"The history of famous detectives, imaginary and otherwise, has frequently been written, but the history of a famous criminal-never. "This is a bold statement, but a true one all the same. The most notorious of rascals know that sooner or later they will be found out, and therefore they plan their lives accordingly. But they are always found out in the end. And yet there must be many colossal rascals who have lived and died apparently in the odour of sanctity. Such a character would be quite new to fiction, and herein I propose to attempt the history of the Sherlock Holmes of malefactors.

Fred M. White published this fictional story in 1903 about London in the grip of a severe 4-day arctic snow-storm, showing the hardships and consequences for which the city was unprepared, including price gouging and angry mobs.
Actually, the "The history of British winters" page at www.netweather.tv shows many severe winters, including this dramatic entry: "25th December 1836, roads impassable, snow depths reached a staggering 5-15 feet in many places, and most astonishingly, drifts of 20-50 feet "
That entry doesn't say where in Great Britain those snowfalls occurred, but this one...