The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1870-12-17 00:00:00

V

THE BIRMINGHAM EXPLOSION.

The more clearly the facts of the groat explosion at alessre.
Ludlow's cartridge works last week come to he known,
the more terrible and disastrous does the catastrophe
•ppeer. Already the number of deaths has risen from 17
to 2:i six out of sdeulferen in the hospital having died since
Friday night, and of the survivors it Is not expected that
moro than • moiety can recover. The last nix vic`iint
Were Polly Smith, &gel 15, Margaret Burns, 10, Louie
Hattly, Mary AIM Wench, Elizabeth Clark, and Err ihoth
Taylor—the latter of whom leaves six children. Inc:dent-
ally, two other deaths mutt be referred to the same
(cal cause, an this morning two of the injured women In the
hospital gave birth t children, both of allow are dead
Another of the eufferers, Ennui Anson, who had eustalued a
compound fracture of the leg, had the Euib aroput.tted on
Saturday. It to the ascertained number of victims in the dead-
house and hospital Le added the ••tllikl.W. quantity " of
Persons in...re or less slightly Injured who aro being treated at
home, it Is believed the total immix, of sufferer@ by the
explosion cannot fall far short of 100
A calamity of such unprecedented magnitude following In
tile leaf of so many others of a Ilite character, though of
smaller proportions, in the lame vicinity has naturally
caused a nowt painful sensation here, and public opinion Is
bud in demanding a rigid and marching hipiiry lido the
causes of these repeated accidents," In which the sufferers
are almost exclusively women and young children. It
Is pointed out that in • space of nine weeks there
have been no lets than four explosions at the Witten
Certrldge Works—viz , three at Meters. Kynoch's factory,
and .:.• at Messrs. Ludlow's, which is within • Stone'.
iiiii,w the other, and that theae " accidents" Imre
been it. atilly progressive, the number of solderers by the
four explosi,dm s g respectively 2, 10, :7, and now 70 ; and
it it 'ironed that ...b.. ,me check Is imposed on the growth
ilangtr, us fa•t..ri,s. or In the mode in which their
^uos cs eur..;.heteal, nil ti workpeople only, but the
. L. g pepnlarlton, wd.i s vperilled. Even in the
..aug.• whoa only three nt of the nineteen
. m i;osing 0., fact., exploded, the
, r,s 14,n no great to Mistier the
I bow. s ted at • Meta. e of sonic hull-
dra . • .o'!e ar,l too:. !he explosi, extended to the
other • . the IOVOI.I. 1/116,f4e04{ in the same held,
It is Impoisilid. San 1110. coat Mae ~,.tencee might here
been.

--fu -the Inlet acetic' ,f the explealon given in the papers
ef last Sigurd:lir n may e flu to add a few details as to
the locality and arrangement .if the works which have been
so terribly visited. The site is a w 1) lug field, bounded on
one side by a railway • mbankrnent, and fenced elf on the
others from neighbustrieg held. and from the main road,
Witton.lane, which at this point, some 34 miles from Bir-
mingham, pastes under the railway. On this patch of ground
stood some II) subetantial wooden stalls, averaging about 403,
long by 20f C. wide, and separated from each other by inter-
vals of from 10 to 20 yards The interior arrangements of
these sheds may be said to consist generally of wooden
benches, running round the walla, and na.-row tables dis-
posed itiegitudinally iu couples on each Bide of the centre,
which is bolt free for locomotion. It Is its the centre that the
heisting stove le usually placed, and that was its position in
the" shop" or shed where the recent explosion originated.
This latter shed, technically known as the " liofleld loading
shop." and used for compl,tieg the "loading" of the ear-
trldgeg—the most dangerous part of the man tillacturlng pro-
ce.—ateael at a distance of some 80 or 90 feet from the
• fence. About ten yards from this, in au oblique direc-
tion. was another shed used fir charging the cartridges with
powder, and some seventeen yards further of was a third
shed, appropriated to. similar purpose. In the three sheds
there probably were employed altogether about 100 persona,
Chiefly women and girl., and of these ecarcely any escaped
without injuries more or less serioua At the moment of
the explosion the manager or overseer of the work, was
quitting a magazine in another part of the field, and had just
stepped out of the door when he eawadszzlteg sheet of flame
.hoot out from beneath the Enfield shop, which was 'mine-
illistely rent asunder with a deafening roar In a minute the
wreck was • mass of lire, and the blazing fragments by the
.free of the explosion were scattered far and wide. Some of
them apparently fell upon the neighbouring " shop," which
must have been partially burst in by the force of the con-
russiou, as it exploded almost instantaneously under the
shower of live sparks from the first shed, and in it. turn
communicated the fire tp shed No. 3. The most destrue-
tire of the three explosißns was the first, in which out of
sane :5 workwoineu 17 were killed on the spot, or de-
voured by the flames in view of the spectators, without
a &neve of rescue. From the other two sheds the work.
people for the most part contrived to scramble out, un-
aided, burnt, blackened, bleeding, and blinded, but still
alive. Many of the poor women who staggered out rn.aning
and shrieking into the road, where they fell down, had
scarcely a strip of clothing left on them, and the ground for
yards around was strewed with the burnt and tattered and
blood-stained fragments of female dress. Help wa•' happily,
soon at band, both from the neighbouring work. et Measrs.
K yuoch and from the houses in the road, and In an Incredibly
short space of time no less than 53 women and girls whose
lejuries demanded medical treatment were removed in cabs
and cars to the General Hospital. Seventeen others who had
been engaged in the Entleld loading shop were burnt almost
to cinders, and their charred revising were removed to neigh.
bowleg premises to await identification.
That painful task began on ennday and resulted In the
Identifiration more or less complete of live out of the 17
1: dies—vie , those of Harriet Smith, 1(1 • Selina Bullivant
1.27). Maria Brown ,2.3'. married ; Amelia Woodman '39',
married Mary Owen IS, married and Jane War (14
These were the least disfigured corpses, hut even In their
cues the features were entirely obliterated, and the only
doe to their identity wise some ornament or fragment
of apparel. One of the first bodies Identified was that
of Harriet Smith, who was recognised selely by one
of her boots and a button of her dress. Another body
was claimed by no less than three different people, one being
the supposed husband of the deceased, whose claim, how-
ever, w. overruled. Another was Identified by a piece of
flaneel round her throat, and another by a ring of peculiar
form ; but the great majority of attempts at Identification
were futile, and the Borrowing survivors had to depart
without even the melancholy satisfaction of claiming the
remains of their relative. one man who had lost both a
wife and a daughter contrived to Identify the former
by means of • belt she wore, hut the daughter's body
was not distinguishalte Another man, an old one, with
whitened hair and tottering steps, was so overpowered by
the rhastly sight in the shed, where he came to seek his
child's corpse, that he tied from the building with a shriek of
horror.

