Earthquakes occurred in England in 1884, according to correspondents in Nature, 30-6, during the same time that there were black rains. “An intense darkness” happened during this time at Preston, England (April 26, 1884), and a black rain at Crowle, near Worcester, on the same date. Two days later, near Church Shetton, was another black rain so intense that brooks were still dyed with it the next day. Another black rain occurred in the area on May 3.
–Charles Fort, The Book of the Damned, p. 31 (The Complete Books of Charles Fort, Dover, c1974).