Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1891-01-30
EUROPE'S RIGOROUS WINTER
Longest Period of Cold Weather
; Known i'm a Century.
People Perish, Travel Stopped,
and Harbors Blockaded.

1t Is now the seventh week of the prevalence
OF frost throughout the United Kingdom
with no signs of abatement Of the severity
| OF the weather. From John o Groatt
! House to Lands End the country is wrapped
in snow, and canals and streams are ice
| bound. Even number of tidal rivers ar,
| frozen fast For duration of the frost
period this is the most remarkable
| winter of the century and, in
! point of severity, only the winters of ISL!
and 1914 exceeded it. Fairs were then held
on the ice on the Thames, Severn. TYNE and
! Tweed. Booths were reared on the ice and
! all the usual fair froIicS were held thereon,
! The Thames, below Richmond. remains
partially frozen. and is covered with
igation. Above Teddington the ice
! on the Thames in eight inches thick. Car
| rlers vans can traverse the rivers frozen
surface from Sutton Court to Abingdon,
Skaters have free stretch for many miles
| above and below Oxford. Numerous deaths
| have resulted from the extreme cold several
OF them at the very gates of warehouses.
Where groups OF poor people were waiting
for shelter.
Midland newspapers declare that thousands
OF persons In that region are in a condition
OF semi-starvatiOn, many laborers being
compulsorllv idle, without fires or food
Mayors of cities, with the aid of local boards
are directing an organized distribution of
bread and coal, and are starting relief kitch-
ems; still they fail to reach host of cases of
distress Numerous instances occur of Cor
oners' inquests on the bodies of people found
dead in bed, where the verdict is that death
resulted from cold and hunger.
In every country on the Continent there is
suffering because of the severe weather. The
coasts of Belgium, Holland and North Ger
many are blocked with ice. In the ScheIdt
River navigation is nearly at standstill on
account OF the ice. At the North German
port of Cuxhaven twenty-nine steamshins
are lcebound. Pilots there are unable to
communicate with vessels on account of the
Ice hoes, which make the harbor inaccessible
Several vessels we're struck bv Immense
masses OF the floating ice, and their bulls
were SO badly damaged that the boats rapid
~ filled with water and soon went to the
bottom. In every instance the crews were
saved from death only with great difficulty.
a number OF steamers are drifting helplessy
between Ottendorf and Brunsbattel They
nave lost them anchors, and have been cor
siderably damaged by the floating ice,
At Hamburg, Germany, navigation is
greatly 1mpeded by the huge blocks of ice
winch I'LL The river. The Board of Navjga-
ton is making every effort to keep the river
open, ana is employing ice-breakers three
OF the strongest tugs that can be secured
Many vessels have also been damaged bv the
Ice, but no serious accidents have vet been
reported.
At Antwerp, Belgium, 10000 workman
nave been thrown out of employment owing
to the unusually severe weather. The miser4
caused among the poorer classes, in conse-
Quence, is widespread and intense
The use Of dynamite is about to he tried to
break the ice at Copenhagen. Denmark
where several steamships lie Ice bound Al
many ports tugs are actively engaged in eff
dortS 20 break the ice, but not with much eff
feet The Oeresund is full of ice foes,
Dispatches from the German ports of Iu
off, \
!naccessibility of their harbors on account of
ice, and say that navigation has ceased, that
tnere Is much snow, and that no open wafer
is visible. In Berlin the temperature is at
sixteen degrees Fahrenheit. The Hartz
Railway is snow blocked. and the mails
usually conveyed by its trains are now trans
ported in sleighs
All Bavaria is covered with snow, and in
the country between the Danube and the
Alps the snow is eighteen inches deep. In
certain places along the Rhine snow-drifts
are piled seventeen feet high. threatening
when they thaw.
IN Northern Italy snow began to fall and
Old not cease for a week. The inha
OF that region are suffering acutely. such
"eatner belng entirely unknown to them:
and 1t is feared that many persons have per
1shed IN the storm. At Mantua, Turin and
Milan railway trains are much DELAYED on
account Of the heavy snowfall.
Dispatches from Vienna Austria, say that !
con1iAunicaClOn With points south of that |
city Is greatly lmpeded and that on all rail- |
WAYS centrlng there the movement of trains |
Is partially suspended
A telegram from Madrid reports heavy
In Spain and says that communi-
cation WIN all the provinces of Snain is diff
ncult: 1t also reports the preva!"nce of in
tensey cold weather in Valencia. where
orange groves have been swept by the storm.
heavy losses to the owners
At Marseilies, France, the hospitals are
crowded with sufferers from various affec-
tlons caused by the cold weather. Dock Ia
borers there have lighted along the ouays
great hres at which to warm themselves dur
ing working hours
"A Vlo1enC storm, accompanied by hail and
snow, and extending long distance inland.
- reported from the seaport of Algiers, in
Nofth "A rlca. The report is coupled with the
assertion that nothing like such severity of
Weather was ever known in that region be-
ore.
Advices from Paris say that the Seine is
blocked with ice near Rouen and that the
;aone is frozen above Lyons. Telegrams
rom Arras and Mines say that much
offering is being caused at these places
y the intensely cold weather and
hat number of persons have been
ound frozen to death. A sad case
reported from the village of Fourmies, in
we're caught in a raging snowstorm in
rood near the village. They wandered about
ntil overcome by cold and exhaustion. when
Ii three sank to the ground and persisted |
/ the storm. A party which had gone in