ONE KILLED; EIGHT INJURED

A storm of wind and rain experienced in all parts of London and the suburbs during Wednesday night was responsible for much damage, mostly of a minor character.

At a florist's shop in Hanover Square a plate glass window was blown out. There was a terrific rainstorm at about midnight, and drivers of buses and taxis were compelled to bring their vehicles to a standstill. For two hours gale conditions prevailed, and within an hour after midnight much damage had been done. Curiously enough, the storm subsided as quickly as it began. The sky cleared, and the full moon thereafter illuminated the Metropolis.

The Thames continued to rise throughout Wednesday, and that night varied from 3ft. 6in. to 5ft. above the normal, the latter height being attained below Shepperton Lock. At Halliford the water was encroaching upon the gardens of the bungalows.

The Bancroft Road Institution, Mile End, London, one of the block of Poor Law buildings under the administration of the Stepney Guardians, was early yesterday morning the scene of an extraordinary calamity.

Soon after one o'clock a large chimney was blown down by the high wind and fell upon a ward occupied by about 40 male inmates. One man was killed and seven or eight others more or less seriously injured.

THE VICTIMS

The nurses and members of the staff generally hurriedly left their quarters and went to the rescue of the inmates, several of whom were partly buried by the debris of brickwork and masonry. Working under great difficulties, as the disaster had plunged the ward into darkness, they got out all of the men. George Collender (51) was found to be dead. James Hickmore, a cripple, aged 75, sustained broken ribs, and is in a serious condition. Joseph Cambridge (61) had a leg broken; while other three men were slightly injured.

The chimney was a three-piece brick one of massive proportions, weighing approximately two tons. The greater part of the damage, however, was done by the collapse of the thick wooden beam running along the top of the room which crushed all the six men severely about the ribs. This beam, described in an official statement issued by the institution, as being fourteen inches square, crashed through the floor of the dormitory into the room below taking with it several of the beds and their occupants. All the men sleeping in the room below were injured by the beds and the debris which fell from above.

Damage amounting to £100 was done at the gasworks by the storm's fury. The lightning conductor plunged to the ground in a sheet of flame, and plugs were blown off the retorts. Fire broke out in the office and in the exhauster house.

Telephone wires were snapped, and a Carter was knocked down in the road by the storm's fury.

The weather experienced in Devon and Cornwall was the most tempestuous of the whole year. The velocity of the wind at Plymouth was between fifty and sixty miles an hour.

Owing to the mountainous seas the herring fishing has been suspended.

An extremely wild night was experienced in the Reading area, and considerable damage was done to roofings, portions of which were torn off. Torrential rain fell for some hours, and yesterday the Rivers Thames, Loddon, and Kennet continued to rise. Hundreds of acres of land were submerged between Bramley, near Basingstoke, and Twyford, Berks.