Evening journal., 1893-01-11
MERCURY HUDDLED UP.
The Thermometer fingered at
Zero Last Night.
coLDEsT WEATHER IN YEARS.


Last Nights Piercing Cold Painted
Noses and Ears Red and Pnchcd
Fingers and Toes in Painful Manner.
Many Accidents some Cold winters.
The present cold weather Is the cold
est for twelve years in this locality and
the thermometer marked zero-O-in
many places this morning On De
cember 30. 1880 the zero mark was
reached hereabouts previously The
cold Is wide spread, and the casualties
are numerous.
Ever since o'clock yesterday after
noon, when il registered l5 the mer-
curry has been steadily dropping. ana re.
ports last night indicated that by this
morning the zero point viii have been
well passed A fierce Northwestern
sprung up, and by s o'clock last night
was hurling itself on with velocity Of
thirty. miles an hour The weather
people az Washington were on the look
out for the cold wave, and early yester
day morning sent on orders directing
the signal 20 be raised, as the tempera.
ture would drop twenty degrees by 8
o'clock this morning The storm
in whose wake this cold wave Is follow
ing arrived here Monday night aud left
two inches Of snow as a reminder Of its
passing. 10 was central yesterday over
the lake region, but the wind urging iC
on, brought IL here last night.
Since December 20 the cold weather has
been unabated save on New Years Dav.
when the thermometer rose to 58 degrees.
The only other days the mercury crept
above the freezing point was January 2.
yesterday and when for one short half
hour IL registered 33 degrees
The only other year since 1871 IN which
the mercury has fallen below zero are
1875, when ON January 10 it registered
8 degrees 1879, January B. 3; 1850, De
cember 80. 8 1881. February .. =. and
1856, February ., .. On February "a
1855, the thermometer registered above
About 13 inches of snow fell on the
FIRST night of the blizzard in 1883, exceed
ing by a half-inch last Thursday nights
precipitation This drilted much more
than the present snow and. therefore
mpeded travel TO n much greater extent.
but it melted away rapidly. leaving to
the winter of 1892 03 the longest period
Of continued cold with the deepest snow.
OF any winter since 1871. al which date
the Government records began TO be
kept
The street markets are almost aban.
doned by farmers, being too cold for
them to some 90 the city in wagons and
those who have come took the railroad
trains. Only the amount of their pro.
duce that thoy could bring in basket
was brought Wagons cannot take on
! full loads unless extra horses are at
tached and merchants are complaining
of the difficulties aud delays experienced
/ In the delivery of their goods Coal
dealers are affected probably as much as
any others, the cold weather increasing
the demand for coal Yet the capacity
of their yards is reduced because Of the
delays experienced In delivering coal
The weather Is severe ON the work OF
the Street aud Sewer Department which
has been abandoned until it becomes
moderate. The winds of yesterday
caused the railroads entering the city
much trouble, and the sweeper of the
Wilmington City Railway Company had
TO be put into service on the Riveryiew
extension ia order to keep their cars
moving.