The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1867-12-17 00:00:00

TERRIBLE FENIAN OUTRAGE IN

CLEIMENWELL

ETTEEPT TO BLOW VP THE HOUSE OF
DETENTION

FOUR PERRONIIs.FILLED, AND FIFTY

ixiiiii.ii:

About 20 minutes to four on Friday afieroooe, an
°tinge which resulted fatally in several instances,
wounded more than forty persons, and caused alarm for
some distance, and great destruction of property in the
vicinity, was committed at the Clerkenwell House of
Detention. It seems that the suspicions of the police
have been aroused Moos the lodgement of "Colonel
Barks" in that building, and from the various rumours
that have reached the authorities, a lariat watch has
been kept on several house in the bounty. At the
time hidieated, an ordinary oostermonger's barrow was
seen going in the direction of Corporstion-lane. accom-
panied by three men and • woman—Use route taken
being by fit. Juseds-walk, and theme* along the ride
well in connexion with the Clerkenwell Houle of De-
tention in Corporstion-lans. On reaching that point
immediately opposite Si. Junes's-passage, the people
with the berme stopped; and on a tarpaulin being re-
moved, a barrel, said to be rather larger than a common
butter firkin, was taken from the vehicle and placed
spinet the reties: well. One of the men wee then men
took
bkpkispusbn.ces...seepnictmont:lthrre.e.sibriszl,
idnang"doh.curdiha.ivinbedg apd.pir.litbedtlyat
of the diacharge of • larp einem, and the effect was
soon made painfully apparent moor the inhabitants.
No sooner was the d at sound beard than the polies
we., in pursuit of the perpetrators of the outrage; and
they seconded in capturing two men and the woman,
but the men who is supposed to have actually ignited
the fusee escaped, from the fact of the forte of the
explosion having forced to the ground P.C. Button, who
as chasing biro. Than the suns of destruction which soon
presented itself nothing could be more shocking. There
an no fewer than nine houses rendered tenantless and
uninhabitable by the effects of the exploion. Those
directly opposite the breach in the wall were eompletely
gutted. One was almost entirely destroyed. The
broach in the prison wall is over sixty feet broad at the
top, and gradually tapers towards the base. The sky-
lights of the prison are very mull broken; Indeed there
is not a perfect light left. The houses in the vicinity
for some distance were very mach shaken and injm-d
A prisoner in the gaol was injured by • brick which
entered the window of • cell. The general belief is
that the act was intended as an attempt to rescue
"Colonel Burke," who now lies in the prison nadir
remand. It is the opinion of the prison officiate that to
some of the inmates of the house the attack was not
surprising; bat the majority of the prisoners evinced
the greatest terror, and ran about the cells in a frantic
manner. In the neighbouring streets much mischief
has been done —Rosoman-street, Woodbridgastreet,
Coburg-street, Northampton-row, Bowling-green-lane,
Bowling-green-row' Meredith-street, be., bearing
unmistakeable trees; of the catastrophe. In many of
these places the fronts of the houses are all but
shattered, and the misery oesesioned in some of the
poor families cannot wily be described. No time was
lost In obtaining the assistance of the engines belonging
: to the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, and large bodies of
the C, D, F, A, and A reserved divisions of polies were
despatched thither to render assistance; and, beside
the police, • detachment of the aeon Fusilier Guards
from the Wellington-barracks were wtationed In the
prison-yard to keep gaud. Drs. Goddard, Franklin,
and others belonging to the medical district, were
promptly in attendants, and did mash to alleviate the
sufferings of the poor matures as they were taken from
the ruins of the fallen bosses. Up to half.past nine,
38 wounded persons and three deed were lying in Si
Bartholomew 'n Hospital. As an ordinary rule, Captain
Cold, the governor of the prison, bee been in the habit
of exercising his prisoners in the yard between three
and half-past four in the afternoon, but on Friday he
examined them from a quarter-past nine to • quarter-
nest tee in the morning, This he did as • precaution.
He had been visited on the preceding evening by Mr.
Pownall, the chairman of the Clerkenwell sessions, who
directed him not to exercise the prisoners at the ordinary
hour. Mr. Pownall gave this direction in consequence
of • communication be bad that af`ernoon received
from the Home-office, who it would seem had been
apprised of the intention to attempt the release of
Berke, although it can hardly be supposed that they
for a moment imagined the attempt was to take the
dastardly form it did. But for this timely warning, the
prisoners would have been exercised at the usual hour,
and the paystratore of the outrage might possibly have
aocompled their purpose. The governor of the
prison took the farther preeaution to communicate
with Sir Richard Mayne, who, however, had already
' "tattoo"' • large body et pais, outeids the prima
walls. They foamed • doeskin round the primly
sad had dope so id& end day tee the pre nese.

Ineide the prison with which Captain Codd had
really only to concern himself, there were six or eight
warder., at an additioosl force during Thursday night.
Of U. three persons apprehended, one gives the name
of Jermiak Allen, and says be is • bocemaker, end
38 years of age. The other states that hie name is
Timothy Desmond, and that be is a isnot, and 48 years
of Ka Both are shabbily dressed, and forbidding in
their upset. Both have clerk hair, and dirty skin, and
Desmond wears a rather large heard. The woman's
name is Ann Justice, and her ego is 30. The eye of
ea* of the men —Desmond—is injured. The two men
maintaiced a sullen silence, and the woman was equally
unoorontunieative. About 10 o'clock in the evening she
made a determined attempt to commit suicide by
strangulation. She was fortunately diseovered before
she bad succeeded in her design. To prevent •
repetition of the attempt she was hnndonffed, and
warders were placed in her eell to Watch her. The three
prisoners are specially watched by 30 policemen. The
woman Justice baa been in the daily habit of visiting
the Fenian prisoner Casey at the prison • and only on
Friday morning visited him. At two o'clock, after she
had left the prison, ace of the officers on duty outside
t=rias. heoninrq L "
inquired of Mr. "
r. Moors,
samem
, one. of
alhe prison
o
econniunicetion to Mr. Moors, the effect of which was
that he had seen her conversing with • fellow who bad
for days been hanging about the prison. The constable
said it was impossible to get the man away; be persisted
I, staying about the place. Mr. Moore immediately
spoke to the governor, Captain Oodd, on the subject,
and two or three officers were distributed about in
order to give an alarm if anything 000urred. Shortly
afterwards one of the warders called Mr. Moore's
attention to • man answering the description given of
the one who bad been seen by the constable loitering
about being on the top of • house overlooking the prince
yard. When Mr. Moore got to tbe window at which
the warder woo watching the man bad ven.shed. But
shortly afterwards the same man, aceordina to the
description, was with the woman near the front gates
of the prison, and presently they were joined by a
wood man, The same warder afterwards called Mr.
Moore's attention to • window overlooking the yard,
from which • ion= was leaning with 104 in her
hand, while behind her were certainly Ave men, who
appeared to be stretching their peeks towards the
window, at though desirous of cease something that
was going to happen in the street below. 'Flie esplosion
occurred simultaneously. The house in question was
gutted by the explosion, but what became of the
pennons is • mystery. They are either amongst the
Injured at the hospital or ran the gauntlet of the polies,
numbers of whom were immediately after the explosion
on the spot. The dead have been identified. The woman
Is Mrs. Hutchinson, married, living in Corporation-lane,
and the man, Mr. W. Dutton. a braes-pump mans.
restorer. eon-rine on business seer the Hews of
Detention • the third body is that of a little child
named Abbott. no husband of the deceased Mrs.
Hutchinson is at present in Bt. Bartholomew's Hospital,
suffering from the effects of injuries which he reoeived
during the explosion.