The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1924-03-11
STORM Works
DAMAGE IN
" DISTRICT
Most Serious SnoWstorm of
Winter Impedes Traf-
fic Here.
Continued from First Page.)

/
tions Of the city to both pull
the alarm in the boxes and use
the telephone in case Of fire.
The sections in which the wires
are down and the boxes out OF
order follow:
| All OF Anacostia; all Of Congress
Heights; all of Randle Highlands
all Of Bennings; American Univer
sity Park section, west of Wiscon.
sin avenue and north of Murdoch
Mill road.
Several score Of french and DO,
lice were sent out this morning by
Commissioner James F. Oyster to
notify residents of these sections to
use both the alarm box and tele-
phone in calling apparatus for a
| fire.
Every effort is being made to
put these boxes into service as
quickly as possible" Chief Watson
said, I'm the meantime, residents
must make doubly sure that their
call for apparatus is received by
the fire department
Residents of the sections in
which the boxes are out Of service
should do two things:
Turn In an alarm at the near
est box. Then telephone Main 20,
giving exact location of fire"
Is Emergency Line.
Main 20 is the emergency tele.
phone OF the Fire Department.
special arrangements were made
To-Day with the Chesapeake and
Potomac Telephone Company ia
nave all calls for Main 20 put
through Immediately.
RADIO communication was de-
stroyed when aerials went down be-
fore the storm. The big broadcast.
ing station Of the telephone com.
pany, the stations of the other
broadcasting units and private sets
were broken down. A radio was
installed in the office Of The Times
to receive reports from points where
no telegraph wires were up.
The Arlington station was "out''
Tor a Few minutes and was not re.
paired until an emergency general
ing plant had been hooked I'D.
| Robert b. Patterson, or the Po.
tomac Electric Power Companv
said that wires and telephone poles
in all parts OF the city were down,
He declared that calls were pilinc
up In an alarming degree from
houses where there was no power
More than 700 such reports have
been received and additional calls
are coming in as fast as the com.
pany employees can record them.
Car Service Interrupted.
| Rockville and Laurel street car
traffic was destroyed when the
power substations feeding those
suburbs went out Of commission
under the strain.
Telephone communication fron
the central switchboard in the Dis.
trict building to the Third and
Seventh precinct is totally out of
commission. All calls coming from
ana going to those stations have to
be made on outside phones. The
stations are isolated, even from
their patrol boxes.
| TRAFFIC on the Washington and
virginia railway was almost nor.
NAL at 10 o'clock. Early this morn.
ing traffic was more than one
hour behind time.
At the Union Station it was said
that trains from the South were
more than two. hours behind their
schedule. Those from the West
are running an hour and a hall
behind time, while the trains com,
Ing from the East and North are
| virtually on time.
First precinct police reported
that more than 100 trees had
either been blown down or their
limbs torn off. Telephone poles
with fire alarm boxes on them were
reported down.
The storm proved disastrous tc
the long distance telephone lines
throughout Maryland, West Vir
ginia and Virginia. Underground
cable lines running to New York
Philadelphia, and Baltimore are
probably the few lines over which
service IL entirely unimpaired, al
though all are at present subject
! 70 heavy traffic loads.