The Sun.
London, England, 1868-02-04 00:00:00

THE LATE GALE.

Latest :ateounts which have reached us yoin the
•varioils districts in and around the metropolis, as well as
4-om all parts of the conntry, confirm previous reports as
to the extraordinary violence of the gale of Friday and
--
mturday, and the great, injury it has done everywhere
both to perion and property. There is a general concur.
rence of testimony to the effect that the tempest reached
its height between eleven air, and three p.m. on Satur
day, when it raged with the fitful fury of a hurricane. We
have now to supply a few additional particulars of the
mischief done by this storm in the vicinity of London, and
also in the provinces, where it appears to have been as
general as it was violent. • In the metropolis it was
occasionally accompanied by very heavy showers, but
the rain entirely ceased about noon on Saturday.
In the north the quantity of rain which fell appears
to have been far greater, causing floods in various
counties, more especially in Yorkshire and Cumberland.
Even in the suburbs of London, however, considerable
tracts were inundated. At Richmond Hill the weather.
cock and a large miss of stonework were blown from the
spire of the new church of St. Matthias, and fell through
the roof with a tremendous crash. Great havoc was made
of telegraph wires, and railway trains were frequently
delayed in consequence of the storm.
Turning to the provinces, we find that at Sheffield,
besides many minor casualties, a druggist, named Bing-
ham, and his wife, living in Arundel-street, were both
killed, the former instantaneously, by the falling of their
dwelling, a very ricketty old structure, ill-adapted to
battle with the fury of the gale. Churches, chapels, and
other public and private buildings in the same town and
its surrounding districts have been considerably damaged.
By the heavy rain and consequent flooding of the
Yorkshire and other rivers large quantities of farm stock
and agricultural produce have been destroyed. On Satur-
day a little boy, named Benjamin Storey, who lived at
Armley, near Leeds, was blown into the River Aire, at
Green-bridge, near the woollen-mills of Messrs. Gott, and

was drowned. At Scarborough, a working plasterer,
named Henry Moor, was killed by the fall of a stack
of chirc.neys upon a house, and three or four of his
fellow workmen were severely injured. The most serious
destruction of property at Hull was at the works of the
British Gaslight Company. About half-past two o'clock
on Saturday afternoon, No. 1 gasometer, a very large
structure, was blown bodily over by the force of the wind,
the surrounding pillars and stonework being also very much
broken. The gasometer at the time contained about 250;000
feet of gas, stored for Saturday night's consumption. 'ne
huge holder fell over upon a pile of iron pipes, and was
instantly broken to pieces. Scarcely had the gas begun
to escape when the whole took fire, and the flames raged

for about half an hour with great intensity. In another
part of the tcwn of Hull a ropery was blown down, and
three of the workmen slightly injured. The Humber :.,43
very turbulent, and the vessels in the roads kad tct ride
with two anchors down to prevent their driving. From
Shields we learn that there has not been such a flood in
the Tyne as that of Saturday for ten years. From various
other points along the coast we have news that the gale
was terrific. Happily, however, it does not seem to have
done anything like the amount of damatie shipping
which might have been apprehended. At Manchester the
storm, beyond blowing down chimneys and unroofing a
few houses, has done no very serious mischief. There has,
happily, been no loss of life.
Perhaps the worst of all the casualties occasioned by the
storm was that which we reported yesterday as having
occurred on the Cambrian Railway ; but in other parts of
Wales it did not pass over without producing lamentable
effects. One accident caused by it, at a place called
Llwydiart, was almost unique in character. A postboy
from the Wynnstay Hotel, at Llanfyllin, was returning
with his empty chaise, when he came to a part of the road
where a tiny rivulet crosses. This had suddenly swollen
into a river, and the man and horse were swept away by
the tide and perished. At a farm called the Main, near
Llansaintffraid, the floods carried away two men who were
crossing a field, and their bodies have not yet been traced.
In Merionethshire the tempest was extremely violent.
The valley of the Dee from Corwen to Llangollen pre-
sented the appearance of one vast lake on Saturday, and
on some of the farms almost the whole of the sheep have
been destroyed. The valley of Edernion, through which
the Great Western line from Corwen to Bala runs, was
flooded. The Cambrian Railway Company have notified
that in consequence of the breaking down of the bridges
at Caersws and PontgoldOoh passengers will be conveyed
by omnibuses from Carno Station to Llanidloes-road
crossing adjacent,