An awful ice storm 95 years ago

A storm in February of 1922 brought up to four inches of ice to central Wisconsin, and 2 inches to La Crosse over a 3-day period. About 20-thousand telephone poles fell under the weight of the ice, and several trains went off their tracks. There was heavy damage to trees as well, but only two people died from the Wisconsin storm.

That happened about a month after a blizzard dumped 28 inches of snow on Washington, D.C,, in what became known as the Knickerbocker Storm. That’s because the roof of Washington’s Knickerbocker Theater caved in one night during a silent movie. The roof apparently fell straight down in one large piece, blowing many people out of the building. Nearly 100 people died. The design of the fairly new theater was blamed for the disaster, and two of the architects eventually committed suicide years later.

Silent movie comedian Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle was on trial that winter. Prosecutors claimed he raped a woman, and caused her death by internal injuries because he was so heavy. The trial ended with a hung jury, and Arbuckle was eventually acquitted, but his acting career was ruined…95 years ago, 1922, yesterday in La Crosse.