DISASTERS IN ENGLAND.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 12120, 14 February 1895, Page 2

DISASTERS IN ENGLAND.

A TEBBIBLB aALB,

AN EXPRESS TRAIN IS COLLISION

Lovdon, December A storm of terrible severity and of al» most unexampled destructiveness on land, has cansed deplorable loss of life, and hag brought desolation to many an erstwhile happy hom<s. To meteorologists it is well-known tint although one hears most of the "equinoctial gales "the 'solstices are really more fruitful of great tempests than are the equinoxes. '' The shorta t day" is always a period cf fear : tq mariners, and rightly so, for npst cj- tha , worst storms ocour about thait p3Tiod. .So.it was last year : so it has been Ihjg year.''

1 Last Friday evening the barometer, which had tben high and, stqidy, smji ! donly bagan to fall in a most renjarkaljle way. S:> fast; dil it go down that iq twonty-four hours its descant wiw from 1.05 to two iQcho3, and in the north it fell bolow 88 inoheß. Captain Edwin can tell you -what that would necessarily mean. Long before tho loye3t point was reaohed such a hurricane was blowing as has raroly been experienced in these islands. Evon in shalterel London, with it 3 high buildings and its often nemw streets, the force was vor/ severely felt and mu3h damage wi3 done. I did not hear this time of the arm of our police inspector, or of the rib3 of our Agent-General—l meau of his umbrella— being broken by the wind, as oqciu'red last month) but oil $Be same: there was much damage alike, to pewono and property. "• "■ It 13 very rarely that a ga'e is felt sufljciontly in Lqndon itenjf to\p(tfacs any parfciputar notiqo, But qn thjs occa.i sion tho roaring of the wind, especially in tho early hours of Saturday raoraro#, was quite torrifio and awe-inspiring. .'lt

