The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1891-04-01
BLIZZARD IN ENGLAND.
WOrst Storm of the Century
Strikes Great Britain.
London Paralyzed, Traffic Blocked
and Shipping Destroyed.

Details given below of the violer Atlantic
snow gale which ravaged England, especial
ly its southern districts, show that it was one
Of the severest storms recorded near the
vernal equinox. 1t will ra1& with the cele-
brated Royal Charter storm of October,
1859, so called from the fact that during its
gales a stout ship of that name was dashed
TO pieces with great loss of life, on AngleSea
Island.
A cablegram from London, says: The only
topic of discussion in England is the fearful
blizzard which p2ralyzed business in town
and country. The visitation has had no
precedence in Great Britain at this time Of the
year.
pletely blocked and the neighboring country
Is deep with snow. The hurricane which &C
companied the snow-storm piled snowdrifts
on all sides, stopping all traffic on the rail.
way lines and upon the country roads.
The trains full of passengers in the Mid
lands were snowedup.
The Sheerness mail car has been lost some
where along the line Of railroad between
this city and Sheerness. A search party
sent out after the missing car rescued the
engineer of the lost engine. He was found
half frozen in q snowdrift.
Reports from the provinces show that the
blizzard prevailed from St. Georges Channel
to the North Sea. All road traffic was
stopped and trains there delayed.
In Somersetshire, Dorsetshire, Hampshire
and Gloucestsrshire there are snowdrifts
everywhere, mauy feet deep, rendering field
work impossible. In these counties the mail
service has been completely stopped, and the
farmers suffer immense loss among the cattle
and sheep with which their farms are
stocked. Taken altogether, the storm has
been unequaled in severity for decade, not
excepting the terrible weather In the latter
part Of 1890
Another instance Of snow. .blockaded train
Is upon q road familiar to Americans who
cross the Channel to and from the Con-
tinent A passenger train which left Char
ing Cross Station at midnight for Folke-
stone was caught in huge snowdrift outside
OF Folkestone. The passengers were not res
-cued until o'clock next morning, when many
Of them were seriously i'll. owing to the fact
that they had been in a half-frozen condition
for sew veral hours. The passengers had neither
food nor light from the time when they were
imprisoned in the snowbound cars until they
were rescued.
The greea-grocers of London and else
of vegetables, etc. All the wagons coming
IN from the country and bound, in the
case of London, for Covent Garden
Market, have been showed up along
the roads leading into the metropolis and a
scarceness and rise in price of such provisions
may be looked for within tho next day or
two. Work about the various docks in and
near London has been partially suspended,
owing to the mass Of snow accumulated about
the docks and ships.
At Lydd, small seaport town of Kent.
while the coast-guard lifeboat was going to
the rescue of the crew Of an endangered
vessel, the lifeboat capsized, and several of
its gallant occupants were drowned. Near
Hastings, Sussex County, five fishing smackS
have been wrecked. Three fishermen were
drowned, the other members of the crews
barely escaping with their lives.
A Aconvict named Wilson escaped from the
Portland convict depot during the height of
the storm. He found boat near the sea-
shore put to sea, and was picked up next day
by passing vessel. When taken out Of the
boat the convict was dying Of cold.
Oply meagre kilograms were received from
various parts of England and Wales. The
lines, according to these dispatches, are gen.
orally blocked.
Traffic on the Great Western Railway is
. completely blocked, and the trains on that
road which were caught out in the storm are
stalled at different points.
= A dispatch from Harwich brings the in
formation that the yacht Sapphire, owned
by MacLarr Of Glasgow, has been driven
ashore there during the gale Mr.. Mac
Larr, the dispatch adds, was washed over
board and drowned.
Information received from Cardiff is to the
. effecs that the storm RACES in that neigh
borhooi with unabated force and severity.
A dispatch from Dover says that the Ad-
miralty Pier at that place has been so bat
tered by the waves that huge stones weigh
Ing ten tons apiece have been dispaced, and
that blocks of iron weighing two tons each
have been carried away by the violence of
. 1he angry waters.