.........
Respecting the cause and manner of the accident, little
more Is known than was stated on Saturday. All account.
cor,cur in attributing it to the awkwardness or inadvertence
c.l one of the workwomen, whose dress caught fire as she
stood near the open stove where her dinner was warming.
On diecovering her peril the poor girl is said to have
rushed screaming to and fro. and her companions apparently
had not the presence of mind to throw her down and crush
out the fire belt re it communicated with the loose powder
lying about From the benches, the sheet of time would
easily extend to the •' hoppers " or reservoirs of gunpowder
from which the markt g,e are fed, and this would t %plain the
statement of one of the eery Ivor*, that the flash "cant, down
the whole aide like lightning." The stove which caused the
mischief is said to have been recently flied for the purpose
of warming the eked—a truly perilous comfort.
-

SVNI.AY EVENING.

Four more of the miff, re rs by the rece-irt:.M7iito—n.e.iiiOfilon
have died since yestonfay afternoon. Their names are
Fanny Clark, John Hickman, Mary Ann Bradeley, and Sarah
IFS enna. rhu makes ten deaths in the hospital, and raises
the total mortality from the accident to tvrenty.seven.
Several of the other patient. are in a very critical state, sad
are not expected to survive many days.

But few additional facts have conic to light regarding the
manner and cause of the explosion. The latest theory of
the accident Is that one of the isoritwomen placed upon the
stove an open tiu vessel containing her dinner, and that in
or about this vessel some gunpowder had fallen while it
stood upon the workbench. The ignition of this loose
powdcr by the heat of the stove is supposed to have been
the Immediate c.iuse of the explosion. The stoves, it is
said, were only fixed in the sheds a short time before the ac-
cident, which will explain the impunity hitherto attending
their use. Strange to say, the factory rules, of which the
following Is a copy, provided against nearly every other form
of danger except this, the most obvious one of all, which
was not a little enhanced of late by the necessity of working
by night as well as by day.
1. The working hours are from 8.30 in the morning until
Sin She evening, allowing One hour for dinner, and half an
hoar for tea."
. . . . .

2.N0 one. on any account, can be admitted Into this
shop during working hours, except he is employed In the
same."

.3. No more than 5,".C.b. of gunpowder, loose er made up
Into cartridges, can ne kept in this shop at one time. A
thousand cadridyes, when lined, will contain about 101 b. of
powder'
"4 No fulminating mercury, Inciter matches, or any ex-
plode° composition can be kept In this shop."
" 5. Any person infringing these rules will be dismissed."

The Inquest upon the bodies of the unfortunate persons
who were Mlled in the explosion, was opened on Monday,
and after the necenary evidence hod been taken, the
cwoner stated his intention to apply to the Government to
appoint a properly qualified person for the ptupwe of in-
vestigating and reporting upon the whole of the circum-
stances, and the inquest was adjourned until the 20th teat.
Up to this time 33 deaths had been returned.

The remains of the seventeen victims of the erplosion
were interred at the Borough Cemetery. Witton, on Tuesday
afternoon, in the presence of • large concourse of mourners
and epectators including the proprietors of the work, and
the companions of the deceased. Early in the forenoon, the
bodice, encased In plain elm COffilli, had been removed from
the factory and the neighbouring Inn, where they had lain
for identification, to the mortuary chapel In the cemetery
where at two p.m. • abort but Impressive service was read
over them by the Rev. (=taxies Heaven.
(In the conclusion of the service in the chapel the coffins
were borne to the graves which had been prepared for them
In the upper part of the cemetery. The names of the eight
persons whale bodies bad been identified were painted on
the coffin plate; the nine other plate, were bleak.