A power outage darkened the Radcliffe Quadrangle for nearly an hour last night, stopping term papers in mid-sentence, stranding the studious in Hilles Library, but reprieving the bulk of the undergraduates from work.

The Reading Period blackout occurred a little after 9:30 p.m. and ended at 10:20 p.m., according to Dave F. DesRoches, district service manager for Commonwealth Electric Co. The Quad was the only customer affected, he said.

DesRoches said the blackout was caused by a "mechanical failure" of one of the power breakers. "It was like a big fuse problem."

Last night's outage follows a short electricity surge on Monday which cut off power in the Quad for seconds. According to DesRoches, the blackout occurred while a workman was trying to resurrect a fallen cable.

Residents throughout the Quad greeted the darkness with shock and surprise but mostly with quiet.

No Snowball Fight

"I thought there would have been a large snowball fight or something," said Dan Alvarado '89, who was driving a shuttle bus during the blackout. Instead, Alvarado said, the Quad was "very quiet. I wonder what they were doing."

In Currier House, the hallway lights came on again almost instantly. "People were studying in the halls or not studying in the halls," said Linda J. Halliday '88, who manned the Currier House desk by candlelight during the blackout.

The College back-up generators turned on emergency lights throughout the Quad in minutes. But for the students who were stranded in Hilles when the lights failed, the five to 10 minutes of darkness seemed longer.

"A few people were laughing," said Mark C. Foley '89, who was studying on the second floor. "It was kind of quiet, it was weird sitting in the dark all alone," he said. He was on his way to Cabot Library to finish his night's work.

Checking By Flashlight

The workers at Hilles, some of whom did their work by flashlight, were about to have the night off when the power returned, and Hilles and Lamont Librarian Heather E. Cole announced, "we are going to stay open, it's reading period."

So, book-checker Richard Lamacchia put back his flashlight and opened up the library doors. Hilles had its usual closing hour of 1:00 p.m.

For brief period, Quadlings used the Shuttle Bus to head for brighter surroundings. One bus left packed with a Square-bound exodus. But most waited out the blackout.

In the Currier House computer room, there were few horror stories: one student lost four pages from a paper. And when the power returned, three students continued writing.