The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-24 00:00:00

THE WEATHER.

The rain which fell on Tuesday night during the
continuance of the frost, and covered the whole
surface of the ground with a smooth sheet of ice,
has excited much attention, as the most remarkable
incident of the recent storm. It is impossible to
describe the surprise of persons caught in the
shower when a few minutes afterwards they found
themselves sliding and stumbling over a sheet of the
smoothest and most treacherous ice. Foot passen-
gers deserted the pavement and in vain sought safer
footing in the middle of the road, or clung to the
railings to save themselves from falling. The fol-
lowing is a perfect description of the weather on
Tuesday night :

First it rained,
Then it blew,
Then it friz,
And then it snow;
Then there was a shower of rain,
And then it friz and anew again.
As might have been expected, the number of acci-
dents, short as the time was during which the streets
remained in this state, was unprecedented. It is
impossible to ascertain how many persons were
seriously injured by falls, but the following state-
ments regarding persons taken to the hospitals will
show how very numerous the accidents must have
been. There were conveyed to St. Thomas's Hos-
pital during the night :-:-Mary Thorn, 66, of East-
street, Walworth, who slipped in Union-row, and
fractured both bones of the right leg ; Sarah Mason,
69, who fell in Penton-place and fractured her right
arm ; Susan Mordan 22, of St. Paul's-road, who
fell and injured her side and arm ; William Hester,
42, Union-street, Clapham, who fr actured his left
arm ; Edwin Harvey, 40, Portland-street, Wal-
worth, with severe contusion of the right arm ;
Mary Ann Nash, 39, William-street, Newington,
who had fractured ribs ; Henry Lyall, 25, Penton-
street ,Newington,suffering from severe contusion of
leg and arm ; Mary Waters, 36, Lorrimore-street,
with severe wound of arm and bruised leg ; Henry
Jones, 54, Lambeth-road with fractured ribs;
Thomas Pyman, Walworth, with injured shoulder ;
F rederick Mears, East-street, Walworth, with
fractured shoulder-bone ; Henry Williams, 18,
Newington-butts, with severe injury to knee and
right arm ; Thomas Batten, 29, Princes-road, Lam-
beth, with fractured knee-cap ; James Brow, 42,
Laurel-terrace, Avenue-road, Camberwell, with
serious injury to shoulder ; Wm. Hellendale, 23,
Vauxhall-road, with fractured arm ; Geo. Green,
29, Peckham-grove, with severe injury to thigh ;
Lydia Martin, 27, of East-street, Walworth, who,
in endeavouring to save herself from falling, caught
her right arm on the sharp point of some garden
railings, to which she remained fastened for some
moments before assistance reached her, and on ex-
amination her arm was found to be seriously injured.
Wm. Arnold, 26, of Westmoreland-road, Walworth,
fractured right arm ; Henry Power, Kennington-
lane, injured base of the skull; John Neville, 19,
of Stockwell, fractured ankle ; Thos. Pocock, Ches-
ter-street, Kennington, fractured shoulder ; and G.
Darby, Clapham-road, fractured left arm. These
were the most serious of the cases received at St.
Thomas's Hospital ; but there were about 12 others
attended suffering from slight injuries, the medical
staff being on active duty throughout nearly the
entire night. At Guy's Hospital, Westminster Hos-
pital, and the Charing-cross Hospital several cases
were attended. 0 wing to the dangerous state of the
roadways, the traffic was all but suspended, and at
various points horses were to be seen lying on the
ground, and quite unable to keep their footing, In
the Blackfriars-road 20 horses were noticed down
at one time. In the Waterloo-road, near the bridge,
the horse in a hansom cab fell, throwing the driver,
Wm. Summers, from his seat, and on his removal to
a neighbouring surgeon's, the bones of his right arm
were found to be dreadfully fractured. Many of
those unfortunately out during this state of things
were to be seen walking about without their boots,
or, in many instances, the latter bound round with
pieces of cloth or handkerchiefs, in order to obtain
a firmer footing. During the night a large number
of persons were to be seen making for their destina-
tions on skates, and the dress of most of these per-
sons looked as if it was spangled with crystals, for
almost as fast as the drops of rain fell they froze.
Several persons are also reported to have met with
severe falls upon the temporary bridge at Black-
friars, both before and after it had been covered with
ashes, as stated in The Sun of yesterday. Owing
to the thaw which set in yesterday morning the
streets speedily became muddy and sloppy, and be-
fore 9 o'clock almost all signs of the recent frost had
passed away. The glass at the Receiving-house at
midnight on Tuesday stood at 29 deg., but by nine
o'clock yesterday morning it had risen to 45, at
noon to 47, and last night at eight o'clock had got
up to 50, with a south-easterly wind.
In The Sun of yesterday reference was made to a