Evening star., 1901-11-20
The Latest One the Worst in Many
Years
TRAVEL At NIGHT VERY DANGEROUS
Some Amusing Incidents of Pedes-
TRANS and Cabmen.
OF FAMOUS BOOK 5

Special Correspondence OF Inc Evening Seo''
LONDON, November g. 1901.
cannot help wishing that some OF my
American friends who were In London last
summer had been here on Monday. ineS
thought the British capital beautiful sum
shiny place and were loud IN its praise as q
charming place of residence. They could
not understand how anyone could speak
disrespectfully of it or call 1t dingy or the
clark city," 1 feel sure that they thought
we who lived here were hypercritical ana
did not appreciate our blessings In having
a bright, cheerful climate. These frlends'
however, only came here in the spring anu
summer and fit home again before Octo-
ber. and November days tell another story.
The summer is fine enough as rule, anu
not too warm Long days on the river or
road, twilight until 10 o'clock ana an thae
is lovely. But could these optimists nave
been here during the last three Gays, tney
would have altered their minds about Lon
don's brightness. 1t took me an hour on
Monday evening to go by BUS the ois'alce e
usually covered in twenty minutes. Fara ar
of the time our conductor was leadlnS the
horses with lantern taken from the Dus.
And this because of a dense fog that mas
held London for three days by the throat.
Night of Foggy Gloom.
That evening about o'clock there was
one of the most extraordinary sights l ever
saw in London. One says sights py
kind of license, for the fog hid everything.
Trafalgar Square, Northumberland avenue
and Whitehall were SO blocked with Vehl-
cles that you could have walked across the
road on the tops Of them or from one emo
Of the road to the other in the same way
Omnibuses and cabs were jammed cross
ways. and many of them had been forced
round in the contrary direction to that IN
which they were trying to CO. An angry
shouting rose from the whole struggling
but unmoving mass. curious feature was
that on the embankment just beyond the
Hotel Metropole, not an eighth OF mile
away 1t was comparatively clear.
To Judge from all accounts, there mas
never been a worse fog in London, though
there may have been others as bad. In
the daytime on Sunday the fog In many
places reduced it's density with kindly in
dulgence, but before dusk 1t settled down
again. After dark one could not see more
| than yard in front Of him. Once away
| from the guiding curbstone every man.
every omnibus and every cab lost It's way.
One omnibus came out of the Strand, mean
| ing to go to Piccadily, but after completing
a circuit in Trafalgar Square, 1t began in
nocently to go back again along the Stranh.
| This morning about l O'Clock ran against
a policeman-I think 1. was In Charing
cross road where, as far as l know, had
| wandered In circuitous search for P1cca-
dilly-and when 1 asked him where ] was
| he laughed till he cried. I soon understood
| the reason. In the next five minutes
| heard a dozen persons ask him the same
question, and when each person said Wnere
he supposed himself to be, the proper grav-
ity with which the policeman began each
| interview melted into uncomfortable
| laughter Later on, I ran into policeman
| at Hyde Park corner, who was wandering
/ about, looking for particular lamppost
| under which it was his duty to stand. An
other policeman stood with his foot firmly
planted on the curbstone, from which, be-
| lieve nothing would have induced him to
move This is the Knightsbridge curb.
travelling is being we.- cultivated under
| necessity.
Some Divertine Stories.
| Numerous diverting stories are told OF
fantastic incidents that have occurred in
the fog 1t has been quite common thing
for bus drivers, cabmen and even pedes-
trians to entirely lose their bearings. Peo-
pie cropping their way along the pavement
have embraced horses that have strayed
from the roadway; policemen have wan
dered helplessly from their beats" con-
ductors have lost their own omnibuses and
got onto others by mistake. A handsom
cab that started from nitehall for Vic
toria eventually got stranded, and it was
discovered that 1t had somehow got round
) to the Horse Guards parade. Another han
som was found on the steps Of one Of the
clubs, into the doorway of which the horse
had almost got it's heau. It has been quite
a common thing for cab drivers to reques
their fares" to get out and walk, they
dare not go further.
1 take the following paragraph from Mon
days paper:
, prisoners from Bow Street to Hallowa!
had to be led, constables being In attend
ance on each side.
lowing to the thickness Of the fog al
A. fLn rfr -aF, rIyar
removed and the jets used as flares.
1.-THE fire brigade had an extraordinar
, experience. They were called In the even
ing to fire In Great Dover street, Dor
ough, and the firemen had to walk in from
of the engines with torches.
Three theaters-the Criterion, the Gar
rick and the Prince or Wales'-closed thei
doors because of the fog. Such q thing ha
| not occurred for many years..
J The action of the London county counc
, In devoting sum Of money toward
scientific investigation by the meteorologi
\ cal Office Of the occurrence and distribution
of fogs has been coincident with the direc
\ visitation of the plague that we hav
known for years. 1t reads like huge jok
\ at present. People are grimly cursing tn
county council for its Interference, as
] the meteorological office had somehow pro
voked these extreme samples In order t
carry the inquiry through. Certainly
neither the one body nor the other will b
J able to complain that they have not had a
\ opportunity of exhaustively pursuing thei
scientific studies.
! Experiment in Tramway Extension
. The London county council is about
make a most important experiment in tn
matter of tramway extension. Visitors
the capital must have noticed that theI
are no tramways in the more central an
crowded streets Neither In the city M
in the Strand, Regent street, Oxford sire.
or in any of the great central thoroughfart
have tramways been laid. In the city II
| streets are mostly too narrow, and in II
other thoroughfares the amount Of traff
is SO enormous that It was feared that
would be impossible to work ordinary sire
tramways successfully. 1t is now propose
to avoid this ifficulty by the constructit
of underground tramways. The coune
intend by way Of experiment to make
under street line, from the embankmen
under Wellington street and the new av
nue. to Holborn. and then on to Rosebe1
avenue. 1t is not proposed that the trar
ways should be sunk to any great dept
and they can therefore be constructed
a moderate cost. II the system Of unde
ground tramwayS proves successful