A LONDON FOG AND ITS RESULTS,

Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1744, 7 March 1874, Page 4

A LONDON FOG AND ITS RESULTS,

On a recent Tuesday and Wednesday, the fog in London was very dense. Business had to be carried on by gaslight, and comparatively few cabs and omnibuses were to be seen in the streets. Steamboats and barges and outwardbound Vessels remained idle in the river, and the railway traffic — the fog extending in some directions to a distance of over 50 miles from London — was interrupted. Several accidents, some being fatal, are reported.. The body of a man found in the river turned out to be that of Henry Brett, a lighterman, who was drowned on the previoup day by falling off a barge in the fog off Limehouse. William Lewis, a tollman, in the employ of the Surrey Canal Company, left his cottage on Tuesday evening for the purpose of proceeding down the towing-path, when he missed his way, walked into the canal, and was drowned before assistance could be rendered. The same fate . befell Mary Bryan, aged 9, of 3 Canal bank Albany-road, Camberwell. On Wedesday .morning the body .of a man unknown was taken out of the same canal. On Tuesday afternoon George Dean, of 7, Shaftes-bury-street, walked off the leads of a City warehouse r and fell headlong to the ground, fracturing his skull. He was at once taken to Guy's Hospital, but died | shortly afterwards. The same, night George Sycamore, a signalman in the employ of the South-Eastern Railway Company, was engaged near the Spa-road station in placing fog signals upon the metals, when a train came up and ran over him. On his being taken to Guy's Hospital it was found necessary to amputate his ! legs ; he is now in a very precarious state. Two bad accidents occurred on Tuesday night in Banksiide, Soiithwark. Mr Hassel, a civil engineer, of 3 Duchessstreet, Portland-place, missed : his way and tumbled headlong into the mud ; his cries for help were heard arid he was extracted.. At the same place Agnes Cam-

bell, aged 35, fell off the bank into the hold of a barge hurting her spine and receiving other injuries, fur which she is being treated at St. Thomas's Hospital. A man wheeling a contractor's barrow along the Strand was knocked clown near Somerset house by an omnibus. Before he could get up a four-wheeled cab went over his legs. Faint hopes of his recovery are entertained. In the borough on the previous night, an aged gentleman was knocked down and severely injured. A similar accident occurred about 10 o'clock in the morning to Mr Charles White, lesiding in Clayton street Kenington Oval. Near the Victoria Docks a barge was run down and two men are supposed to have been drowned. On Tuesday night loud shrieks were heard from Clapham-com-mon, and on a search being made, a man living in the Lower Wandsworth-road was found struggling in one of the ponds and holding on to a piece of wood. Y/hen rescued he said that while walking across the common he fell into the pond. The housesurgeons of the various hospitals had their hands full in consequence of the mary cases of cuts, bruises,andcontusionssu3tainedby the passengers in the streets. Three were cases of fractured wrists, two broUen arms, and six scalp wounds. The reserve men of the police vere fully engaged in identifying lost children and taking them to their homes. There are several notices up at the various stations relating to "children found." On the London, Chatham, and Dover line a passenger train from Ludgate hill to Victoria was sent on to the mail line metals at the Charlotte street junction instead of being kept to the Metropolitan Extension line. The mistake was made by a signalman, who, not being able to see which train j was approaching, put the points on the l wrong side. The engineer, however, brought the train to a standstill and took it back, when the mistake was rectified. Notwithstanding the thickness of the fog the suburbs have been visited with a remarkably clear white frost. The appearance of the trees and gardens was wintry in the extreme. The same remarks apply. to the whole of the South . London suburbs, the frost being one of the most severe that has been known for years. .