The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1913-11-04
Continued from Yesterday
ON THE EDGE OF THE pREcIrIcE

on Friday evening. March 10,
thunderstorm of unusual violence
broke over London. 1t was notably
peculiar in certain of its aspects. The
weather was cold and showery, typi-
cal day of the March equinox Under
such conditions barometric pressure
remains fixed rather than variable, yet
many whose business or hobby it is to
record such facts observed a rapid
shrinkage of the mercury column be-
tween the hours Of and I. A deluge
of rain fell for many minutes, and
was followed about 1880 p. m. by a
mad turmoil of thunder and an as
founding electrical display not often
witnessed beyond the confines of the
giant mountain ranges of the world.
So violent and unnerving was the
outburst that the social life of Lon
don was paralyzed for the hour. The
alter parties. diners in the fashion
able restaurants, the greater millions
anxious to get away from offices and
shops, those eager alike to enter and
leave the charmed circle of the four
= mile radius. were ruthlessly hidden
r TO wait while the awesome forces and
mature made mad racket in the
streets.
All horsef1esh was afraid The
drivers of cabs and omnibuses were
unable to make progress They had
sufficient ado to restrain their mad
dened animals from adding the havoc
of blind charges through the streets
to the general confusion caused by
the warning elements. Telegraph and
telephone wires became not only USE
less but dangerous, and the suburban
81.
plunged into tangle from which it
was not extricated until midnight
So general was the confusion, so
widespread the public alarm, that the
sudden cessation of the uproar at
o'clock caused more prayers of thank
fulness TO be uttered in the metrop-
oils than had been heard for many
a day. But worse remained. Thus
far the lightning had been appalling,
brilliantly lurid. but harmless. At 10
o'clock the storm ragged again, this
time without the preliminary down
fall of rain, and the lightning,
though less sensational in appearance,
was demoniac in effect, levying a toll
on human lives, causing fires and gen.
eral damage to property, accounts of
which filed many columns of the
newspapers next morning. This sec
ond outburst was succeeded by heavy
and continuous rain. At the hour
when the theaters emptied their di-
minishing audiences into the streets
London wore its normal rain sodden
aspect. 1t was not until the follow
ing day that people fully understood
the magnitude and terrifying results
of the later display.
About quarter to s, while the
first storm was at its height a car
riage and pair dashed into a fashion
able West End square and pulled up
outside mansion cast in the stereo-
typed mold of the early Victorian
period. The horses. overfed and un-
derworked. had been rendered frantic
by the drive through the park from
the further west. Fortunately, they
knew this hating place or the coach
man would never have succeeded in
stopping them. AS il was, they
sweated white with fear, and the
footman. shouting to the occupants of
the carriage that he could not attend
to the door ran to their heads after
giving a vigorous tug at the house
bell.
THE ACCIDENT
boy, tall and thin and scantily
attired for such weather, who had
taken shelter in the dark portico Of
the mansion, ran forward to offer his
services at the carriage door A
bundle of evening papers. covered