A BLINDING FOG.

Gisborne Times, Volume VI, Issue 301, 30 December 1901, Page 3

A BLINDING FOG.

A LUGUBRIOUS WEEK IN LONDON.

London, Nov. 2. Fog and war combined to give London, physically and mentally, its most lugubrious aspect during the week now clos-

1 |\-om Saturday till Thursday the fog fiend absolutely dominated the metropolis, causing thirteen fatal accidents,_ impeding or stopping locomotion, rendering street traffic confused and highly perilous, disorganising tlio railways, closing tlio theatres, bringing business almost to a standstill, and sending np the death-rate several points. . At times the brown pall of mist was so dense that drivers could not see the heads of their horses. Cabmen had to lead their horses bearing a lamp. At congested points like Piccadilly Circus, Hyde Park Corner, and the Bank of England, foot and horse traffic repeatedly got into such a hopeless muddle that progress was impossible for hours at a time. On Friday morning the fog lifted, and for the first time in six days Londoners saw daylight. Throughout that tunc the f o ,r had been so thick it held the smoke in" suspense. The wayfarer who had rrroped his way through tlio streets for an hour emerged into the artificial light of a house blackened around the eyes and in tlio wrinkles of his face like an actor ■ “ made-up ” for the stage. . Incidents illustrating the fog s irresistible sway could be multiplied a hundredWhen a fashionable dinner party issued from tlio Carlton Hotel last Sunday nierht the guests soon discovered that it would ho hopeless, or at least dangerous, to attempt to find tho way home in carriages. The Countess of Essex and another lady alighted in their jewels and finery from their carriage in 1 all Mall, intending to walk along tho footway beside the carriage as tho safest if not the only means of getting home. The carriage was quickly lost in the fog, ana after they hud wandered around, terrmecl and helpless, in pitch-black darkness for an hour a policeman conducted them to a friend's house in Piccadilly, where, giving up their attempt to get home, they were compelled to seek shelter for tho night, On another evening an omnibus heavily laden inside and out was proceeding at a walk across the bread thoroughfare to \V"s-imnster Bridge, when tho “near” or into difficulties, and the vehicle bumped and swayed dangerously. The conductor found that tlio omnibus had „ 0 t up on tho footpath and the horse was strutting desperately, with a foreleg over°°the bridge parapet. The omnibus, with its human freight, was on the verge of being precipitated into the river. On Tuesday, at 3.30 o’clock in tho afternoon, when the heavy traffic from four converging points had got into an inextricable tangle at Hyde Park corner, the carriages of a wedding party return | in" from church became mixed up with a stru""ling, jammed mass of vehicles oi every" description, drivers shouting and women screaming and crying in the inky gloom. Finally the bride and bridegroom made their way to the sidewalk, then lost their track and wandered into Hyde Park imagining they were going a.ong Knffihtsbridge, ' reaching their house, which was only TOO yards away, two hours later. , , , Many years ago London had such a dire visitation from its November enemy. This early appearance of the tog nena always heralds the coming of an exceptionally severe winter.