STORM: We all know what it’s like to get caught by an unseasonably harsh storm.

Folks in Bradford on Oct. 24, 1917, sure were surprised with what nature wrought.

In the Era on the 25th: “A persistently lowering temperature throughout the night was responsible for a transition about 4 o’clock yesterday morning from rain to snow and the precipitation of the latter which was of a wet, clinging variety.

“It continued during the day and greater portion of the night, producing about as much personal discomfort in Bradford as has ever been recorded for an early autumnal storm.”

Sounds unpleasant.

“Traction system transportation which became paralyzed shortly after noon forced an army of citizens who usually use this convenience to wade through the four-to-six inch accumulations of slush which were features of sidewalks in all parts of the city and which made their presence especially felt along the gutters of the main thoroughfares and at the intersections of streets.

“No effort on the part of the city street department to alleviate conditions was apparent to pedestrians forced to traverse many of the municipal highways and to wade at intersections.”

To say citizens were unhappy would be an understatement.

“Many and vigorous were the protests filed by these disgruntled residents against the apparent disregard for public convenience and property owners who failed as did the majority to remove the slush (from) their sidewalks were also targets of oral denunciations.

“The collapse of a high tension feed wire of the WNY&P Traction system forced a suspension of operations on all lines within the city shortly after 2 o’clock. These cessations of transit activity have not been unusual of late and in the belief that there would soon be a resumption of traffic, scores of persons waited in various parts of the city until patience ceased to be a virtue.”