many
other points lighting service halted
during repairs to wires on poles.
High-tension wires of the electric
lighting service at Connecticut ave
nue. and Tilden street were broken
early today.
Damage caused by the storm called
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