Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-08-18

tan, leaving half a million
people without elevators. al
conditioning, traffic lights. o
any Of the complex system
that keep q great city func'
tioning smoothly.
Power Is Restored
The power failure began ir
midafternoon. Power was COM
pletely restored to the area al
3:42 am. (EDT) today, almost
- hours after 1t went of.
Soon after the power failure
the Consolidated Edison Co
threw 1000 repairmen intt
the area. Some Of them car
ried radar-like electronic equip
ment to locate feeder line
breaks.
The breaks were caused by q
record demand made by refrig-
Grating and other cooling de-
vices.
Seven feeder lines were
burned out. This so increased
the burden on Is other feeder
lines in the He'll Gate network
that they had to be shut down
lest irreparable damage result
Mercury Near 30
The mercury was near sc
when power went of. and the
humidity was suffocating. Sud-
denly every intersection be-
came q traffic jam.
Then the recovery began. In
hospitals, emergency lights
came on. Extra police poured
into the area, Strengthened out
the traffic.
Police sent emergency gener-
ator trucks to Mount Sinai
Hospital. where nine polio pa
tients in iron lungs depended
on auxiliary power.
Subways, which have indie
pendent power and were
stopped when signal lights
went out, began to crawl, as
workers with red lanterns sig
nailed that the way was clear
ahead.
Apartment jewellers began to
find out how it feels to climb
stairs.
Eerie Spectacle
And then darkness came,
and New Workers. In the strick-
en- area saw the eerie spectacle
of a city without lights.
In hospitals, they faced the
problem Of getting expectant
mothers to delivery rooms with
out elevators. At least one child
was delivered in the wavering
beam Of a flashlight.
But New York night life went
on. Bartenders bought candles
by the dozen, and complained
because, without refrigeration,
the beer was warm.
Children when they found
the television and radio sets
would WORK. enjoyed the nov
city of seeing candle flames
along Broadway. 4
Bank vaults wouldn't close,
and extra guards were assigned.
At a. radio station disc jockeys
had o field day. The turntables
were knocked out. so no records
could be played, and the lis
teners were treated to one, long,
continuous line Of chatter.
Extra Police in Park
Extra police were assigned to
Central Park, which stretches
through the middle Of the dark
ened area. More patrolmen
walked the Swallowed streets.
LIT only by the headlights Of
passing cars.
IN all, 5000 extra police were
sent into the blacked-out Sec
ton. Hours later, as power be-
gan to come back on, police
reported only one burglary and
one assault case.
No major accidents or fires
were reported.
The blacked-out section
stretched across the Island of
Manhattan. from the Hudson
River to the East River. On
the West Side it ran the length
If Central Park, from seth to
10th streets. and on the East
Side from Attn to 10th.
People thronged onto the
streets, rather than climb
stairs to stuffy apartments with
electric stoves that wouldn't
work. Stores had a run on
candles and flashlights, and
were sold out in q few hours.
Children Sell Candles
Children hawked penny can
dies in the streets at 10 cents
apiece. One shopowner sold
$500 candles in two hours.
The American Broadcasting
Co.'s television network was
knocked of the air for "a min
utes, and newsmen worked by
candlelight in the ABC news
room. Several live TV pro-
grams scheduled for studios in
the stricken area were Cancelled.
Many restaurants and bars,
hampered by lack Of refrigera-
ton and ice, closed down at
dark. Others kept open and
served by candlelight. An auto
mat kept operating and sold
out all its food.
Jukeboxes and television sets
were out, and in bars and
apartments, New Workers. were
thrown back on their CONVEX
sational resources.
Movie theaters emptied when
the power failed. but little
groups Of people gathered out
side the darkened houses from
habit.
In front of one theater, q
man entertained by playing
tinkling tunes on glasses and
cups.