midnight
Frigid was the blast of this giant light-beam . The street , wet from the fire-hose , was soon frozen with ice -- ice which increased under the blast of the beam , and melted in the warm air of the night when the ray turned away . From every distant point in the city , awed crowds could see that great shaft when it occasionally shot upward , to stain the sky with blood . * * * * * Dr. Alten by midnight was with the city officials , telling them what he could of the origin of this calamity . They were a distracted group indeed ! There were a thousand things to do , and frantically they were giving orders , struggling to cope with conditions so suddenly unprecedented . A great city , millions of people , plunged into conditions unfathomable .