Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1948-02-04
Surprise Snow
Causes Capitals
Worst Tieup
Traffic Is PoroIyzed,
Thousands Of Workers
Delayed by Storm
Pictures ON Page BID

Catching motorists and street
clearance workers alike by sur
prise, a morning rush-hour
snowfall tied up traffic today in
one of the tightest knots in Dis
trict history.
Locked in auto-choked main ar
teries. thousands of persons strug-
Cling toward the District from Vir-
ginia and Maryland were brought
to complete standstill for more
than an hour.
Starting at am, the snow
reached its peak when work bound
traffic was at its heaviest. There
were only a few fakes falling at IL
am. when the Weather Bureau said
it measured Is inches The snow
was expected to turn to sleet and
rain this afternoon.
Streets Treacherous.
Inspector Arthur E. Miller. head
of the police traffic division, said the
trafflc's movement was slower and
the lines of almost immobile cars
longer this morning than at any
time in his memory
Representative Dewitt, Republic
can, of Minnesota, who Vas among
those caught in the traffic jam, told
his House colleagues that the Dis
trict needed more funds to battle
snow.
Revealing he was an hour and a
half getting to the Capitol, Mr.
Dewitt said it was not right that an
inch of snow should tie up traffic
here.
The Districts nine emergency
ambulances were continuously an
swering calls this morning and on
some occasions police scout cars
were instructed to remove patients.
a. Accidents Reported.
Police reported At minor traffic
accidents between 7 and II am.
and IL persons treated in hospitals
for falls One person, who fell at
Wisconsin avenue and Albemarle
street NV, was taken to Suburban
Hospital by the Chevy Chase Rescue
Squad because all District ambu-
lances were in service.
Moving over a slippery film, made
more treacherous by the remains
of January 24s 5-inch snow, the
traffic was nearly helpless. The
fact that manv automobiles stalled
on streetcar tracks and that many
motorists had removed their chains,
ADDED to the confusion.
Capital Transit Co. officials said the
jam was one of the. tightest through
which its buses and streetcars had
attempted to move. Most of the
transit vehicles were able to move
under their own power, but were
trapped in the choked streets.
Thrown off guard by fore
cast of rain, Sanitation Department
Chief William A. xanten's crew
of snow fighters we're not prepared
for the fall that slipped in from the
West.
Sanding Trucks Pile Up.
BY the time the sanitation super
intendent had sent sanders to key
pCllllS, bIlS u d1llt WuS 1CSAAlAiIlS w
pile up and the sanding trucks piled
up with it.
BY $50, Mr.. Xanten said the
situation was beyond redemption"
After that it was matter of waiting
until the traffic slowly unlocked
itself before the trucks could move
into action.
Although the forecast was for
above freezing weather and rain,
Mr.. Xanten ordered plows hooked
to trucks to prepare for any unex-
pected snow that might arrive.
Reports of stalled traffic were SO
numerous that by 9 am. police
we're ready to concede it the most
widespread tieup, oldtimers could
remember.
Shortage of Sand and Salt.
Adding to Mr.. Xantens woes was
shortage of sand, which the Smoot
Sand e. Gravel Co. attributed to the
ice-locked Potomac River preventing
barge deliveries.
When the supply was exhausted,
lSee WEATHER, Page A-6)