The St. Louis Republic., 1901-11-10
Heavy Loss Caused by Utter Sus
pension of Traffic and Inter
ference With Trade.
MANY THEFTS AND ACCIDENTS.
Social as Well as Business Life
Badly neutrality-suspicious.
Ors Phases of a Truly Sc
riOus Visitation.
SPECIAL BY CABLE.

SG f.tlAls b1 IAblst
London. Nov. 9.-This fog plague. from
which we have been suffering here has
been beyond description.
II upset street traffic. the shipping trade.
social engagements, the theateis. every
thing. Perhaps the most serious loss is
that of the shipping trade. which was
simply brought to a standstill. Perishable
goods Of course. have all been spoiled be-
cause they could not all be discharged.
while the foreign cattle trade suffered ter
ribiy. II is impossible to reckon how many
thousands of bullocks and sheep have been
delayed on board steamers and made too
late for this weeks market No foreign
cattle were sold this week at all. This af
fects the poorer districts especially. where
people cannot afford to buy English-fed
beef and mutton. and rely chiefly on foreign
meat for their supplies
As to social engagements. hostesses have
been quite in despair: for when they had
guests they never knew when they would
turn up.
Whenever ard wherever people assembled
the fog was the sole engrossing topic, and
when was it going to end the only ques-
tion.
Many dinner parties. collapsed entire'y,
owing to the persistent fog fend. At the
fashionable restaurants and hotels the
tables were very meagerly filled. and at
those where ten or twelve guests were ex-
pected only two or three were able to reach
the place of meeting.
am told that never has there been such
a persistent dense fog since 1876 AMI 1877.
when the fog hardly lifted from November
till January.
Not of the ..PnrtiruIar" Kind.
I have heard also people referring to the
fog as the London particular" but that is
not 50. II was dense dark. gray fog. rot
the old-fashioned pea-soup fog of former
days. which used to blind and choke the
people and drive them distracted.
Inquiring of meteorological expert about
the old London particular he told me the
reason why we did not get yellow fog in
London now was because. by act of Parlia-
ment, factories are compelled TO consume
their own smoke.
In the old days, when the skies over Lon
den were almost always obscUred by black
clouds OF smoke. fog. II it lasted long, al
ways developed into that yellow fog which
went by the name of particular because
the vapor attracted and held the particles
of dust which were stirred up by the con-
stantly moving masses of people and made
the atmosphere yellow. increasing in dem
sity the longer the fog lasted, until a
friendly breeze swept it away.
But to London, particular or not the fog
has been bad enough. At times. especially
after sundown. II has been impossible to
move Cabs gave up plying for hire, and
many omnibus drivers were compelled to
stop along the Thames embankment or
other open spaces. and anchor their We
hicles for the night.
Invaded the Tbeaters.
On Monday night some theaters did not
raise their curtains. for the simple reason
that while few people assembled in the
houses. it was impossible for people in the
remoter parts of the auditorium to see as
far as the stage
The fog also, as may be imagined, gave
chances for much horse play and robberies. !
II was easy for pickpockets to snatch a
watch from pedestrian and disap appear in |
the mist. or for a band of "Hooligans'' to !
rush man, strip him of all he possessed !,
and get away without trouble or fear of !
being caught. |
The fog had its humors. too. A policeman !
standing at the corner of Charing Cross /,
road got lots of amusement out of 1t. |
at the corner. afraid to move lest ,
he might lose himself. he found another 1
Constable looking for a particular lamp in !
where he had to report him.
self. His inspector had lost himself by
about half mile in Pail Mall. Policemen ,
could hear the shouts of invisible omnibus .
drivers appealing for unseen aid to find the
curbstone.
The Athenaeum, which refuses to admit '
romen at any time. had a narrow escape
rom an unprecedented invasion. A hanson