Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-01-20
FROST KINGS REIGN.
All Europe Is Suffering Terribly
Within His Icy Grasp.
BAD WATER FAMINE In LONDON.
Antwerp Is Completely Frozen In, CauS
ing Much Distress.
PARTS OF ITALY ARE PARALYZED
rBY pusnAp,s CABLE COMPANY I

| LONDON, Jan. 1S.-Ihe froSt is increasing
and shows signs of persistence, cot only in
the city, but throughout the provinces as
well. The result of the severe cold has been
the freezing of the water pipes, and the sup
| ply to the houses in London has been almost
universally stopped. AS consequence, the
strange sight is presented in all the streets,
including even those in the fashionable
West End of servants waiting their turn in
order to draw water from the temporary
pumps which the authorities have erected.
so that a supply may be obtained from the
main pipes.
AT Oxford the supply has been completely
stopped by the frost, with the curious result
| that the reopening of the ladies' colleges
after the Christmas vacation has been post
| poned. A great sight was witnessed on the
! serpentine ornamental water in Hyde Park
on Saturday evening, when a well-known
sporting man, Mr.. Griffith, broke through
the railing along the bank and drove a
tandem across the ice. The crowd which
was present INDUCED in the most uproari-
Gus cheering at the accomplishment of the
unusual feat, while the police were power
less to prevent his triumphal passage.
All the Big Races spoiled.
It is expected that if the weather holds as
it promises, in two days the Thames will be
able to bear people on it at London Bridge.
The cold has spoiled the arrangements that
had been made for racing, and all steeple
chase meetings fixed tor the next fortnight
have been postponed, as a continuous thaw
for a week will be necessary in order to rem
der racing practical. Training has been
brought to a total standstill at Newmarket
and the other training quarters, and this
threatens to have most injurious effect on
the early fiat racing, which is fixed to COM
mence ON March 25.
In Berlin on Saturday the thermometer
registered 400 below freezing point, and
from all parts of Germany comes the news
of heavy snow storms, which interfere seri-
ously with railway communication. Affairs
at the mouth of the Elbe are very bad. The
sailing vessels there are drifting about in a
helpless manner. having parted their
anchors and are flying signals of distress.
The bark Kinfauns, the Senator Versmann,
full rigged ship, and three-masted
schooner, have stranded near Schaarhoven.
Antwerp Completely Frozen.
The most powerful tugs cannot leave Cux.
haven. on the west bank of the Ebe, near
its mouth, to go to the bid of vessels which
are in distress. Gigantic masses of ice have
drifted to the Lower Elbe, and have piled
themselves upon each other. The Augusta
Victoria, of the North German Lloyd line,
is fast in the ice near Blankenese on the
Elbe, six miles from Altoona. 1t is now IS
days since the last vessel arrived at Ant
werp. As the city is almost dependent on
the maritime trade. this complete closing of
the port is causing a great deal OF misery
among the working classes.
AlthnuUh fhare hos haap mn dietu rhon
yet it is nevertheless feared that if the
weather continues work of some sort will
have to be provided in order to prevent an
outbreak of the laborers who are in distress,
for the streets are thronged with men and
women who are soliciting aims from the
passers.
The authorities of Naples are completely
paralyzed by reason of the unusual state of
things which confronts them, and regard
the copditIon which has obtained for several
days as phenomenal. The streets are de-
serted, as il the city were stricken by
plague. There are no cabs, omnibuses, or
even street sweepers to be seen, and great
quantities of snow have continued to fall.
Crushed in by Snow.
At Palermo, owing to the weight of snow,
a part of the roof of a hospital fell in, caus-
ing injuries of more or less serious nature
to several patients. News IRON Switzer-
land states that Lake Geneva is frozen over
and all navigation stopped in consequence
In Madrid, the railway traffic has been
brought to standstill by the snow. The
mountains of Galicia, the Asturias, Santan-
der, the Basque provinces, and in fact all
parts of the country between Madrid and
the French frontier are covered with snow.
For more than a week there have been
frosts of unusual severity in the south of
Spain. and wolves, which have been driven
in from the forests by the cold, have been
killed in the states of Cadiz. At the pres
ent time. the demand for cargoes of coal and
the inability of the proprietors of the colli-
cries to respond to the call, is probably
without parallel in recent years in Liver
pool, and for several weeks past many of
tine great steamship companies have been
reduced to almost begging for supply of
coal, while the coIliery owners explain that
the railways are unable to move the loaded
wagons which are lying at the pits