Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1891-01-10
WRAPPED In SNOW.
ENGLAND WHITE FROM JOHN
O'GROAT'S TO LANDS END.
The severcst Winter OF the Century-nrapy
Deaths from CoId-Great Suffering
Throughout Europe.
rBy Angio-American cable to tho Disps.ch.l

r3y Anglo-American cable TO tho Dlspstch.l
LONDON, January 9-It is now the seventh
week Of the prevalence Of frost through
out the United Kingdom, With no signs of
abatement OF tho severity of the weather.
From John O'Gront's House 10 Lands End
the country is wrapped in snow and the
canals and streams are ice-bound. Even
number of the tidal rivers are frozen fast.
For duration Of the frost period this Is
THE GREATEST WINTER
of the century, and, in point of severity,
the winters of 1918 and 1914 alone exceeded
il. 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 partial
ly frozen and is covered with ice-hoes,
which are impeding navigation. Above
Teddington the ice on the Thames is eight
inches thick Carriers vans can traverse
the rivers frozen surface from Sutton
Court to Abingdon. Skaters have O 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 work
houses where groups of poor people were
waiting for shelter. The Midland newspa-
pers declare that thousands OF persons IN
that region are in "a condition OF semi
starvation, many laborers being compul-
sorily idle without fires or food. The
mayors Of cities, with the aid of local
boards, are directing an organized
DISTRIBUTION OF BREAD.
1T l.
Still they fail to reach a host of cases OF
distress. Numerous instances occur Of
coroner's inquests on the bodies OF people
found dead in bed, where the verdict IL
that death resulted from cold or hunger.
In every county on the continent there
is suffering because of the severe weather.
on THE CONTINENT.
The coasts of Belgium, Holland, and
North Germany are blocked with ice. In
the Scheldt river navigation is nearly at q
stand-still on account Of ice. At the North
German port of Luxhaven twenty-nlne
steamships are ice-bound. The pilots
there are unable to communicate with
vessels on account of lce-aoes, thus making
the harbor inaccessible.
VESSELS LOST AND DAMAGED.
Several vessels were struck by immense
masses Of floating ice and sunk. The crews
were saved from death only with great
difficulty. A number of steamers are drift
ing belplessly between Ottendorf and
Brunsbnttel. They have lost their anchors
and have been considerably damaged by
floating ice.
NAVIGATION GREATLY IMrEDFD.
At Hamburg navigation is greatly i'm
NEEDED by immense blocks of ice which fill
the river The Board of Navigation Is
making every effort to keep the river open
and is employing three of the strongest
tugs that could be secured as ice-breakers.
Many vessels have also been damaged here
by the ice, but no serious accidents have
as yet been reported.
MISERY IN ANTWERP.
At Antwerp 10000 wOrkmen have been
thrown out of employment owing TO the
unusually severe weather. The misery
caused among the poorer classes in conse-
quence is widespread and intense.
The use of dynamite is about to be tried
to break the ice at Copenhagen, where
several steamships lie ice-bound. At many
ports tugs are actively engaged in efforts
to break the ice, but not with much effect.
The Oertsung is full of ice foes.
Dispatches from the German ports of
Lubbock, Stettin, and Swinemunde all tell
of the inacessiblity of their harbors on ac-
count of ice and say that navigation has
ceased that there is much snow and that
no open water is visible.
SIXTEEN BELOW FREEZING POINT.
In Berlin the temperature is at 16 de-
grees Fahrenheit. One of its railways is
snow-bound and the mails usually con-
veyed by its trains are now being trans
ported in sleighs. All Bavaria is covered
with snow and in the country between the
Danube and the Alps the snow is eighteen
- Tn, air olnnn
the Rhine snow-drifts are piled in some
spots seventeen feet high, threatening in
undations when they thaw.
ACUTE SUFFERING N ITALY.
In Northern Italy snow began to fall
Wednesday and did not cease till to-day.
The inhabitants of that region are suffer-
ing acutely, such weather being entirely
unknown to them, and il is feared that
numbers of people have perished in the
storm. At Mantua, Turin, and Milan rail-
way trains are much delayed on account
of the heavy snowfall
Dispatches from Vienna say that commu-
nication with points south of that city is
greatly impeded. and that on all the rail
ways centring there the movement of trains
is partially suspended.
INTENSE COLD IN SPAIN.
A telegram from Madrid reports heavy
SnOWtallS Ill Dpdlll, anu says lHdJ COillnu-
nication with all the provinces of Spain is
difficult. 1t also reports the prevalence of
intensely cold weather in Valencia, where
the orange-groves have been swept by the
storm, entailing heavy losses. At Mar
seilles the hospitals are filed with suffer
ers from various affections caused by the
cold weather. More snow has fallen to-
day in Marseilles. The dock-laborers there
have lit along the quays great fires at
which to warm themselves during working
hours.
SNOW EVEN IN ALGIERs.
A violent storm, accompanied by hail
and snow. and extending o long distance
inland, is reported from Algiers. The re-
port is coupled with the assurance that no.
thing like such severity of weather was
ever known in that region before.
Adyices from Paris say that the Seine is
blocked with ice near Rouen and that the
Saone is frozen above Lyons. kilograms
from Arras and Mines say that much suf-
tering Is being caused at those places by
the intensely cold weather and that
humber of persons have been found frozen
to death.