or a slate, a tile, or a chimney pot from above. It is an absolute fact that 0110 unlucky pedestrian had tli9 tip of his nose out clean' off by asharp-odged slato which had been hurled downward f rotn a house roof with tremendous velocity. Street accfdenta were very numerous. In open spaces like the Thames Embankment or the parks it was almost impossible to stand against the force of the temp?st, Part of tre roof of the great Euston totminua o5 tho NoiUi-Weßtorn, Hallway was destroyed, seriously injuring several officials. Bub it was outside London, and above all northward, that the full fury of the storm was felt. On the coast it was bad enough, bub, though there were many disasters, the denth rate at sea was not rear'.y so large as that of some previous! gales— notably that of November 18th last year. Bnt on land the destructiveness and fatility of the hurricone transcended all recorded experience. Mora than 100 Hve3 were sacrificed on land alone in various paits of these island", and property was wrecked wholesale, This is not surprising, in view of the fact that (ha anemometer at Birkenhesd had actually registered a wind force of BDlb to the square foot and a wind velocity of 120 miles an hour when the gale becomo even more fu r iou? and tha instrument broke down, so we Bhall never know what was the maximum force. But it was extraordinary. A Noi th- western express, carrying the Irish mails and drawn by one of that Company's very po'werful engine?, Bncanntered the full violence of the gale while crossing the Me of Anglesey, and though running at a high speed was steadily masteied by the wind and ultimately brought to a complete standstill, until a temporary lull enabled it to move flowly ahead and reach a more sheltered part of the line. In many in. stances trains wero paitially derailed by the wind, trucks and carriages wero blown off the lino or turned right over. In one or two instances even hoavy locomotives were capsized or blown out (f sidings, and driven past the Btop block? and much damaged. Many cf the inland and coastal towns looked as if they bad just experienced a bombardment. Thoir streets were strewn and choked with wreckage. 1 n Blackpool nearly every window was blown in along the exposed sido of a main street, In one case the gale fairly gutted a large warohouse, bursting in the front windows; / next bursting out the back windows, and then sweeping out nearly all the contents of the building, moatly drapery, &c, which were scattered far and wide and utterly ruinod. A whole terrace of now houses was destroyed, as also was a now warehouse with extensive stable, and scores of dwellings were unroofed or lost their chimneys. This was at Blackpool alone, but other places suffered similarly, At Plumetaad, near Woolwich, the roof of the stand at the Invicta fsotball ground, weighing Over two tens, and measuring 120ft by 'Bft, was blown clean over a wall 30ft high into a neighbouring field, seriously injuring several people. The Plumstead Post-office was also destroyed. Man. Chester suffered heavily, the destruction of property being great and the fatalities numerous. For Eeveral hours the whole medical staff at tie Eoyal Infirmary in that city were kept hard at work attending the numbers of injured persons who were constancy boing brought in. Several immense factories and warehouses and public halls were levelled with the ground. As for the factor? chimneys all over the kingdom, thera never has been snch havoc. They came down in all directions and rarely without tho mult of injuries to human beings'. One of these chimneys, lßOft high, fell in Sheffield on the works below, instantly killing three man and two boys. Sheffield suffered severely from the violence o? the gale, the total damago being enormous, snd tho loan of life deploiab'.o. At Penrith, in Cumberland, the entire_ roof of the Salvation Hall— a Eubstanful stone building, which held a thoueand parsons — waß lifted bodily into the air, carried several yards, and then dropped into a street, where it flew all to pieco3, the states scatteiiog as if by the bursting of a bomb, Leeds fared no befctpr. A chimney 120ft high fell on a house and buried a mother and her six children. An old gentleman walking along the Etreet was blown down with such violence that he expired in a {aw minutes, Bradfoid had ft' like experience. One heavy stack of chimneys fell on a private house and crushed bodily through from roof to basement, the lady who lived thero being crushed under the maaa of delris to tho bottom of the cellar, where the body was not found fcr many hours. No fewer than nine tram cars were blown clean over •while running, Scarborough looted, afterthe gale, as if it 1m d passed through an eaitbqaake and a bombardment, not merely roots and chimneys, tut masses of heavy masonry were blown abait like paper. All over England church spires were badly damaged and some destroyed. Tfce unique twisted and crooked spire of Chesterfield — of wliobo strange distortion the Chesterfieldians are so proud- was stripped cf most of its lead, but was not seriously iniuroa. At Paisley a manufactory 300ft lone and three Etoroys high were totally K •wrecked, fallug bodily with a fearful crash and burying 55 men in the ruma. Several wore killed, and all more or less hurt, including tte proprietor, who sustained mortal injury. In Newcastle a chimney fell into a bedroom, instantly killing a nurse and child. At Blackburn the children's ward in tli9 infirmary collapsed, burying its helpltsa little inmates, At Belfast a chuven and many residences were wrected. it Beeston a wall was blown down on sssme chilWin t\ie matter/ place, killing thorn with frightful mutilations. Dublin, Liverpool, and Perby had each its "butcher's bill" and tale of daraago, All over the country there were numerous caees of FPtfo nfl bein S bl ° wn bo(iil y into rivers, or omals, or ponds, or under the •wheels of trains. As to the number of fine old trees that were uprooted or snapped in two that is quite past reckoning. The mischief in this Tespecfc ha3 been enormous But space wholly fails me m giving anything ltte an adequate accouat of this great national disaster— for it haa been no less. The calamity, however, that is alleged to have boon due to the Btorp; calls for special and "separate 'Saturday evening, the gale still blowing hard, the 4.10 express- from ManChester to London, which consisted of 19 carriages, drawn by two engines, and conveying a largo number of passengers bound for their Christmas visits or hbh. Jiiya, was appi'oaching'Chßiford station, -le miles' from Manchester, at a speed of i(j or 60 miles an hour. Just as the oxmesa came up, part of a goods train, which was being shunted, became, detached, and \yas blown out of the eliding Jh -to the up main. line. The express dashed at full «peed into the obstacle and in an inßtant the engines and train were a nile of hideous wreckage, while the Loosing shrieks which arose from the heac of splintered wocd and twinted iron Se all too vividly oMhe ma S 3 of haman suffering whioh lay hiddan amid that debris. When after hours of hard work all was at last laid bare, the dreadful discovery was made that no fewer than 18 lives had been sacrificed, while 52 persons badeintamed serious injuries. Bq terrible an accident has not befallen the admirably manngod 'North-Western line for many iears past, not, I fancy, since the aw nl Cster of Abergel. The news created, a profound sensation in London, whither inost of the passengers wore bound, and Sueton Station was thronged for hours with anxiouß inquirers.